kathleen forden

1. Putting the Human Back Into the Post-Human
2. If I Can’t Dance, I Don’t Want to be Part of Your Singularity Some Meandering Thoughts by Jamais Cascio
3. What is the Singularity? A disproportionate increase in the power of intelligence to achieve desired ends, including further boosting the power of intelligence.
4. Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended.
5. Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended. –Vernor Vinge, 1993
6. The Singularity story echoes two very old tropes in popular mythology, but with a more recent twist.
7. HUBRIS. We make things that try to kill us.
8. ASPIRATION TO HUMANITY. We make things that want to be like us.
9. The twist? Transcendence.
10. The Singularity Story (in five slides)
11. we create AI
12. The AI “wakes up”
13. The AI makes itself smarter
14. The AI makes itself much smarter
15. The AI takes over It might be friendly It might be unfriendly (not much we can do about it, either way)
16. (the end)
17. But what happens when you change the focus?
18. we create AI
19. we create AI (but now the focus of the story is the “we”)
20. we create AI (but now the focus of the story is the “we”) OK, what “we”? Are there competing projects? Is this secret? Public? Civilian? Military? Open Source? How do governments react? How do markets react? How do citizens react? What are we doing in the meantime?
21. not the end
22. What’s Pushing Us to Do This? Technological capacity Competition (markets & politics) Need for complex systems to grapple with complex problems Curiosity
23. What Might Hold Us Back? Dead-end technology paths Regulations Backlash against AI (or related technologies) Fear
24. COMPLICATION #1: RESPONSIBILITY CREATION HAS CONSEQUENCES
25. COMPLICATION #2: POWER POLITICS MATTERS
26. COMPLICATION #3: LIABILITY A NO-FAULT SINGULARITY?
27. COMPLICATION #4: RIGHTS NO SUCH THING AS A HAPPY SLAVE OR AN ETHICAL MASTER
28. COMPLICATION #5: EMPATHY DON’T KICK THE ROBOT
29. So… where does this all lead?
30. Scenarios!
31. Scenarios! tool for collaboration vs tool for competition short-term thinking vs long-term thinking
32. cascio@openthefuture.com Twitter: @cascio

Singularity Salon Talk