Re: [unrev-II] Hofstadter's Saturday, April 1st, Special: WILL SPIRITUAL ROBOTS REPLACE HUMANITY BY 2100?

From: Eric Armstrong (eric.armstrong@eng.sun.com)
Date: Thu Mar 30 2000 - 13:43:12 PST

  • Next message: Jon Winters: "[unrev-II] Re: Gecko"

    Thanks. Unfortunately, the search capability seems to be broken.
    It returns nothing for TCSQ, or Sequoia Hall, at any rate. You
    can select admin buildings, residences, athletic facilities, and points
    of special interest, but not the regular academic buildings, it seems.

    I've printed out a copy of the map. Can you give me a clue what
    sector to look in?

    Adam Cheyer wrote:

    > The URL for the site (with map) is:
    >
    > http://calendus.stanford.edu/CogSci/read/event_8268_CogSci_read.html
    >
    > -- Adam.
    >
    > -----Original Message-----
    > From: Eric Armstrong [mailto:eric.armstrong@eng.sun.com]
    > Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2000 8:43 PM
    > To: unrev-II@ONELIST.COM
    > Subject: Re: [unrev-II] Hofstadter's Saturday, April 1st, Special:
    > WILL
    > SPIRITUAL ROBOTS REPLACE HUMANITY BY 2100?
    >
    >
    > From: Eric Armstrong <eric.armstrong@eng.sun.com>
    >
    > Wow. Way, way, way cool.
    > Is there some URL where I can find that location on a map
    > of Stanford?
    >
    > Doug Engelbart - Bootstrap Institute wrote:
    >
    > > From: Doug Engelbart - Bootstrap Institute <doug@bootstrap.org>
    > >
    > >
    > > Forwarded to some of us Foresight friends by Christine Peterson.
    > This
    > > bears
    > > directly upon the "complex, urgent, huge-scale problems" we kept
    > > bringing out
    > > in the Colloquium. Are we going to get collectively capable enough,
    >
    > > soon
    > > enough?.
    > >
    > > *********
    > >
    > > Foresight's own Ralph Merkle will participate in an important
    > > symposium on
    > > machine intelligence this Saturday at Stanford. Organized by
    > Douglas
    > > Hofstadter, others involved include Ray Kurzweil, Hans Moravec, Bill
    >
    > > Joy, John
    > > Holland, Kevin Kelly, Frank Drake, and John Koza.
    > >
    > > Given Bill Joy's recent views on nanotechnology and AI in in Wired,
    > > and the
    > > known views of some of the others, things may get a bit heated.
    > Let's
    > > do our
    > > part to keep the tone friendly. Expect to see heavy press
    > attendance.
    > >
    > > The event is likely to fill up, so to be sure of getting in, you
    > might
    > > want to
    > > arrive early.
    > >
    > > -- Christine Peterson, Executive Director
    > >
    > > WILL SPIRITUAL ROBOTS REPLACE HUMANITY BY 2100? A SYMPOSIUM AT
    > > STANFORD
    > >
    > > -- free and open to the public --
    > >
    > > Saturday, April 1, from 1 PM til 5:30 PM
    > >
    > > Teaching Center, Science and Engineering Quad (TCSEQ), room 200
    > > near the
    > > Math Corner, Sequoia Hall, and the Varian Physics Building
    > >
    > > Primary speakers:
    > >
    > > Ray Kurzweil (inventor of reading machine for the blind,
    > electronic
    > >
    > > keyboards, etc., and author of "The Age of Spiritual Machines")
    > >
    > > Hans Moravec (founder of Carnegie-Mellon University's Robotics
    > > Institute,
    > > and author of "Robot: Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind")
    > >
    > > Bill Joy (co-founder of, and chief scientist at, Sun
    > Microsystems)
    > >
    > > John Holland (inventor of genetic algorithms, and artificial-life
    >
    > > pioneer;
    > > professor of computer science and psychology at the U. of
    > Michigan)
    > >
    > > Panel members:
    > >
    > > Ralph Merkle (well-known computer scientist and one of today's
    > top
    > > figures
    > > in the explosive field of nanotechnology)
    > >
    > > Kevin Kelly (editor at "Wired" magazine and author of "Out of
    > > Control", a
    > > study of bio-technological hybrids)
    > >
    > > Frank Drake (distinguished radio-astronomer and head of the SETI
    > > Institute
    > > -- Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence)
    > >
    > > John Koza (inventor of genetic programming, a rapidly expanding
    > > branch of
    > > artificial intelligence)
    > >
    > > Symposium organizer and panel moderator:
    > >
    > > Douglas Hofstadter (professor of cognitive science at Indiana;
    > > author of
    > > "Godel, Escher, Bach", "Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies",
    > > etc.)
    > >
    > > In 1999, two distinguished computer scientists, Ray Kurzweil and
    > Hans
    > > Moravec,
    > > came out independently with serious books that proclaimed that in
    > the
    > > coming
    > > century, our own computational technology, marching to the
    > exponential
    > > drum of
    > > Moore's Law and more general laws of bootstrapping, leapfrogging,
    > > positive-feedback progress, will outstrip us intellectually and
    > > spiritually,
    > > becoming not only deeply creative but deeply emotive, thus usurping
    > > from us
    > > humans our self-appointed position as "the highest product of
    > > evolution".
    > >
    > > These two books (and several others that appeared at about the same
    > > time) are
    > > not the works of crackpots; they have been reviewed at the highest
    > > levels of
    > > the nation's press, and often very favorably. But the scenarios they
    >
    > > paint are
    > > surrealistic, science-fiction-like, and often shocking.
    > >
    > > According to Kurzweil and Moravec, today's human researchers,
    > drawing
    > > on
    > > emerging research areas such as artificial life, artificial
    > > intelligence,
    > > nanotechnology, virtual reality, genetic algorithms, genetic
    > > programming, and
    > > optical, DNA, and quantum computing (as well as other areas that
    > have
    > > not yet
    > > been dreamt of), are striving, perhaps unwittingly, to render
    > > themselves
    > > obsolete -- and in this strange endeavor, they are being aided and
    > > abetted by
    > > the very entities that would replace them (and you and me):
    > > superpowerful
    > > computers that are relentlessly becoming tinier and tinier and
    > faster
    > > and
    > > faster, month after month after month.
    > >
    > > Where will it all lead? Will we soon pass the spiritual baton to
    > > software minds
    > > that will swim in virtual realities of a thousand sorts that we
    > cannot
    > > even
    > > begin to imagine? Will uploading and downloading of full minds onto
    > > the Web
    > > become a commonplace? Will thinking take place at silicon speeds,
    > > millions of
    > > times greater than carbon speeds? Will our children -- or perhaps
    > our
    > > grandchildren -- be the last generation to experience "the human
    > > condition"?
    > > Will immortality take over from mortality? Will personalities blur
    > and
    > > merge
    > > and interpenetrate as the need for biological bodies and brains
    > > recedes into
    > > the past? What is to come?
    > >
    > > To treat these disorienting themes with the seriousness they deserve
    >
    > > at the
    > > dawn of the new millennium, cognitive scientist Douglas Hofstadter
    > has
    > > drawn
    > > together a blue-ribbon panel of experts in all the areas concerned,
    > > including
    > > the authors of the two books cited. On Saturday, April 1 (take the
    > > date as you
    > > will), three main speakers and five additional panelists will
    > publicly
    > > discuss
    > > and debate what the computational and technological future holds for
    >
    > > humanity.
    > > The forum will be held from 1 PM till 5:30 PM, and audience
    > > participation will
    > > be welcome in the final third of the program.
    > >
    > > Sponsoring agencies at Stanford: Symbolic Systems Program; Center
    > for
    > > the Study
    > > of Language and Information; Department of Computer Science;
    > > Department of
    > > Philosophy; Center for Computer-Assisted Research in the Humanities;
    >
    > > Channel
    > > 51; GSB Futurist Club
    > >
    > >
    > -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    >
    > >
    > >
    > -----------------------------------------------------------------------
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