Longtime readers know that we at Foresight would prefer that our members, and Nanodot readers in general, actually live long enough to experience the benefits of molecular nanotechnology personally. In that vein, we bring to your attention America’s Wellness Challenge, which I am helping as a member of their Social Media Advisory Board. If you… Continue reading Life extension: taking those first steps
The first time I met Eric Drexler, I complained to him, “You’ve ruined science fiction for me.” (He replied, “If it’s any consolation, I ruined it for myself.”) The reason, of course, is that understanding nanotech means that the all the classic SF projections become so piddling and simplistic in comparison that any story set… Continue reading Avatar
Shane Legg seems to think so: Tick, tock, tick, tock… BING. Having dealt with computation, now we get to the algorithm side of things. One of the big things influencing me this year has been learning about how much we understand about how the brain works, in particular, how much we know that should be… Continue reading Is the brain a reasonable AGI design?
Over at Overcoming Bias, Robin Hanson wonders whether we should go fast or slow with tech development as we move toward a level of development (solar-system wide or interstellar civilization) where we are reasonably not likely to be wiped out in a single incident. He bases his analysis on how likely we are to stumble (or… Continue reading Tiptoe or dash to the future?
Scientists Create World’s First Molecular Transistor. Very nice writeup of the research over at Next Big Future. To my mind what’s new here isn’t the transistor per se — semiconducting and conductive states have been known in CNTs for over a decade, and FET and diode-like arrangements of them have been around for the same.… Continue reading Scientists Create World’s First Molecular Transistor
Historical note: back when I ran sci.nanotech, it was my tradition to post this poem every Christmas, in a spirit of light-hearted fun. We here at Foresight wish all our readers the merriest of seasons greetings, and hope that you all are safe, warm, and enjoying your holidays with family and friends! A Visit… Continue reading A Visit from Saint Assembler
(h/t Next Big Future) Tonight on Fast Forward Radio Economist Robin Hanson and futurist Brian Wang join us as we continue our special series leading up Foresight 2010. The conference, January 16-17 in Palo Alto, California, provides a unique opportunity to explore the convergence of nanotechnology and artificial intelligence and to celebrate the 20th anniversary… Continue reading Robin Hanson and Brian Wang Tonight on Fast Forward Radio
One more comment on the post by Mike Treder that I addressed last time. Recall he wrote Techno-rapturists among our reading audience might be quick to respond with glib answers about miraculous nanotechnology solutions that are just around the corner … To understand Foresight’s actual point of view on this issue (which is actually a… Continue reading Martian Graffiti
Mike Treder has a post at IEET that reads like a catechism of the Gaian religion. Now I’m a firm supporter of freedom of religion and Mike has a perfect right to believe what he does and indeed to preach it to whomever will listen. (And besides, Mike is a friend of mine.) But in… Continue reading Original Sin
Religious creeds are a great obstacle to any full sympathy between the outlook of the scientist and the outlook which religion is so often supposed to require … The spirit of seeking which animates us refuses to regard any kind of creed as its goal. It would be a shock to come across a university… Continue reading The Ministry of Truth
