[ Replies disputing my ultimate goals: Change the subject line to "X:
What should be done". Your own list of things to do: Insert your own
last name. If nobody could get started on *each* project you list
"NOW", change the subject line to "LATER". PLEASE follow these rules. ]
Concrete: The primary thing that needs doing, ASAPractical, is a foundation intended to turn the design in "Coding a Transhuman AI" into code. A few $M in seed money could create a foundation with a fairly respectable front, that could hire (1) me (and/or a few other competents) to finish the design and start turning it into something codeable, or more likely spend the next two years creating infrastructure; (2) someone to go around asking the major Silicon Tycoons for funding; (3) an OpenSource website to recruit the Manhattan-Project-like number of programmers needed.
Business: I believe we do have some high-financial-percentile folks reading this list. I would like to see you post, ANONYMOUSLY, a list of what you're interested in funding (Business ideas from Extropians? Extropian business ideas? Foundations?); what order-of-magnitude you're thinking about committing to each; topics you'd like to see discussion of; and so on. This prevents you from being inundated with moronic personal solicitations. Pick your favorite trustworthy Extropian to act as remailer.
General: I'd like to see a general Singularity Foundation, along the
lines of the Extropy Institute, to do things like: Coordinate the
"singularitarian" list mentioned above; provide a target for donations;
and (if it got the funding) move up to things like awards, events, or
even investing.
Possibilities: Seek out reporters who have too-small pieces of the truth and enlighten them. (I don't know of any case of this succeeding, although I did wind up providing the name for Ashley Dunn's "Mind and Machine" column.)
Out: The neurohacking stuff will be prohibited by the FDA. It's out as a practical project, good only for personal publicity if I can verify the hypothesis with an fMRI. Nanotechnology is all too practical. Airline tickets and hotel fare to buttonhole the guys at Zyvex and scream at them for a while about the warlike nature of humanity might be worth doing.
--
sentience@pobox.com Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
http://pobox.com/~sentience/AI_design.temp.html
http://pobox.com/~sentience/singul_arity.html
Disclaimer: Unless otherwise specified, I'm not telling you
everything I think I know.