Eliezer S. Yudkowsky wrote:
> 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..
Getting funding for this project is obviously going to be pretty tough. However, I think there are some smaller, short-term projects that could be used to raise money for it while developing relevant experience.
For example, the field of code generators is very underdeveloped right now. Either of us could easily create software components capable of writing useful code, and we wouldn't have to advance the state of the art to start making money. Looking a couple of years down the line, work on less specialized code writing systems looks like a good way to explore the issues that would be involved in creating a real coding domdule.
> Immediate: I'd like to see someone sponsor a Singularitarian site,
> containing a mailing list and a site that would be restricted, and for
> immediate choices only rather than ideology, where business issues could
> be discussed and personal finances revealed. The List of
> Singularitarians. If nobody volunteers the space needed by Sunday, I'll
> create the restricted mailing list at OneList.
I'm interested. Later this year I should be able to offer the use of a dedicated server with modern database software, which could be useful for managing projects (I'm just waiting for DSL to become available in my area).
Billy Brown, MCSE+I
bbrown@conemsco.com