funding: a vision

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The following is a response to a query about funding on the self-aware AI mailing list at topica.com. I am cross-posting to the extropian list in hopes it will be of interest to others. Thank you for your input!

I started brainstorming...

• Government organizations
  |- Grants
  |- Fellowships
  |- Research stipends
  
• Professional associations
  |- Awards
  |- Fellowships
  
• Commercial enterprises
  |- R&D funding/contracting
  |- Venture capital for start-up
  

Is there anything I missed?

Optimally, these sources could be combined. For example, receiving a fellowship to do research at a university, being paid a stipend, receiving government grants and awards from professional associations, and as the icing on the cake, having some corporation take interest in your project and provide additional funding.

I am going to create a web site with resources of interest to researchers in many fields including AI, which I should have ready some time in January. I think funding opportunities would be a great asset, so I will do some investigating in this area.

Research groups:

Some of the sources of funding will be for established research groups at universities. Others will be for research at government institutions. Yet others might be awarded to individual/independent investigators.

What goals should we pursue here?

• Do we each do our own thing, and try to find funding on our own? This would make most sense in the context of us each being independent or affiliated with our own universities or research institutions. Funding sources would likely be university fellowships and/or government grants.
• Do we form a research group? This would allow collaborative research and distributed development. Funding sources might involve grants from government organizations. Perhaps it would be possible to receive funding from and use resources at several universities.
• Do we go commercial? The commercial applications for a self-aware AI are boundless. We could contract ourselves out to corporate R&D labs. We might sell or rent our intellectual property. We could even create our own start-up company specializing in self-aware AI R&D, creating innovative products and providing unparalleled services, spinning off various commercial subdivisions, and leasing our technology to other corporations.

The latter is my hope for Extropian Technologies, which alas, is only an Internet Services and Technology Consulting company at the moment. Come to think of it, our commercial enterprise might indeed involve Internet services and technology consulting, though at an entirely different scale. =)

My feeling is that these options might be best exercised chronologically from first to last. First, we get involved in research at universities. Then we'll run our own labs or programs there, and create the opportunity for collaboration with other institutions. Eventually, we'll be in a position to launch a joint project and create a new research institution. We'll lease a few patents, contract at some corporate think tanks, and gain enough industry experience to make the commercial transition a successful one.

8)

Any thoughts?

Leonardo Gonzalez
Extropian Technologies

magos@extropian.net
Cellular: (831) 840-0433
Fax: (831) 840-0420
http://extropian.net

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