Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/1161
at that moment, it hit me how totally ubiquitous technology was becoming — how inextricably tied to our lives. And it hit me that we were on a path of ongoing mergers with technology that was unstoppable and irreversible. So I was seeing Kurzweil's Singularity. So when that hit me, that humanity was on a mad dash to merge with or incorporate technology in an irreversible fashion… that was the only thing that caused me to momentarily take stock of my space-focused vision. I was so enamored with the concept, it got me to pause and wonder: was opening the space frontier still of any value? h+: And this is a big discourse among people who feel that Singularitarian and other technologies open up a virtual space that's going to be so worthy that the physical space is no longer as important. PD: Sure. And of course, that will be a debate. By the way, I had the pleasure of flying Stephen Hawking into zero-G about 18 months ago. I don't know if you read about that. If you go to the website for my company, Zero G Corporation (see Resources below), you can find stuff there about it. We flew Stephen Hawking into zero-G. It was a very successful flight. We had huge media coverage around the world. So I asked Hawking why he was doing this? And he answered — before the media at the press conference — that he believed that if the human race does not evolve into space, we don't have a future. Because there are so many problems — with asteroids, pandemics, war — that we, effectively, have to backup the biosphere. So opening the space frontier is critical for the purpose of backing up the biosphere, and for getting access to the resources needed for the continual growth of humanity. And the Earth, if you look at it, is a crumb in a supermarket filled with resources — the asteroids, the interstellar materials and so forth. We have the ability to have limitless manufacturing and limitless energy. And we really need the raw resources required to envision whatever might be possible. 1 2 3 4 5 6 The singularity university vision: Bringing together smart people from many disciplines to seek and hopefully find common intellectual ground, and collaboratively brainstorm to solve global problems with technology is exciting, though not unprecedented. In reflecting upon what Peter Diamandis said during our interview, other endeavors reflecting similar ambitions and approaches came to mind. While Dr. Diamandis cites only International space university as an inspiration, su might be seen as one of a school of schools of schools. Here are six that come to mind: MAssAchusetts INstItute of techNoLogY: William Barton rogers incorporated mIT in 1861, and got it going in 1865 after the Civil War. The original proposal includes sentiments that are remarkably similar, for something written 147 years earlier, to the su ideal. "The practical nature of the discoveries…of scientific inquiry has multiplied almost infinitely the lines of connection between them…and these countless connecting threads, woven into one indissoluble texture, form that ever-enlarging web which is the blended product of the world's scientific and industrial activity." cLub of roMe: The Club of rome was founded in April 1968 by industrialist and scientist Aurelio Peccei in (it will come as no surprise) rome. The Club of rome commissioned The Limits to Growth, a study/book that sold 30 million copies in 30 languages, and which predicted collapse in the 21st century. A 2008 review determined that the predictions were still on target. sANtA fe INstItute: santa Fe, where I lived for five years, with its 120 art galleries, is like Athens to nearby Los Alamos' sparta, and the santa Fe Institute combined the best of both worlds. established in 1984 by George Cowan and six others (five of whom were Los Alamos scientists), the santa Fe Institute focuses on interdisciplinary science seminars and research. I gave it a nickname: Complexity university, and it has been influential in artificial life and chaos research. AsPeN INstItute: Founded in 1950 and based in Washington DC with campuses in Aspen and on the Wye river in maryland, the Aspen Institute is highly regarded for bringing together leaders from many fields to discuss interdisciplinary solutions to global problems. some of the best technology discussions on issues such as spectrum have taken place under Aspen Institute auspices. INterNAtIoNAL INstItute for APPLIed sYsteMs ANALYsIs (IIAsA): IIAsA was founded in London, 1972, to bring together the best scientists from east and west in sort of neutral Austria. IIAsA has focused on complex systems and how to negotiate between different nations and professions to manage them. coPeNhAgeN coNseNsus ceNter: Founded by Bjorn Lomborg, author of the skeptical environmentalist, the Copenhagen Consensus tries to apply a sort of cost "return on investment" analyses to solving global problems. The CCC is more financially oriented than the other schools. antecedents of Singularity University: Unity in Diversity ALeX LIGHTmAN resOurCes rogers, William B., Chairman, The Committee of Associated Institutions of science and Arts, "Objects and Plan of an Institute of Technology: including a society of Arts, a museum of Arts, and a school of Industrial science; proposed to be established in Boston" - Boston, 1861, and archived at the mIT Libraries Collection. http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/mithistory/pdf/objects-plan.pdf mIT http://mit.edu The Club of rome http://www.clubofrome.org/eng/home/ The santa Fe Institute http://www.santafe.edu The Aspen Institute http://www.aspeninstitute.org IIAsA http://www.iiasa.ac.at Copenhagen Consensus Center http://www.copenhagenconsensus.com