Funny

Singularity University Tours Autodesk

by Socrates
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Autodesk is among the most notable sponsors, supporters and big time friends of Singularity University. At the same time, it is also a very cool company in its own right with many of its cutting edge 3D design technologies used in a variety disciplines from industrial design to special effects in blockbuster movies such as AVATAR. The videos below were shot when me and my classmates from Singularity University GSP11 visited the Autodesk demo office and showroom in San Francisco. Hope you enjoy the video tour as much as I did filming it. The first clip shows several SU students from GSP11 talking to SU academic adviser Jonathan Knowles via his tele-presence robot. During our conversation we talk about Scottish kilts, email spam, 3d printing and, most interestingly, the story behind how Autodesk became a Singularity University sponsor. (Thank you Jonathan!) [...]

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Huckelberry Finn (Robotic Edition) or Was Mark Twain Racist?

by Socrates
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The Adventures of Huckelberry Finn has been without doubt one of the greatest American novels ever since it was published in 1884. Recently, however, Mark Twain‘s timeless wit, satirical wisdom, deep irony and historical context have given way to a new political correctness clearly lacking the historical perspective and subtle sophistication needed to grasp the author’s scathing depiction of entrenched stereotypes and 19th century American racism. Thus, in the 2011 NewSouth Books edition of Huck Finn, the words injun and nigger are to be “revised” to indian and slave “only to make it [the book] viable to the 21st century.” On the upside, it seems that rumors of the death of the archetypal Mark-Twainian irony, wit and satire have been (once again) greatly exaggerated: Two humor-enhanced fans of Twain’s work have started raising funds for the project of replacing all [...]

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The Technological Singularity Goes Mainstream (Again)

by Socrates
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The technological singularity goes mainstream again (and again). The last 12 months or so we have witnessed an unparalleled growth of mainstream coverage of transhumanism, the singularity, artificial intelligence and Ray Kurzweil. Some of the more notable mentions include: PBS on Ray Kurzweil and the Singularity; the NY Times’ Humans are so Yesterday; Ray Kurzweil on the Daily Show with John Stewart and New Zeland TV features Singularity University. (Yeah, it does seem that Michael Anissimov is right to say that Transhumanism Has Already Won.) Yesterday, Time Magazine’s cover story was about Ray Kurzweil and Barry Ptolemy‘s long anticipated feature documentary Transcendent Man. It is hard to get any more mainstream than that. I hope that people will go to watch the film en masse, listen to what Ray has to say and start thinking about the vital issues stemming [...]

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Change of Plans: Kill All Humans

by Socrates
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The singularity is often equated with a Terminator or Matrix type of a TechnoCalyps based on the presumption that once artificial intelligence becomes sentient then supposedly the most likely action they will undertake is to exterminate us. The following cartoon has been circulating for a while around the general singularity and transhumanist community, but because it is so funny, I thought I’d post it anyway. Even if you may have seen it before you may still find it funny again… I know I laugh every time I read it, and I’ve read it a dozen times by now Hat tip to Singularity 2045 for finding the cartoon first. Related articles Singularities Happen: Alan Watts explains the Singularity… (singularityblog.singularitysymposium.com) The Best of Singularity Weblog 2010 (singularityblog.singularitysymposium.com) Why I Am an Optimist (singularityblog.singularitysymposium.com) A Transhumanist Manifesto (singularityblog.singularitysymposium.com)

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Why I Am an Optimist

by Socrates
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People sometimes ask me why am I such an optimist about the progress of technology in general and the technological singularity in particular? Well, my reply is simple. I choose to focus on the upside. I choose to be a deliberate, conscious optimist. That is not to say that I suggest we ought to ignore the many dangers that lie certainly ahead of us. What it means is that, once I’ve done my best and the die is cast, the only thing that is left for me is to enjoy the ride, focus on the bright side of life and have a little sense of humor on the way. Tony Robins says that, whether consciously or unconsciously, at any given moment in time we are always making the following decisions: 1. What do I focus on? 2. What does it [...]

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My Blackberry Is Not Working (And I Also Got A Problem With My Apple)

by Socrates
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This is a very serious blog on a very serious topic written by some seriously (mentally) varied number of people. Thus, in the spirit of all seriousness, I want you to check out the attached seriously smart and dangerously funny skit from the BBC.  In it Ronnie Corbett and Harry Enfield (from BBC’s The One Ronnie show) make a seriously fruity assault on our now common daily Techno-lingo. The all-out leave-no-fruit untouched video doesn’t spare Blackberry, Apple, Orange or Microsoft. Warning: Watching this video is equal to a whole week’s worth of your recommended fruit intake and may lead to serious side effects such as uncontrollably dangerous laughter and fructose-giggle over-dose. Watch at your own risk. This blog is not responsible for the consequences. Related Articles: The Perils of Voice Recognition Technology Funny or Serious: Are We Giving Robots Too [...]

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Early Adopters Through History

by Socrates
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Want to see the costs and benefits of technology’s early adopters throughout history? Check out this hilarious video. (Hat tip to George Dvorsky‘s Sentient Developments for posting the video first.)

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Funny Or Serious: Are We Giving Robots Too Much Power?

by Socrates
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Automated machines, intelligent software and robots are all playing greater and greater role in our society – they play games with us, clean our floors, connect our phone calls, tell us where we are and how to get where we want to be. Soon enough they will drive our cars, teach our kids, grow all of our food, provide care for the sick and the elderly, guard us when we sleep and fight in our wars. At least in theory, there is hardly anything at which humans are likely to retain their superiority forever. Optimists, such as Ray Kurzweil and Kevin Warwick believe that robotics is one of the 3 super technologies (the other 2 being nanotechnology and genetics) that could enhance out intelligence, improve our physical capabilities and eventually even bring about immortality. On the other hand, pessimists such [...]

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