Singularity University: Preparing Humanity for Accelerating Technological Change

The Law of Accelerating Returns states that technology grows exponentially. "Within a few decades, machine intelligence will surpass human intelligence, leading to The Singularity - technological change so rapid and profound it represents a rupture in the fabric of human history. The implications include the merger of biological and nonbiological intelligence, immortal software-based humans, and ultra-high levels of intelligence that expand outward in the universe at the speed of light." Explains Ray Kurzweil, a futurist and inventor, who has been called the successor and "rightful heir to Thomas Edison." He's won countless awards including the "National Medal of Technology", the highest award a President can bestow relating to the field of technology, "Engineer of the Year" from Design News, and "Inventor of the Year" award from MIT.

It sounds crazy, but his controversial essay, "The Law of Accelerating Returns ," an extension of Moore's law, has gained a large amount of credibility.

The Law has raised critical questions:

How can we possibly utilize these technological advances if we can only digest them so fast?

How can we ensure that these technologies are used for the greater good for mankind?

How do we protect ourselves and prevent potentially lethal technologies from falling into the wrong hands?

How can we strive to understand and facilitate the development of exponentially advancing technologies?

Most importantly, how can we apply, focus and guide these tools to address humanity’s grand challenges?

Questions give birth to a new university:

These are the questions that Singularity University seek to answer. The new university, backed by NASA , Google , and the International Space University just opened its doors last week.

As discussed in the video, the goal is to link interdisciplinary fields of study to form creative, innovative, and radically different approaches to mold solutions for some of the most pressing issues of our time. Singularity University hopes to accomplish this by offering courses and enabling students to cross pollinate concepts and ideas in the following fields:

Future Studies & Forecasting
Networks & Computing Systems
Biotechnology & Bioinformatics
Nanotechnology
Medicine, Neuroscience & Human Enhancement
AI, Robotics, & Cognitive Computing
Energy & Ecological Systems
Space & Physical Sciences
Policy, Law & Ethics
Finance & Entrepreneurship

A new way to examine the world issues:

Adam Bly, Founder of Seed, a magazine that curiously examines revolutionary ideas and breakthroughs in science, set a similar imperative in his latest edition:

The world today is more interconnected and more complex. We connot solve epidemics, for exmpale, without solving climate change; we connot solve climate change without rethinking growth; we cannot reconsider growth absent an understanding of population and demographics; and we cannot anticipate population shifts without considering epidemics. It now takes multibillion-dollar particle accelerators to progress in our understanding of the universe, supercomputers to advance our knowledge of how the mind works, and dozens of disciplines to make sense of cancer. And the pace of all this change? Fast. Navigating this unfolding reality, realizing opportunity within this massive change, requires that we reboot the system and adopt a fresh approach to governance and problem solving. We need a new way of looking at the world.

By the way...Ray Kurzweil was a college entrepreneur, too:

Not surprisingly, Kurzweil started a company when he was a sophomore at MIT back in 1968, too. Soon after when he was 20, he sold his program, called the Select College Consulting Program, to Harcourt, Brace & World for $100,000. He's now the Chancellor of Singularity University.

We are now in the steep part of the exponential trajectory of information technologies in a broad variety of fields, including health, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence. It is only these accelerating technologies that have the scale to address the major challenges of humanity ranging from energy and the environment to disease and poverty. With its strong focus on interdisciplinary learning, Singularity University is poised to foster the leaders who will create a uniquely creative and productive future world.

- Ray Kurzweil