A singularity is sometimes understood as a phase shift, where the new phase is beyond the comprehension of the old. We can guess, but we don't really know what will happen once general artificial intelligence is surpassing human intelligence. Someone once said, when you look outside your window and there is a new mountain, you know it has arrived.
Such a phase shift also happened about 4.2 billion years ago. [Since this economic crisis we are getting more and more familiar with these kind of numbers ;-) ] Out of the hot chemical soup here on earth the first simple life forms: Protocells formed. The arrival of the first primitive life forms changed everything on planet earth. As far as I know we have not been able to recreate that feat in a laboratory as of yet.
At this Friday's Protocell Future Salon you will have the chance to ask two of the leading scientists what the holdup is and what our current understanding is about the origin of life.
Mark A. Bedau is Professor of Humanities at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. He is the coeditor of Emergence: Contemporary Readings in Science and Philosophy and Protocells: Bridging Nonliving and Living Matter, both published by the MIT Press in 2008.
David Deamer is Research Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, Santa Cruz. David edited the book Origins of Life: The Central Concepts, Jones and Bartlett 1994. He is currently working on his next book to be published early in 2010 by UC Press.
I have it from very well informed people that they are excellent presenters. Not to be missed.
Oh and it was Darwin's 200th birthday the other day and the Guardian posted the results of a survey: Half of Britons do not believe in evolution. Pew Research arrives at a similar result for the US.
Independent on which side you are, please come and join us this Friday. I guarantee you will learn something and we love nothing more than a well thought out argument and debate. As always we will have great audience participation.
Future Salons have the following structure: 6-7pm is networking with light refreshments proudly sponsored by SAP; 7-9+pm is the presentation followed by questions and discussion.
SAP Labs North America, Building D, Room Southern Cross or Cafeteria depending on number of RSVPs. SAP is located at 3410 Hillview Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94304[map]. Free and open to the public. Please spread the word and invite others, but be sure to RSVP http://budurl.com/xx4a so we know how many people to expect.
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