Silicon Valley billionaire backs futuristic philanthropy
December 7, 2010
Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel is convening an unusual philanthropic summit Tuesday night at which he will introduce other wealthy tech figures to nonprofit groups exploring such futuristic ideas as artificial intelligence, the use of “rejuvenation biotechnologies” to extend human life, and the creation of free-floating communities on the high seas.
Eight nonprofits that will be making brief presentations to Thiel’s audience, including Seasteading Institute, Humanity Plus, Foresight Institute, SENS Foundation, X Prize Foundation, and Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence.
[ Mercury News ]
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Comments (3)
by JamesG76
SU, very smart thinking. I’ve also for years thought along the lines of ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’ in that positive attitudes towards the singularity will lead to greater funding and interest from researchers and a faster singularity, ending disease, aging, death, hunger, poverty and many other terrible features of your reality. And conversely, that attacking the singularity as a religion, the geek rapture and so on will just slow the singularity down and lead to untold suffering and death. I’ve also many times asked why billionaries don’t fund things like AI and nanorobotics, it would go a lot further towards decreasing suffering than donating another billion to cancer research or malaria research…
by Cassini
I think this guy is going to be one of the major entrepreneurs of this century, a kind of Henry Ford of XXI century. It would be great for humanity evolution.
by Singularity Utopia
I hope they discuss greater Post-Scarcity-Awareness.
My problem, some people would incorrectly say, is that I think TOO BIG: ABSOLUTELY MASSIVE THOUGHTS OF EXTREME UTOPIAN DEPTH.
I’ve been trying to trying instill people with the idea that utopia *IS* coming, and that via Self-Fulfilling Prophecy people can make utopia happen quicker.
Peter Thiel may not be thinking on the same gigantic level as I, but his forward thinking philanthropy is a step in the right direction and I congratulate him.
http://singularity-2045.org/utopia.html