I’ve written a few posts lately about Ray Kurzweil’s notion of an impending technological “Singularity“, a sort of “omega point” at which exponentially accelerating technological trends will converge, with world-changing effect.
Now Dr. Kurzweil and several others have founded, at NASA’s Ames Research Center, an institution called the Singularity University (modeled on the International Space University), which aims, according to its mission statement, to “assemble, educate and inspire a cadre of leaders who strive to understand and facilitate the development of exponentially advancing technologies and apply, focus and guide these tools to address humanity’s grand challenges.”
As it happens, the Singularity University’s executive director is my friend Salim Ismail, who was a co-founder of PubSub Concepts, a “prospective-search” startup where I worked from mid-2004 until its catastrophic implosion in June of 2006. Salim is one of those people who always seem to be involved in something “edgy” and interesting, and this latest venture is certainly no exception.
Have a look here.