The First Three Days of Singularity University

Editor's Blog

By: Lisa Rein

Published: July 6, 2009

The founding class of Singularity University. Day One gave everyone a chance to get to know each other and learn why Ray, Peter, and the rest of the Founders brought this select group of individuals together.

Day Two kicked in with some overview lectures on AI and Robotics, Internet Infrastructure, and an update on the Singularity from Ray Kurzweil himself.

Day Three started off with a thorough Nanotech Overview from Ralph Merkle (Part 1) (Part 2). Next came a lecture on the future of energy from Sunil Paul.

Later that evening, the students received a first-hand account from Vint Cerf explaining how he built the Internet. Afterwards, Vint answered questions from the students for over an hour.

Highlights from Day Four and Five coming up!

Vint Cerf answers questions from Singularity University students.

8 Comments

Submitted by heron stone on July 7, 2009 at 6:46 am.

?did i say that i was jealous

Submitted by Jonathan on July 7, 2009 at 10:08 am.

What is the point of singularity university? It sounds cool and all and you get to talk with people who are doing some cool research, but are they training or what?

Submitted by steve on July 7, 2009 at 11:50 am.

one of my goal’s is too meet and discuss several things with Ray Kurzweil as well as a host of others that i want to talk with there can not wait

Submitted by Matt Chorey on July 7, 2009 at 12:48 pm.

I applied for Singularity University the week it was announced and received an email about a week later declining my admittance. I guess it’s because I am a random 21 year old with no qualifications other than a strong enthusiasm for the forthcoming Singularity. Oh well, I can’t blame them.

This whole effort is such a great thing. We need people who are prepared to deal with the roadblocks that will undoubtedly show up and Singularity University is an important step in the right direction.

THE SINGULARITY IS NEAR!

Submitted by Ben D on July 7, 2009 at 11:41 pm.

I remember hearing Ray mention a while back that all the intellectual property created at the SU would be open source and shared with the public! How about posting to the web a video version of some/all of the talks & lectures for those of us such as Matt Chorey (above) and I who-for a multitude of reasons-will most likely never have the chance to attend the SU!

Submitted by Sirian on July 8, 2009 at 8:05 am.

I’m not convinced that this so called “singularity university” is worth the 25k$… In the age of information, do you really need to gather people physically and make conferences ? Isnt the internet a better place for such things ? you could gather more people and save them a lot of time and money. Plus, it wouldnt have to be so limited in time.
I’m not jealous of those few chosen ones, because from my experience i can be reasonably sure that they wont get much interesting data from this.

Submitted by Brad on July 8, 2009 at 10:23 am.

I wonder how this will all work with debased currencies, I guess we’ll have evolved beyond such needs, unless of course, it comes down to tuition for SU, that will cost you pal.