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It sounds like an Astroturf campaign for the upcoming computers-gone-bad movie "Terminator: Salvation," but in fact New Scientist magazine is being completely serious when it asks if the Internet itself could soon become "self-aware." The article explains:

In engineering terms, it is easy to see qualitative similarities between the human brain and the Internet’s complex network of nodes, as they both hold, process, recall, and transmit information.

Fortunately for anyone worrying about how to best serve our new robot overlords, the article points out that even if this does come to pass, it won’t, "necessarily have the same kind of consciousness as humans," because consciousness can be described as, "a system of mechanisms for making information processing more efficient by adding a level of control over which of the brain’s processes get the most resources."

via Science mag warns: ‘Could the Net become self-aware?’ | Digital City Podcast – CNET Blogs.

The victory of the Watson Supercomputer over two Jeopardy! champions is one small step for IBM, one giant leap for computerkind…

Click here to read Ray’s full report.

Click here for more information from and about Ray Kurzweil.

The issue of species dominance will dictate our global politics this century. Given the rate at which technologies are developing that enable “artilects”–artificial intellects–it is likely that…

Click here to read the entire report found on the Forbes Magazine website.

Click here for more information on artilects.

The winner will receive $1 million–if Watson wins, IBM will donate the money to charity, and both of the human competitors have pledged to donate half the prize if either wins…

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Transhumanists advocate the improvement of human capacities through advanced technology…

Click here to read the special report by Michael Anissimov found on the Lifeboat Foundation website.

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Dr. Ben Goertzel decided to bow to popular demand and write a blog post…

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Click here for more information from Dr. Ben Goertzel.

Christian Nesheim interviewed David Pearce, George Dvorsky, Michael Anissimov, Phil Bowermaster and Aaron Saenz. The answers they gave him are…

Click here to read their answers.

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A team of Italian engineers is gearing up for a high-tech road rally that should impress even the outside-the-box dreamers over at DARPA: an 8,000-mile journey from Italy to China, with nobody behind the wheel. The three-month convoy will be the longest test of driverless vehicles ever conducted, taking the cars through twisting mountain passes, Moscow traffic, and harsh Siberian weather before ending up in the sprawling roadways of Shanghai in October.

Of course, when we say there’s nobody behind the wheel, that’s not entirely accurate. The project includes two electric-powered "driverless" vans, each of which will carry two technicians. One of them will always be in the driver seat ready to press the red "oh sh*t!" button and take control should the car’s laser scanners, cameras, and software get into a situation that might turn dangerous.

via Two Driverless Cars Have Begun 8,000-Mile Journey from Italy to China | Popular Science.

When it comes to artificial intelligence Google has a head start, what with all that free data we give them every time we search for a 30 Rock clip. So perhaps it’s no surprise that the search giant is the latest enterprise to pursue a future where cars drive themselves via complex, decision-making artificial intelligence software. Over the weekend it was revealed that Google has seven test cars that have driven 1,000 miles each without any human intervention whatsoever.

Of course, the cars aren’t exactly driverless. There is always someone sitting behind the wheel, ready to seize control should something go awry. There’s also a passenger, a technician to monitor the navigation system and ensure the software is running smoothly. But the cars do pretty much all of the work – one of them even negotiated San Francisco’s famously treacherous Lombard Street (that steep stretch of pavement that’s more or less a series of sharp switchbacks). If you count up all the miles that required only occasional human intervention, the cars have logged some 140,000 miles altogether.

via Revealed: Google’s Car Fleet Has Been Driving Around Unmanned For 140,000 Miles Already | Popular Science.

Google, the world’s largest internet search engine, has been tinkering with engines of another sort and come up with some futuristic results – a car that drives itself.

Google, in a posting on its official blog, said it has developed the technology and been busy testing a fully automated car that would take the controls out of the hands of distracted drivers, leaving them free to text, eat or apply makeup to their heart’s content.

"Our goal is to help prevent traffic accidents, free up people’s time and reduce carbon emissions by fundamentally changing car use," Google said on its blog.

The automated cars use video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder to "see" other traffic, as well as detailed maps to navigate the road ahead.

via Google tests car that can drive itself.

The car is a project of Google, which has been working in secret but in plain view on vehicles that can drive themselves, using artificial-intelligence software that can sense anything near the car and…

Click here to view the complete New York Times report.

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(PhysOrg.com) — Supercomputer simulations at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are helping scientists unravel how nucleic acids could have contributed to the origins of life.

via Powerful supercomputer peers into the origin of life.

Earlier this morning I received the following email invitation from Singularity University. I’m posting it here because I believe you’ll be interested in seeing it. Perhaps one of you may want to attend SU -

Subject: Invitation: Learn to Hack Bacteria in your Living Room and More

Frank,
A few weeks ago, SU faculty Andrew Hessel gave a private lecture to our Singularity University students showing them how to “hack” bacteria in their living rooms, using simple products they could buy in any store…

More than just a cocktail party trick, the ability to hack bacteria at home demonstrates how much more is known about bacteria and DNA for more effective and personalized healthcare and treatments.

Andrew is co-chair of the Biotech and Bioinformatics track, and an expert in biotech and synthetic biology. Here is an interview with Andrew discussing recent advances and innovations:

http://singularityu.org/videos/2009/12/andrew-hessel-on-the-future-of-synthetic-biology/

Andrew will be working personally with the 50 people who get in to our Executive Program beginning October 14. Interested in working with him and other industry experts one on one?

We understand this is a busy time of year, and schedules get jam-packed. But, we’ve saved three spots for people who apply last minute. We don’t believe in first-come-first serve, as we want to accept only the best candidates…

Want to learn about the latest innovations in six tracks including biotech and artificial intelligence/robotics from industry leaders? And understand how they will impact and benefit your career, company, and life? Contact Kip Stringfellow at kip@singularityu.org to register and for more information.

Looking forward to seeing you at the Executive Program!

Singularity University
This message was sent by: Singularity University, NASA Ames, Moffett Field, CA 94035

Summary:

The development of human-level AI has been a core goal of the AI field since its inception, though at present it occupies only a fraction of the field’s efforts. To help understand the viability of this goal, this article presents an assessment of expert opinions regarding human-level AI research conducted at AGI-09, a conference for this AI specialty.

We found that various experts strongly disagree with each other on certain matters, such as timing and ordering of key milestones. However, we did find that most experts expect human-level AI to be reached within upcoming decades, and all experts give at least some chance that some milestones will be reached within this time. Furthermore, a majority of experts surveyed favor an integrative approach to human-level AI rather than an approach centered on a particular technique. Finally, experts are skeptical about the impact of massive research funding, especially if it is concentrated in relatively few approaches. These results suggest that the possibility of achieving human-level AI in the near term should be given serious consideration. more>>>