EFTA00628447.pdf

From: Ben Goertzel To: Jeffrey Epstein <[email protected]> Subject: What I'd really like to be doing (proposal for larger OpenCog AGI Toddler project) Date: Fri, 24 Jun 2011 22:29:48 +0000 Attachments: OpenCog_Toddler HK.pdf Hi Jeffrey, Hope you enjoyed Africa!! (or are still enjoying it, if you're still there). That's one continent I've not yet explored, except for Morocco and Egypt, years ago... Mostly just for your curiosity, attached is a proposal I put together recently for someone else (a long shot to be sure, but I've got to keep trying). This proposal is the latest version of my "full speed ahead toward AGI" plan... it would involve 15 people based in our current lab in Hong Kong, working on nothing but AGI for 4 years. The result would be an AGI controlling a video game character and a Hanson Robokind humanoid robot, with roughly the same intelligence as a young human child. The cost would be US$7501Uyear for 4 years. The project would be led by me and people who work with me on Al projects already, plus some new young Chinese hires (lots of smart young Chinese AI guys in HK). I'm quite aware that if you show this proposal to Minsky or Schank they'll say it's doomed to fail. But, well, they're wrong.... Of course, US$3M is a lot of money. However, this would be the "Sputnik of AGI" -- it would set the development of AGI on a whole new course.... I wonder, would you be willing to fund half of this on a "matching" basis? That is, would you be willing to put in $1.5M if I can find another $1.5M from one or two other wealthy individuals? Sometimes it's easier to secure $$ once there is already some $$ in the pot, as I'm sure you know. For sure, I **extremely** much appreciate your funding of our current smaller-scale OpenCog AGI project in Hong Kong, yet I can't help wishing we had funds to really push full speed ahead. $3M is so little compared to what the world spends on so much nonsense, yet so much in terms of the AGI R&D it would enable... Just a thought ;-) ... nobody will ever accuse me of lack of persistence!!! ben EFTA00628447 Ben Goertzel, PhD CEO, Novamente LLC and Biomind LLC CTO, Genescient Corp Vice Chairman, Humanity+ Adjunct Professor of Cognitive Science, Xiamen University, China Advisor Sin ularity University and Singularity Institute "My humanity is a constant self-overcoming" -- Friedrich Nietzsche EFTA00628448