EFTA01004761.pdf

From: John Brockman <MINIM> To: Jeffrey Epstein <[email protected]> Subject: Invitation to the first "Brockman Conference" Sept 7-9thY Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2018 19:17:12 +0000 JE: I. BELOW IS A DRAFT OF THE INVITATION I AM SENDING THIS AFTERNOON. 2.. THANKS TO YOUR COMMENT ON "DEEP THINKING" WE HAVE A NEW TITLE "POSSIBLE MINDS". 3. I HAVE COME UP WITH A VERY AMBITIOUS PLAN AND LONG TERM AGENDA WHICH IS TO RESURRECT THE HIGHLY INFLUENTIAL MACY CONFERENCES OF THE 19405-19505 (WIENER, MCCULLOCH, PITTS, VON NEUMANN, SHANNON, BATESON, MEAD). KAHNEMAN HAS AGREED TO CHAIR THE FIRST 'BROCKMAN CONFERENCE' (BELOW). 3. ON FURTHER DISCUSSION CARNEGIE HALL DOESN'T WORK FOR THE GROUP OR FOR ME. I TALKED TO NUMEROUS PEOPLE THAT DO THIS KIND OF THING AND ALL STRONGLY ADVISED AGAINT IT. ITS HARD TO FILL A HALL: ITS A FULL-TIME JOB AS PRODUCER (A JOB I DON'T WANT OR NEED); FAILURE IS A BIG POSSIBILITY; I HAVE NO INTEREST IN, AND DON'T DO EVENTS FOR THE PUBLIC. I KNOW WHO I WANT TO TALK TO AND WHY. AND LIKE YOU, I ONLY WANT TO TALK TO SMART PEOPLE. WITH A PUBLIC EVENT YOU ALSO HAVE TO DEAL WITH HOW MANY OF THIS OR THAT SEX, RACE, AGE, ETC. I DON'T WANT OR NEED TO GO THERE. WHAT I'M PLANNING IS MORE SIGNIFICANT, CONSEQUENTIAL, AND FUN. GIVE ME A CALL. I'M AT THE FARM. Eastover Farm 325 Guilds Hollow Road. RR 132 Bethlehem. CT 06751 M : bide,211XNACC To: Chris Anderson. Rodney Brooks. George M. Church. Daniel C. Dennett . David Deutsch, Anca Dugan. George Dyson. Peter Galison, Neil Gershenfeld, Alison Gopnik. Tom Griffiths. Danny Hillis. Caroline A. Jones, David Kaiser, Seth Lloyd. Hans Ulrich °brim, Judea Pearl. Sandy Pentland. Steven Pinker, Venki Ramakrisluian, Stuart Russell. Jaan Tallin. Max %mark. Frank Wilezek. Stephen Wolfram From: John Brockman am writing to invite you to the rust "Brockman Conference' and to give you an important update on the book regarding a change of title. UPDATE ON THE BOOK DEEP THINKING: Twenty Five Nays of Looking at AI Just as the book went to the printer, we realized that Gary Kasparov has recently published a book with the same title. After some consideration and asking for suggestions. Kevin Kelly came up with a much better title that does a better job of framing the overall content of the essays: POSSIBLE MINDS: Twenty Five Vks of Looking at Al Stewart Brand has contributed the first jacket blurb: "Intelligences born and intelligences made have a lot to offer each other. For that beneficial blend to occur, the contextual framing that the voices in this book spell out will be crucial." —Stewart Brand THE BROCKMAN CONFERENCE Two years ago. I organized a weekend conference in Washington. CT which resulted in twenty five important thinkers writing consequential essays that are pan of a new, and important conversation. When I wrote to the participants last month regarding the possibility of another conference, the response was overwhelmingly positive. Thus, save the date: WHEN 5pm Friday. September 7th — Sunday noon. September 9th WHERE. At the beautiful high-end resort. Winvian Farm la a 5-star Relais & Chateaux resort hotel in Morris. CT. six miles from Eastover Farm. I have reserved their conference room, and have a hold on 15 guest cottages for Friday and Saturday nights ftii yi.lirObxle). WHAT The first meeting two years ago was very consequential and resulted in 25 essays that arc the beginning of a new conversation that reclaims the narrative about AI for science. EFTA01004761 RSVP The hotel has a beautiful conference space can accommodate a maximum of 22 people. I need a response by Wednesday next week, July 25th. AGENDA The purpose of this initial conference is to explore a plan to update to The Macy Conferences of the 1940s and 195Os. The original participants wanted to create a new social science for their lime and, in so doing. asked people in various disciplines to talk and interact with each other. Participants included a who's who of caning edge scientific intellectuals: H. Ross Ashby. Gregory Bateson, Julian H. Bigelow. Warren McCulloch. Margaret Mead, F.S.C. Northrop. Walter Pitts. Arturo Rosenthbleuth, John Von Neumann, Claude Shannon. Heinz Von Forester, W Grey Walter. Norbert Wiener, and J.Z. Young. A list comparable to the participants in the Possible Minds Project, I might add. McCulloch, as Chairman. presided over the sessions and decided who to invite and what they should talk about. von Feaster, as Secretary, was the driving force of the project. It was McCulloch who insisted over Norbert \Wieners objections that "mind" be introduced into the mix, and for this, he recruited Gregory Bateson and Margaret Mcad. The disciplined represented over the decade ranged across economics, electrical engineering, biology. chemistry, medical research. neluoscienc, philosophers. physics, physiology. psychiatry, and zoology. The ambition for their agenda seems remarkble but not when you consider it in the context of WWII and the postwar cold war and nuclear threat. Interestingly. although people look at cybernetics as a necessary defense effort, the people involved were almost all deeply humanistic while at the same time being erudite and leaders in their respective scientific disciplines. (For examples of the interdisciplinary aspect of the Macy Conference. see selected title of talks below.) am inviting the participants in the POSSIBLE MINDS book and a few other people who have important insights and expertise to contribute. Just as hfcCulloch invited Bateson and Mead to emphasize mind. I was to balance the narrative concerning technology and engineering with a focus on human intelligence and thinking. In the regard. Danny Kahneman has agreed to serve as chair of the meeting. I am very excited about this project and very much want your participation. JB John Brockman 917-744-8920 mobile Edge Foundation, Inc. 260 Fifth Avenue tole New York. NY 10001 Whit the EDGE websate edge.org: "An epicenter of bleeding-edge insight across science, technology and beyond...A lavish cerebral feast." -THE ATLANTIC SELECTED MACY CONFERENCE TALKS The Psychological Moment in Perception John Stroud The Neurotic Potential and Human Adaptation Lawrence S. Kubie Quantum Mechanical Theory of Memory Heinz von Foerstcr Sensory Prosthesises Norben Wiener The Manner in Which and Extent to Which Speech Can Be Distorted and Remain Intelligible L.C.R.Licklider The Redundancy of English Claude E. Shannon Experience in Leaning Primitive Languages Through the Use of Learning High Level Linguistic Abstractions Margaret Mead On the Development of Word Meanings Heinz Wenrer The Development of language in Early Childhood John Stroud Body Symbolization and Development of Language Lawrence S. Kubic Communication Panems in Problem-Solving Groups Alex Bavelas Communication Between Sane and Insane: Hypnosis Lawrence S. Kubie Communication Between Animals Herbert C. Birch Presentation of a Maze-Solving Machine Claude Shannon EFTA01004762 In Search of Basic Symbols Donald M. MacKay The Position of Humor in Human Communication Gregory Rawson The Place of Emotions in the Feedback Concept Lawrence S. Kubic Homeostasis W. Ross Ashby Discrimination and Learning in Octopus J. Z. Young Mechanical Chess Player W. Ross Ashby Investigations on Synaptic Transmission Walter Pits Studies on Activity of the Brain W. Grey-Walter EFTA01004763