Latest News

New research post at Futuretech: Socio-economic Impacts of Technological Change

Submitted by Seán O’Heigeartaigh on Wed, 29/02/2012 - 15:04

James Martin Postdoctoral Research Fellowship:
Socio-economic Impacts of Technological Change
with the Programme on the Impacts of Future Technology

University of Oxford
Faculty of Philosophy
The Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford Martin School

Grade 7: £29,099–£39,107 per annum
Protocol reference number: HUM/11043F/E

Tamas Research Fellowship deadline extended.

Submitted by Seán O’Heigeartaigh on Wed, 22/02/2012 - 19:27

The deadline for the Tamas Research Fellowship: Machine Superintelligence and the Future of AI with the Programme on the Impacts of Future Technology has been extended until noon on Wednesday the 7th of March 2012. All details are available here:

http://www.futuretech.ox.ac.uk/alexander-tamas-research-fellowship-machi...

Nick Bostrom on Cold War Risks: BBC Website

Submitted by Seán O’Heigeartaigh on Thu, 16/02/2012 - 18:20

Professor Nick Bostrom is interviewed regarding the risks that used to be associated with nuclear weapons and mutually assured distruction in an article published on the BBC News's website today.
"The fear of nuclear war has diminished partly because the risk has receded significantly with the end of the Cold War," says Nick Bostrom, director of Oxford University's Future of Humanity Institute. "But another factor might be simple changes in risk fashion - it becoming more popular recently to worry about global warming, for example."

The article is available here:

Nick Bostrom gives Claremont Distinguished Speaker lecture in California

Submitted by Seán O’Heigeartaigh on Wed, 15/02/2012 - 15:31

Professor Nick Bostrom gave the Claremont Distinguished Speaker Lecture this week at the Athenaeum, Claremont-McKenna College. His talk ,"Superintelligence: The Machine Intelligence Revolution", was presented to a general audience on Tuesday, and was preceded by a lecture for a specialised philosophical audience on Monday, "Are you living in a computer simulation? The simulation argument ten years on".

Dr. Anders Sandberg to take part in Washington workshop on transformative technologies

Submitted by Seán O’Heigeartaigh on Wed, 15/02/2012 - 15:20

Fresh off a well-received talk for TedX Stockholm on Tuesday (soon to be online), Dr. Anders Sandberg will be taking part in a workshop on Transformative Technologies for Global Security in Washington DC (USA) on Thursday and Friday.

From there, he will be finishing his current lecture tour with a talk on the Far Future of Mankind at the 2062 conference in Paris on Saturday.

More details to come.

Anders Sandberg Keynote speech text

Submitted by Seán O’Heigeartaigh on Wed, 15/02/2012 - 15:07

The text of Dr. Anders Sandberg's very well-received keynote speech at the Robotdalen event in Sweden:
COMMERCIALIZING THE ROBOT ECOSYSTEM IN THE ANTHROPOCENE

Dr. Anders Sandberg delivers keynote speech at Robotdalen, Sweden

Submitted by Seán O’Heigeartaigh on Thu, 09/02/2012 - 20:12

Futuretech Research Associate Dr. Anders Sandberg will deliver a keynote speech at the launch of the Robotics Innovation Challenge in Eskilstuna, Sweden on the 9th of February. The launch will include distinguished speakers that include Rodney Brooks, groundbreaking artificial intelligence researcher and founder of the iRobot that has sold over 6 million robots to American households as well as thousands of robots to the U.S. Army, Per Strömberg, and Paolo Dario, Professor at the BioRobotics Institute at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa, Italy.

New research post at Futuretech: Machine Intelligence and the Future of AI

Submitted by Seán O’Heigeartaigh on Mon, 06/02/2012 - 13:55

Alexander Tamas Research Fellowship: Machine Superintelligence and the Future of AI
with the Programme on the Impacts of Future Technology
University of Oxford
Faculty of Philosophy
The Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford Martin School
Grade 7: £29,099–£39,107 per annum
Protocol reference number: HUM/11042F/E

Applications are invited for a fixed-term, three-year Research Fellowship within the Oxford Martin Programme on the Impacts of Future Technology, an interdisciplinary programme within the Oxford Martin School at Oxford University.

Futuretech researchers contribute to governmental policy-influencing identity workshop

Submitted by Seán O’Heigeartaigh on Tue, 24/01/2012 - 14:41

“The University of Oxford and the Future of Humanity Institute will be represented by Dr. Anders Sandberg at a workshop held by the UK Government Office for Science Foresight Project this week. The workshop will focus on the Future of Identity, and will incorporate input from a report written by Dr. Sandberg and FHI director Professor Nick Bostrom advising on the impacts of emerging technologies on issues of identity.

"Simulation Hypothesis" paper by Professor Nick Bostrom inspires theatre production

Submitted by Seán O’Heigeartaigh on Mon, 23/01/2012 - 19:31

"Are you living in a computer simulation?", a paper written by Professor Nick Bostrom, Director of the Oxford Martin Programme on the Impacts of Future Technology, has inspired Jay Scheib’s theatre production ‘World of Wires’, now showing in New York.