Glad the convergence08 wiki issues were resolved ... About futurists: I don't think that term should be reserved for those who are actively working as scientists or engineers ...
About Aubrey: I don't buy the argument that theoretical biology isn't real biology. I think we need more theoretical biology. In physics no one says a theoretician isn't a real physicist!!! ben > My feeling that there are real futurists, and then there are people who > pretend to be futurists. How do you tell the difference? Just ask them what > they are DOING to get there. > > There is an interesting in-between person who might be used to better > position the line between real futurists and pretend futurists, and that is > Aubrey de Grey, who will also be at the conference. Watch and listen to him > before forming an opinion. Aubrey has published his 7 barriers to longevity, > but has done NO real-world wet lab research, seen no patients, helped no > elderly people, etc. Here, Aubrey is a pure theorist - a little like me on > this AGI forum, and as such, is completely at the mercy of the often > erroneous research community who,just like the Computer Science community, > has its own assortment of well-fastened blinders on. It appears to me that > Aubrey has drawn some well reasoned conclusions from some rather > questionable data. At minimum he has propelled various efforts (and possibly > stunted others), which almost certainly has some value, regardless of the > validity of his conclusions. > > Steve Richfield > ------------------------------------------- agi Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=117534816-b15a34 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
