Re: OpenCog Hong Kong project: next installment of funding needed ;p
Ben
On Friday, May 20, 2011, Jeffrey Epstein jeevacation@gmail.com wrote: > number to call?? > > On Thu, May 19, 2011 at 9:10 PM, Ben Goertzel < > wrote: > > Hi Jeffrey, > > The OpenCog Hong Kong project that you funded with $20K last year is > progressing well, and is now in need of another $10K of funding to > keep it going. (Recall that the Hong Kong government funds 90% of the > project, and Novamente LLC's contribution is 10% -- some excellent > leverage.) > > I had originally thought that the next funding for the project would > not be needed till August 2011, but it turns out I was misinformed, > and it's actually needed by the end of May! > > So, please read this email & the attached insofar as you have time, > and let me know if you're game to donate the additional $10K. If not, > I will explore other options (like my personal credit cards, most > probably). I really can't afford $10K personally right now, and yet > it would be really stupid to let the project die partway through due > to lack of $10K, so.... > > Progress on the project has been great, and Dr. Joel Pitt (a colleague > of mine from New Zealand) has relocated to Hong Kong to lead the > project. I'm currently earning a living on a consulting contract for > a US government agency, which pays me enough to live and requires very > little work, enabling me to spend a lot of time collaborating with the > Hong Kong guys. I can't move to HK and keep this US gov't contract, > but I can visit frequently. I was there for 5 weeks in April/May, and > will be there again for all of July. > > I have attached to this email some information on the project > > -- An overview and summary document, describing what the project goals > are and what we've done so far
-- A 2 year roadmap for OpenCog, summarizing what we intend to achieve > in the project by the end of 2012 (largely due to the Hong Kong > project, but also including some other stuff) > > -- A long-term roadmap for OpenCog, which is much more speculative but > will remind you of my overall thinking on how this near-term work fits > into the path toward human-level (and beyond) AGI > > -- a description of a demo we intend to build over the next few > months, as part of the Hong Kong project, to illustrate some of the Al > functionality achieved > > If you have any questions about any of this (or anything else related) > I'm of course happy to talk, my cell is my Google Talk > is S my Skype is end and you know my email > > > In other notes... > > -- I recently finished a draft of "Building Better Minds" (my 900 page > book on how to build AGI) and it's under consideration by World > Scientific Press. Cassio (my Brazilian collaborator, whom you met) > is currently carefully editing the draft. I suppose it make most > sense for you to put in the time to read it after it's fully edited > and ready to be published, but I can send you the current draft if > you're interested. The references and figures are still messed up in > the current draft, and it needs more editing (which Cassio is doing) > but the contents are now fully in place ;-) > > -- My Hong Kong collaborator Gino Yu and I are planning to put > together a proposal for an "AGI Research Center" at his university in > Hong Kong, with a cost of perhaps US $3M per year. The goal would be > to fund OpenCog and 2 other AGI projects there at a moderate level, > initially with a 4 year commitment. If time permits we'll put that > proposal together in June, and I can send it your way then if you're > curious. > > -- You may be curious to know that I have a couple students in > Xiamen, China working on integrating some of Itamar Arel's DeSTIN > computer vision software (remember you met Itamar in Florida, with me > and Cassio) with OpenCog. Currently they're porting it to CUDA so it > can run on GPU supercomputers, which is needed to make it operate > scalably as is needed e.g. for robot vision. > > I guess that's all for now. > > If you ever get the urge to discuss AGI in person, let me know and we > can get together at your convenience ;) > > Also, remember the AGI-11 conference is at the start of August on > Google's campus in Mountain View, if you feel like spending a couple
days hearing weird AGI ideas ;) ... http://agi-conf.org/2011
Thanks a lot,
Ben--
Ben Goertzel, PhD--
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Ben Goertzel, PhD
CEO, Novamente LLC and Biomind LLC
CTO, Genescient Corp
Chairman, Humanity+
Adjunct Professor of Cognitive Science, Xiamen University, China Advisor, Singularity University and Singularity Institute
"My humanity is a constant self-overcoming" -- Friedrich Nietzsche