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A short, provocative book about why "useless" science often leads to humanity's greatest technological breakthroughsA forty-year tightening of funding for scientific research has meant that resources are increasingly directed toward applied or practical outcomes, with the intent of creating products of immediate value. In such a scenario, it makes sense to focus on the most identifiable and urgent problems, right? Actually, it doesn't. In his classic essay "The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge," Abraham Flexner, the founding director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and the man who helped bring Albert Einstein to the United States, describes a great paradox of scientific research. The search for answers to deep questions, motivated solely by curiosity and without concern for applications, often leads not only to the greatest scientific discoveries but also to the most revolutionary technological breakthroughs. In short, no quantum mechanics, no computer chips.This brief book includes Flexner's timeless 1939 essay alongside a new companion essay by Robbert Dijkgraaf, the Institute's current director, in which he shows that Flexner's defense of the value of "the unobstructed pursuit of useless knowledge" may be even more relevant today than it was in the early twentieth century. Dijkgraaf describes how basic research has led to major transformations in the past century and explains why it is an essential precondition of innovation and the first step in social and cultural change. He makes the case that society can achieve deeper understanding and practical progress today and tomorrow only by truly valuing and substantially funding the curiosity-driven "pursuit of useless knowledge" in both the sciences and the humanities.

Research. --- R&D. --- STEM. --- STS. --- TOT. --- TT. --- advances. --- applications. --- applied. --- basic. --- blue skies. --- case against utilitarianism. --- discovery. --- fundamental. --- hard science. --- hard. --- history of science. --- history of technology. --- innovation. --- pure chemistry. --- pure mathematics. --- pure. --- research and development. --- research. --- science. --- soft. --- technical innovation. --- technological revolution. --- technology transfer. --- theoretical physics. --- theoretical. --- transfer of technology.

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"AI and the Technological Singularity: A Fallacy or a Great Opportunity" is a collection of essays that addresses the question of whether the technological singularity—the notion that AI-based computers can program the next generation of AI-based computers until a singularity is achieved, where an AI-based computer can exceed human intelligence—is a fallacy or a great opportunity. The group of scholars that address this question have a variety of positions on the singularity, ranging from advocates to skeptics. No conclusion can be reached, as the development of artificial intelligence is still in its infancy, and there is much wishful thinking and imagination in this issue rather than trustworthy data. The reader will find a cogent summary of the issues faced by researchers who are working to develop the field of artificial intelligence and, in particular, artificial general intelligence. The only conclusion that can be reached is that there exists a variety of well-argued positions as to where AI research is headed.

Information technology industries --- technological Singularity --- intelligence --- emotion --- artificial general intelligence --- artificial intelligence --- computer --- logic --- figure/ground --- computers --- consciousness --- singularity --- self --- futures --- technological singularity --- philosophy --- cosmic evolution --- anthropology --- technical singularity --- non-axiomatic reasoning system --- metasystem transitions --- patterns --- patterning --- cognition --- set theory --- language --- information --- abductive reasoning --- futurism and futurology --- hard science fiction --- models of consciousness --- intelligent machines --- machine replication --- machine evolution and optimization --- Turing test --- embodiment --- competition --- cooperation --- self-organization --- robots --- heterogeneity --- team sports --- artificial intelligence (AI) --- automated journalism --- robo-journalism --- writing algorithms --- future of news --- media ecology --- autogenous intelligence --- bootstrap fallacy --- recursive self-improvement --- self-modifying software --- superintelligence --- skepticism --- cyborg --- evolution --- love --- misinformation --- Technological Singularity --- Accelerated Change --- Artificial (General) Intelligence --- apophenia --- pareidolia --- complexity --- research focused social network --- networked minds --- complexity break --- complexity fallacy --- philosophy of information --- machine learning --- information quality --- information friction --- Artificial Intelligence (AI) --- Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) --- Artificial Social Intelligence (ASI) --- social sciences --- embodied cognition --- value alignment --- experience --- phenomenal consciousness --- access consciousness --- percept --- concept --- deep neural networks --- meaning --- understanding --- Singularity --- intuition --- wisdom

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• Reference Manager
• EndNote
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"AI and the Technological Singularity: A Fallacy or a Great Opportunity" is a collection of essays that addresses the question of whether the technological singularity—the notion that AI-based computers can program the next generation of AI-based computers until a singularity is achieved, where an AI-based computer can exceed human intelligence—is a fallacy or a great opportunity. The group of scholars that address this question have a variety of positions on the singularity, ranging from advocates to skeptics. No conclusion can be reached, as the development of artificial intelligence is still in its infancy, and there is much wishful thinking and imagination in this issue rather than trustworthy data. The reader will find a cogent summary of the issues faced by researchers who are working to develop the field of artificial intelligence and, in particular, artificial general intelligence. The only conclusion that can be reached is that there exists a variety of well-argued positions as to where AI research is headed.

Information technology industries --- technological Singularity --- intelligence --- emotion --- artificial general intelligence --- artificial intelligence --- computer --- logic --- figure/ground --- computers --- consciousness --- singularity --- self --- futures --- technological singularity --- philosophy --- cosmic evolution --- anthropology --- technical singularity --- non-axiomatic reasoning system --- metasystem transitions --- patterns --- patterning --- cognition --- set theory --- language --- information --- abductive reasoning --- futurism and futurology --- hard science fiction --- models of consciousness --- intelligent machines --- machine replication --- machine evolution and optimization --- Turing test --- embodiment --- competition --- cooperation --- self-organization --- robots --- heterogeneity --- team sports --- artificial intelligence (AI) --- automated journalism --- robo-journalism --- writing algorithms --- future of news --- media ecology --- autogenous intelligence --- bootstrap fallacy --- recursive self-improvement --- self-modifying software --- superintelligence --- skepticism --- cyborg --- evolution --- love --- misinformation --- Technological Singularity --- Accelerated Change --- Artificial (General) Intelligence --- apophenia --- pareidolia --- complexity --- research focused social network --- networked minds --- complexity break --- complexity fallacy --- philosophy of information --- machine learning --- information quality --- information friction --- Artificial Intelligence (AI) --- Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) --- Artificial Social Intelligence (ASI) --- social sciences --- embodied cognition --- value alignment --- experience --- phenomenal consciousness --- access consciousness --- percept --- concept --- deep neural networks --- meaning --- understanding --- Singularity --- intuition --- wisdom