RE: Singularity PR: Idea for a Website

From: Ben Goertzel (ben@goertzel.org)
Date: Fri Nov 15 2002 - 10:23:19 MST


> One final comment, then. We already have two great sites on the internet
> about Singularity, one at KurzweilAI, the other at Singularity Institute.
> The real goal of
> "PR for funding" is to provide the right links to the right
> people. To make
> them want to go there, and read that stuff in the first place.
> That would be
> as far as my promotion would go and I would be willing to do it.
>
>
> -----------------------------
> Slawomir Paliwoda
> Heartland

SIAI is a great site, but it's definitely for radical futurist techie types
only, at this stage...

Kurzweilai.net is a great site too, but it has a whole lotta stuff on it and
it takes some digging to get to the directly Singularity-in-a-nutshell type
info...

http://www.singularitywatch.com/ is also a pretty good Singularity site, I
believe

What I want is a site that is simple, visual, direct, and makes the point
that the Singularity is coming in a way that any educated person can
understand within 10-15 minutes of surfing.

The goal of the site I propose is simple: I want to get media type people
interested in the Singularity.

SIAI's site does not do this very effectively.

Kurzweilai.net does do this moderately effectively, but I don't think its
message is simply and clearly enough focused to serve the purpose I'm
thinking of. [Though I don't doubt it serves the purpose it was intended to
serve, quite well.]

SingularityWatch is a little more accessible than SIAI, but still is pretty
much for futurists only...

Why get media type people interested in the Singularity?

Because, for one thing, I suspect that will attract some good PR people to
do PR for the Singularity for the benefit of their own careers, without us
having to pay them for it...

Creating an environment in which it's easier to obtain funding for AGI and
other Singularity-focused work is one high-level goal.

Another high-level goal is to get more people involved in thinking about the
Singularity -- more young people to hear about AGI and thus perhaps work on
it, etc.

Personally, yeah, I feel my work on Novamente is a tremendously greater
contribution to the Sing. than creating another website. However, the folks
who have volunteered to help make this site, so far, are not people who --
because of skill set or inclination -- chose to volunteer to work on
Novamente.

Creating AGI may be the most direct way to work toward the Singularity, but
other ways -- like helping create Singularity-focused websites -- are
important as well.

About Internet versus print media and TV, there are many cases in recent
history of something springing from the Net into traditional media. I think
if the profile on the Net is high enough, this can be accomplished.
Creating a higher profile on the Net is gonna be far easier for us than
directly invading other media (which are costly to penetrate directly)

Finally, I certainly don't view "another website" as the ultimate solution
to Singularity PR. It's just one little bit of the big picture, no question
there.... As I meet people at various events, I'm keeping my eye out for
folks with PR background who may be willing to donate some time/thought to
the Singularitarian cause -- keep your fingers crossed!!

-- Ben G



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