At Singularity U., Brains Meet the Future

Elite Class Given Access to Thought Leaders as They Try to Address Real World Problems

(CNET)  This story was written by CNET's Daniel Terdiman

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Sitting in a classroom, listening to students explain their approach to an assignment to develop an initiative to impact the lives of a billion people over ten years, one could be forgiven for taking it all with a grain of salt.

After all, student projects like this are usually peppered with holes, naive assumptions, and unrealistic goals.

But here at Singularity University, things are a little different. This group project, which aims to flip the car sharing movement on its head and bring affordable transportation to the masses, started less than two weeks ago but has already won a prize and attracted venture capital interest.

That's because Singularity University is no run-of-the-mill academic institution, and its students are not the usual breed of dreamers with good intentions. Founded by leading futurist and "The Singularity is Near" author Ray Kurzweil, X Prize chairman and CEO Peter Diamandis, and former Yahoo Brickhouse head Salim Ismael, the nine-week course examines exponentially growing technologies like biotechnology and bioinformatics; nanotechnology; AI, robotics, and cognitive computing. As well, the 40 students in the program are focusing on future studies and forecasting, and finance and entrepreneurship.

Those chosen for the program are truly the cream of the crop. After all, they have regular access to superstar teachers like George Smoot, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley and winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics; Dan Kammen, co-director of the Berkeley Institute of the Environment and a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change team that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore; Vint Cerf, Google's chief Internet evangelist; and Stephanie Langhoff, NASA Ames' chief scientist. And speakers include PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, Ethernet inventor Bob Metcalf.

According to program director Ismael, this summer's inaugural Singularity University class of 40 students was chosen from among more than 1,200 applicants from around the world. Ismael said there were three main criteria for selection: students who already had top-level academic rigor and who are already at the top of their respective fields; those who have demonstrated leadership and entrepreneurial skills; and those who have demonstrated interest in global issues.

The result? A class of doctors, advisers to prime ministers, CEOs and successful start-up founders, just to name a few.

So when I showed up Wednesday to observe the program in action and first sat in on the car-sharing group project demonstration, I realized this was something I should take seriously.

The 40 students are split into four teams, which get three weeks to come up with a project that, as stated above, could impact a billion people over the next 10 years. The presentation I saw was by a group that was calling itself Gettaround, and which has set as its goal the creation of a new car-sharing program that would incentivize car owners to rent out their vehicles to members, while also making it easier for people to find cars to use for short drives in many more places than are served today by companies like ZipCar or CityCarShare. Ultimately, the idea is to spread the program to developing countries around the world, ideally helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the process.

At the heart of Gettaround's proposal was an iPhone application designed to make it possible for members to locate available cars and, then, when physically approaching them, to start the engines via a low-priced kit installed in the vehicles.

The app was awarded the "best money-making iPhone app" prize at a recent iPhoneDevCamp event in Sunnyvale, Calif., and on the strength of that, the team members said that they've already identified interested venture capitalists and are most likely going to pursue the project as a real business upon completion of Singularity University.

Students speak
After the presentation, I got a chance to speak with some of the program's students about their experiences at Singularity University over the last eight weeks.

This is an amazingly diverse group. Among the 40 students, half are from other countries, and 35 percent are women. The average age is 31.

I first talked to Sarah Sclarsic, 25, from Boston. She's a former medical school student who had previously designed her own emerging technologies major at Harvard and who has a deep interest in health care and public health.

Sclarsic said that in her experience, the Singularity University course has been hectic, "but for me, that's good."

She said that among the most valuable parts of the program is the fact that students are shown, from the beginning, how the various fields being taught here relate to each other or, at least, can cross-over in real-world practice.

So she pointed out how she had never before thought about how someone working in quantum computing might have their research converge with health care, or how fields like computational biology, quantum computing and protein folding intersect.

The results of such convergence down the line? That doctors may be able to design new therapies meant for specific patients, a "huge ability we've never had before."

But this isn't the distant future, she pointed out. The main focus of Singularity University is to teach the students how the various disciplines being taught will converge in the near future, and to help them see how to turn these developing technologies into real-world businesses.

For V.J. Anma, an entrepreneur from Seattle, via India, deciding to come to Singularity University, where tuition is $25,000 (though many students get at least some scholarship help), was based on his conclusion that his career building high-tech startups would be enhanced through introductions to his fellow high-powered students and the industry leaders and venture capitalists they'd meet, as well as discovering how the various technologies being taught all relate to each other.

"It has definitely lived up to my expectation of being able to learn new ideas and connect with people," Anma said.

One phrase he used to describe the intensity of the program, especially the early weeks, was that it was "like drinking from a firehose."

Oddly, that was the exact same phrase that another student, Paul Lem, a doctor and biosciences company CEO from Ottowa, Canada, used. Lem said that Singularity University offers its students so many world-class mentors and "so many amazing opportunities" that, yes, "it's like drinking from a firehose."

Lem, too, lauded the program's focus on teaching the students to "think about where all these exponential technologies (are) going, and to see where they're all going to intersect."

A huge fan of former hockey star Wayne Gretsky, Lem said that one invaluable piece of the program is that it helps students visualize the near future and to "skate to where the puck is going to be," meaning that they will--hopefully--be able to determine where the various fields of technology being taught are heading and be among the first to get there to capitalize on the convergence.

"I'm not sure how it's all going to shake out," Lem said, "but mix enough of this stuff together, and really cool stuff is going to happen. Seeds are being planted in the ground, and they're going to germinate and sprout this cool rainforest of incredible things."

To Ismael, this inaugural Singularity University program has been a revelation about what's possible when you bring together so many talented students with the kinds of world-class instructors that are possible in Silicon Valley.

He said that he thinks the program has been going "phenomenally well" and said that he's been blown away by some of the ingenuity on display.

For example, he recalled that during a discussion on entrepreneurship, one student registered a domain name, threw up some Google AdWords against it, and started generating real revenues. All during a single lecture.

Ismael didn't use the drinking from a firehose image, but he did say that he's been amazed at seeing the breadth of what's "coming down the pike" in the various fields being taught in the program and that, "I've been surprised by how mentally drained I am at the end of each day."

He also said that, so far, there are five companies likely to be started by groups of students in the program, including the Gettaround team, and that some of the program's founders are already interested in putting money into some of the projects.

The number of such companies emerging from the program should only increase in future years, as Singularity University will expand from 40 students to 120 next year. But despite a larger class, there's still no way that everyone who wants to take part will be able to attend. And with that in mind, Ismael said, the program is considering how it can share its content with the world at large. One possibility is a the Ted conference model, in which lectures and discussions may well be posted online for all to see, free of charge.

For now, though, it's all private, and to the students who managed to get in, an extremely valuable experience. To a person, they seem acutely aware that they have been granted access to what could be one of the most exclusive technology clubs in the world, and one that will almost certainly bear important fruit in their careers.

"Creativity is about mixing and matching different building blocks together to build something new and powerful," Lem said. "I've never before been in a place where there are so many building blocks that you can move around."

[sjc_1]

We talk about innovation as if it just springs up in someone's garage. We don't have to DO anything, the ideas just spring up like daisies after a rain.

We have to promote and support innovation. We have to support it by funding it. Private enterprise wants to make a quick killing on a sure thing in a short time. Sometimes innovations that are good for the country do not fall into that category, so they never see the light of day and are lost forever.

[geminispyder-2009]

Taken directly from the Singularity U site:
"Will SU be conducting research?
The GSP and Executive Programs will not conduct traditional research. However, the GSP program will organize detailed student Team Projects that will allow the student body and faculty to look at how to use exponentially growing technologies to solve some of the world?s grand challenges."

Translation:
We're here only to promote and exploit new technologies. If you really want to get into the meat of research and development of new technologies, forget "Singularity University, where tuition is $25,000". Take your money, pay to go to a real, accredited university that spits out genuine scientists/engineers on a constant basis.

[femtobeam]

Not mentioned is the fee of 25,000 for students who "share" their experience and perhaps individual IP in exchange for the experience. What happens to the ownership of original thought? Most of these individuals are in some way tied in with AT&T and their Asian connections. Within one year, all "shared" information will end up on the shelves or in the networks, attached to unwilling participants, and made in China. Without a clear understanding of ownership and the rights of the individual, it seems that brainsharing needs to be time stamped to trace IP that has a financial value. It is all good to help the world etc... but how is a lack of ownership of even the pieces of the puzzle that are "moved around" by others after paying 25 grand for your braindrain, going to help US society? It is a stealing of inventions scenario couched in an information singularity disinformation campaign. In the end, it is a wholesale disappearance of economic opportunity for the participants. As they did before, AT&T will sell the information to advertisers who will now have a new market for neuromarketing, the participants in the Singularity University. Track the flow of ideas like financial transactions to find the source of the information translated into profit in the final bank account. What about the IP rights of the entrepreneur? Are they being upheld?

[brianbwb-2009]

Just where in the constitution are these so-called IP "rights" enshrined?

Just so you know before judging, I am a music producer, and composer, and as such you might think I support the concept of IP, but actually I adamantly oppose the concept as it is currently being forced upon people.

It is an abrogation of centuries of common commerce law, and only exists to funnel money into the coffers of a very few people, who are not the actual creators of the ideas.

Take, for example the RIAA, which has collected over a half billion dollars suing kids for file sharing, but has not yet paid a cent to the owners of the shared files.

Or the publishing houses like ASCAP, and BMI, which dictate to radio stations that they may not play works by artists not registered to them, and now want the radio stations to pay to play what they dictate.

Whom also want me to pay them a fee to perform my own works, from which they take an admin fee, then "pay" me my cut of my own money, "as and when they see fit", according to their standard contract/application form.

Or take the clause you have seen before, "By opening this package, you agree to...etc." Since when have you been contractually obligated to an agreement without affixing your signature, or thumbprint on a document that bears witness to the agreement.

Or the case of Sony Records, who decided to install malicious software on your computer if you insert one of their CDs, if you remove the rootkit, which goes online to Sony to reveal the contents of your computer, it damages your computer.

Even the definition of the word "theft" has been changed in law without the agreement of the subjects of that law. Traditionally, theft is to dispossess someone, without their permission, of an object, but now copying a file is called theft, although the owner has not lost the file, or the use of it. Laws that can put you into prison are being enacted without consent of the people subject to those laws, which is unconstitutional.

Under current IP protection practices, if you extrapolate to everyday life, if you buy a car, then give it to your daughter or son, they are also obligated to pay the auto company full price for that which you have already paid, and should be yours to do with as you please.

So until the concept of IP can be brought into line with common sense and common commerce traditions, I shall continue to oppose it.

[rf35]

Careful brianbwb-2009...you may be giving automotive companies new ideas to increase their revenue.

Seriously, I'd like to keep an eye on this thing and see if anything comes of it. Some of the ideas that come out of SU may be of use.