Working with technology and writing science fiction can sometimes be frustrating, as it’s much easier to envision grand, sweeping changes in our society than it is to bring those changes about. Technology is advancing rapidly, and I’m firmly in the camp of those who believe the Technological Singularity is near. The rate of change in our everyday lives is notable; the rate of change in technology is staggering.

We’ve recently partnered with Novamente , and will help them bring their advances in artificial general intelligence to Japan. Dr. Ben Goertzel , Novamente’s CEO, is the author of multiple books and articles on the subject, and is actively working in virtual worlds to advance AI technology.

Check out this video of some of Novamente’s previous work in Second Life training virtual pets.

As a futurist and SF writer, I’m excited to work with Dr. Goertzel and Novamente. Researching artificial intelligence using virtual worlds seems like a natural progression. Both technologies are vital to moving society to the next level.

Is the Singularity near? You bet it is. And it’s going to be an exciting ride.

Ken

最新のテクノロジーに関わる事業や、SF小説を書く仕事というのは時として苛立たしい。世界中があっと言うような画期的な改革を思い付く事は簡単だが、それを現実社会にもたらすのは難しいからだ。めまぐるしい進化を続けている技術を見て、私は、ついに技術的特異点 の時代が来たのだなと感じた。昨今は、日常生活における変化のスピードというのは目覚ましいが、テクノロジー面での変化のスピードは滞っていると言っていいだろう。

つい最近、Novamente という会社と提携したが、その目的はNovamente社の持つAI（人工知能）テクノロジーの日本への導入である。Novamente社のCEO、Dr. Ben Goertzel はこの業界では名が知れており、AIに関する書籍や記事を多数執筆している。将来バーチャルワールドでもこの技術を活かしたいとし、日々努力しているという。

Novamente社が以前Second Life で行ったバーチャルペットの育成プロジェクトが動画で紹介されているので、気になる方はチェックしてみるといいだろう。

SF作家として、またフューチャリストとしてDr. GoertzelとNovamente社の協力は大変嬉しく思う。AIの可能性をバーチャルワールド内で研究するという事は、その性質から言っても自然な成り行きであろう。どちらの技術も、社会の進化にとって重要な要素だと私は思っている。

Ken

We had a good time chatting with old friends and meeting new ones today at the Virtual Worlds Conference and Expo at Tokyo Bigsight. It was fun to see Philip Rosedale mingling with Japanese Second Life users and fans.

After the Second Life user party, we trekked over to a great Showa era izakaya in Shinjuku for dinner and drinks with Ben Goertzel where we chatted about artificial intelligence and virtual worlds.

Later, we joined some people at BarTube, where Ben, Philip, Jun Doi, and dozens of virtual world geeks like us jammed, drank, and chatted about the future.

Next time you should join us!

Ken

Hey there. Welcome. So it took us a while to get some information up on the site. There will be much more to come, though none of us are really web development geeks. All other kinds of geeks, sure.

Take a look around, peruse our presentations, and send us some feedback, if you’d be so kind.

And check out the new Ugotrade article. Good stuff about Genkii , plus words from our friends at Metabirds and Melting Dots .

We’ll be at the Tokyo Virtual Worlds Conference and Expo 2008 this Wednesday and Thursday. Hope to meet some new people there

Ken