HEROES OF THE SINGULARITY

This is the short list of people who have made or are making a significant contribution to humanity's readiness for the Singularity. This page is not a complete list of these people's accomplishments, just the reason they are considered Heroes of the Singularity. For more information, links are included.

Richard P. Feynman - predicted nanotechnology in 1959.
Links:
"Plenty of room at the bottom"
Feynman bio page

K. Eric Drexler - developed the idea of nanotechnology into a science, established the scientific basis of nanotechnology. He also solved the scientific objections to nanotechnology. He pointed out that, as much attention needs to be paid to the dangers of nanotech as to the benefits. He wrote "Nanosystems", "Engines of Creation", and "Unbounding the Future".
Links:
Foresight
Bio page
Books

Verner Vinge - saw the implications of seed AI, and named the Singularity.
Links:
Bio page
Singularity speech

Eliezer S. Yudkowsky - saw the awesome magnitude of the Singularity, and wrote about it in "Staring into the Singularity". He recognized and championed the importance of AI morality (Friendliness). He is currently working toward implementing seed AI.
Links:
SIAI
Eliezer's homepage
"Staring into the Singularity"

Ray Kurzweil - recognized and championed the importance of exponential technological advancement beyond Moore's Law. He is currently working on software implementations of reverse engineering of portions of the human brain. He wrote "Age of Intelligent Machines", "Age of Spiritual Machines", and "The Singularity is Near".
Links:
Kurzweilai.net
Bio page
Books

Ben Goertzel - principal architect of Webmind and Novamente. With Novamente he is in the race to develop the first AGI (artificial general intelligence).
Links:
Ben's homepage
Novamente
Artificial General Intelligence Research Institute
Books

Ralph Merkle - nano engineer, currently working on industrial nano manufacturing, broadcast architecture, and development of the first assembler nanobot.
Links:
Homepage

Damien Broderick - wrote "The Spike" about the Singularity.
Links:
"The Spike"
Unofficial homepage

J. Craig Venter - brought private enterprise economic competition to the Human Genome Project.
Links:
TIME Person of the Year 2000
Online NewsHour Interview
Celera Genomics

Robert C.W. Ettinger - recognized the possibility of cryosuspension, a possible key to immortality through bodily freezing followed by nanobot repair.
Links:
Picture
The Cryonics Institute

Alan Mathison Turing - invented the computational theory of mind.
Links:
Bio page

Francis Harry Compton Crick and James Dewey Watson - discovered the structure of DNA.
Links:
Bio pages
Nobel Prize

Albert Einstein - his explanation of Brownian motion established the physicality of individual atoms.
Links:
Bio page

The following are not Heroes of the Singularity but have said some things that may be of interest:

Bill Joy - On the positive side, he let us not forget to pay attention to the hazards of the Singularity. On the negative side, he publicized the misguided and dangerous concept of selective relinquishment of technology.
Links:
Why the Future Doesn't Need Us,
Bio page

Theodore Kaczynski - On the negative side, he practiced the misguided and dangerous and just plain mean habit of blowing people up. On the positive side, he warned of the dangers of advanced technology, and the futility of selective relinquishment of technology.
Links:
The Unabomber's Manifesto
Bio page
Brilliant mathematician