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ISS007-E-10807 (21 July 2003) --- This view of Earth's horizon as the sunsets over the Pacific Ocean was taken by an Expedition 7 crewmember onboard the International Space Station (ISS). Anvil tops of thunderclouds are also visible. Credit: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center

Image Credit: ISS007-E-10807 (21 July 2003) – Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center

Donate to Emerging Technology-Related Organizations

Richard Leis

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Published.

Read Richard’s current thoughts about transhumanism and related fringe topics here.

The link above is a bundle of several links to fundraisers for emerging technology-related organizations. Donations have risen significantly in the past two years as transhumanism, emerging technologies, and the Technological Singularity concept have reached mainstream audiences.

The list below is just a sample of the money raised in 2010 through donations for various emerging-technology related organizations. Several donation drives were matched dollar for dollar by generous grants. For example, the first $250,000 raised by The Seasteading Institute was matched by The Thiel Foundation, resulting in a cool half million and change to the organization!

  • The Seasteading Institute: $250,265 (plus matching $250,000 donation)
  • The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence [defunct link]: $121,616 (plus matching $125,000 donation if $125,000 raised by tomorrow, January 20, 2011)
  • Foresight Institute: $30,000 (plus matching $30,000 donation)
  • Lifeboat Foundation: $11,275 (plus matching donations for goal of $12,000)

Consider also BioCurious. Using Kickstarter, the organization successfully raised over $35,000 last year to develop a “hackerspace for biotech” in the Bay Area. What do numbers like these signify? More and more people are willing to open up their wallets to the organizations promoting the development and exploration of the consequences of these emerging technologies.

Less than five years ago these ideas were considered too fringe to be worthy of interest or donation. Something changed in the past couple of years. I personally attribute this to two developments:

  1. the shift in criticism from “that’s ridiculous” to “HOLY SHIT WE NEED TO STOP THIS!” and
  2. the migration of many transhumanists to northern California.

I expect even higher funding levels to emerging technology-related organizations in 2011 as the world economy recovers and awareness continues to go mainstream. Consider participating with your own donations in 2011 and bookmark the link bundle above; I will add more links as I come across them.

Donate to Emerging Technology-Related Organizations [defunct link]

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