This message and different versions of it have been floating around at least since the final election campaigning week in October 2008. Maybe a propaganda type of stuff.
Interesting article, I agree with Bringsjord's position that in order for the AGI to be reliable and beneficial, one needs a sound mathematical proof to how it will operate and about its specifications. But then again, obtaining such a proof is 'probably' beyond present human abilities. Theoretically, if such a proof can be produced, one needs and some other form of AI. Now, one needs a proof to build AGI and to derive a proof one needs AGI - sounds chicken or egg type problem. But I'm sure there exists a solution.
Yes, generalising to the point that we see the very root all classes of problems. Inequality for example is vague and poorly defined as I said in beginning. Overpopulation is deceiving and looks very silly at the first glance but as deal with more data, it turns out to be a giant. Expanding to outer space is easily said than done even if we are talking long term, of course we can, if we last long enough without problems but one is ignoring so many minute details in such assumption. But I too hope for best, Companies like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic are already on ambitious projects. We must wait and see what will prove to be the optimal solution.
Yep, You're absolutely right. I too am a bit skeptical about new claims of natural language understanding softwares; However we need to remain optimistic and expect surprises since NLP is still in its infancy.
Nassim Taleb is a wonderful thinker and writer. The fall of Fannie Mae was hinted in his 2007 book 'Black Swan: The Impact of Highly Improbable' the following sentence is a from his book - "The government-sponsored institution Fannie Mae, when I look at its risks, seems to be sitting on a barrel of dynamite, vulnerable to the slightest hiccup". Not only Nassim Taleb, I remember George Soros referring to Fannie Mae and lurking troubled housing market long before the onset of the financial crisis.