Starlab, Singularity, and Nuclear Armageddon

EUROPEAN UNION・ANNO DOMINI 2001.

I began my scientific career at a multidisciplinary research institute, Starlab, located deep in the serene and secluded forests outside Brussels, Belgium. The lab’s principal base of operations was housed in a historic landmark — an imposing 19^th century manor, remarkable both in scale and magnificence. In a previous incarnation, the palatial grounds served as official embassy for the First Republic of Czechoslovakia. Its nearest neighbor, the world renowned Pastéur Institute, was one of but a handful of highly-secured Biosafety Level 4 labs in the world. 

Cofounded by MIT Media Lab founder Nicholas Negroponte and serial entrepreneur Walter de Brouwer and established in partnership with MIT, Oxford and Ghent University, Starlab was created as a “Noah's Ark” to bring together the world's most brilliant and creative scientists to work on far-ranging multidisciplinary projects that hold the potential to convey a profound and positive impact on future generations. 

Starlab was borne as an incubator for long-term and basic research in the spirit of Bell Labs, MIT Media Lab, Xerox PARC, and Interval Research. Its research mantras were “Deep Future” and “A place where one hundred years means nothing.” Approximately 130 scientists from thirty-seven different nationalities — each established leaders in their respective research fields — lived and worked at the lab. 

A second base of operations, Starlab DF-II (Deep Future II) was established in the Royal Observatory in Spain on a mountaintop perch overlooking the city of Barcelona. With a more tightly-focused mission scope of space-borne and neuroscience research, DF-II continues to innovate and grow to present day. 

Discovery Channel Special

Onsite research ranged from artificial intelligence, biophysics, consciousness, emotics, intelligent clothing, materials science, protein folding, neuroscience, new media, nanoelectronics, quantum computation, macroscopic entanglement, robotics, stem cell research, theoretical physics — e.g., the possibility of time travel — transarchitecture, and wearable computing. 

Our custom-built supercomputer, the CAM-Brain Machine, was supported in part by a 1 Million Euro grant from the European Union. The custom-designed and created supercomputer — as powerful as 10,000 Pentium II PCs — harnessed the power of Xilinx field programmable gate array (FPGA) evolutionary hardware to evolve seventy-five million neurons in a massively-parallel artificial neural network instantiated directly in silico using evolutionary genetic algorithms. With each clock tick, the supercomputer simultaneously updates hundreds of millions of cellular automata billions of times per second. 

GLOBAL INSPIRATIONAL LEADERS AWARD

Deeply grateful, profoundly humbled. It's an honor to receive such profound recognition for a relatively modest role. It takes each and every one of our collective efforts to manifest the profound and positive change that's so very much needed in today's rapidly-changing world.

With thanks for longtime influence and inspiration, to brilliant and practical pioneers of quantum mechanics including Anton Zeilinger, Danny Greenberger, and Michael Horne , co-inventors of the Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger (GHZ) state and higher-dimensional multipartite quantum entanglement. Zeilinger shared the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics with Aspect and Clauser for their experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering a new era of quantum information science.

I lived and worked with Anton's group for two months on two consecutive Austrian National Research Fellowships for my research proposals to “Quantum Mechanics in Higher Dimensional Hilbert Spaces,” and “What is Real in the Quantum World?” at the Austrian International Akademie, Traunkirchen, with Anton Zeilinger, Marcus Aspelmeyer, Caslav Brukner, Rupert Ursin, William Wootters, Christopher Fuchs, Daniel Greenberger and Michael Horne. 

Photos of the picturesque setting and the idyllic, crystalline lake in Traunkirchen are available on Flickr.com.

Jump to Biography

International Akademie Traunkirchen, with Nobel laureate Anton Zeilinger, Danny Greenberger, Michael Horne, et al.

GLOBAL INSPIRATIONAL LEADERS AWARD

At the confluence of cutting-edge science and space exploration, where magic is borne and miraculous discoveries await, an extraordinary figure emerges: autodidact polymath, protean Renaissance explorer, Christopher Altman is an American quantum technologist and NASA-trained commercial astronaut bringing tomorrow's technologies to bear on today's greatest challenges. 

In vibrant Japan, immersive studies on a Japanese Fulbright Fellowship brought together the sharp contrast between the futuristic, neon-lit cityscapes of Tokyo's living cybernetic metropolis with the ancient temples, bonsai gardens, and spartan dojos where Altman practiced bushidō, the traditional Japanese martial arts disciplines of kendo, shōdan kyūdo, and judo. 

In 2001, he was recruited to multidisciplinary, Deep Future research institute Starlab, where his research group's record-breaking artificial intelligence project was featured in a Discovery Channel Special, recognized with an official entry into the Guinness Book of World Records, and he was called to provide expert testimony to the French Senate, Le Sénat, on the long-­term future of Artificial Intelligence.

In the aftermath of the tragic September 11 attacks, Altman volunteered, then was elected to serve as Chairman for the UNISCA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security. His Chair Report to the General Assembly on the exponential acceleration of converging technologies found resonance at the highest echelons of power — at the White House, through direct meetings with US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, et al — providing early momentum for the creation of the United States Cyber Command. For his contributions to the field, he was selected as recipient for the annual RSA Information Security award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Policy the following year.

Altman was then tasked to spearhead a priority national security program in Japan, personally reporting to directors DARPA QuIST and ARDA/DTO, direct predecessor to IARPA, under mandate to create coherent national research estimates and compile long-term science and technology roadmaps for advanced research and development activity across East Asia, attending conferences including the World Technology Summit and the Gordon Research Conference, collaborating with leading scientists and Nobel laureates, and briefing US national labs researchers, policy and research funding agency leaders with a comprehensive assessment of forward-looking trends in the field. His comprehensive national quantum roadmaps went on to serve as the quintessential prototype for the creation of the official US Government Quantum Roadmap — an accolade conveyed directly by the program chair leading the initiative at Los Alamos National Labs.

Astronaut Scientists for Hire Open
New Research Frontier in Space

Source: KurzweilAI, Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference, NASA Ames Research Center, with XCOR, SwRI, Association of Spaceflight Professionals, Virgin Galactic, and Apollo 11 Astronaut Neil Armstrong, first man on the Moon.

At a joint press conference Monday with Virgin Galactic at the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference, XCOR, SwRI, and others, Astronauts for Hire Inc. announced the selection of its third class of commercial scientist-astronaut candidates to conduct experiments on suborbital flights.

Among those selected was Singularity University inaugural program faculty advisor, teaching fellow, and track chair Christopher Altman, a graduate fellow at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology.

“The selection process was painstaking,” said Astronauts for Hire Vice President and Membership Chair Jason Reimuller. “We had to choose a handful of applicants who showed just the right balance of professional establishment, broad technical and operational experience, and a background that indicates adaptability to the spaceflight environment.”

“With the addition of these new members to the organization, Astronauts for Hire has solidified its standing as the premier provider of scientist-astronaut candidates,” said its President Brian Shiro. “Our diverse pool of astronauts in training represent more than two dozen disciplines of science and technology, speak sixteen languages, and hail from eleven countries. We can now handle a much greater range of missions across different geographic regions.”

Altman completed Zero-G and High-Altitude Physiological Training under the Reduced Gravity Research Program at NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley and NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, and was tasked to represent NASA Ames at the joint US-Japan space conference (JUSTSAP) and the launch conference (PISCES) for an astronaut training facility on the slopes of Mauna Kea Volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Altman’s research has been highlighted in international press and publications including Discover Magazine and the International Journal of Theoretical Physics. He was recently awarded a fellowship to explore the foundations and future of quantum mechanics at the Austrian International Akademie Traunkirchen with Anton Zeilinger.

“The nascent field of commercial spaceflight and the unique conditions afforded by space and microgravity environments offer exciting new opportunities to conduct novel experiments in quantum entanglement, fundamental tests of spacetime, and large-scale quantum coherence,” said Altman.

Altman conducts high-g centrifuge training at NASTAR

Astronaut Training Documentary with
Chief Innovation Officer of Virgin Galactic

Observation of my life to date shows that the larger the number for whom I work, the more positively effective I become. Thus, it is obvious that if I work always and only for all humanity, I will be optimally effective.

                     — Buckminster Fuller

2011 – present — Following manned spaceflight training under direction of an astronaut panel at NASA Ames Research Center and Johnson Space Center in 2009 then subsequent back-to-back research fellowships with Nobel laureate Anton Zeilinger's research group in Austria, at a press conference with Virgin Galactic, XCOR, and the Association for Spaceflight Professionals, warm welcome and personal discussions with Neil Armstrong, first man on the Moon, in April 2011 I was selected to train as a scientist-astronaut candidate for commercial suborbital and developing orbital flights with a newly-formed nonprofit endeavor that counts NASA, ESA and KSA astronauts, astronaut trainers and instructors among its astronaut corps and its board of advisors. I'm honored to be selected for the program, and tremendously excited about the opportunity. This is just the start of a long and challenging journey!  The nascent field of commercial spaceflight—and the unique conditions afforded by space and microgravity environments—offer exciting new opportunities to conduct novel experiments in quantum entanglement, fundamental tests of spacetime, and large-scale quantum coherence. In pursuit of these goals, we have the opportunity to inspire our next generation of scientists, researchers and engineers.

How to build a ship for interstellar travel

Two hundred years ago, if you suggested people would comfortably travel in flying machines—reaching any destination in the world in a few hours time—instantly access the world's cumulative knowledge by speaking to something the size of a deck of cards, or travel to the Moon, or Mars, you'd be labeled a madman. The future is bound only by our imagination. 

Someday very soon we may look back on the world today in much the same way as we did those who lived in the time of Galileo, when everyone lived with such great certainty and self-assuredness that the Earth was flat and the center of the universe. The time is now. A profound shift in consciousness is long overdue. The universe is teeming with life. We're all part of the same human family. 

This is potentially the single most momentous moment in our known history—not just for us as a nation, or us as humanity, but as a planet. The technological leaps that could come from developing open contact with nonhuman intelligence are almost beyond our comprehension. That is why this is such a monumental moment for us as a collective whole. It could literally change every single one of the eight billion human lives on this planet. 

We stand on the shores of a vast cosmic ocean, with untold continents of possibility to explore. As we continue forwards in our collective journey, scaling the cosmic ladder of evolution, progressing onwards, expanding our reach outwards in the transition to a multiplanetary species—Earth will soon be a destination, not just a point of origin. 

Overview

“For those who have seen the Earth from space—and for the thousands more who soon will—the experience profoundly transforms your perspective. The things that we share in our world are far more valuable than those which divide us.”    

           – Don Williams 

We dream. It's what makes us who we are. Down to our bones, to the core of our cellular memories, passed down through eons of survival, expansion, exploration and growth. The instinct to build, the drive to seek beyond what we know. It's in our DNA. 

We cross the oceans, we conquer the skies, unyielding, relentless in our pursuit of the farthest frontiers, venturing forth to launch ourselves outwards and find a new home for our descendants among the stars. 

Yesterday's impossible becomes today's greatest achievement—and tomorrow's routine. The heavens beckon, parting open. A new generation of innovators and explorers heeds the call, the invitation to take our species further: not just to visit, but to stay. 

Keynote on the Future of Space Exploration, broadcast live to 108 cities around the world

Carpe futurum.

– Christopher Altman

We are all part of an unfolding evolutionary process over 100 billion galaxies wide, each sharing the light of a trillion shining stars.

Quantum Entanglement 

Backpropagation through Time

NATO — New Technology Options and Threats To Detect and Combat Terrorism

Identification of Potential Terrorists and Adversary Planning: Emerging Technologies and New Counter-terror Strategies — New algorithms and hardware technology offer possibilities for the pre-detection of terrorism far beyond even the imagination and salesmanship of people hoping to apply forms of deep learning studied in the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society (CIS) decades ago. For example, new developments in Analog Quantum Computing (AQC) give us a concrete pathway to options like a forwards time camera or backwards time telegraph, a pathway which offers about a 50% probability of success for a well-focused effort over just a few years. However, many of the new technologies come with severe risks, and/or important opportunities in other sectors. This paper discusses the possibilities, risks and tradeoffs relevant to several different forms of terrorism.

Breakthrough Technology for Prediction and Control — Computational intelligence (CI), which includes deep learning, neural networks, brain-like intelligent systems in general and allied technologies, the Internet of Things (IoT), Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) and Quantum Information Science and Technology (QuIST).

1. Using the same type of desktop machinery which created three entangled photons for the Greenberger, Horne and Zeilinger (GHZ) experiment, replicate the stunning preliminary results achieved in 2015 on an extended experiment supporting the time-symmetric reformulation of quantum physics. Because of the preliminary results so far and the strong underlying logic, the probability of success is estimated at 80%. Note that success would also open the door to many other new technologies, and even failure would provide important clarification about advanced QuIST modeling requirements.
   
   
2. Enhance the existing approach to quantum ghost imaging by using that same GHZ source: use two photons on the left to create the recorded image and detect when an entangled triplet is recorded, and the third photon on the right to reach into space to the object to be imaged. This is a mathematical task aimed at proving coincidence detection can be done entirely on the left-hand side without a space-based detector. Even if this stage fails, lessons learned would inform subsequent BTT development.
   
   
3. Attach the new triphoton ghost imaging system to a powerful telescope imaging the sun, so the third photon returns through the eyepiece. If step 2 succeeds, this would yield an image of the sun eight minutes forward in time, unlike conventional images which are eight minutes old. Given the sun’s dynamics, this would clearly demonstrate a new era in QuIST and offer advance solar flare warnings.
   
   
4. Integrate the triphoton system with long, slow optical fibers that curve light paths, enabling forward-time camera or BTT capabilities on Earth—realizing science fiction visions. Strict scientific protocols should limit detailed discussion of steps 2–4 until step 1 establishes firm confidence.

Keywords. Predetection, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, cyberblitzkrieg, time-symmetric physics, GHz, deep learning, Internet of Things, backwards time, retrocausality

Related Resources

• Quantum Ghost Imaging
• Analog Quantum Computing

 

Time Magazine, June 2023

How Artificial Intelligence Could Save the Day: The threat of extinction and how AI can help protect biodiversity in Nature 

The Conversation If we’re going to label AI an ‘extinction risk’, we need to clarify how it could happen As a professor of AI, I am also in favor of reducing any risk, and prepared to work on it personally. But any statement worded in such a way is bound to create alarm, so its authors should probably be more specific and clarify their concerns. 

CNN AI industry and researchers sign statement warning of ‘extinction’ risk Dozens of AI industry leaders, academics and even some celebrities called for reducing the risk of global annihilation due to artificial intelligence, arguing that the threat of an AI extinction event should be a top global priority.

NYT AI Poses ‘Risk of Extinction,’ Industry Leaders Warn Leaders from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Anthropic and other A.I. labs warn that future systems could be as deadly as pandemics and nuclear weapons. 

BBC Experts warn of artificial intelligence risk of extinction Artificial intelligence could lead to the extinction of humanity, experts — including the heads of OpenAI and Google Deepmind — have warned.

PBS Artificial intelligence raises risk of extinction, experts warn Scientists and tech industry leaders, including high-level executives at Microsoft and Google, issued a new warning Tuesday about the perils that artificial intelligence poses to humankind. 

NPR Leading experts warn of a risk of extinction from AI Experts issued a dire warning on Tuesday: Artificial intelligence models could soon be smarter and more powerful than us and it is time to impose limits to ensure they don't take control over humans or destroy the world. 

CBC Artificial intelligence poses 'risk of extinction,' tech execs and experts warn More than 350 industry leaders sign a letter equating potential AI risks with pandemics and nuclear war. 

CBS AI could pose "risk of extinction" akin to nuclear war and pandemics, experts say Artificial intelligence could pose a "risk of extinction" to humanity on the scale of nuclear war or pandemics, and mitigating that risk should be a "global priority," according to an open letter signed by AI leaders such as Sam Altman of OpenAI as well as Geoffrey Hinton, known as the "godfather" of AI. 

USA Today AI poses risk of extinction, 350 tech leaders warn in open letter CAIS said it released the statement as a way of encouraging AI experts, journalists, policymakers and the public to talk more about urgent risks relating to artificial intelligence.

CNBC AI poses human extinction risk on par with nuclear war, Sam Altman and other tech leaders warn Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, as well as executives from Google’s AI arm DeepMind and Microsoft were among those who supported and signed the short statement. 

Wired Runaway AI Is an Extinction Risk, Experts Warn A new statement from industry leaders cautions that artificial intelligence poses a threat to humanity on par with nuclear war or a pandemic. 

Forbes Geoff Hinton, AI’s Most Famous Researcher, Warns Of ‘Existential Threat’ From AI The alarm bell I’m ringing has to do with the existential threat of them taking control,” Hinton said Wednesday, referring to powerful AI systems. “I used to think it was a long way off, but I now think it's serious and fairly close.

The Guardian Risk of extinction by AI should be global priority, say experts Hundreds of tech leaders call for world to treat AI as danger on par with pandemics and nuclear war.

The Associated Press Artificial intelligence raises risk of extinction, experts say in new warning Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.

Al Jazeera Does artificial intelligence pose the risk of human extinction? Tech industry leaders issue a warning as governments consider how to regulate AI without stifling innovation.

The Atlantic We're Underestimating the Risk of Human Extinction An Oxford philosopher argues that we are not adequately accounting for technology's risks—but his solution to the problem is not for Luddites.

Sky News AI is similar extinction risk as nuclear war and pandemics, say industry experts The warning comes after the likes of Elon Musk and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also sounded significant notes of caution about AI in recent months.

80,000 hours The Case for Reducing Existential Risk Concerns of human extinction have started a new movement working to safeguard civilisation, which has been joined by Stephen Hawking, Max Tegmark, and new institutes founded by researchers at Cambridge, MIT, Oxford, and elsewhere.

The Washington Post AI poses ‘risk of extinction’ on par with nukes, tech leaders say Dozens of tech executives and researchers signed a new statement on AI risks, but their companies are still pushing the technology 

TechCrunch OpenAI’s Altman and other AI giants back warning of advanced AI as ‘extinction’ risk In a Twitter thread accompanying the launch of the statement, CAIS director Dan Hendrycks expands on the aforementioned statement, naming “systemic bias, misinformation, malicious use, cyberattacks, and weaponization” as examples of “important and urgent risks from AI — not simply risk of extinction.”