IEEE Spectrum June, 2008 - 3

IEEE MEdIa
Staff Director; PubliSher, IEEE SpEctrum

James a. Vick, j.vick@ieee.org

aSSociate PubliSher, SaleS & aDVertiSing Director

Marion Delaney, m.delaney@ieee.org

recruitMent SaleS DeVeloPMent Manager

ROBIN HANSON,
author of "The
Economics of the
Singularity"
[p. 44], is an
associate professor of economics
at George Mason University, in
Fairfax, Va. He trained as a
physicist and worked in the
aerospace industry before
getting a Ph.D. in social science
at Caltech in 1997. He is a pioneer
of idea futures markets, among
them the Foresight Exchange
Prediction Market.
RICHARD A.L.
JONES, author of
"Rupturing the
Nanotech Rapture"
[p. 64], is a professor
of physics at the University of
Sheffield, in England, and senior
nanotechnology advisor for the
UK government's physical
sciences and engineering funding
agency. His book Soft Machines:
Nanotechnology and Life (2004)
argues that nanotechnology needs
to learn as much from biology as
from engineering.
CHRISTOF KOCH
is a professor of
cognitive and
behavioral biology
at Caltech.


na * IEEE sPEctruM * JunE 2008

GIULIO TONONI is
a professor of
psychiatry at the
University of
Wisconsin, Madison.
In "Can Machines Be Conscious?"
[p. 54], the two neuroscientists
discuss how to assess synthetic
consciousness. Koch became
interested in the physical basis of
consciousness while suffering from
a toothache. Why should the
movement of certain ions across
neuronal membranes in the brain
give rise to pain? he wondered. Or,
for that matter, to pleasure or the
feeling of seeing the color blue?
Contemplating such questions
determined his research program
for the next 20 years.
ALFRED
NORDMANN,
author of "Singular
Simplicity" [p. 60], is
a professor of
philosophy and the history of
science at Darmstadt Technical
University, in Germany. His
interests include the philosopher
Ludwig Wittgenstein, the physicist
and philosopher of science Heinrich
Hertz, and the birth of new scientific
disciplines, such as nanotechnology.
VERNOR VINGE,
who wraps up this
issue on p. 76, first
used the term
singularity to refer to
the advent of superhuman intelligence while on a panel at the annual
conference of the Association for the
Advancement of Artificial Intelligence in 1982. Three of his books-
A Fire Upon the Deep (1992),
A Deepness in the Sky (1999), and
Rainbows End (2006)-won the Hugo
Award for best science-fiction novel
of the year. From 1972 to 2000, Vinge
taught math and computer science at
San Diego State University.

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ieee Staff executiVe, PublicationS

anthony Durniak

IEEE Board of dIrEctors
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president@ieee.org

John r. Vig
treaSurer David g. green
Secretary barry l. Shoop
PaSt PreSiDent leah h. Jamieson
PreSiDent-elect

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Standards Association; J. roberto b. de Marca, Technical
Activities; russell J. lefevre, President, IEEE-USA

dIVIsIon dIrEctors
giovanni De Micheli (i); thomas g. habetler (ii);
curtis a. Siller Jr. (iii); edward Della torre (iV);
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frederick c. Mintzer (ix); William a. gruver (x)

rEgIon dIrEctors
howard e. Michel (1); John c. Dentler (2); William b. ratcliff (3);
robert J. Dawson (4); David J. Pierce (5); loretta J. arellano (6);
ferial el-hawary (7); Jean g. remy (8); enrique e. alvarez (9);
Janina e. Mazierska (10)

dIrEctors EMErItus
eric herz, theodore W. hissey

IEEE staff
executiVe Director & coo Jeffry W.
+1 732 562 5400, j.raynes@ieee.org

raynes, cae

huMan reSourceS betsy Davis, SPhr
+1 732 465 6434, e.davis@ieee.org
PublicationS anthony Durniak
+1 732 562 3998, a.durniak@ieee.org
chief inforMation officer Sally ericksen
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+1 732 562 5483, d.g.gorham@ieee.org
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+1 732 562 3820, j.gorman@ieee.org
MeMber & geograPhic actiVitieS cecelia
+1 732 562 5504, c.jankowski@ieee.org
corPorate Strategy & coMMunicationS
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buSineSS aDMiniStration richard D.
+1 732 562 5311, r.schwartz@ieee.org

Jankowski

Matthew loeb, cae

Schwartz

technical actiVitieS Mary Ward-callan
+1 732 562 3850, m.ward-callan@ieee.org
Managing Director, ieee-uSa chris brantley
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IEEE PuBlIcatIon sErVIcEs & Products Board
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CloCkwise from top left: irobot Corp.; Giulio tononi; Alfred nordmAnn;
Vernor VinGe; CAlteCh; d. Jones; GeorGe mAson uniVersity

RODNEY
BROOKS is a
machine. Or so he
says in his article on
p. 70. A professor at
the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, he researches the
engineering of intelligent robots
capable of operating in real-world
environments and how to understand human intelligence by
building humanoid robots. Brooks
is also the chief technical officer of
iRobot Corp.

Michael buryk, m.buryk@ieee.org
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http://www.spectrum.ieee.org
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum June, 2008
