FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Tom Bresnahan, Public Relations
(310) 831-4191, mail(at)accelerating.org

ACCELERATING CHANGE: AN EMERGING FACT

Conference to Explore the Meaning of Shrinking Time Frames In All Areas of Human Enterprise

LOS ANGELES, CA (July 28, 2003) – A collection of futurists, entrepreneurs, theoreticians and humanists have organized "Accelerating Change Conference 2003," the first of an annual series, to juxtapose cutting edge ideas from a range of disciplines which collectively suggest that acceleration is a basic feature of the evolution of any complex system, such as computers or ecosystems, but also, signficantly, the matrix of humans, technologies and society.

"Progress itself accelerates," says John Smart, Chairman of the Acceleration Studies Foundation (ASF), the host of the conference. "Our organization exists because accelerating change is a fact, and not enough people understand what an enormous fact it is. Focusing attention on this universal phenomenon will be very productive for the way we – humanity – make decisions and understand the world as it moves forward."

The conference will be held at Stanford University's Tresidder Union, September 12-14, 2003. The cost of the conference is $395 ($150 for students), with an early registration discount of $100 ($50 for students) that will last until August 4th.

Technological pioneer Ray Kurzweil will keynote the conference via Teleportec’s 3D Telepresence Lectern and discuss the multifold trends of acceleration, with biologist Michael Denton and philosopher Ilkka Tuomi critiquing.

Cultural critic Howard Bloom will explore the many different kinds of “singularities”: black holes in the cosmos which have smaller cousins that occur in human life.

Nanotechnology pioneer K. Eric Drexler and genetic programming expert John R. Koza will explore how we are harnessing, and may harness, the computing strategies of our biology to make computers out of matter itself.

Key figures in biological computing, artificial intelligence, and theorists of the human-technology interface will discuss the convergence of humans and other types of computational systems and intelligence.

Venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson will illustrate the significance of integrating awareness of acceleration into capital funding decisions.

Journalist and scholar Robert Wright, author of Nonzero, will examine the considerable evidence for the historical acceleration of cooperation in human societies, and what this means for us today and for the future.

24 speakers and 250 attendees will gather for a weekend of insight and discourse. More information is available at http://accelerating.org/acc2003/conf_home.htm. The 25% discount for early registration will be available until August 4th.

ABOUT ASF

ASF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation based in Los Angeles, California. Our mission is to help business and society examine the potential risks and benefits of the accelerating pace of change through our conferences, reading groups, publications, websites, and sense of community. For more information about ASF and ACC2003, contact Tom Bresnahan, Public Relations, (310) 831-4191, or see http://www.accelerating.org.