Futurist Michael Anissimov and nanotechnologist Ralph Merkle us as we begin a special series leading up Foresight 2010. The conference, January 16-17 in Palo Alto, California, provides a unique opportunity to explore the convergence of nanotechnology and artificial intelligence and to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Foresight Institute.

About our guests:

Michael Anissimov is a

science/technology writer and consultant. He is the creative force

behind one of the leading futurist blogs, Accelerating

Future. He is a co-founder of the Immortality

Institute and the Media Director for the Singularity Institute for Artificial

Intelligence.

Ralph Merkle is the co-inventor of public key encryption and a pioneering reseracher in the field of nanotechnlogy. He is a Director of Alcor, on the faculty at Singularity University, a co-founder of the Nanofactory Collaboration and a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing. He was co-recipient of the 1998 Feynman Prize for Nanotechnology for theory, the ACM's Kanellakis Award for Theory and Practice, the IEEE Kobayashi Award and the 2000 RSA Award in Mathematics.