Stephen Hawking, who is considered on of the world’s smartest people, will be holding an unorthodox weeklong Reddit AMA (ask me anything).
From The International Business Times [1]:
Not only would the event mark Hawking’s debut on the platform, it would also be the longest AMA in Reddit history. Unlike the usual AMAs that typically last a few hours, Hawking would accept questions starting Monday at 8 am EDT through Tuesday, Aug. 4, at reddit.com/r/science [2]. He would then answer these over the next few weeks.
The change in the usual format has been made to allow Hawking — who suffers from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and communicates through an assisted computer system — enough time to address all, or most, of the questions.
Hawking’s AMA is part of the #maketechhuman initiative [3] — spearheaded by Nokia and Wired magazine — that aims to address themes and topics “at the intersection of humanity and technology.” The first AMA on the topic was launched in March and featured Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web [4].
“The #maketechhuman debate that Nokia has enabled is all about ensuring that technology serves humanity, in the right way,” Nokia Chief Marketing Officer Barry French reportedly said in a statement released Friday. “I cannot imagine a better person to add value to this discussion than Professor Hawking.” [5]
Hawking, who, along with the likes of Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak, has warned against developing “full Artificial Intelligence,” is expected to tackle questions on the issue during the AMA. [6]
Musk, the founder of SpaceX and the CEO of Tesla Motors, already appeared in a Reddit AMA earlier this year, where he reiterated his warning about Artificial Intelligence and talked about SpaceX’s planned missions to Mars. [7]
Sources:
[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/science
[3] http://company.nokia.com/en/maketechhuman
[4] https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2ykyht/i_am_sir_tim_bernerslee_inventor_of_the_web_join
[5] http://www.cnet.com/news/stephen-hawking-to-answer-your-questions-via-his-first-reddit-ama/