[brandall10]

I'm somewhat surprised there are comments debating what use he could be to Google or what interest they might have in him - Google is one of the primary backers of Singularity University. They already have a working relationship. Now he's an employee. Don't get how this could be a stretch.

Singularity U as far as I understand is not really there so people can more quickly get to the point of uploading their brain to the cloud or anything - it's essentially for business strategists who want to have a better grasp of where things will be in 5-10+ years out. If the Goog believes strongly in the Kurz's ability to do this then it seems like a pretty nice score for the Goog.

[kanzure]

> They already have a working relationship. Now he's an employee. Don't get how this could be a stretch.

Maybe because of his role at Google, "Director of Engineering". That's not a good description of what Singularity University offers their customers. They do maybe one or two field trips to BioCurious and call it quits.

Also, why is Singularity University managing TedxAustin? That was a bizarre email to see.

[brandall10]

Really? Their stated goal is: "assemble, educate and inspire a cadre of leaders who strive to understand and facilitate the development of exponentially advancing technologies and apply, focus and guide these tools to address humanity’s grand challenges."

Why would this not in alignment w/ Google's aim for such a position? Why would they not want a strategist they believe who could direct their engineering staff in this manner?

The people who attend the university are CEOs, CTOs... Directors of Engineering, etc. It's not for fringe kooks to congregate in celebration of the upcoming nerd rapture. Not at $25k/10 weeks it ain't.

I get that he's a polarizing figure. But there are some very powerful people in this world who believes the man can walk on water.

[dbyrd]

You're all sorta right. I worked at Singularity University for 2 years. They do 2 things: 1. Educate fabulously wealthy people in expensive executive programs 2. Use that money to put on a YC-esk incubator during the program where people come to build companies that use the technology of their sponsors. Google was one of the first sponsors. Peter Norvig was on the Faculty for a couple years. So was Astro Teller who heads their special projects (Google X).

[kanzure]

> Why would this not in alignment w/ Google's aim for such a position?

Singularity University helps you meet people who can help you facilitate engineering feats, in the sense that more money helps you facilitate engineering feats. That's okay in my book.

But, you're not going to end up with a working knowledge of mechanical engineering or computational neuroscience by hanging out at the Singularity University lectures.

People are surprised about at how far "Director of Engineering" can skew in that direction, they aren't surprised that Google is interested in the future.

[freshhawk]

> The people who attend the university are CEOs, CTOs... Directors of Engineering, etc. It's not for fringe kooks

A much larger percentage of CEOs, CTOs, D of E's depend on psychics and astrologers. So that helps define the strength of the "other powerful people follow him" defense.