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Here is a Course Description for a possible course on the singularity at the University of Pennsylvania.

Course Description

Computers will soon have more raw compute power and memory than brains, and many scientists believe that computers will, in your lifetime, be vastly smarter in all ways than any human. (Many other scientists believe this is ridiculous.) The rapid transition from humans to computers as the dominant source of intelligence has been called "the singularity." This course will look closely at predictions of when and how the singularity might happen, with particular attention to technology forecasting methodology and to approaches to artificial general intelligence. We will also study scenarios and speculation as to what life might look like during and after the singularity.
Prerequisites: None
Course format: The course will take the form of a reading group, with classes devoted to discussions of primary literature. Students will be graded on class discussion, short homework, their contributions to the course wiki, and on a final paper.

Course Outline

What is the singularity?
- "Computers will be vastly smarter than you in your lifetime"
- Why do do we think it might happen?
How powerful is a brain? a computer?
Forecasting and Exponential growth
- forecasting methods: Moore's law and learning curves
- hardware and software improvement
How might the singularity occur: Five Paths to A Singularity
- AI: General Information/Questions
- AI and machine learning
- Simulate Human Cognition
- Simulate Brains
- Simulate Evolution
- Intelligence Augmentation (IA)
Arguments against the Singularity
Post-singularity

Ability to make and assess technology forecasts
- Moore's Law and The Learning Curve
Understanding how and why intelligence is hard
Basic Understanding of major approaches to building intelligent computers
- strengths, weaknesses, and computational complexity

Main Page for the University of Pennsylvania Datamining group