The Singularity Summit kicked off this evening with a reception hosted by Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel. The venue was pretty nice. Here’s a rough approximation of the view from the roof/balcony.

Yeah. I’ve seen worse.

One could argue that, as of this year, the Singularity Summit has come into its own. The event made the front page of today’s San Francisco Chronicle. Singularity Institute Executive Director Tyler Emerson tells me that 1,000 attendees are expected for the conference sessions over the next two days. With the speakers they’ve lined up, I’m not surprised.

I completed five mini video interviews this evening. So far, I’ve spoken exclusively to attendees (although one speaker has agreed to do an interview with me on Sunday.) A big part of what makes this such an exciting event is the attendees. They are a very smart bunch, with some fascinating perspectives on the Singularity — and they aren’t afraid to share.

Three topics that aren’t the Singularity that I kept stumbling upon people talking about:

Cryonics — Some of this from Alcor folks, but not all.

Star Wars — I’m just telling you what I heard.

Burning Man — There’s apparently a lot of crossover between the Singularity crowd and the Burning Man crowd. We need to understand this phenomenon better. Next year, I’m sending Stephen and El Jefe on a road trip to see what the heck Burning Man is all about.

I hope I find some time to interview the speakers, but on the other hand — they’re all getting a chance to be heard, anyway. Hearing more from the attendees might help round out our understanding of the event.

Well, we’ll see what tomorrow has in store. (Later today, really.) I can’t wait.