On the coat-tails of a the blockbuster film “The Imitation Game” I saw quite a bit of buzz on the internet about Alan Turing, and the Turing Test. The title of the movie refers to the idea of the Turing Test may someday show that machines would ostensibly be (at least in controlled circumstances) indistinguishable…
In his new book Deep Utopia, Nick Bostrom invites us to imagine a world where the big problems are solved—no hunger, no war, just a quiet hum of existential security and near infinite bliss. But then what? In a recent interview, he offers a poetic twist: “It might be completely appropriate to place more weight…
I just finished Mo Gawdat’s book Scarey Smart. The overview says: By 2049 AI will be a billion times more intelligent than humans. Scary Smart explains how to fix the current trajectory now, to make sure that the AI of the future can preserve our species. This book offers a blueprint, pointing the way to…
Nick Bostrom discusses pleasure as the first ring of defence of meaning in a plastic utopia. 5-ringed defence: Transcript: Like imagine working your way through that point where you think this actually doesn’t look appealing at all, this kind of solved world where we like, what’s the point? But then we can start to rebuild…
Nick Bostrom: Superintelligence Could Be a Year Away—or Not Back in 2012, when I first chatted with Nick Bostrom about AI risk, the topic was a niche blip—dung beetle mating habits had more academic ink. Fast forward to 2025, post his 2014 game-changer ‘Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies’, and AI’s sprinting ahead. So, how close are…
Nick Bostrom dropped a bombshell that cuts through some of the haze around AI doom-and-gloom: “I think ultimately this transition to the superintelligence era is one we should do.” That’s right—should. Not “might” or “could,” but a firm nudge toward a future where humanity doesn’t just survive AI but thrives with it. Even more striking?…
In short: Satiable values have diminishing returns with more resources, while insatiable values always want more, potentially leading to risky AI behaviour – it seems likely that AI with insatiable values could make existential trades, like gambling the world for a chance to double resources. Therefore potentially design AI with satiable values to ensure stability,…
Key Points Understanding UBI and Its Challenges Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a system where everyone gets regular cash payments, no strings attached. It’s seen as a way to help people in an AI-driven economy where jobs might disappear. But there are worries. For example, if landlords know everyone has extra money, they might raise…
Super excited that I’ll be interviewing Nick Bostrom again in a few days – last time was in 2012 (on XRisks of AI and the Simulation Argument). This time we will cover topics that range from Superintelligence to Deep Utopia. Since Nick Bostrom wrote Superintelligence, AI has surged from theoretical speculation to powerful, world-shaping reality….
About “I argue that there is a realistic possibility that some AI systems will be conscious and/or robustly agentic in the near future. That means that the prospect of AI welfare and moral patienthood, i.e. of AI systems with their own interests and moral significance, is no longer an issue only for sci-fi or the…
We lack the experience with something smarter than us – is fair enough. We’ve never met an entity that outstrips our cognitive horsepower across the board – after all, as I type humans still have jobs. Same goes for morality: we don’t have a benchmark for something “more moral” than humans – even by our…
