Peter Singer & David Pearce on Utilitarianism, Bliss & Suffering
| | | |

Peter Singer & David Pearce on Utilitarianism, Bliss & Suffering

Moral philosophers Peter Singer & David Pearce discuss some of the long term issues with various forms of utilitarianism, the future of predation and utilitronium shockwaves. Topics Covered – long term impacts of various forms of utilitarianism – Consciousness – Artificial Intelligence – Reducing suffering in the long run and in the short term –…

Is there a Meaningful Future for Non-Optimal Moral Agents?
| | | |

Is there a Meaningful Future for Non-Optimal Moral Agents?

In an interview last year, I had a discussion with John Danaher on the Hedonistic Imperative & Superintelligence – a concern he has with HI is that it denies or de-emphasises some kind of moral agency – in moral theory there is a distinction between moral agents (being a responsible actor able to make moral…

The long-term future of AI (and what we can do about it) : Daniel Dewey at TEDxVienna
| | |

The long-term future of AI (and what we can do about it) : Daniel Dewey at TEDxVienna

This has been one of my favourite simple talks on AI Impacts – Simple, clear and straight to the point. Recommended as an introduction to the ideas (referred to in the title). I couldn’t find the audio of this talk at TED – it has been added to archive.org:   Daniel Dewey is a research…

Brian Greene on Artificial Intelligence, the Importance of Fundamental Physics, Alien Life, and the Possible Future of Our Civilization
| | | |

Brian Greene on Artificial Intelligence, the Importance of Fundamental Physics, Alien Life, and the Possible Future of Our Civilization

March 14th was Albert Einstein’s birthday, and also PI day, so it was a fitting day to be interviewing well known theoretical physicist and string theorist Brian Greene – the author of a number of books including, The Elegant Universe, Icarus at the Edge of Time, The Fabric of the Cosmos, and The Hidden Reality!…

Can Intelligence Explode? – Marcus Hutter at Singularity Summit Australia 2012
| | |

Can Intelligence Explode? – Marcus Hutter at Singularity Summit Australia 2012

Abstract: The technological singularity refers to a hypothetical scenario in which technological advances virtually explode. The most popular scenario is the creation of super-intelligent algorithms that recursively create ever higher intelligences. After a short introduction to this intriguing potential future, I will elaborate on what it could mean for intelligence to explode. In this course,…

Metamorphogenesis – How a Planet can produce Minds, Mathematics and Music – Aaron Sloman
| | | | |

Metamorphogenesis – How a Planet can produce Minds, Mathematics and Music – Aaron Sloman

The universe is made up of matter, energy and information, interacting with each other and producing new kinds of matter, energy, information and interaction. How? How did all this come out of a cloud of dust? In order to find explanations we first need much better descriptions of what needs to be explained. By Aaron…

7th Annual Conference of the Australasian Bayesian Network Modelling Society (ABNMS2015)
| |

7th Annual Conference of the Australasian Bayesian Network Modelling Society (ABNMS2015)

November 23 – 24, 2015: Pre-Conference Workshop November 25 – 26, 2015: Conference [Official Website Here] Location: Monash University, Caulfield, Melbourne (Australia) Promo vid | Contact: abnms2015@abnms.org Keynote Speakers: The conference organisers are pleased to announce that Dr Bruce Marcot of the US Forest Service, Dan Ababei from Lighttwist Software, Netherlands and Assoc Prof Jonathan…

Vernor Vinge on the Technological Singularity
| | |

Vernor Vinge on the Technological Singularity

What is the Singularity? Vernor Vinge speaks about technological change, offloading cognition from minds into the environment, and the potential of Strong Artificial Intelligence. Vernor Vinge popularised and coined the term “Technological Singularity” in his 1993 essay “The Coming Technological Singularity“, in which he argues that the creation of superhuman artificial intelligence will mark the…

Automating Science: Panel – Stephen Ames, John Wilkins, Greg Restall, Kevin Korb
| | | | |

Automating Science: Panel – Stephen Ames, John Wilkins, Greg Restall, Kevin Korb

A discussion among philosophers, mathematicians and AI experts on whether science can be automated, what it means to automate science, and the implications of automating science – including discussion on the technological singularity. – implementing science in a computer – Bayesian methods – most promising normative standard for doing inductive inference – vehicle : causal…