Our scientific observations are not pristine windows to reality; they are tinted by the theoretical frameworks and conceptual schemes that scaffold our interpretations, often smuggling in with them implicit assumptions of the very thesis they’re meant to support. We don’t simply absorb the world as it is; rather, we interpret it through the filter of…
Here, Adam Ford interviews OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Adam Ford: What is the anatomical basis for raw feels? ChatGPT: I’m not exactly sure what you mean by “raw feels.” Could you please provide some more context or clarify your question? Adam Ford: By “raw feels” I mean pleasure and suffering. ChatGPT: Pleasure and suffering are subjective experiences,…
Dr Kevin Korb questions OpenAI’s ChatGPT on whether AI can behave ethically, and can it do so in an autonomous way. ChatGPT can only provide responses based on it’s training data – it can’t do research via the internet in real time (which it admits in it’s responses). It would be interesting what it’s responses…
If you are a Negative Utilitarian (NU) you are morally obliged to wipe out all existence for the sake of a pin prick, but if you are a Classical Utilitarian (CU) you are morally obliged to accept trade-offs between suffering and bliss as long as the bliss outweighs the suffering. NU doesn’t accept trade-offs, it’s…
The state of the art deep learning models do not really embody understanding. This panel will focusing on AGI transparency, auditability and explainability.. differences btw causal understanding and prediction as well as surrounding practical / systemic / ethical issues. Can the blackbox problem be fully solved without machine understanding (the AI actually ‘understanding’ rather than…
Why should we prioritize improving the long-term future? Longtermism is an ethical stance motivates the reduction of existential risks such as nuclear war, engineered pandemics and emerging technologies like AI and nanotechnology. Sigal Samuel summarizes the key argument for longtermism as follows: “future people matter morally just as much as people alive today; (…) there…
Are there facts about whether something is beautiful, or good art, or are such things purely a matter of opinion? A Future Day talk by Andrés Gómez Emilsson Audio: Synopsis: In the spirit of fostering a collaborative relationship between the memeplexes that currently occupy the minds of the post-political intelligentsia, Andrés shares a conceptual framework…
A talk for the ‘Stepping into the Future‘ conference (April 2022). Synopsis: Does the History, Dynamics, and Structure of our Universe give any evidence that it is inherently “Good”? Does it appear to be statistically protective of adapted complexity and intelligence? Which aspects of the big history of our universe appear to be random? Which…
Adam Ford argues for the position that Artificial Intelligence Will Be Smarter Than Humans in the lifetime of a young adult (sometime before the end of this century). This was one side of a debate put on my Melbourne University for a philosophy course. Adam discusses reasons why AI becoming smarter than human level intelligence…
Philosopher David Pearce discusses the Biohappiness Revolution, and his forthcoming book. What is health? According to WHO: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Further on the rights to health: “The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of…
