Synopsis: The new cognitive capabilities in our machines were the result of a shift in the way wethink about problem solving. The shift is the most significant change in AI, ever, if not inscience as a whole. Machine Learning based systems are now successfully attackingboth simple and complex problems using these novel Methods. We are…
Synopsis: In this talk we articulate a positive vision of the future that is both viable given what we know, and also utterly radical in its implications. We introduce two key insights that, when taken together, synergize in powerful ways. Namely, (a) the long-tails of pleasure and pain, and (b) the correlation between wellbeing, productivity,…
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…
This talk is part of the ‘Stepping Into the Future‘ conference. Synopsis: Along with many benefits of powerful machine learning methods comes significant challenges. For example, as content recommendation algorithms become increasingly competent at satisfying user preferences, they may also become more competent at manipulating human preferences, to make the preferences more easily satisfiable. These kinds of alignment…
This talk is part of the ‘Stepping Into the Future‘ conference. Abstract: Superintelligence, the next phase beyond today’s narrow AI and tomorrow’s AGI, almost intrinsically evades our attempts at detailed comprehension. Yet very different perspectives on superintelligence exist today and have concrete influence on thinking about matters ranging from AGI architectures to technology regulation.One paradigm…
Synopsis: Octavia Butler’s fiction underscores heightened empathy as a possible feature of the future humans (who may be co-evolved with alien species, in Butler’s imagination). Yet, in Butler’s fiction, the morally enhanced beings ponder over the freedom they now possess. This talk, building on the view that ME requires multiple virtues (James Hughes), examines the linkage…
Grand Futures – Thinking Truly Long Term. What are the limits of what advanced civilizations can achieve? What is the upper limit of value? Anders Sandberg speaks on existential hope about the far future and his upcoming book ‘Grand Futures: Thinking Truly Long Term‘, and how to be an optimist about the future. Synopsis: How…
A talk by David Pearce for the Stepping into the Future conference 2022. Synopsis: No sentient being in the evolutionary history of life has enjoyed good health as defined by the World Health Organization. The founding constitution of the World Health Organization commits the international community to a daringly ambitious conception of health: “a state…
James Hughes discusses the neuroanatomy of moral cognition, and the potential for brain stimulation and brain-computer interfaces to modulate moral emotions, cognition and behavior. This talk was part of the ‘Stepping Into the Future‘ conference. Video here. Audio: Synopsis: Links between brain structures and cognition began with studies of victims of brain injuries, and…
