ESSAYS
Is AI Safety Research a Waste of Time?
Many months ago, Peter Voss came through San Francisco and we sat down for a coffee at my favorite place in Hayes Valley, Arlequin. We chatted a bit of business first. Peter runs Aigo.ai, and his work on natural language is a lot of fun to discuss. Similarly, we...
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Does it Matter if Future AI is Conscious?
I spoke recently at a United Nations and INTERPOL event in Singapore, on the topic of artificial intelligence use-cases in law enforcement. One of the only other Americans at the event - and a fellow speaker - was Thomas Campbell. Thomas spent many years in high-level...
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Digitized and Digested
"Digitized and digested" is the future scenario which I consider to be a likely long-term future for humanity, should we survive the initial growing pains of the singularity. By long-term, I could mean 100 or 10,000 years - though the real timeframe is likely to lie...
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Will More Intelligent Machines Be More Moral?
Many months ago, Peter Voss (who we've interviewed previously on the TechEmergence podcast) came through San Francisco and we sat down for a coffee at my favorite place in Hayes Valley, Arlequin Cafe. We chatted a bit of business first. Peter runs Aigo.ai, and his...
read moreMoral Singularity
The "moral singularity" refers to how morality - a particular system of values and principles of conduct - will evolve radically once (a) human intelligence and cognition is enhanced, and (b) artificial general intelligence (AGI) enters the world. It is my belief...
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The Transhuman Transition – Lotus Eaters vs World Eaters
Human nature has always been to gain control over the physical world — both in maximizing its output for our benefit (farming, mining, etc), and in lessening the risks it poses to human life and wellbeing (medicine, construction, etc). This same drive for control...
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Artificial Intelligence Job Loss is a Comparatively Minor Concern
How can you keep artificial intelligence from taking over your job? In my latest TEDx talk, I explore what I’ve learned (from hundreds of interviews) about job security in the era of AI - but I also lay out why I think that “job loss” is a somewhat trivial concern in...
read moreWhat Black Mirror’s San Junipero Got Right and Wrong
I've been cajoled into watching Netflix's Black Mirror, and a friend of mine recommended watching the San Junipero episode next. As I mentioned in my last Black Morror reflection, and I didn't plan on watching anything that wasn't worth 40 minutes. San Junipero was a...
read moreWith VR and Neurotech, the Future of Sex May Be Just as Disturbing as the Present
I don't watch fiction, and I don't read fiction, almost as a rule. While I respect it as a medium, and consider it valuable in fleshing out future scenarios that humanity should consider (which David Brin referred to as "finding quicksand" in an interview I conducted...
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If Positive Psychology Aims for 51% of the Human Population to Flourish, We’ll Need to Take Technology Seriously
The Aim of Positive Psychology Positive Psychology’s founder Dr. Martin Seligman has undertaken the “moon-shot” endeavor to have 51% of the human population psychologically flourishing by 2051. It’s an audacious goal intended to unite positive psychology’s forces in...
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