ESSAYS
Artificial General Intelligence – Finding the Good is Better Than Doing Good
The universe doesn't seem to be inherently imbued with meaning, but it would seem that anything we could do to find said meaning, to make our time here "worthwhile", would fall into one of two broad categories. I argue that the creation of artificial general...
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Substrate Monopoly – The Future of Power in a Virtual and Intelligent World
I’ll begin this short entry with a supposition that might seem bold: In the remaining part of the 21st century, all competition between the world’s most powerful nations or organizations (whether economic competition, political competition, or military conflict) is...
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Is Artificial Intelligence Worse Than Nukes? Maybe – but it May Be Better, Too
Both artificial intelligence and nuclear warheads could both wipe out human life, though it might be possible for superintelligent AI to be even more destructive. That being said, AI is more than an "existential risk." It's also a potential "utilitarian bloom." The...
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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...
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