Exploring Intrinsic Value and AI Impact

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The chapter delves into finding intrinsic value in activities, emphasizing engagement for inherent worth rather than shortcuts like pills or AI. It discusses the impact of AI on job automation, envisioning a future where meaningful activities replace traditional labor due to post-scarcity conditions. The conversation also explores setting limits in societal well-being versus the pursuit of knowledge, hinting at AI's role in optimizing scientific research.

Nick Bostrom’s previous book, Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies, changed the global conversation on AI and became a New York Times bestseller. It focused on what might happen if AI development goes wrong.

But what if things go right?

Bostrom and Shermer discuss: An AI Utopia and Protopia • Trekonomics, post-scarcity economics • the hedonic treadmill and positional wealth values • colonizing the galaxy • The Fermi paradox: Where is everyone? • mind uploading and immortality • Google’s Gemini AI debacle • LLMs, ChatGPT, and beyond • How would we know if an AI system was sentient?

Nick Bostrom is a Professor at Oxford University, where he is the founding director of the Future of Humanity Institute. Bostrom is the world’s most cited philosopher aged 50 or under.