The philosopher Hegel said that the point of the universe is to become conscious of its own nature. The moment we realize that, at that point, the universe is conscious of itsown nature, that's the end of history. So maybe at that point they shut down the simulation or they maybe upload us from the simulation to the next stage of history.
Last year, Rufus sat down with philosopher David Chalmers to talk about the allure of virtual reality, whether robots will ever achieve consciousness, and the likelihood that we’re living in a simulation (David thinks it’s about 25 percent). It was a fascinating, freewheeling conversation, and we left large chunks of it on the cutting room floor. Now, though, with ChatGPT and other generative AI platforms taking the world by storm, those unaired sections, many of which were about the ethics of artificial intelligence, feel super relevant. So today, we’re sharing our complete interview with David. Buckle up. It’s a wild ride.