Exploring Human Life Extension and Population Dynamics

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The chapter delves into the concept of extending human life expectancy, discussing the challenges and implications of living for 200 or 300 years. It also explores the interplay between increasing lifespans, declining birth rates, and the potential need for humanity to become a multi-planetary species to avert resource and population crises. The conversation extends to discussing timelines for achieving superintelligence, the Fermi paradox, the simulation hypothesis, and the intricate relationship between virtual reality and physical bodies.

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.