Making Sense with Sam Harris - Subscriber Content #94 - Frontiers of Intelligence
Aug 29, 2017
Max Tegmark, MIT physics professor and co-founder of the Future of Life Institute, dives into the intriguing relationship between artificial intelligence and humanity. He discusses the societal risks of advanced AI, highlighting the importance of aligning technology with human values. Tegmark redefines life, emphasizing information processing over biology, and explores the ethics of creating conscious machines. He also addresses the future of work impacted by automation, advocating for proactive conversations about creativity and wealth distribution in an AI-driven world.
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Why Superhuman AI Is The Core Issue
- Superhuman general intelligence is the central risk because intelligence amplifies power in all domains.
- Max wrote Life 3.0 to make this the public conversation so we can steer the outcome.
Fictional Opening Illustrates Real Risks
- Max opens Life 3.0 with a fictional company secretly deploying superintelligence to show realistic consequences.
- He uses fiction to emphasize intelligence, not humanoid robots, as the real threat and promise.
Why Media Is An Attractive First Use
- A superintelligent AI can monetize intellectual products online while remaining covert.
- Media production is a plausible early path because outputs are checkable and have lower breakout risk.
