This episode, first released on the “Into the Impossible” channel with Dr. Brian Keating, brings together the brilliant minds of John Vervaeke and Shawn Coyne to discuss the advent of artificial general intelligence and its potential consequences. The conversation starts with the motivations behind major tech figures' drive towards AI development and touches upon the issues of trust, adaptation, and the inherent human susceptibility to self-deception. Vervaeke and Coyne, through their book  "Mentoring the Machines: Surviving the Deep Impact of the Artificially Intelligent Tomorrow," advocate for a nuanced understanding of AI, urging for a mentorship approach to machine development that could ensure AI's alignment with human flourishing. Their dialogue also ventures into the realms of psychology, cognitive science, and the philosophical underpinnings of AI, making a compelling case for the transformative power of AI, not only technologically but also existentially for humanity.

Bios and Links:

Dr. Brian Keating is the Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Physics at UC San Diego, specializing in cosmic microwave background research to explore the universe's origins. An acclaimed writer, his book "Losing the Nobel Prize" is an Amazon Editors' favorite. He excels as a public speaker, inventor, and podcaster. Explore more at his website, follow him on Twitter, or watch his insights on YouTube. 

Shawn Coyne, creator of Story Grid, brings over three decades of publishing expertise, notably with the Big Five publishers, as an independent publisher, literary agent, and head of Genre Management Inc. Dive into his editing method and explore more at Story Grid.

Embark on a journey with us to tackle the Meaning Crisis by joining our exclusive Patreon group: John Vervaeke | Responding to The Meaning Crisis with The Vervaeke Foundation.

Connect with John: Website | YouTube | Patreon | X 

Resources:

The Vervaeke Foundation

Awaken to Meaning

Mentoring the Machines: Orientation - Part One: Surviving the Deep Impact of the Artificially Intelligent Tomorrow - John Vervaeke, Shawn Coyne 

Mentoring the Machines: Origins - Part 2: Surviving the Deep Impact of the Artificially Intelligent Tomorrow -  John Vervaeke, Shawn Coyne 

John Vervaeke Video Essay: AI: The Coming Thresholds and The Path We Must Take | Internationally Acclaimed Cognitive Scientist

Quotes: 

"We should really be framing artificial intelligence as a mentoring of intelligent beings who have the capability and potentialities of becoming even perhaps better than we are." - Shawn Coyne [00:05:52]

"It's only when you have genuine intelligence for the actual system or entity itself—an autopoietic system—a system that cares about information because it's taking care of itself in a moment by moment basis. Only then could you have something that would actually care about what's going on—the true, the good, or the beautiful." - John Vervaeke [00:15:05]

Glossary of Terms:

AGI (Artificial General Intelligence): A level of artificial intelligence that can understand, learn, and apply knowledge across a wide range of tasks at a level of competence comparable to or surpassing that of a human.

Relevance Realization: The process by which cognitive beings determine what information is relevant to their goals and what is not.

Autopoiesis: The property of a living system (such as a bacterial cell or a multicellular organism) that allows it to maintain and renew itself.

Chapters: 

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:02:45 - The Genesis of "Mentoring the Machines" 

00:08:50 - AI, Psychology, and the Alignment Problem 

00:16:40 - The Evolution of Editing and Publishing in the AI Era

00:21:00 - Bridging Knowledge and Wisdom

00:29:00 - Einstein, Imagination, and AI's Emotional Depth

00:37:30 - Deciphering Consciousness: AI and the Hard Problem

00:44:40 - Educational Evolution: AI, Pedagogy, and the Future of Teaching

00:53:50 - AI's Impact on Personalized Storytelling 

00:58:30 - AI, Psychology, and the Future of Psychotherapy

01:04:20 - Conclusion