The "What is Money?" Show The Truth About Our AI Future w/ Ben Goertzel
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Nov 28, 2025 
Ben Goertzel, AI researcher and founder of SingularityNET, dives into the transformative potential of artificial general intelligence. He discusses the shift from narrow AI to AGI and poses intriguing questions about the future of consciousness and personhood. Topics range from the advantages of decentralized superintelligence to the ethical implications of merging humans with AGI. Ben also evaluates how AGI might reshape economics and governance, while emphasizing the necessity for adaptability in society as AGI evolves.
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General Intelligence Requires Abstraction
- Ben Goertzel defines intelligence as the ability to achieve complex goals in complex environments and general intelligence as strong abstraction and generalization.
- He argues LLMs have breadth but lack true generalization and need other algorithms to reach human-like AGI.
Intelligence Needs A Body Of Some Kind
- Embodiment matters because inputs, outputs, and the ability to act shape models of the world, but a human-like body is not strictly required.
- The internet itself can function as a body with massive sensors and actuators.
Split-Brain Experiments Reveal Rationalization
- Ben recounts Michael Gazzaniga's split-brain experiments showing conscious rationalization after decisions are already made.
- He uses this to argue much decision-making is unconscious and consciousness often rationalizes post-hoc.
