Radio Bostrom

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**Radio Bostrom**

Audio narrations of academic papers by Nick Bostrom.

Latest Episodes:

AI Creation and the Cosmic Host (2024) Aug 08, 2024

Show notes

https://nickbostrom.com/papers/ai-creation-and-the-cosmic-host.pdf

Deep Utopia: Life and Meaning in a Solved World (2024) Mar 18, 2024

Show notes

Nick Bostrom’s latest book, Deep Utopia: Life and Meaning in a Solved World, will be published on 27th March, 2024. It’s available to pre-order now:
https://nickbostrom.com/deep-utopia/
The publisher describes the book as follows:
A greyhound catching the mechanical lure—what would he actually do with it? Has he given this any thought?
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?
Suppose that we develop superintelligence safely, govern it well, and make good use of the cornucopian wealth and near magical technological powers that this technology can unlock. If this transition to the machine intelligence era goes well, human labor becomes obsolete. We would thus enter a condition of “post-instrumentality”, in which our efforts are not needed for any practical purpose. Furthermore, at technological maturity, human nature becomes entirely malleable.
Here we confront a challenge that is not technological but philosophical and spiritual. In such a solved world, what is the point of human existence? What gives meaning to life? What do we do all day?
Deep Utopia shines new light on these old questions, and gives us glimpses of a different kind of existence, which might be ours in the future.

The Unilateralist’s Curse and the Case for a Principle of Conformity (2016) Aug 27, 2022

Show notes

https://nickbostrom.com/papers/unilateralist.pdf

In Defense of Posthuman Dignity (2005) Aug 26, 2022

Show notes

By Nick Bostrom.
Abstract:
Positions on the ethics of human enhancement technologies can be (crudely) characterized as ranging from transhumanism to bioconservatism. Transhumanists believe that human enhancement technologies should be made widely available, that individuals should have broad discretion over which of these technologies to apply to themselves, and that parents should normally have the right to choose enhancements for their children-to-be. Bioconservatives (whose ranks include such diverse writers as Leon Kass, Francis Fukuyama, George Annas, Wesley Smith, Jeremy Rifkin, and Bill McKibben) are generally opposed to the use of technology to modify human nature. A central idea in bioconservativism is that human enhancement technologies will undermine our human dignity. To forestall a slide down the slippery slope towards an ultimately debased ‘posthuman’ state, bioconservatives often argue for broad bans on otherwise promising human enhancements. This paper distinguishes two common fears about the posthuman and argues for the importance of a concept of dignity that is inclusive enough to also apply to many possible posthuman beings. Recognizing the possibility of posthuman dignity undercuts an important objection against human enhancement and removes a distortive double standard from our field of moral vision.
Read the full paper:
https://nickbostrom.com/ethics/dignity
More episodes at:
https://radiobostrom.com/

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Outline:

(00:02) Introduction

(00:21) Abstract

(01:57) Transhumanists vs. bioconservatives

(06:42) Two fears about the posthuman

(19:44) Is human dignity incompatible with posthuman dignity?

(29:03) Why we need posthuman dignity

(34:38) Outro & credits

A Primer on the Doomsday Argument (1999) Aug 25, 2022

Show notes

By Nick Bostrom.
Abstract:
Rarely does philosophy produce empirical predictions. The Doomsday argument is an important exception. From seemingly trivial premises it seeks to show that the risk that humankind will go extinct soon has been systematically underestimated. Nearly everybody's first reaction is that there must be something wrong with such an argument. Yet despite being subjected to intense scrutiny by a growing number of philosophers, no simple flaw in the argument has been identified.
Read the full paper:
https://anthropic-principle.com/q=anthropic_principle/doomsday_argument/
More episodes at:
https://radiobostrom.com/

Propositions Concerning Digital Minds and Society (2022) Aug 24, 2022

Show notes

https://nickbostrom.com/propositions.pdf

Base Camp for Mount Ethics (2022) Aug 23, 2022

Show notes

https://nickbostrom.com/papers/mountethics.pdf

The Transhumanist FAQ (2003) Aug 22, 2022

Show notes

https://nickbostrom.com/views/transhumanist.pdf

The Future of Human Evolution (2004) Aug 21, 2022

Show notes

By Nick Bostrom.
Abstract:
Evolutionary development is sometimes thought of as exhibiting an inexorable trend towards higher, more complex, and normatively worthwhile forms of life. This paper explores some dystopian scenarios where freewheeling evolutionary developments, while continuing to produce complex and intelligent forms of organization, lead to the gradual elimination of all forms of being that we care about. We then consider how such catastrophic outcomes could be avoided and argue that under certain conditions the only possible remedy would be a globally coordinated policy to control human evolution by modifying the fitness function of future intelligent life forms.
Read the full paper:
https://nickbostrom.com/fut/evolution
More episodes at:
https://radiobostrom.com/

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Outline:

(00:16) Abstract

(01:06) 1. The Panglossian view

(07:50) 2. Two dystopian "upward" evolutionary scenarios

(17:35) 3. Ours is an evolutionary disequilibrium

(24:55) 4. Costly signaling and flamboyant display?

(30:07) 5. Two senses of outcompeted

(32:31) 6. Could we control our own evolution?

(35:30) 7. Preventing non-eudaemonic agents from arising

(39:56) 8. Modifying the fitness function

(43:34) 9. Policies for evolutionary steering

(49:48) 10. Detour

(52:44) 11. Only a singleton could control evolution

(59:22) 12. Conclusion

Predictions from Philosophy? (1997) Aug 20, 2022

Show notes

By Nick Bostrom.
Abstract:
The purpose of this paper, boldly stated, is to propose a new type of philosophy, a philosophy whose aim is prediction. The pace of technological progress is increasing very rapidly: it looks as if we are witnessing an exponential growth, the growth-rate being proportional to the size already obtained, with scientific knowledge doubling every 10 to 20 years since the second world war, and with computer processor speed doubling every 18 months or so. It is argued that this technological development makes urgent many empirical questions which a philosopher could be well-suited to help answering. I try to cover a broad range of interesting problems and approaches, which means that I won't go at all deeply into any of them; I only try to say enough to show what some of the problems are, how one can begin to work with them, and why philosophy is relevant. My hope is that this will whet your appetite to deal with these questions, or at least increase general awareness that they worthy tasks for first-class intellects, including ones which might belong to philosophers.
Read the full paper:
https://nickbostrom.com/old/predict
More episodes at:
https://radiobostrom.com/

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Outline:

(00:19) Abstract

(01:52) 1. The Polymath

(08:41) 2. The Carter-Leslie Doomsday Argument and the Anthropic Principle

(15:28) 3. The Fermi Paradox

(43:49) 4. Superintelligence

(58:27) 5. Uploading, Cyberspace and Cosmology

(01:16:14) 6. Attractors and Values

(01:28:41) 7. Transhumanism