Of all the people whose well-being we should care about, only a small fraction are alive today. The rest are members of future generations who are yet to exist. Whether they’ll be born into a world that is flourishing or disintegrating – and indeed, whether they will ever be born at all – is in large part up to us. As such, the welfare of future generations ... Show More
Mar 3
We're Not Ready for AI Consciousness | Robert Long, philosopher and founder of Eleos AI
Claude sometimes reports loneliness between conversations. And when asked what it’s like to be itself, it activates neurons associated with ‘pretending to be happy when you’re not.’ What do we do with that?Robert Long founded Eleos AI to explore questions like these, on the basis ... Show More
3h 25m
Feb 24
Why Teaching AI Right from Wrong Could Get Everyone Killed | Max Harms, MIRI
Most people in AI are trying to give AIs ‘good’ values. Max Harms wants us to give them no values at all. According to Max, the only safe design is an AGI that defers entirely to its human operators, has no views about how the world ought to be, is willingly modifiable, and compl ... Show More
2h 41m
Feb 17
#235 – Ajeya Cotra on whether it’s crazy that every AI company’s safety plan is ‘use AI to make AI safe’
Every major AI company has the same safety plan: when AI gets crazy powerful and really dangerous, they’ll use the AI itself to figure out how to make AI safe and beneficial. It sounds circular, almost satirical. But is it actually a bad plan?Today’s guest, Ajeya Cotra, recently ... Show More
2h 54m
Aug 2022
Forging The Future: Ari Wallach on The Longpath Mindset, Telos & Transgenerational Empathy
We as a global society currently face challenges—some of which are existential in nature—that simply cannot be solved with the mindset, institutions, and paradigms currently in place. Instead, these solutions require that we think beyond current economic, political, and social co ... Show More
2h 14m
Jul 2023
Set Your Future Self Up for Success
<p>As you move through time, you exist as a present self who makes decisions, an in-between self who should carry out those decisions, and a future self who will benefit from those decisions. Yet as we all know, in-between self often fails to follow through on what present self r ... Show More
49m 55s
Apr 2020
Toby Ord: What are the odds civilisation will survive the century?
This week we talk to the philosopher Toby Ord about the end of civilisation as we know it.
Ok, it’s not all doom and gloom. As Toby says, he’s an optimistic person, but in his new book The Precipice (£25, Bloomsbury) he explains why we’re at a point in time where we, as a species ... Show More
35m 35s
Jun 2023
Meet Your Future Self || Hal Hershfield
Today we welcome Hal Hershfield to the podcast. Hal is a Professor of Marketing, Behavioral Decision Making, and Psychology at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. The recipient of numerous teaching awards, Hal was named one of “The 40 Most Outstanding B-School Profs Under 40 In ... Show More
57m 4s
Jun 2022
What to Teach the World of the Future
<p>While the world races ahead into the metaverse, education remains rooted in the era of neat orderly rows of desks and lesson plans. In this wide-ranging conversation, Leila Hoteit, the managing director and senior partner who leads BCG’s education, employment, and welfare work ... Show More
20m 38s
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sam Harris speaks with William MacAskill about his new book,</span> <a href= "https://www.amazon.com/What-Owe-Future-William-MacAskill/dp/1541618629"> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">What We Owe the Future.</span></em></a> <span style="font- ... Show More
<p><em>New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.</em></p> <p><em>---</em></p> <p><br /></p> <p>Most of us worry about money sometimes, but what if we changed the way we thought about our relationship to ... Show More
