This week Oxford academic and 80,000 Hours trustee Dr Toby Ord released his new book The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity. It's about how our long-term future could be better than almost anyone believes, but also how humanity's recklessness is putting that future at grave risk — in Toby's reckoning, a 1 in 6 chance of being extinguished ... Show More
Jan 13
How to Prevent a Mirror Life Catastrophe | James Smith (Director, Mirror Biology Dialogues Fund)
When James Smith first heard about mirror bacteria, he was sceptical. But within two weeks, he’d dropped everything to work on it full time, considering it the worst biothreat that he’d seen described. What convinced him?Mirror bacteria would be constructed entirely from molecule ... Show More
2h 9m
Jan 6
#142 Classic episode – John McWhorter on why the optimal number of languages might be one, and other provocative claims about language
John McWhorter is a linguistics professor at Columbia University specialising in research on creole languages. He's also a content-producing machine, never afraid to give his frank opinion on anything and everything. On top of his academic work, he's written 22 books, produced fi ... Show More
1h 35m
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
Nov 2023
#151 — Will We Destroy the Future?
Sam Harris speaks with Nick Bostrom about the problem of existential risk. They discuss public goods, moral illusions, the asymmetry between happiness and suffering, utilitarianism, “the vulnerable world hypothesis,” the history of nuclear deterrence, the possible need for “turnk ... Show More
1h 33m
Apr 2023
Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom - Book Summary and Review | Free Audiobook
Show notes | PDF & Infographic | Free Audiobook | What happens when artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence? This is the world that Nick Bostrom explores in his book, Superintelligence.
Read 1 million books in minutes. For free. Get the PDF, infographic, full ad-fr ... Show More
15m 57s
Sep 2023
Future Shock 2023, Part 2
In the 1970 book “Future Shock,” futurist Alvin Toffler outlined a vision of post-industrial society in which rapid technological and social changes outstrip the average human’s ability to cope. More than half a century later, how does this idea hold up and are contemporary human ... Show More
52m 43s
Oct 2022
Will Humans Ever Become Extinct?
Greg and Bella explore the science of extinction with the help of dinosaur enthusiast Mr Yates.Together, they’ll look at some famous recent extinctions, find out what role conservation plays in the preservation of species, and explore the major mass extinction events that shaped ... Show More
43m 7s
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This week, mathematician and emeritus Oxford University Professor John Lennox discusses his book, "</span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">2084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity"</span></em></p> <p><span style="font-weight: ... Show More
