Future of Life Institute Podcast

Robin Hanson joins the podcast to explain his theory of grabby aliens and its implications for the future of humanity. Learn more about the theory here: https://grabbyaliens.com Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 00:49 Why should we care about aliens? 05:58 Loud alien civilizations and quiet alien civilizations 08:16 Why would some alien civilizations be quiet? 14:50 The moving parts of the grabby ali...

Ajeya Cotra joins us to talk about thinking clearly in a rapidly changing world. Learn more about the work of Ajeya and her colleagues: https://www.openphilanthropy.org Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 00:44 The default versus the accelerating picture of the future 04:25 The role of AI in accelerating change 06:48 Extrapolating economic growth 08:53 How do we know whether the pace of change is accel...

Ajeya Cotra joins us to discuss how artificial intelligence could cause catastrophe. Follow the work of Ajeya and her colleagues: https://www.openphilanthropy.org Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 00:53 AI safety research in general 02:04 Realistic scenarios for AI catastrophes 06:51 A dangerous AI model developed in the near future 09:10 Assumptions behind dangerous AI development 14:45 Can AIs lear...

Ajeya Cotra joins us to discuss forecasting transformative artificial intelligence. Follow the work of Ajeya and her colleagues: https://www.openphilanthropy.org Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 00:53 Ajeya's report on AI 01:16 What is transformative AI? 02:09 Forecasting transformative AI 02:53 Historical growth rates 05:10 Simpler forecasting methods 09:01 Biological anchors 16:31 Different paths...

Alan Robock joins us to discuss nuclear winter, famine and geoengineering. Learn more about Alan's work: http://people.envsci.rutgers.edu/robock/ Follow Alan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlanRobock Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 00:45 What is nuclear winter? 06:27 A nuclear war between India and Pakistan 09:16 Targets in a nuclear war 11:08 Why does the world have so many nuclear weapons? 19:28...

Brian Toon joins us to discuss the risk of nuclear winter. Learn more about Brian's work: https://lasp.colorado.edu/home/people/brian-toon/ Read Brian's publications: https://airbornescience.nasa.gov/person/Brian_Toon Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 01:02 Asteroid impacts 04:20 The discovery of nuclear winter 13:56 Comparing volcanoes and asteroids to nuclear weapons 19:42 How did life survive the...

Philip Reiner joins us to talk about nuclear, command, control and communications systems. Learn more about Philip’s work: https://securityandtechnology.org/ Timestamps: [00:00:00] Introduction [00:00:50] Nuclear command, control, and communications [00:03:52] Old technology in nuclear systems [00:12:18] Incentives for nuclear states [00:15:04] Selectively enhancing security [00:17:34] Unilateral...

Daniela and Dario Amodei join us to discuss Anthropic: a new AI safety and research company that's working to build reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. Topics discussed in this episode include: -Anthropic's mission and research strategy -Recent research and papers by Anthropic -Anthropic's structure as a "public benefit corporation" -Career opportunities You can find the page for th...

Anthony Aguirre and Anna Yelizarova join us to discuss FLI's new Worldbuilding Contest. Topics discussed in this episode include: -Motivations behind the contest -The importance of worldbuilding -The rules of the contest -What a submission consists of -Due date and prizes Learn more about the contest here: https://worldbuild.ai/ Join the discord: https://discord.com/invite/njZyTJpwMz You can find...

David Chalmers, Professor of Philosophy and Neural Science at NYU, joins us to discuss his newest book Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy. Topics discussed in this episode include: -Virtual reality as genuine reality -Why VR is compatible with the good life -Why we can never know whether we're in a simulation -Consciousness in virtual realities -The ethics of simulated beings...

Rohin Shah, Research Scientist on DeepMind's technical AGI safety team, joins us to discuss: AI value alignment; how an AI Researcher might decide whether to work on AI Safety; and why we don't know that AI systems won't lead to existential risk.  Topics discussed in this episode include: - Inner Alignment versus Outer Alignment - Foundation Models - Structural AI Risks - Unipolar versus Multipola...

Future of Life Institute President Max Tegmark and our grants team, Andrea Berman and Daniel Filan, join us to announce a $25M multi-year AI Existential Safety Grants Program. Topics discussed in this episode include: - The reason Future of Life Institute is offering AI Existential Safety Grants - Max speaks about how receiving a grant changed his career early on - Daniel and Andrea provide detail...

Dr. Filippa Lentzos, Senior Lecturer in Science and International Security at King's College London, joins us to discuss the most pressing issues in biosecurity, big data in biology and life sciences, and governance in biological risk. Topics discussed in this episode include: - The most pressing issue in biosecurity - Stories from when biosafety labs failed to contain dangerous pathogens - The le...

Susan Solomon, internationally recognized atmospheric chemist, and Stephen Andersen, leader of the Montreal Protocol, join us to tell the story of the ozone hole and their roles in helping to bring us back from the brink of disaster.  Topics discussed in this episode include: -The industrial and commercial uses of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) -How we discovered the atmospheric effects of CFCs -The M...

James Manyika, Chairman and Director of the McKinsey Global Institute, joins us to discuss the rapidly evolving landscape of the modern global economy and the role of technology in it.  Topics discussed in this episode include: -The modern social contract -Reskilling, wage stagnation, and inequality -Technology induced unemployment -The structure of the global economy -The geographic concentration...

Michael Klare, Five College Professor of Peace & World Security Studies, joins us to discuss the Pentagon's view of climate change, why it's distinctive, and how this all ultimately relates to the risks of great powers conflict and state collapse. Topics discussed in this episode include: -How the US military views and takes action on climate change -Examples of existing climate related diffic...

Avi Loeb, Professor of Science at Harvard University, joins us to discuss unidentified aerial phenomena and a recent US Government report assessing their existence and threat.  Topics discussed in this episode include: -Evidence counting for the natural, human, and extraterrestrial origins of UAPs -The culture of science and how it deals with UAP reports -How humanity should respond if we discover...

Avi Loeb, Professor of Science at Harvard University, joins us to discuss a recent interstellar visitor, if we've already encountered alien technology, and whether we're ultimately alone in the cosmos.  Topics discussed in this episode include: -Whether 'Oumuamua is alien or natural in origin -The culture of science and how it affects fruitful inquiry -Looking for signs of alien life throughout th...

Nicolas Berggruen, investor and philanthropist, joins us to explore the dynamics of power, wisdom, technology and ideas in the 21st century. Topics discussed in this episode include: -What wisdom consists of -The role of ideas in society and civilization  -The increasing concentration of power and wealth -The technological displacement of human labor -Democracy, universal basic income, and univers...

Bart Selman, Professor of Computer Science at Cornell University, joins us to discuss a wide range of AI issues, from autonomous weapons and AI consciousness to international governance and the possibilities of superintelligence. Topics discussed in this episode include: -Negative and positive outcomes from AI in the short, medium, and long-terms -The perils and promises of AGI and superintelligen...

Jaan Tallinn, investor, programmer, and co-founder of the Future of Life Institute, joins us to discuss his perspective on AI, synthetic biology, unknown unknows, and what's needed for mitigating existential risk in the 21st century. Topics discussed in this episode include: -Intelligence and coordination -Existential risk from AI, synthetic biology, and unknown unknowns -AI adoption as a delegati...

Joscha Bach, Cognitive Scientist and AI researcher, as well as Anthony Aguirre, UCSC Professor of Physics, join us to explore the world through the lens of computation and the difficulties we face on the way to beneficial futures.  Topics discussed in this episode include: -Understanding the universe through digital physics -How human consciousness operates and is structured -The path to aligned A...

Roman Yampolskiy, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Louisville, joins us to discuss whether we can control, comprehend, and explain AI systems, and how this constrains the project of AI safety.  Topics discussed in this episode include: -Roman’s results on the unexplainability, incomprehensibility, and uncontrollability of AI -The relationship between AI safety, control, and align...

Stuart Russell, Professor of Computer Science at UC Berkeley, and Zachary Kallenborn, WMD and drone swarms expert, join us to discuss the highest risk and most destabilizing aspects of lethal autonomous weapons.  Topics discussed in this episode include: -The current state of the deployment and development of lethal autonomous weapons and swarm technologies -Drone swarms as a potential weapon of m...

John Prendergast, former adjunct professor of psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, joins Lucas Perry for a discussion about the experience and effects of ego-identification, how to shift to new levels of identity, the nature of non-dual awareness, and the potential relationship between waking up and collective human problems. This is not an FLI Podcast, but a special release...