Nineteenth in an ongoing series on the nexus between religion and technology. The previous essay is here. In the last essay, we talked about the eerily godlike role played by the simulator in Nick Bostrom's theory that posits we all exist only within a computer simulation, and the fact that, even so, it would be unknowable what kind of god the simulator might be. But is it Continue Reading …
Saints and Simulators 17: #PascalReloaded
Seventeenth in an ongoing series about the interface between religion and technology. The previous episode is here. Last week we discussed Newcomb's Paradox, a thought experiment about the rational response to an omniscient being, and also Roko's Basilisk, the frightening digital boogeyman the paradox spawned in the minds of those who pursued the train of thought too far. It Continue Reading …
Saints & Simulators 12: #BadAI
Twelfth in an ongoing series about the places where science and religion meet. The previous episode is here; the next episode is here. In 1989, Star Trek: The Next Generation, the second major iteration of the durable televised Star Trek science fiction franchise, introduced a terrifying new villain called the Borg. An unhallowed melding of a humanlike life form with Continue Reading …
Saints & Simulators 8: #ArtificiallyIntelligent
Eighth in an ongoing series about the places where science and religion meet. The previous episode is here. At this point we have delayed the crux of the matter long enough. At root, Bostrom’s argument hinges on a single controversial question: Is it possible to truly create or simulate a person? Is there any point, with any level of technology, no matter how advanced, at Continue Reading …
Saints & Simulators 7: #GoingBayesian
Seventh in an ongoing series about the places where science and religion meet. The previous episode is here. We left off last week with the question of how much weight we should give to Nick Bostrom’s argument that we are not only possibly simulated, but likely to be so. This argument, or at least our representation of it, rests on two key claims: first, that our descendants Continue Reading …
Saints & Simulators 2: The #SimulationArgument
Second in a series on the nexus between religion and technology. The previous essay is here. In the year 1999, just on the cusp of a new millennium, the then Wachowski Brothers released what would become one of the most influential, imitated, and widely discussed movies of its times. The Matrix was a stylishly paranoid thriller about a future world that looked just like Continue Reading …
Saints and Simulators: Did Bostrom Prove the Existence of God?
This post is the introduction to a new series here on the Partially Examined Life blog: "Saints and Simulators," a look at cutting-edge modern technology, and its implications for both religion and philosophy. We'll be both beginning and ending the series with a deliberately provocative question: Did Nick Bostrom, professor of philosophy at Oxford University, provide the first Continue Reading …
The Hubris of Transhumanism
The debates around futurist tech, biotechnology, and human enhancements are usually very polarized, with one side embracing it uncritically and the other rejecting it irrationally. Geeky technophiles who see science as the be-all and end-all of thinking want to push the progress farther and faster, sometimes leaving ethics behind, whereas the more romantically minded embrace Continue Reading …
The Creation of a Superintelligence and the End of Inquiry
Nick Bostrom's Superintelligence is a book that imagines how we should go about dealing with a super-AI, should it come about. The thesis of the book seems to be this: if a superintelligence were to be constructed, there would be certain dangers we'd want to apprise ourselves of and prepare ourselves for, and the book is a precis, essentially, for dealing with some of those Continue Reading …
Episode 108: Dangers of A.I. with Guest Nick Bostrom
On Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies (2014) with author Nick Bostrom, a philosophy professor at Oxford. Just grant the hypothetical that machine intelligence advances will eventually produce a machine capable of further improving itself, and becoming much smarter than we are. Put aside the question of whether such a being could in principle be conscious or Continue Reading …
Episode 108: Dangers of A.I. with Guest Nick Bostrom (Citizen Edition)
On Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies (2014) with author Nick Bostrom, a philosophy professor at Oxford. Just grant the hypothetical that machine intelligence advances will eventually produce a machine capable of further improving itself, and becoming much smarter than we are. Put aside the question of whether such a being could in principle be conscious or Continue Reading …
Episode 91: Transhumanism (Plus More on Brin)
Continuing discussion of David Brin's novel Existence (without him) and adding Nick Bostrom's essay "Why I Want to Be a Posthuman When I Grow Up" (2006). Are our present human capabilities sufficient for meeting the challenges our civilization will face? Should we devote our technology to artificially enhancing our abilities, or would that be a crime against nature, a Continue Reading …
Episode 91: Transhumanism (Plus More on Brin)
Continuing discussion of David Brin's novel Existence (without him) and adding Nick Bostrom's essay "Why I Want to Be a Posthuman When I Grow Up" (2006). Are our present human capabilities sufficient for meeting the challenges our civilization will face? Should we devote our technology to artificially enhancing our abilities, or would that be a crime against nature, a Continue Reading …