Nick Bostrom on Superintelligence

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4.7 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 1 December 2014

⏱️ 69 minutes

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Summary

Nick Bostrom of the University of Oxford talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about his book, Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. Bostrom argues that when machines exist which dwarf human intelligence they will threaten human existence unless steps are taken now to reduce the risk. The conversation covers the likelihood of the worst scenarios, strategies that might be used to reduce the risk and the implications for labor markets, and human flourishing in a world of superintelligent machines.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:06.4	I'm your host, Russ Roberts of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:11.0	Our website is econtalk.org where you can subscribe, comment on this podcast, and find links
0:16.2	and other information related to today's conversation.
0:19.0	You'll also find our archives where you can listen to every episode we've ever done
0:23.1	going back to 2006.
0:25.4	Our email address is mailadycontalk.org.
0:27.9	We'd love to hear from you.
0:35.3	Today is November 14, 2014, and my guest is Nick Bostrom, Professor of Philosophy at the
0:41.9	University of Oxford.
0:43.6	His latest book, which is the topic of today's episode, is Super Intelligence, Paths,
0:49.4	Dangerous, and Strategies.
0:51.4	Nick, welcome to Econ Talk.
0:52.7	Thanks for having me.
0:54.5	Now we're going to be talking about smart machines, artificial intelligence.
0:57.9	Those are topics we've talked about before Econ Talk, but your book is about really smart
1:03.0	machines, what you call smart entities, and you call that super intelligence.
1:08.5	So what is super intelligence?
1:10.5	Well, I define it as any intellect that radically outperforms humanity in all, practically,
1:17.4	relevant field.
1:18.4	So it would include things like scientific creativity, social skills, general wisdom.
1:25.9	But you can see it in the books at some point that intelligence, what we use that word to
	...

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