Roko's Basilisk

Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur

Isaac Arthur

Science, Futurism, Sci Fi, Future, Scifi, Technology, Space, Engineering

4.8 • 739 Ratings

🗓️ 4 July 2024

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The dangers of artificial intelligence have long loomed in our future, and seem ever closer. But it may be that the dangers of the future can reach back into the past itself, and even without a time machine.

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Credits:

Roko's Basilisk

Episode 454; July 4, 2024

Produced, Written & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur

Music Courtesy of Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com/creator

Stellardrone, "Red Giant", "Ultra Deep Field"

Sergey Cheremisinov, "Labyrinth", "Forgotten Stars"

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, SFIA audio listeners. In this month's Nebula exclusive, big alien theory,
0:05.2	we're asked at the reason alien civilizations might be rare is because most aliens are huge.
0:10.1	To hear it and every episode early and add free, plus hours of bonus content, check out
0:15.5	go.nebola.tv slash Isaac Arthur and use my code, Isaac Arthur.
0:20.9	The dangers of artificial intelligence have long loomed in our future and seem ever closer,
0:27.7	but it may be that the dangers of the future can reach back into the past itself, and even without a time machine.
0:42.3	Yeah. without a time machine. Greetings and welcome to science and futurism with Isaac Arthur, for an explanation of one of
0:47.3	the more perplexing and potentially unsettling concepts that emerge when we contemplate the future
0:52.3	of artificial intelligence, Roco's
0:54.8	Basilisk. This thought experiment involving super-intelligent AI, a causal or retro causal events,
1:02.3	mind uploading and simulation, and the possible future torment of folks who oppose AI is
1:08.2	one of the most controversial topics out there. Indeed, many think even speaking
1:12.6	about it is a bad idea, and today I'll be explaining why it is not, probably, and why it
1:18.4	remains a good thought experiment in spite of a fair number of flaws that we'll outline today
1:22.6	too. It's a topic that's prone to getting overhype and clickbait discussion, mostly either
1:28.2	drumming up its fear factor or explaining why they don't think it works, and we'll cover
1:33.1	those, but we'll be deep diving at some similar scenarios today, and indeed while it has
1:38.3	a lot of legitimate criticism, some of those are flawed too.
1:42.6	At its core, Rocco's Basilis posits posits a future in which an omnipotent
1:47.0	artificial intelligence, designed with the capability to enforce retroactive consequences,
1:52.0	backward in time, chooses to punish those who did not contribute to its creation.
1:57.0	It is a concept that stretches our understanding of causality and morality.
	...

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