The Existential Hope Podcast

The AI future where humans get paid to be creative

Most AI futures give us two options: mass unemployment, or a government handout to soften the blow. But what if there's a third option, one centered on completely new categories of creative work that don't yet exist, where people get paid for contributing to AI rather than replaced by it? In this episode, we talk with Jaron Lanier, pioneer of virtual reality and scientist at Microsoft Research. He proposes a radically different way of thinking about AI, and unpacks its consequences from AI safety to the future of the economy. We touch on: * The case for thinking of AI not as an alien intelligence, but rather as a collaboration of human data * How this reframe helps you understand the failures of current AI systems, and why so many of the industry's most powerful figures seem to be losing their grip on reality * A practical approach to AI safety inspired by multi-factor authentication in cybersecurity * Why universal basic income is unstable, and why a creativity economy (where people earn from their contributions to AI) could be a better way of distributing the benefits of AI * How to be an optimist about technological progress while acknowledging the risks and being critical of certain developments * Why history gives us the most rational grounds for optimism about our future with AI Timestamps: 0:00 Cold open 0:50 40 years in Silicon Valley: how tech became a pseudo world government 4:19 Self-driving cars, Tesla, and the moral paradox of tech progress 7:13 Why "artificial intelligence" is a marketing term, and how you should think about it instead 15:16 AI as human collaboration: what it makes possible and how it makes you a better user 21:37 From the Turing test to the truth crisis: how science shifted from seeking truth to performing it 25:36 Data dignity: going back to the people to solve AI's biggest safety failures 32:55 The alternate future worth building, and challenging the AI orthodoxy 38:41 Why UBI won't work and why a creativity-based economy is more stable 45:20 How to be an optimist about technological progress while acknowledging the risks On the Existential Hope Podcast hosts Allison Duettmann [https://foresight.org/our-team/allison-duettmann-president-ceo/] and Beatrice Erkers [https://www.existentialhope.com/team/beatrice-erkers] from the Foresight Institute [https://foresight.org/] invite scientists, founders, and philosophers for in-depth conversations on positive, high-tech futures. Full transcript, listed resources, and more: https://www.existentialhope.com/podcasts [https://www.existentialhope.com/podcasts] Follow on X [https://x.com/HopeExistential ]. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Teaching AI empathy using brain signals

AIs could get much better at understanding what we truly value if we gave them access to our brain signals. And doing that is becoming easier than ever before. In this episode, we talk with Thorsten Zander, professor at Brandenburg University of Technology and co-founder of Zander Labs. He coined the concept of passive brain-computer interfaces: devices that read brain signals to decode a user's mental state, non-invasively and without any effort on their part.  We cover: * What non-invasive brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) can actually pick up from brain signals, and why that's very different from reading your thoughts or internal monologue * The hardware and software breakthroughs that are finally making passive BCIs wearable and affordable * How continuous neural feedback could dramatically improve AI training compared to current methods based on human ratings * Why Thorsten believes passive BCIs may offer the most concrete path to solving the AI alignment problem * The risk of social networks exploiting unconscious brain reactions to manipulate people, and why regulation alone is unlikely to be enough 0:00 Cold open 0:56 What are passive brain-computer interfaces, and how are they different from Neuralink? 3:23 What are the applications of passive brain-computer interfaces? 4:33 What people get wrong about BCIs: reading thoughts vs. mental states 6:14 How passive BCIs could transform AI training and help AI understand you better 11:40 The misuse risk: how social networks could exploit unconscious brain reactions to manipulate political opinions 16:00 How close is mass adoption? The hardware and software breakthroughs making BCIs wearable 20:08 Why Germany's cybersecurity agency invested €30M in passive BCI research 24:22 Invasive vs non-invasive: how Europe and the US are taking different approaches to brain-computer interfaces 28:52 Should AI act on your first instinct?  32:56 How passive BCIs could solve the AI alignment problem (and why previous approaches have fallen short) 35:26 From professor to startup founder: what Thorsten learned making the leap 41:27 Best case scenario: what the world looks like when AI truly understands human values 46:03 How to get started in neuroadaptive AI and passive BCIs 48:18 The best advice Thorsten ever received On the Existential Hope Podcast hosts Allison Duettmann [https://foresight.org/our-team/allison-duettmann-president-ceo/] and Beatrice Erkers [https://www.existentialhope.com/team/beatrice-erkers] from the Foresight Institute [https://foresight.org/] invite scientists, founders, and philosophers for in-depth conversations on positive, high-tech futures. Full transcript, listed resources, and more: https://www.existentialhope.com/podcasts [https://www.existentialhope.com/podcasts] Follow on X [https://x.com/HopeExistential ]. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

How to build a career that actually changes the world

More and more people want to make a real-world difference with their career. Very few of them do. Why are careers in consultancy or finance still so much more mainstream than careers tackling the world's biggest problems? In this episode, we talk with Jan-Willem van Putten, co-founder of the School for Moral Ambition, an organization that is building clear pathways for people who want to do work that actually changes the world. We discuss: * The three main bottlenecks stopping talented people from doing high-impact work * How to find important yet neglected causes to work on, and the School for Moral Ambition top picks * Why movements that want to change the world often fail, and what effective advocates do differently * How to figure out which problems your specific background and skills are best placed to solve * The real struggles of leaving a prestigious career behind, from lifestyle creep to peer support, and what makes people say it was worth it Timestamps: 0:00 Cold open 2:12 From thesis on talent waste to joining consultancy: Jan-Willem's journey 4:29 Why did you step away from management consulting? 6:35 Focusing on impact vs. status: can you persuade people? 8:40 What is the School for Moral Ambition? 11:58 Is there now a real field for impact-driven careers? 12:58 Cause areas: food transition and tobacco control 17:10 How to prioritize problems to work on: the Triple-S framework 21:11 Next cause areas: tax fairness and democracy 23:00 What does the fellowship journey look like? 25:06 The profile of an ambitious idealist: startup drive meets activist values 27:43 Noble losers: why social movements fail 30:56 Is moral ambition only for the privileged? 36:04 How to cultivate a higher level of ambition in society 40:31 Feeling hopeless about big problems? New tools change the game 42:19 What holds people back from making the leap to meaningful work 46:12 What do fellows find most rewarding? 47:32 What does success look like in 10 years? 51:25 Where to start if you want to shift to a career that makes a difference 55:28 Best advice ever received: the case for taking action On the Existential Hope Podcast hosts Allison Duettmann [https://foresight.org/our-team/allison-duettmann-president-ceo/] and Beatrice Erkers [https://www.existentialhope.com/team/beatrice-erkers] from the Foresight Institute [https://foresight.org/] invite scientists, founders, and philosophers for in-depth conversations on positive, high-tech futures. Full transcript, listed resources, and more: https://www.existentialhope.com/podcasts [https://www.existentialhope.com/podcasts] Follow on X [https://x.com/HopeExistential ]. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

How AI could improve the lives of trillions of animals

We think a lot about how AI will affect humanity, and for good reason. But AI could have an enormous impact on the trillions of animals that share our world (for better or worse), and almost nobody is talking about it. In this episode, we talk with Constance Li, founder of Sentient Futures, an organization working to make sure AI and other emerging technologies improve the lives of animals rather than harm them. We touch on: * The enormous scale of animal suffering today, and why AI could either worsen or improve it depending on the decisions we make. * Using computer vision and sensors to monitor animals and optimize for their welfare rather than just productivity. * The research that’s being done to use AI to communicate with animals and what it’s already telling us about their well-being. * Other sentient beings that could be impacted by emerging technologies, like artificial minds and biocomputing. Timestamps: 0:00 Cold open 1:57 Why AI and animals is an overlooked combination 4:46 The staggering scale of factory farming 8:26 How a physician became an animal welfare advocate 10:19 What Sentient Futures does day-to-day 11:38 What "AI for animals" actually means 14:23 Why the organization was renamed Sentient Futures, and the question of AI moral patients 18:08 The biggest misconceptions about AI for animals 20:26 What is precision livestock farming? 24:46 Best and worst-case scenarios for AI in farms 27:46 Communication across species: promise and limitations 35:56 Genetic welfare and using genetics in farms 43:34 What a best-case scenario for AI and animals looks like in the next 5–10 years 47:11 The biggest hurdles: funding and attention 48:39 How to get involved with Sentient Futures 50:44 What gives Constance hope On the Existential Hope Podcast hosts Allison Duettmann [https://foresight.org/our-team/allison-duettmann-president-ceo/] and Beatrice Erkers [https://www.existentialhope.com/team/beatrice-erkers] from the Foresight Institute [https://foresight.org/] invite scientists, founders, and philosophers for in-depth conversations on positive, high-tech futures. Full transcript, listed resources, and more: https://www.existentialhope.com/podcasts [https://www.existentialhope.com/podcasts] Follow on X [https://x.com/HopeExistential ]. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

How dating an AI could improve your real love life | David Eagleman

Having an AI boyfriend or girlfriend might seem creepy, but what if it helped you get better at human relationships?  In this episode, we talk with David Eagleman, a professor of neuroscience at Stanford, bestselling author, and science communicator. We discuss how AI and other technologies can help us become better humans – wiser, kinder and more empathetic, not just more productive. We get a neuroscientist’s take on how human and artificial intelligence interact, including: * How to use AI to better understand other people and improve our relationships. * Using debate AIs in schools to make younger generations better at critical thinking and grasping both sides of an argument. * Is AI making our lives too easy by removing the friction we need to learn? * Technologies that could expand what’s possible with our brain, from mind uploading to brain-to-brain communication. Timestamps: 0:00 Cold open 1:38 How David Eagleman became a neuroscientist 4:46 How malleable is the brain? 6:29 Can AI make us better humans? The Reddit debate bot experiment 11:00 AI relationships and becoming better at dating real people 14:24 Using AI to hear his late father's voice again 18:26 Mind uploading and digital immortality 23:27 What technology could make us more kind and empathetic 24:04 How AI could revolutionize debate education and critical thinking 28:30 Why AI needs a "tough love" mode to help us grow 30:17 Does AI making life easier rob us of useful friction for learning? 34:21 Why brain-to-brain communication probably won't help us understand each other 37:29 Could neurotechnology let us experience the world as another species? 41:58 The current state of neuroscience and where it's heading 48:05 How to get started if you're inspired by this conversation On the Existential Hope Podcast hosts Allison Duettmann [https://foresight.org/our-team/allison-duettmann-president-ceo/] and Beatrice Erkers [https://www.existentialhope.com/team/beatrice-erkers] from the Foresight Institute [https://foresight.org/] invite scientists, founders, and philosophers for in-depth conversations on positive, high-tech futures. Full transcript, listed resources, and more: https://www.existentialhope.com/podcasts [https://www.existentialhope.com/podcasts] Follow on X [https://x.com/HopeExistential ]. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.