24 korrents from this recording
Every claim below is a statement made in this recording, quoted word for word and linked to the second it was said, so you can hear it rather than take our word for it. The wording comes from the transcript published alongside the recording; the sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording.
0:06:32 · watch on youtube.com↗
Our reading
Most wars in history were fought over stories and mythologies, not over territory or food
Their wordsIt sometimes happens, but most wars in history were not really about territory or food.
0:06:38 · watch on youtube.com↗
Their wordsThere is enough land, for instance, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean to build houses and schools and hospitals for everybody. And there is certainly enough food. There is no shortage of food. But people have different mythologies, different stories in their minds, and they can't find a common story they can agree about.
0:07:26 · watch on youtube.com↗
Our reading
The fantasy that AI will find the truth for us and tell fiction from reality is just another fiction
Their wordsthe fantasy that AI will answer our questions, will find the truth for us, will tell us the difference between fiction and reality, this is just another fiction.
0:08:52 · watch on youtube.com↗
Their wordsI think we are very near the kind of end of our species. It doesn't necessarily mean that we'll be destroyed in some huge nuclear war or something like that. It could very well mean that we'll just change ourselves using bioengineering and using AI and brain-computer interfaces.
0:13:33 · watch on youtube.com↗
Their wordsWe assume that the brain somehow produces the mind, but this is just an assumption. We still don't have a working model, a working theory for how it happens.
0:20:33 · watch on youtube.com↗
Their wordsYou cannot separate communism and Nazism from the Industrial Revolution. You could not have created a communist or a Nazi totalitarian regime in the 18th century. If you don't have trains, if you don't have electricity, if you don't have radio, you cannot create a totalitarian regime.
0:21:55 · watch on youtube.com↗
Their wordsAs a historian, I would say that I would give humanity a C- on how we adapted to the Industrial Revolution. If we get a C- again in the 21st century, that's the end of us.
0:23:36 · watch on youtube.com↗
Their wordsAnd language is like the master key that unlocks all the doors of our civilization.
0:30:39 · watch on youtube.com↗
Their wordsI don't see any kind of effort to keep the financial system at a level that humans understand it.
0:34:15 · watch on youtube.com↗
Their wordsSo making AI safe is a bit like making a nuclear reactor safe. taking into account the fact that the nuclear reactor can decide to change in ways that you can't anticipate.
0:39:04 · watch on youtube.com↗
Their wordsNow, with regard to the discussion of free will, my position is you cannot start with the assumption that humans have free will.
0:53:08 · watch on youtube.com↗
Our reading
Humans are thousands of times more powerful than in the Stone Age but not thousands of times happier
Their wordsWe are thousands of times more powerful as a species and as individuals than we were in the Stone Age. We are not thousands of times happier. We just don't really know how to translate power into happiness.
0:57:01 · watch on youtube.com↗
Their wordsAnother related problem is that we will not get to immortality. We will get to something that maybe should be called amortality.
1:01:36 · watch on youtube.com↗
Their wordsWhat worries me is that a lot of these things will turn out actually to be downgrades.
1:04:02 · watch on youtube.com↗
Their wordsAnd I think that in this case, societies that will choose to progress more slowly and safely, they will actually have an advantage.
1:08:53 · watch on youtube.com↗
Our reading
AI automates purely cognitive jobs easily but struggles with jobs that need motor and social skills
Their wordsAI is extremely good at automating jobs that only require cognitive skills, but they are not good at jobs that require motor skills and social skills.
1:12:23 · watch on youtube.com↗
Their wordsif you think about specific skills, then this is the first time in history when we have no idea how the job market or how society would look like in 20 years.
1:17:28 · watch on youtube.com↗
Their wordsYes, unless we re-establish order, there will be more and worse wars coming in the next few years in more and more areas around the world.
1:18:55 · watch on youtube.com↗
Their wordsThe money is increasingly going to tanks and missiles and cyber weapons instead of to nurses and, and schools and social workers. And again, it's not inevitable. It's the result of human decisions.
1:19:52 · watch on youtube.com↗
Our reading
A second Trump election would likely be the death blow to what remains of the global order
Their wordsAnd if it happens, it is likely to be the kind of, like, the death blow to what remains of the global order.
1:20:39 · watch on youtube.com↗
Our reading
Global cooperation does not mean a global government, which would be impossible and very dangerous
Their wordsWhen we talk about global cooperation, we definitely don't have in mind, at least not anybody that I know, a global government. This is an impossible and very dangerous idea.
1:21:39 · watch on youtube.com↗
Our reading
A world of friendly national fortresses is an illusion, because fortresses are almost never friendly
Their wordsNow, the main problem with this vision is that fortresses are almost never friendly.
1:28:02 · watch on youtube.com↗
Our reading
By the user-engagement measure, an hour of outrage beats ten minutes of joy and an hour of sleep
Their wordsaccording to this measurement, 1 hour of outrage is better than 10 minutes of joy and certainly better than 1 hour of sleep.
1:31:05 · watch on youtube.com↗
Their wordsI don't think humanity will survive unless we have more boredom.