Deep Utopia
Nick Bostrom
Imagine somebody who seemingly lacks any lived understanding of what makes living life worthwhile contemplating where we would find meaning in a world at 'technological maturity' (a mythical situation where science and computation have enabled full control of our physical world). Does that sound like it would lead to something interesting? Nope, indeed it doesn't. Bostrom's book is in desperate need of an editor. I tried to follow his arguments, but gave up along the way. Yet I continued, in permanent anger at its ridiculousness. Don't waste your time on this (even if you liked Superintelligence, which is a vastly better book than this one).
Book information
Status: Read
On lists: Read by the 'Book Club for Nerds'
| 04-07-2024 | Finished reading |
| 14-06-2024 | Started reading |
| 16-05-2024 | Acquired |
| 15-04-2024 | Added to wishlist |
Description
A greyhound catching the mechanical lure—what would he actually do with it? Has he given this any thought?
Bostrom’s previous book, Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies changed the global conversation on AI and became a New York Times bestseller. It focused on what might happen if AI development goes wrong. But what if things go right?
Suppose that we develop superintelligence safely, govern it well, and make good use of the cornucopian wealth and near magical technological powers that this technology can unlock. If this transition to the machine intelligence era goes well, human labor becomes obsolete. We would thus enter a condition of "post-instrumentality", in which our efforts are not needed for any practical purpose. Furthermore, at technological maturity, human nature becomes entirely malleable.
Here we confront a challenge that is not technological but philosophical and spiritual. In such a solved world, what is the point of human existence? What gives meaning to life? What do we do all day?
Deep Utopia shines new light on these old questions, and gives us glimpses of a different kind of existence, which might be ours in the future.