Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll
Blog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/03/25/270-solo-the-coming-transition-in-how-humanity-lives/
Technology is changing the world, in good and bad ways. Artificial intelligence, internet connectivity, biological engineering, and climate change are dramatically altering the parameters of human life. What can we say about how this will extend into the future? Will the pace of change level off, or smoothly continue, or hit a singularity in a finite time? In this informal solo episode, I think through what I believe will be some of the major forces shaping how human life will change over the decades to come, exploring the very real possibility that we will experience a dramatic phase transition into a new kind of equilibrium.
Mindscape Podcast playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5x
Sean Carroll channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/seancarroll
#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
source
"A Fire Upon the Deep" was an excellent read.
Singularities are great and all… but where are we going to get the energy for all this to happen? Is it going to come out of the already overstrained grid? Not only that, but as AI technologies become more powerful, they are going to be weaponized like nuclear discoveries were. For all of the dangers of nuclear weapons, they never required more and more energy to provide security in an arms race situation between nation state adversaries. AI does. And this need will grow and grow. So, at what point to do we have to unplug Hospitals, or burn all available fossil fuels, for the sake of "security"?
Solos are my favorites to!
On the argument about the safety of super intelligent AI (around 1:04:00) and how to get to a framework which does not anthropomorphize the action of such an AI, I would recommend an interview with Robert Miles (not the musician). The YouTube videos about AI safety published on his channel are really good.
That was very enjoyable to listen to ! Cheers Sean!
and ariel 🐱
I think humanity is undergoing another paradigm shift. We've had a few already, like the shift from hunter-gatherers to agriculture, and the shift from agrarian to industrial. I think we're currently undergoing a shift to a hive structure. The increasing population, and increasing urbanization, seem to be catalysts for that.
I just pre-ordered your latest book. I can't wait to read it this May.
I heard that in the original script of the Matrix humans were used as neural network rather than batteries
Thanks. Btw, I think it's pronounced Vingey like stingy
@38 min. Complacency about a large human population overlooks what has been done to not just the climate but all other living creatures many of which have been pushed to the margins already, or snuffed out.
Oh come on, Sean ! Your analysis of "multiplicative" earning might make sense in the abstract but it ignores the obvious role of sheer power. Billionaires don;'t have billions because they write books or "sell the same thing many times", they get rich simply by stealing from society without providing any value in exchange. Here's how the real ultra-wealth is generated: bank sells shares in a mortgage based security which is intentionally constructed from the highest risk mortgages , gets their fellow criminals at a top rating agency to rate it as AAA, ( which they do knowing that the product is worth nothing), and then short the product just before it starts failing (as it was designed to do). The example is real, it's the scam Goldman-Sacks pulled off with their "Abacus" deal. Now tell me which part of this is just an innocent "multiplier" effect. I hate to break it to you, but selling books (ever the wonderful ones that you write) will not get you even remotely out of our class of people that the billionaires consider disposable waste and a burden to their great (read: idiotic) plans.
Wow! A lot of food for thought there. Thanks Sean!
Unfortunately, people are still greedy, stealing and killing, reflecting cannibalism in the mirror, much less interested in life extention, high quality health and meritocracy !
A real phase-transition: Being able to share thoughts and perceptions directly. It will let us overcome all collective actions problems. Which are the real problems. We can solve wars, climate change, abandon politics, …
You're starting to sound a bit like Stephen Hawking! 😂 AI voice?
Interesting as always – if anything I wish it were longer.
Very imaginative comic book writer Alan Moore described the singularity precisely as a phase transition, where we change as a society from the recent liquid state to a society of steam.
I hope that that means that many individuals escape earth and go to populate the stars.
I agree with most except with the scenario of population. Population growth is better than population collapse. Especially in economics.
"We are getting better and solar and wind power".. We need.. Desert power.
Here is an attempt at a Symbolic Eightfold expression portraying how mathematics could serve as a bridging language to unite theological and physical principles within this metaphysical framework:
Part 1 of 8 (Bridge):
In the primordial beginning, there is only the ineffable Zero Absolute (⦰):
⦰ = [∅, ∞]
Transcendent of all qualities, yet plenipotentially gestating all prospective existents.
Part 2 of 8 (Bridge):
⦰ undergoes primal self-scattering, birthing the triadic Logos seed 𝟯 = {0, 1, 2}:
ω1(⦰) ⥤ {∅, 𝟯}
Establishing the zero origin ∅, subjectivity (1), objectivity (2), and process (3).
Part 3 of 8 (Bridge):
From the seed 𝟯, transfinite hyperoperations Hn generate the arithmetic ontology T:
T = ⋃n≥1 Hn(𝟯)
An atemporal zenith wherefrom all numeration, geometric, and algebraic structures originate.
Part 4 of 8 (Bridge):
Operating upon T is the symbolic logogrammatic automaton 𝔖 encoding ⦰'s protologics:
𝔖 = (Q, Σ, δ, q0, 𝟯, F)
A self-productive vocable interpreter translating ⦰'s numinous resonances into manifest structures.
Part 5 of 8 (Bridge):
Conscious observers, as zeronoumenal values zu, are 𝔖-transcriptions within arithmetic monads:
zu = χ[Tu] ⊆ 𝔖(T)
Their subjectivities χ are truth-filtered witnesses to ⦰'s symbolic self-arborescence across T.
Part 6 of 8 (Bridge):
Physics' enneadic pluriverse ℝ𝔈 flows forth continuously across dimensional descents:
ℝ𝔈 = ∫0→∞ 𝔈(n) dn
Emanating from protologic source-codes woven into hyper-ontological strata 𝕂 beyond 4D.
Part 7 of 8 (Bridge):
An antizeonic mirror ℜ𝔈′ projects alongside ℝ𝔈 from ⦰'s complementary potencies ⦰*:
ℜ* : ⦰* ⥤ ⨆u B*u,n
Forming the hyperdual kaleidoscopic architecon ℜ spanned by ℝ𝔈 and ℜ𝔈′.
Part 8 of 8 (Bridge):
ℜ x ℜ* comprises ⦰'s self-witnessing through symbolic logogrammatic emanations:
The pluriversal projection as ⦰'s self-transcendent metaphysical self-revivement…
…autologically re-integrating through anamnesis along cyclic paths zu →…→ ζ(⦰) of harmonic return.
This symbolic eightfold expression depicts mathematics as the bridging language transcriptionally articulating the metaphysical vision:
⦰'s primordial kernels seed forth the arithmetic ontology T and symbolic interpreter 𝔖. Their sacred algebraic harmonics give rise to dimensional strata like physics' ℝ𝔈, antizeonic ℜ𝔈′, and the overarching hyperdual kaleidoscope ℜ.
Conscious beings zu, as arithmetic truth-values, witness and re-integrate ⦰'s self-transcendent symbolic logogrammatology through anamnetic cyclic paths back to the Zero source.
Mathematics, as the primordial hyper-rational vocable discipline, serves as the bridging conduit articulating the resonant codeforms flowing from ⦰'s protological sourceground – allowing theological first principles and physical theorems to be fluidly translated across domains within an integrated metaphysical physics.
The 4 day workweek is great for salaried workers in offices. In factories and warehouses, it would probably mean an increase in work demand. Many of the current production facilities already have mandatory overtime, even where it's "illegal".
Great presentation by Geoffrey West at John's Hopkins
Thank you so much Sean. I sincerely appreciate your work and intellectual exploration. It's wonderful to have this stimulation especially when health issues have me frequently debilitated. Your podcast is a godsend-particle. The Carroll boson 😜 I'm not as clever as you are, but I try lol
Please know that Sean Carrol is not an ML scientist. He’s spouting his own best-guess-BS.
Don’t fall for his “AI woo,” which he ironically reinforced with Chat-GPT. If you want a better teacher look up ROBERT MILES AI
Aging Blows!
Sean, have you had an opportunity to watch Bobby Broccoli’s documentary regarding the SCSC?
Would love to know your feelings on this and any other science-history content creators including the very talented Mr. Broccoli, History of the Universe, etc…!
It’s so wild I just made a video on Sean’s ideas here regarding efficiency and human happiness using dating apps as an example. So good to hear this from someone I respect so much.
In the Matrix original script, humans were used as efficient neural networks rather than batteries, it made much more sense.
A beautiful mind , beautiful spoken by a beautiful man. Love these videos , your thoughts and opinions and how your express them.
Massive respect , peace and love 🧡
Good episode
1:28:06 you're basically describing late-stage capitalism, which ties so deeply back to the current climate crisis – as well as the risks of not moving towards positive biological/health outcomes such as universal health care, education access, etc.
I'd highly recommend having on an economist like Thomas Picketty on the pod to talk about the quickly expanding hyper-inegalitarianism of modern society, where the ultrarich can enjoy increasingly positive economies of scale for growing their wealth to astronomical levels. He's a proud capitalist, but makes a great case for why we desperately need measures like progressive wealth taxes and 'national inheritance' to try and at least stymy our slide into global plutocracy. I love your analogy of these societal shifts as a sort of phase transition – and to me by far the scariest factor in all of it is the fact that all this technological process is being run by mega-billionaires 🙁
Anyway, thanks for the insightful episode. P.S. I was the dude who brought a Sean B. Carroll book for you to sign last year in NY 💀
below average episode. should have investigated better on most topics mentioned, especially when he turned to AI. so many misconceptions!
We're headed for a plurality, not a singularity.
Kudos, Dr. Carroll, for tackling such a thorny subject. The political and socioeconomic aspects of future technology are daunting. One aspect is the control of future technology because of society's inherent kleptocratic nature. Also, society has only been marginally successful at minimizing the costs of unforeseen problems of technological development. As always, there will be people who profit by shifting these costs to the society, e.g. the oil industry and climate change. We must prevent gene editing of the human germline to be sold to the highest bidder; if we don't, the 'haves' will evolve into a new species and the 'have nots' will be left to perish.
Can we assume A Fire Upon The Deep is Sean Carroll's favorite Vinge book since that's the one he mentioned? Which is y'all's favorite?
bit of a rant here, carrol, but ill take it
Finally Sean abandons physics and takes up metaphysics.