Sam Harris
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
So given these background concerns that we have collectively built a doomsday device and it's on, to one degree or another, a hair trigger or many hair triggers or triggers that the integrity of which we can't assess, and now we have this growing concern that
about misinformation and disinformation and cyber attacks and deep fakes.
We have this digital layer of culture that is proving to be a kind of hallucination machine.
How are you thinking about the advent of these new digital problems and, you know, if we throw generative AI and AI control of our actual nuclear infrastructure ultimately, how are you thinking about recent developments in tech against what we've, in light of everything we've just talked about?
Except if you imagine that you have AI that you are wise to trust, right?
Because again, we're talking about situations where you don't have a lot of time, right?
If you've got 15 minutes to make a decision and you either have an ape who doesn't have time to consult with other apes, or you have some AI system that you have put in place that you really think is
analogous to a chess engine that's just better at chess than people are.
Is there a path back to zero here?
I mean, has anyone articulated a plausible path whereby we would just recognize that the only way to win this game is not to play it at all?
Well, on that point, do you think that the current status quo of mutually assured destruction has kept us over the last 75 years from fighting the conventional version of World War III?
Well, I know we all await the wisdom of governments in figuring out how to mitigate this threat, but what is the role or opportunities for philanthropy here?
Because I know you're currently at Longview Philanthropy and leading their program on nuclear weapons and existential risk.
And Longview has been advising me and the Waking Up Foundation in how we give out money each year.
Philanthropically, what can private citizens do to help?
What happened there?
Why did MacArthur get out of the saving the future game?