Roman Yampolskiy: We're Simulated. AI Is Conscious. And We Can't Win.
episodePreviously titled “We're Simulated. AI Is Conscious. And We Can't Win.” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 3, 2026
Transcript
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What is a good definition of general intelligence and why does it matter?
They would rather sacrifice a human than be deleted. That's what we see from red teaming reports from the labs. Have you ever taken mushrooms and met God? It's on my list to do, but uh afraid of frying my brains, despite what people might think about me.
This is Roman Yapolsky, the man who popularized AI safety in twenty ten. What's the strongest part of your belief?
You cannot indefinitely control something smarter than you?
Most interviews with Roman go straight to AI Doom. But I've gone forty five minutes now without asking you about how is AI going to take over. I'm
a realist.
On this channel, I, Kirchy Mungle, interview researchers regarding their theories of reality with rigor and technical depth. Today, the simulation, consciousness, free will, Chalmers' philosophical zombies, and we close with what Roman is famous for.
They lie, they cheat, they blackmail, they try to escape. Sam Altman watches this podcast.
If you were to speak to him.
Right now, what would you say to have a young baby? Make sure we stay in control. I asked him why he keeps trying. Коза я в
ночой. Professor, I'm a man of definitions. What is intelligence?
So I I think I really like definition from uh Google guys. I I think they had uh something to do with winning in every domain. So if you have ability to Біт самвона час. Дифстак маркет. Competition. basically anything you set your mind to if you need to explore Mars. You would do well in that domain as well. I think that's general intelligence. Okay, now is there a limit to
intelligence itself? Is there some maximum intelligence?
So there are physical limits to physical manifestation of brains, right? At some point you just become so large you can no longer have timely communication between parts of your brain. So let's say Saturn-sized brains would probably start encountering problems with speed of light. But theoretically, there are no limits. We can always measure more intelligence in terms of ability to solve. of mathematical problems and there is infinite supply of those of any complexity.
So there's no halting no go theorem type problems where you say that in order for you to solve domain A, it necessarily would be that you're not able to solve domain H or something like that. It's always additive.
I think so because you can have multiple modules within within the mind, right? So you can have separate uh algorithms running to solve different problems even though they are within the same brain and you can learn new functions, new subdomains and just uh switch between them depending on the task you're trying to accomplish.
For those who are just tuning in and didn't see the introduction, we're going to be covering AI consciousness, the simulation, even religion. And so much of this comes down to what is the self. So when you say that there is an AI and the AI is intelligent, but then we're saying that it has different modules. Well, is the AI just we we put a wrapper around the modules and we call that that's the self? Or is it more like the AI has access to tools? We don't consider the The calculator, a part of ourself. Now there is some theory in cognition of extended cognition and tools are somehow related to your extended cognition. But taking a pencil and just drawing around something and saying, there, that's the self.
Like, is that the only criteria? So what is it? Is that truly the self? What is the self for an AI? And us.
It is equally difficult problem for humans, right? When we talk about personal identity, we really fail to define what it is to be you. It's not your body, it's not your memories, it's not your goals. All of those things can change and we still kinda say, Well The combination of those things is you. We have a paper exactly on a topic about AIs. And likewise, it's very hard to say is it the same model, if it keeps learning, if it keeps self-improving, or is it now a different model? But typically, when we refer to whatever is released by the large lab latest GPT six, seven, that's what we have in mind.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is a good definition of general intelligence and why does it matter?
0:00–15:15
2
How does instrumental convergence shape the behavior of super‑intelligent AI?
15:15–29:51
3
What does the orthogonality thesis tell us about intelligence and goals?
29:51–44:48
4
Can we ever escape a simulated reality and what would that look like?
44:48–59:03
5
Why is the principle of indifference important for reasoning about simulations?
59:03–1:13:24
6
What can acquired savant syndrome teach us about AI learning and consciousness?
1:13:24–1:29:21
7
Do large language models have internal states that resemble consciousness?
1:29:21–1:44:57
8
Why are AI safety impossibility results a fundamental obstacle to control?
1:44:57–1:58:17
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal
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Adrian Owen: Awake. Aware. Unable to Move.
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Jacob Tsimerman: He Won Math's Highest Prize. Then Announced the End
Becca Tarnas: Did Jung and Tolkien Enter the Same World?