The first of a new type of episode, this Future Express features a looser, less polished take on some of the issues raised by Robin Hanson’s recent book The Age of Em. As an addendum to our interview with Hanson last week, this tackles Jon and Ted’s review of the book, whether or not they’d recommend it to others, and looks into some criticism brought up by Scott Alexander of Slate Star Codex. We wonder about what happens to the baseline scenario if Robin’s assumptions about research turn out to be too conservative, and discuss stories that might come from such unusual ideas in the book as mind theft and spur safes.
Relevant Links
- Age of Em on Amazon
- Overcoming Bias
- RTF Episode 010: What Will Remain Scarce in the Future?
- RTF Episode 036: What is the Future of Hell?
- Scott Alexander’s Review of Age of Em
- Bryan Caplan’s Review and Hanson’s rebuttal