Robert Wright's New Book, The God Test, Launches Today. What's His P(We Pass)?

Bestselling author Robert Wright has landed on a sobering conclusion: on our current trajectory, AI dystopia is likely within eight years.

We get into his P(Doom), his case for slowing down, why racing China could backfire into authoritarianism here at home, and why he thinks evolution itself might have a purpose.

Bob is the author of The Moral Animal and Nonzero, a Pulitzer finalist, and hosts the excellent Nonzero podcast.

Get his new book, The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning.

Timestamps

00:00:00 — Cold Open

00:00:50 — Introducing Robert Wright

00:03:21 — What Is The God Test?

00:04:59 — AI as Evolutionary Force, Not Normal Technology

00:07:34 — AI Heaven vs AI Hell

00:09:09 — Bob's Background: From Hinton in 1983 to Today

00:16:09 — What's Your P(Doom)?™

00:20:09 — The Mainline Scenario: Dystopia in 8 Years

00:22:04 — Destabilization and the Road to Authoritarianism

00:25:35 — Why Racing China Backfires

00:28:37 — Slowing Down AI + Would Bob Support PauseAI?

00:32:38 — Intellidynamics and Why AIs Collude

00:44:44 — Hinton's Warning and How LLMs Discover Meaning

00:53:48 — Symbol Grounding and Killing Searle's Chinese Room

01:02:03 — Let's Talk About God

01:10:14 — Orthogonality, Power, and the Concentration Problem

01:16:31 — Wrap-Up

Links

Get Bob’s new book, “The God Test” — https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-God-Test/Robert-Wright/9781668061657

Follow Bob on X — https://x.com/robertwrighter

“If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies” by Eliezer Yudkowsky & Nate Soares (referenced) — https://ifanyonebuildsit.com

Join the Doom Debates Discord — https://discord.gg/g2X8h5UCrU

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