Who's Afraid of Superintelligence?

We've got a full panel! In this episode, Kris, Matt, Steve, and Ian have a deep dive into superintelligence, AGI, and why the fear around them might say more about us than about AI. Steve draws a line from colonialism anxiety to alien invasion movies to superintelligence panic. Kris argues that a truly rational superintelligence would see that oppression consistently fails and cooperation wins. The conversation moves through whether AI is already oppressive, what it means for AI to be a subtle overlord, and why the real threats are mundane failures of leadership, not robot uprisings.

We've got supporter content, of course! This week that includes a philosophical tangent on whether referencing external knowledge counts as knowing, a heated debate about whether humans are hierarchical by nature, Matt's island thought experiment about hierarchy inevitably emerging, and Ian's argument that not everyone needs to be a builder. Not a supporter yet? Fix that today by heading over to https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe where you'll get not only extra content but also higher quality audio. Sign up today!

If you prefer to watch this episode, you can view it on YouTube.

No episode of Break this week. We'll have more aftershow episodes soon! In the meantime, catch up on previous episodes at https://break.show.

Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!

Table of Contents:

Prologue (00:00:00)
Chapter 1: Meet the Panel (00:00:54)
Chapter 2: Defining AGI and Superintelligence (00:03:00)
Chapter 3: The Spicy Takes: Has AGI Already Arrived? (00:11:38)
Chapter 4: What Does It Mean to Know? Memory vs. Intelligence [Extended] (00:17:56)
Chapter 5: A Black Perspective on Power and Intelligence (00:18:55)
Chapter 6: Did They Actually Win? Dominance Hierarchies and Revolution (00:26:18)
Chapter 7: AI Is Already Oppressive: Why Aren't We Worried About That? (00:33:53)
Chapter 10: AI as the Subtle Overlord (00:48:55)
Chapter 12: What We Should Actually Be Worried About (00:58:47)
Chapter 13: Intelligence, Eugenics, and What the Word Even Means (01:08:06)
Chapter 14: Naming the Machines: AI Identity and Claude's Constitution (01:22:32)
Chapter 15: We vs. Me: Language, Identity, and Collective Pronouns (01:25:14)
Epilogue (01:31:10)

Hosts

Socials:

(00:00) - Prologue
(00:54) - Chapter 1: Meet the Panel
(03:00) - Chapter 2: Defining AGI and Superintelligence
(11:38) - Chapter 3: The Spicy Takes: Has AGI Already Arrived?
(17:56) - Chapter 4: What Does It Mean to Know? Memory vs. Intelligence [Extended]
(18:55) - Chapter 5: A Black Perspective on Power and Intelligence
(26:18) - Chapter 6: Did They Actually Win? Dominance Hierarchies and Revolution
(33:53) - Chapter 7: AI Is Already Oppressive: Why Aren't We Worried About That?
(48:55) - Chapter 10: AI as the Subtle Overlord
(58:47) - Chapter 12: What We Should Actually Be Worried About
(01:08:06) - Chapter 13: Intelligence, Eugenics, and What the Word Even Means
(01:22:32) - Chapter 14: Naming the Machines: AI Identity and Claude's Constitution
(01:25:14) - Chapter 15: We vs. Me: Language, Identity, and Collective Pronouns
(01:31:10) - Epilogue

Who's Afraid of Superintelligence?

About this Episode

More from Fallthrough

The Joy of Building

The Least Contentious Proposal in the History of Go

Deprecate the Error Interface

Package Hell