I had a plan for this podcast with @waitbutwhy's Tim Urban, but then it went in a very different, and more fun, direction: vox.com/podcasts/2020/…
What Urban's arguing here is something I hear a lot since moving to the Bay Area: Humanity is on the cusp of genuine transformation, either towards some kind of hyperintelligence or hypergrowth, or towards total annihilation.
The reason so many people can't see it or refuse to see it is we're used to the past being roughly like the future, and so we're unable to see how rapidly things are really speeding up.
I am...skeptical...and we debate that a bit in the podcast. But the conversation speaks to a big question: whether our political debates are distractions from the forces that are really going to shape this era, and our future.
From this point of view, the development of AI, CRISPR, synthetic bioweapons, nuclear weapons, climate change — that's going to shape everything to come, yet it gets so much less attention in politics than tax rates and health policy design.
I disagree with some of what Urban says, and we discuss those differences in the podcast, but I'm absolutely sure that we're underplaying at least some of the key stories of the age, the difficulty is knowing which ones.
Anyway, this is a fun conversation.
Urban's POV is a good provocation if you've got more of a politics-heavy view of the future, and I think my side is a good provocation if you've got a more tech-heavy view of the future.
Enjoy! vox.com/podcasts/2020/…
Urban's POV is a good provocation if you've got more of a politics-heavy view of the future, and I think my side is a good provocation if you've got a more tech-heavy view of the future.
Enjoy! vox.com/podcasts/2020/…
