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How to be a wise optimist about science and technology?

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I believe the central problem of the 21st century is how civilization co-evolves with science and technology. As our understanding of the world deepens, it enables technologies that confer ever more power to both improve and damage the world. There's currently much public discussion of this in the context of artificial superintelligence (ASI). However, it's a fundamental recurring challenge, affecting areas including climate change, genetic engineering, nanotechnology, geoengineering, brain-computer interfaces, and many more. How can we best benefit from science and technology, while supplying safety sufficient to ensure a healthy, flourishing civilization? This essay emerged from a personal crisis. From 2011 through 2015 much of my work focused on artificial intelligence. But in the second half of the 2010s I began doubting the wisdom of such work, despite the enormous creative opportunity. For alongside AI's promise is a vast and, to me, all-too-plausible downside: that the genie of

How to be a wise optimist about science and technology? personal xrisk ai asi display Michael Nielsen , Astera Institute December 1, 2024 Preface I believe the central problem of the 21st century is how civilization co-evolves with science and technology. As our understanding of the world deepens, it enables technologies that confer ever more power to both improve and damage the world. There's currently much public discussion of this in the context of artificial superintelligence (ASI). However, it's a fundamental recurring challenge, affecting areas including climate change, genetic engineeri

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