Food for Thought 5: The Vulnerable World Hypothesis
Food for Thought is a series of events, where we discuss philosophical and practical questions of EA in small groups over food and drinks: We are exploring effective altruism one bite at a time. EA newcomers are welcome; studying the suggested material is encouraged but not required, please RSVP.
Topic
This time around, we want to discuss the Vulnerable World Hypothesis: Do we live in a world in which at a certain level of technological progress the destruction of civilization is inevitable?
Suggested reading
How technological progress is making it likelier than ever that humans will destroy ourselves, an article that summarizes the claims of the Vulnerable World Hypothesis.
For anyone who wants to dive more deeply into the topic, we recommend the original paper about the topic by Nick Bostrom: The Vulnerable World Hypothesis.
Where/How/What
This time, we’ll do a picnic in Monbijoupark (the exact location will be posted before the event as soon as we’ve put our blankets down on the grass).
What to bring
Something to drink and something to eat/snack for yourself.
If you find the time to prepare or buy extra food: something vegan to share which can be eaten without plates/cutlery would be much appreciated (this can be something very low effort but if you don’t have the time to prepare anything, feel free to drop by nevertheless).
If you have one: please bring a picnic blanket.
For those who can’t find the time to read the suggested material, there is also a 15 min video that summaries the content quite well: https://youtu.be/BIVsluD8zyM I look forward to the discussion!
Thanks for joining us today, I hope your evening was as good as mine :) The next Food for Thought event is at the 30st August, hope to see you there. We are still finalizing the question and the reading material, but here is the event, so that you can put it in your calendar already: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/events/BohQY3CBwnuHe8gGH/food-for-thought-6-maximisation-is-perilous
This is my location. To find me: I currently have a green and a black picnic blanket and a black bike next to me :) https://maps.app.goo.gl/d2LB1pPugtWLPz7S8
The weather for tonight looks good, we might even get some sunshine. I will scout for a good location around 18:30 and will post the exact location here. Feel free to join me as soon as I’ve found a place, we’ll start the discussion shortly after 19:00. Since the temperatures have dropped a bit, I recommend to bring one extra layer to stay warm during the discussion :) I look forward to the discussion, see you later!