I don’t have much confidence in how AI will go, so this is very speculative, but one consideration for personal planning that I think about:
If AI does become as powerful as some hope (and doesn’t kill us all), then maybe your personal situation (money, power) at a particular crucial point will be very important. Examples:
are you still alive when crucial health advances come that could keep you alive much longer?
can you afford those crucial health advances? (for yourself and/or loved ones)
are you still alive when technology to “upload” your mind works well, and can you afford it?
is there going to be some future grab for resources at a crucial time (before or after uploading...), and will you be in a good position for that?
hard for me to speculate about what those resources are, but for a probably-quite-silly example: Maybe we’ll auction off whole solar systems?
How you answer these questions could affect whether you live for the next million years, and what that life is like. I see those as reasons to prioritize personal health, money, and power more than you would otherwise.
Note: I’m not actually living my life according to this prescription. If I had to answer why, I think it’s partly that I think probably AI progress will stall out before creating such scientific/tech breakthroughs that allow for uploading minds. But even a small chance could be worth optimizing for, so I’m not sure I’m being rational about this.
(This is about personal planning, but sort of parallels some EA considerations, like “value lock-in”.)
I don’t have much confidence in how AI will go, so this is very speculative, but one consideration for personal planning that I think about:
If AI does become as powerful as some hope (and doesn’t kill us all), then maybe your personal situation (money, power) at a particular crucial point will be very important. Examples:
are you still alive when crucial health advances come that could keep you alive much longer?
can you afford those crucial health advances? (for yourself and/or loved ones)
are you still alive when technology to “upload” your mind works well, and can you afford it?
is there going to be some future grab for resources at a crucial time (before or after uploading...), and will you be in a good position for that?
hard for me to speculate about what those resources are, but for a probably-quite-silly example: Maybe we’ll auction off whole solar systems?
How you answer these questions could affect whether you live for the next million years, and what that life is like. I see those as reasons to prioritize personal health, money, and power more than you would otherwise.
Note: I’m not actually living my life according to this prescription. If I had to answer why, I think it’s partly that I think probably AI progress will stall out before creating such scientific/tech breakthroughs that allow for uploading minds. But even a small chance could be worth optimizing for, so I’m not sure I’m being rational about this.
(This is about personal planning, but sort of parallels some EA considerations, like “value lock-in”.)