I’d like to see more rigorous engagement with big questions like where value comes from, what makes a good future, how we know, and how this affects cause prioritization. I think it’s generally assumed “consciousness is where value comes from, so maximize it in some way.” Yet some of the people who have studied consciousness most closely from a phenomenological perspective seem to not think that (e.g. zen masters, Tibetan lamas, other contemplatives, etc), let alone scale it to cosmic levels. Why? Is third person philosophical analysis alone missing something?
The experiences of these people add up to millions of years of contemplation across thousands of years. If we accept this as a sort of “long reflection” what does that mean? If we don’t, what do we envision differently and why? And are we really going to be able to do serious sustained reflection if/once we have everything we think we want within our grasp due to strong AI?
These are the kinds of things I’m currently thinking through most in my spare time and writing my thoughts up on.
I’d like to see more rigorous engagement with big questions like where value comes from, what makes a good future, how we know, and how this affects cause prioritization. I think it’s generally assumed “consciousness is where value comes from, so maximize it in some way.” Yet some of the people who have studied consciousness most closely from a phenomenological perspective seem to not think that (e.g. zen masters, Tibetan lamas, other contemplatives, etc), let alone scale it to cosmic levels. Why? Is third person philosophical analysis alone missing something?
The experiences of these people add up to millions of years of contemplation across thousands of years. If we accept this as a sort of “long reflection” what does that mean? If we don’t, what do we envision differently and why? And are we really going to be able to do serious sustained reflection if/once we have everything we think we want within our grasp due to strong AI?
These are the kinds of things I’m currently thinking through most in my spare time and writing my thoughts up on.