[Podcast] Ajeya Cotra on worldview diversification and how big the future could be

Link post

In the most recent episode of the 80,000 Hours podcast, Rob Wiblin and Ajeya Cotra from Open Phil discuss “the challenge Open Phil faces striking a balance between taking big ideas seriously, and not going all in on philosophical arguments that may turn out to be barking up the wrong tree entirely.

“They also discuss:

  • Which worldviews Open Phil finds most plausible, and how it balances them

  • Which worldviews Ajeya doesn’t embrace but almost does

  • How hard it is to get to other solar systems

  • The famous ‘simulation argument’

  • When transformative AI might actually arrive

  • The biggest challenges involved in working on big research reports

  • What it’s like working at Open Phil

  • And much more”

I’m creating this thread so that anyone who wants to share their thoughts on any of the topics covered in this episode can do so. This is in the spirit of MichaelA’s suggestion of posting all EA-relevant content here.