What problem do we get after we've solved all other problems?
I.
Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom got famous for asking âWhat if technology is really really bad?â He helped define âexistential riskâ, popularize fears of malevolent superintelligence, and argue that we were living in a âvulnerable worldâ prone to physical or biological catastrophe.
His latest book breaks from his usual oeuvre. In Deep Utopia, he asks: âWhat if technology is really really good?â
Most previous utopian literature (he notes) has been about âshallowâ utopias. There are still problems; we just handle them better. Thereâs still scarcity, but at least the government distributes resources fairly. Thereâs still sickness and death, but at least everyone has free high-quality health care.
But Bostrom asks: what if there were literally no problems? What if you could do literally whatever you wanted?1 Maybe the world is run by a benevolent superintelligence whoâs uploaded everyone into a virtual universe, and you can change your material conditions as easily as changing desktop wallpaper. Maybe we have nanobots too cheap to meter, and if you whisper âplease make me a five hundred story palace, with a thousand servants who all look exactly like Marilyn Monroeâ, then your wish will be their command. If you want to be twenty feet tall and immortal, the only thing blocking you is the doorframe.
Would this be as good as it sounds? Or would peopleâs lives become boring and meaningless?
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/book-review-deep-utopiaÂ
