Nick Bostrom, Ph.D
Director, Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford University
One consideration that should be taken into account when deciding whether to promote the development of superintelligence is that if superintelligence is feasible, it will likely be developed sooner or later. Therefore, we will probably one day have to take the gamble of superintelligence no matter what. But once in existence, a superintelligence could help us reduce or eliminate other existential risks, such as the risk that advanced nanotechnology will be used by humans in warfare or terrorism, a serious threat to the long-term survival of intelligent life on earth. If we get to superintelligence first, we may avoid this risk from nanotechnology and many others. If, on the other hand, we get nanotechnology first, we will have to face both the risks from nanotechnology and, if these risks are survived, also the risks from superintelligence. The overall risk seems to be minimized by implementing superintelligence, with great care, as soon as possible.
Biography
Nick Bostrom, Ph.D., is Director of Oxford University's new Future of Humanity Institute, which takes a multi-disciplinary approach to understanding and evaluating humanity's long-term prospects. He is also University Fellow in the James Martin Institute for Science and Civilization at Oxford. Prior to these appointments, Bostrom spent several years teaching at Yale University in the Department of Philosophy and the Yale Institute for Social and Policy Studies. His formal education spans physics, computational neuroscience, and artificial intelligence, as well as philosophy.
Bostrom is one of the world's leading experts on the consequences and ethics of anticipated technologies, including human enhancement, global catastrophic risks, and philosophical issues related to big picture issues for humanity. He has also done extensive work in the foundations of probability theory and philosophy of science. His book Anthropic Bias (New York: Routledge, 2002) presented the first mathematical theory of observation selection effects, phenomena which can introduce methodological bias into our reasoning if not properly understood and accounted for. Bostrom is the author of some 90 publications, including papers in Nature, Mind, Journal of Philosophy, Bioethics, Journal of Medical Ethics, Astrophysics & Space Science, and two edited volumes forthcoming with Oxford University Press, one on global catastrophic risk, and another on the ethics of human enhancement.
Bostrom has also worked briefly as an expert consultant for the European Commission in Brussels and for the Central Intelligence Agency in Washington DC. He is a highly sought-after speaker on the future of humanity and emerging technologies, and has done more than 150 interviews for television, radio, and print media.