Anders Sandberg on Singularity 1 on 1: We Are All Amazingly Stupid, But We Can Get Better

Dr. Anders Sandberg is a well known transhumanist, futurist, computational neuroscientist and currently a research fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute in Oxford University. I have been thinking of inviting him on Singularity 1 on 1 for some time and when one of my readers actually asked me to do it I could not be happier to oblige. (Thanks Shahan!)

Dr. Sandberg is one of those rare individuals who clearly loves his work and is always very enthusiastic to discuss it. I really enjoyed talking to him and feel that we could have talked a lot more than we did. Thus I will try to bring him back on the show for little more focused discussion on one of his areas of expertise - transhumanism, mind uploading and the ethics thereof.

During our first discussion with Anders we cover a wide variety of topics such as: his childhood and early passion for science fiction; his intellectual journey from science fiction to science and -- eventually - to ethics; the goals and benchmarks of his work; human enhancement, body modification and the risks of early adopters; the problem of finding the right priorities; the technological singularity and our chances of surviving it; other existential threats to humanity.

My second favorite quote that I will take away from Anders Sandberg is: The Singularity should not stop us from thinking! (The first one, of course, is the title.)

• Category

  Science & Technology

[thegafferlives]

Come on Nikola not fair. You started laughing at 00:54 and cut the video.

I demand this laughing segment be replaced : )

[Nikola Danaylov]

That is because I embarrassed myself by messing up Dr. Sandberg's name. So, I had to cut that out in order to get it right at least the very first time at the beginning of the interview ;-)

[Linkage1992]

He seems like a really nice guy. Great interview.

[Nikola Danaylov]

I agree - very nice guy. Very modest and easy to coordinate for interviews and so on. Thoroughly enjoyed talking to him for he is as smart as he is nice...

[akpwnz]

This was one of my favorite guests so far.

[Nikola Danaylov]

Happy you think so friend, I will bring Anders Sandberg back on the show in another 3 or 4 weeks ;-)

[Nikola Danaylov]

I know friend, unfortunately when recording via Skype I have no control over some bandwidth, connection and other quality issues that may arise... Sorry about that!

[akpwnz]

There is an echo (see the 20 minute mark for an example).

[1schwererziehbar1]

feedback.

[Nikola Danaylov]

Thanks friend! I will do so! Though I have to figure out how to make a living too...