This deeply philosophical TED Talk with Nick Bostrom is hosted by the Head of TED Chris Anderson and we highly recommend you listen to/watch it distraction free as it is quite possibly the widest ranging and most thought-provoking TED Talk we’ve had the (dis?)pleasure of engaging with.

 

Bostrom covers synthetic biology (DNA printers if anyone asks), artificial general intelligence (note the use of the word general), climate change and Cold War era nuclear weapons-based mutually assured destruction. Yes, all of that in just twenty minutes. And whilst these ideas may seem high on concept, low on investment case; it’s critically important that we raise our heads from the scrum of trade wars, Iranian assassination, Eskom’s troubles, etcetera, from time to time to survey the broader playing field so that we might have a reasonable idea of where the next scrum is most likely to take place.

 

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"This Talk is really about challenging the widely held assumption that all technological progress is inherently good and what can be done about it if it isn’t."

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Though it doesn’t say so in either the introduction to the podcast itself or on the website, this Talk is really about challenging the widely held assumption that all technological progress is inherently good and what can be done about it if it isn’t*. Think the technological marvels of Uber and WeWork combined with the former’s failure to appropriately (meaning pre-emptively) engage with regulators and to ensure the safety of its users and the latter’s spectacular failure to list leading to significant job losses, amongst a laundry list of other issues for both platform providers not to mention Facebook and Cambridge Analytica; but on a much larger scale with potentially terminal consequences for humanity.

*If you, as you are likely to be, feel thoroughly depressed and just a little freaked out by this talk, then this article from the Verge (“The 84 Biggest Flops, Fails and Dead Dreams of the Decade in Tech ”) should lift your spirits.