WEBVTT 00:08.110 --> 00:10.570 Technology is evolving faster and faster. 00:11.630 --> 00:13.510 Not surprising when you consider that today, 00:13.910 --> 00:16.850 more scientists are doing research than in all of history combined 00:16.850 --> 00:19.910 and using superior instruments and communication tools. 00:21.270 --> 00:26.270 New technologies like biogenetics, artificial intelligence, implants, and nanotechnology 00:26.270 --> 00:28.650 have advanced vastly in the past few decades. 00:30.230 --> 00:34.050 These various technologies seem now to be converging towards one goal, 00:34.050 --> 00:38.150 to overcome human limits and to create new, higher forms of life, 00:38.750 --> 00:40.810 to create something transhuman. 00:44.190 --> 00:47.830 Robert Anton Wilson has been calculating this acceleration of knowledge. 00:48.470 --> 00:50.850 He calls it the Jumping Jesus Phenomenon. 00:51.210 --> 00:59.500 The Jumping Jesus Phenomenon is my name for the acceleration of information throughout history. 00:59.700 --> 01:04.340 I first heard of that from Alfred Korszybski, a Polish mathematician, 01:04.340 --> 01:08.100 who invented a scientific discipline called general symmetry, 01:08.120 --> 01:14.260 and Korszybski noted that information was doubling faster and faster every generation. 01:15.340 --> 01:17.940 He said we've got to be prepared for more and more change. 01:18.040 --> 01:22.360 We've got to train ourselves to be less dogmatic and more flexible so we can deal with change. 01:23.140 --> 01:27.240 He took the unit at 1 AD as his basic unit 01:27.240 --> 01:31.560 to calculate how long it took for the information available to human beings to double, 01:31.720 --> 01:33.340 and it took 1,500 years, 01:33.900 --> 01:38.100 which brought us up to the time when Leonardo da Vinci was in his 40s in the Renaissance, 01:38.120 --> 01:39.120 was at its height. 01:40.720 --> 01:42.900 I decided to call this unit a Jesus. 01:43.660 --> 01:47.740 So in 1 AD we had one Jesus, in 1,500 we had two Jesus. 01:48.240 --> 01:50.780 The next doubling only took 250 years. 01:50.940 --> 01:53.180 We already can see the acceleration factor, 01:53.780 --> 01:56.040 and by 1750 we had four Jesus. 01:57.000 --> 02:03.260 The next doubling took 150 years, and by 1900 we had eight Jesus. 02:03.780 --> 02:08.100 The next doubling only took 50 years, and by 1950 we had 16 Jesus. 02:08.300 --> 02:12.840 By 1960, in only 10 years, we had 32 Jesus. 02:13.540 --> 02:16.440 By 1967 we had 64 Jesus. 02:17.380 --> 02:20.580 And by 1973, 128 Jesus. 02:21.360 --> 02:24.620 And the latest estimate I've seen by Dr. Jacques Vallée, 02:24.960 --> 02:28.740 a computer scientist, is that knowledge is doubling every year. 02:29.340 --> 02:32.080 But I heard that, oh, about five, six years ago. 02:32.080 --> 02:33.740 I saw something on the net recently. 02:33.860 --> 02:36.480 Somebody estimated it's doubling about twice a year now. 02:41.180 --> 02:41.200 Obviously. 02:41.540 --> 02:45.180 If we're experiencing more change now in a year 02:45.180 --> 02:48.820 than we previously experienced in 1,000 years, 02:49.600 --> 02:52.520 we can propagate that trend into the future 02:52.520 --> 02:58.160 and see that a day will come when we will experience more change in an hour 02:58.160 --> 03:03.440 than we have experienced in the past 20, 30,000 years. 03:03.980 --> 03:06.680 A situation like that is unimaginable. 03:06.680 --> 03:10.060 So we call it a singularity, 03:10.300 --> 03:11.180 a place where the normal... 03:11.180 --> 03:14.380 where the normal rules of modeling break down. 03:15.680 --> 03:19.540 Modern religions have anticipated the singularity 03:19.540 --> 03:23.860 by calling it the eschaton, or the end of time. 03:25.200 --> 03:29.060 Technological communities have anticipated the singularity 03:29.060 --> 03:34.600 by thinking in terms of artificial intelligences or something like that. 03:34.600 --> 03:37.160 In whatever form it takes, 03:37.640 --> 03:40.600 we seem to be on the cusp of a dramatic evolution 03:41.180 --> 03:46.200 or a revolutionary leap into a deeper order of complexity 03:46.200 --> 03:52.680 than biology or biology plus culture has been able to provide. 03:52.920 --> 03:57.980 We're on the brink of something truly awesome and unknown. 04:12.280 --> 04:14.800 A future where knowledge evolves at infinite speed. 04:15.300 --> 04:17.420 It is clear that no regular human being 04:17.420 --> 04:19.360 will be able to keep up with this acceleration. 04:19.360 --> 04:21.980 This is the year! 04:22.240 --> 04:24.920 Are you ready? Are you ready for the midnight clock? 04:24.940 --> 04:26.940 There's no way to get up! 04:26.940 --> 04:28.940 There's no way to get up! 04:28.940 --> 04:32.940 Some futurologists anticipate that species of higher intelligence 04:32.940 --> 04:34.940 will at one point take over further progress. 04:34.940 --> 04:36.940 I only bought a few days! 04:36.940 --> 04:38.940 Let me suck on white people! 04:38.940 --> 04:40.940 Jesus! 04:40.940 --> 04:42.940 Only Jesus. I am talking about Jesus. 04:42.940 --> 04:44.940 These might be artificial intelligences, 04:44.940 --> 04:46.940 genetically upgraded humans, 04:46.940 --> 04:48.940 or a combination of both. 04:48.940 --> 04:50.940 So yes, we're living in the last days! 04:50.940 --> 04:52.940 So we're living in the last days! 04:52.940 --> 04:54.940 So we're living in the last days! 04:54.940 --> 04:56.940 So we're living in the last days! 04:56.940 --> 04:58.940 Most calculations anticipate this moment 04:58.940 --> 05:00.940 to be between 2035 and 2045. 05:00.940 --> 05:02.940 to be between 2035 and 2045. 05:02.940 --> 05:04.940 So it is not a far-off science fiction scenario. 05:04.940 --> 05:06.940 So it is not a far-off science fiction scenario. 05:06.940 --> 05:08.940 You've got a sad, sad day coming for you! 05:08.940 --> 05:10.940 How can we deal with such a future? 05:10.940 --> 05:12.940 This is going to be the worst day of your life! 05:12.940 --> 05:14.940 This is going to be the worst day of your life! 05:14.940 --> 05:16.940 Are you guys only worshipping Jesus or like God? 05:16.940 --> 05:18.940 Are you guys only worshipping Jesus or like God? 05:18.940 --> 05:20.940 It's like you're just saying that only Jesus can fill that place 05:20.940 --> 05:22.940 and I'm saying that to every person there's an intricate savior. 05:22.940 --> 05:24.940 and I'm saying that to every person there's an intricate savior. 05:24.940 --> 05:26.940 It doesn't have to be just Jesus! 05:26.940 --> 05:28.940 It doesn't have to be just Jesus! 05:28.940 --> 05:30.940 How do we prepare for such a technocalypse? 05:30.940 --> 05:34.540 How do we prepare for such a technocalypse? 05:34.540 --> 05:36.540 The singularity I put in 2045 05:36.540 --> 05:38.540 At that point 05:38.540 --> 05:40.540 the non-biological intelligence 05:40.540 --> 05:42.540 that we create that year 05:42.540 --> 05:44.540 will be about a billion times greater 05:44.540 --> 05:46.540 than all biological human intelligence. 05:46.540 --> 05:50.460 than all biological human intelligence. 05:50.460 --> 05:52.460 There are a growing number 05:52.460 --> 05:54.460 maybe a few hundred people 05:54.460 --> 05:56.460 who are seeing the writing on the wall 05:56.460 --> 05:58.460 that these technologies are coming 05:58.460 --> 06:00.460 and they will allow humanity 06:00.460 --> 06:02.460 and they will allow humanity 06:02.460 --> 06:04.460 if we as human beings 06:04.460 --> 06:06.460 as a species 06:06.460 --> 06:08.460 if we choose 06:08.460 --> 06:10.460 if we choose 06:10.460 --> 06:12.460 we could build God-like 06:12.460 --> 06:14.460 massively intelligent machines 06:14.460 --> 06:16.460 we could build God-like 06:16.460 --> 06:18.460 with capacities 06:18.460 --> 06:20.460 trillions of trillions of times 06:20.460 --> 06:22.460 above ours. 06:22.460 --> 06:24.460 They may reach a certain level 06:24.460 --> 06:26.460 of artificial intelligence 06:26.460 --> 06:28.460 where they themselves then 06:28.460 --> 06:30.460 start redesigning themselves 06:30.460 --> 06:32.460 the singularity 06:32.460 --> 06:34.460 that idea 06:34.460 --> 06:36.460 when a certain level 06:36.460 --> 06:38.460 a threshold level of intelligence is reached 06:38.460 --> 06:40.460 and then it's no longer human beings 06:40.460 --> 06:42.460 who design the next generation 06:42.460 --> 06:44.460 they do it 06:44.460 --> 06:46.460 and they're doing it at the speed of light 06:46.460 --> 06:48.460 electronically 06:48.460 --> 06:50.460 Up goes the AIQ very fast 06:50.460 --> 06:52.460 and we just lose control 06:52.460 --> 06:54.460 we just sit back 06:54.460 --> 06:56.460 and watch what happens 06:56.460 --> 06:58.460 and they're the boss. 06:58.460 --> 07:00.460 Well for a long time 07:00.460 --> 07:02.460 I've been trying to understand 07:02.460 --> 07:04.460 why there is not more 07:04.460 --> 07:06.460 resistance 07:06.460 --> 07:08.460 to various technological agendas. 07:08.460 --> 07:10.460 The computer is an instrument 07:10.460 --> 07:12.460 that enables humans 07:12.460 --> 07:14.460 to be much more powerful 07:14.460 --> 07:16.460 than they ought to be 07:16.460 --> 07:18.460 and so anything coming 07:18.460 --> 07:20.460 from the computer revolution 07:20.460 --> 07:22.460 I will regard as dangerous 07:22.460 --> 07:24.460 ultimately dangerous 07:24.460 --> 07:26.460 in fact I would say that 07:26.460 --> 07:28.460 20 to 30 years 07:28.460 --> 07:30.460 we will see the catastrophe. 07:30.460 --> 07:32.460 One of the things about technological development 07:32.460 --> 07:34.460 there's never a moment that we can 07:34.460 --> 07:36.460 as I say stop and evaluate 07:36.460 --> 07:38.460 because everybody's saying 07:38.460 --> 07:40.460 oh wait wait wait 07:40.460 --> 07:42.460 it's going to get better 07:42.460 --> 07:44.460 it's going to get better 07:44.460 --> 07:46.460 oh yes there are problems now 07:46.460 --> 07:48.460 there are bugs now 07:48.460 --> 07:50.460 but we will solve them 07:50.460 --> 07:52.460 and so there's an infinite deferring 07:52.460 --> 07:54.460 of evaluations and decisions 07:54.460 --> 07:56.460 and that's irrational. 07:56.460 --> 07:58.460 You're known as the mind 07:58.460 --> 08:00.460 the mad scientist. 08:00.460 --> 08:02.460 The accelerating pace 08:02.460 --> 08:04.460 of innovation 08:04.460 --> 08:06.460 is not only 08:06.460 --> 08:08.460 destabilizing 08:08.460 --> 08:10.460 but throws everyone really 08:10.460 --> 08:12.460 reeling on the defensive. 08:12.460 --> 08:14.460 Well we call it stress. 08:14.460 --> 08:16.460 People are dropping 08:16.460 --> 08:18.460 like flies. 08:20.460 --> 08:22.460 Part of it is just the anxiety. 08:22.460 --> 08:24.460 Is this the way 08:24.460 --> 08:26.460 we want to live? 08:26.460 --> 08:28.460 Why not slow things down? 08:28.460 --> 08:30.460 What's the hurry? 08:30.460 --> 08:32.460 I'm not interested in 08:32.460 --> 08:34.460 a future where there are 08:34.460 --> 08:36.460 post-human beings if I'm not one of them. 08:36.460 --> 08:38.460 I want to be there. 08:38.460 --> 08:40.460 It's very important to me that I live 08:40.460 --> 08:42.460 and thrive in the future 08:42.460 --> 08:44.460 not just to think about some robots 08:44.460 --> 08:46.460 taking off into space. 08:46.460 --> 08:48.460 I want to be there. 08:48.460 --> 08:50.460 They could take advantage of 08:50.460 --> 08:52.460 intelligence theory and wire up 08:52.460 --> 08:54.460 their circuitry in a way that 08:54.460 --> 08:56.460 make their mind stand plus plus plus plus. 08:56.460 --> 08:58.460 Human beings 08:58.460 --> 09:00.460 with our puny little brains. 09:00.460 --> 09:02.460 There are two things that are infinite. 09:02.460 --> 09:04.460 The universe 09:04.460 --> 09:06.460 and human stupidity. 09:06.460 --> 09:09.740 The human species 09:09.740 --> 09:11.740 is one that 09:11.740 --> 09:13.740 has a brain that's 09:13.740 --> 09:15.740 already too big. 09:15.740 --> 09:17.740 And now we have in the computer 09:17.740 --> 09:19.740 something that extends 09:19.740 --> 09:21.740 the power of that brain 09:21.740 --> 09:23.740 almost limitlessly. 09:23.740 --> 09:25.740 The machines are not the problem 09:25.740 --> 09:27.740 but the monkeys behind the machines 09:27.740 --> 09:29.740 that need to be addressed. 09:29.740 --> 09:31.740 We're all stupid. We don't think very well. 09:31.740 --> 09:33.740 We can't remember more than about seven numbers 09:33.740 --> 09:35.740 in a row before our brain gives up. 09:35.740 --> 09:37.740 We have very bad short term memories. 09:37.740 --> 09:39.740 We can't think of long chains of reasoning 09:39.740 --> 09:41.740 without forgetting where we started. 09:41.740 --> 09:43.740 That's all design defects as far as I'm concerned. 09:43.740 --> 09:45.740 So is that an enhancement to improve that 09:45.740 --> 09:47.740 or is it repairing a defect? 09:47.740 --> 09:49.740 It doesn't really matter. 09:49.740 --> 09:51.740 We should be using technology to make ourselves better. 09:51.740 --> 09:53.740 I am convinced that these 09:53.740 --> 09:55.740 technologists at 09:55.740 --> 09:57.740 MIT 09:57.740 --> 09:59.740 in all their fancy laboratories up there 09:59.740 --> 10:01.740 and artificial intelligence 10:01.740 --> 10:03.740 are correct when they 10:03.740 --> 10:05.740 say that the question in another 10:05.740 --> 10:07.740 50 years will be 10:07.740 --> 10:09.740 whether the machines want to keep 10:09.740 --> 10:11.740 us around as pets. 10:11.740 --> 10:13.740 Or not. 10:13.740 --> 10:15.740 Who is to say 10:15.740 --> 10:17.740 that for whatever reason 10:17.740 --> 10:19.740 sometime in the future 10:19.740 --> 10:21.740 those artelics may decide 10:21.740 --> 10:23.740 you know, those human beings 10:23.740 --> 10:25.740 ... 10:25.740 --> 10:27.740 Pests. 10:27.740 --> 10:29.740 They are so inferior to us 10:29.740 --> 10:31.740 they get in the way 10:31.740 --> 10:33.740 they're eating up our resources that we need 10:33.740 --> 10:35.740 whatever, taking up our atoms 10:35.740 --> 10:37.740 that we need to go bigger and bigger and bigger. 10:39.740 --> 10:41.740 I don't worry, well I do worry 10:41.740 --> 10:43.740 but I'm not overly concerned about the possibility 10:43.740 --> 10:45.740 that they will race ahead of us 10:45.740 --> 10:47.740 and if we're lucky treat us as pets. 10:47.740 --> 10:49.740 I think more likely what's going to happen 10:49.740 --> 10:51.740 is that we will become increasingly 10:51.740 --> 10:53.740 integrated functionally with our technology 10:53.740 --> 10:55.740 with our computers, with our robots 10:55.740 --> 10:57.740 and rather than it being a them and us situation 10:57.740 --> 10:59.740 where they're the ruling class and we're the poor surface 10:59.740 --> 11:01.740 underneath, I think we'll be much more integrated. 11:01.740 --> 11:03.740 Well that is the most 11:03.740 --> 11:05.740 tricky question. 11:05.740 --> 11:07.740 Are we going to retain 11:07.740 --> 11:09.740 the monkey meat? 11:09.740 --> 11:11.740 Are we going to hang on to the body 11:11.740 --> 11:13.740 and through the body have a connection 11:13.740 --> 11:15.740 to the rest of animal nature? 11:15.740 --> 11:17.740 Or are we going to 11:17.740 --> 11:19.740 become disembodied 11:19.740 --> 11:21.740 streams of electrons 11:21.740 --> 11:23.740 moving in virtual 11:23.740 --> 11:25.740 realities that are contained 11:25.740 --> 11:27.740 entirely in circuitry? 11:27.740 --> 11:29.740 I think this will probably 11:29.740 --> 11:31.740 go both ways. 11:31.740 --> 11:33.740 There will be fundamentalists 11:33.740 --> 11:35.740 who want nothing to do 11:35.740 --> 11:37.740 with technological transformation 11:37.740 --> 11:39.740 and there will be utopians 11:39.740 --> 11:41.740 who won't be able to get 11:41.740 --> 11:43.740 enough of it. 11:43.740 --> 11:45.740 This is probably the moral frontier 11:45.740 --> 11:47.740 where we each personally 11:47.740 --> 11:49.740 must make a stand. 11:49.740 --> 11:51.740 How much of the new technology 11:51.740 --> 11:53.740 and its reality 11:53.740 --> 11:55.740 redefining quality 11:55.740 --> 11:57.740 do we want to take 11:57.740 --> 11:59.740 into our own lives? 11:59.740 --> 12:01.740 We will have cyborg 12:01.740 --> 12:03.740 bodies, we will have augmented bodies, 12:03.740 --> 12:05.740 we will automorph ourselves into 12:05.740 --> 12:07.740 whatever vehicle keeps us 12:07.740 --> 12:09.740 in existence for the longest period 12:09.740 --> 12:11.740 of time with the most pleasure, 12:11.740 --> 12:13.740 the least pain, and the 12:13.740 --> 12:15.740 most ease, the most elegance. 12:15.740 --> 12:17.740 Everything that you need. 12:17.740 --> 12:19.740 Everything. 12:19.740 --> 12:21.740 Spiritually, emotionally, 12:21.740 --> 12:23.740 financially. 12:23.740 --> 12:25.740 The post-biological folks will say, 12:25.740 --> 12:27.740 well, you people have a 12:27.740 --> 12:29.740 primitive, atavistic attachment 12:29.740 --> 12:31.740 to the species. Let it go. 12:31.740 --> 12:33.740 Let it go. Come with us! 12:33.740 --> 12:35.740 We're the bold ones. 12:35.740 --> 12:37.740 We'll move on to the... 12:37.740 --> 12:39.740 That's really scary stuff 12:39.740 --> 12:41.740 to me. Really scary. 12:41.740 --> 12:43.740 A great number of people 12:43.740 --> 12:45.740 who I refer to as biological fundamentalists 12:45.740 --> 12:47.740 have a great fear of 12:47.740 --> 12:49.740 moving outside their biology, 12:49.740 --> 12:51.740 moving into other bodies, 12:51.740 --> 12:53.740 other forms for transport. 12:53.740 --> 12:55.740 These people have a lot of 12:55.740 --> 12:57.740 commitment, a lot of mythology, 12:57.740 --> 12:59.740 a lot of tradition and history 12:59.740 --> 13:01.740 attached to their bodies, our sacred bodies, 13:01.740 --> 13:03.740 the house of our soul. 13:03.740 --> 13:05.740 I mean, I can imagine myself 13:05.740 --> 13:07.740 being a 13:07.740 --> 13:09.740 moderately modified 13:09.740 --> 13:11.740 cyborg. I mean, you know, 13:11.740 --> 13:13.740 it would be nice to have my arteries cleaned out 13:13.740 --> 13:15.740 and I'd like to have better memory capacity 13:15.740 --> 13:17.740 and I'd like to be able to learn Chinese 13:17.740 --> 13:19.740 in two seconds just by going 13:19.740 --> 13:21.740 That would be great. 13:21.740 --> 13:23.740 But 13:23.740 --> 13:25.740 that to me is small beer. 13:25.740 --> 13:27.740 That's nothing 13:27.740 --> 13:29.740 in comparison to 13:29.740 --> 13:31.740 what these godlike... 13:31.740 --> 13:33.740 I deliberately use that word, godlike 13:33.740 --> 13:35.740 artelics could be. 13:35.740 --> 13:37.740 Well, it's a 13:37.740 --> 13:39.740 philosophical issue as to whether 13:39.740 --> 13:41.740 this is still human. 13:41.740 --> 13:43.740 In my mind it's definitely 13:43.740 --> 13:45.740 going beyond biology. 13:45.740 --> 13:47.740 But I don't define 13:47.740 --> 13:49.740 human as just biological. 13:49.740 --> 13:51.740 I mean, we're already taking steps 13:51.740 --> 13:53.740 beyond biology. There's not a single organ 13:53.740 --> 13:55.740 in the human body, including 13:55.740 --> 13:57.740 regions of the brain, where we're not 13:57.740 --> 13:59.740 already creating substitutes 13:59.740 --> 14:01.740 or extensions or augmentations. 14:01.740 --> 14:03.740 So if somebody has a 14:03.740 --> 14:05.740 an artificial pancreas, 14:05.740 --> 14:07.740 are they not human? If they have a neural 14:07.740 --> 14:09.740 implant in their brain, are they not human? 14:09.740 --> 14:11.740 How about two neural implants? So maybe 14:11.740 --> 14:13.740 you can have up to ten, then you're human, but eleven 14:13.740 --> 14:15.740 you're not human anymore. If you have these 14:15.740 --> 14:17.740 nanobots, blood cell sized robots 14:17.740 --> 14:19.740 in the brain that actually have computers 14:19.740 --> 14:21.740 interacting with your biological 14:21.740 --> 14:23.740 neurons, is that still human? Well, one 14:23.740 --> 14:25.740 nanobot's probably okay. How about five hundred million 14:25.740 --> 14:27.740 nanobots? 14:27.740 --> 14:29.740 I don't know how people are going to stop this, 14:29.740 --> 14:31.740 although my hope is 14:31.740 --> 14:33.740 that 14:33.740 --> 14:35.740 when we 14:35.740 --> 14:37.740 effectively destroy half of human 14:37.740 --> 14:39.740 life on Earth through one technological 14:39.740 --> 14:41.740 mistake or another, or a 14:41.740 --> 14:43.740 combination of them, the diseases 14:43.740 --> 14:45.740 that we are allowing to come out 14:45.740 --> 14:47.740 now, or the 14:47.740 --> 14:49.740 poisons that we create, or 14:49.740 --> 14:51.740 the global warming, one or another 14:51.740 --> 14:53.740 of these things destroy half the population 14:53.740 --> 14:55.740 on Earth. The other half will 14:55.740 --> 14:57.740 say, whoa, we've gone too far. 14:57.740 --> 14:59.740 What do we do now? 14:59.740 --> 15:01.740 Humanity will become extinct, 15:01.740 --> 15:03.740 but in the sense 15:03.740 --> 15:05.740 of a pseudo-extinction, in 15:05.740 --> 15:07.740 that it is clear that if 15:07.740 --> 15:09.740 we are going to be altering 15:09.740 --> 15:11.740 our own biology, and 15:11.740 --> 15:13.740 transforming ourselves, 15:13.740 --> 15:15.740 that we are going to change, 15:15.740 --> 15:17.740 and we're going to change in 15:17.740 --> 15:19.740 enormous ways, in very unforeseen 15:19.740 --> 15:21.740 ways, and that 15:21.740 --> 15:23.740 means that homo sapiens, as we know 15:23.740 --> 15:25.740 it now, will cease to exist. 15:25.740 --> 15:27.740 But that's got 15:27.740 --> 15:29.740 to be a form of madness. It's got to be a form 15:29.740 --> 15:31.740 of techno-blindness 15:31.740 --> 15:33.740 to want the 15:33.740 --> 15:35.740 end of the human species to 15:35.740 --> 15:37.740 transform it into a mechanical 15:37.740 --> 15:39.740 species. It's a kind of 15:39.740 --> 15:41.740 species side, 15:41.740 --> 15:43.740 the destruction of a species 15:43.740 --> 15:45.740 against a kind 15:45.740 --> 15:47.740 of, I use the word, 15:47.740 --> 15:49.740 deicide, a god killing. 15:49.740 --> 15:51.740 If you choose not to 15:51.740 --> 15:53.740 build these artifacts, in a sense, 15:53.740 --> 15:55.740 you're 15:55.740 --> 15:57.740 removing the possibility of 15:57.740 --> 15:59.740 creating gods. It's a kind of 15:59.740 --> 16:01.740 potential death of god, 16:01.740 --> 16:03.740 if you like. Now, which is 16:03.740 --> 16:05.740 worse? This is 16:05.740 --> 16:07.740 suicide. 16:07.740 --> 16:09.740 This is 16:09.740 --> 16:11.740 ecocide. I think it has begun 16:11.740 --> 16:13.740 to sink in, and there are many that would say, 16:13.740 --> 16:15.740 stop! We've got to draw a line 16:15.740 --> 16:17.740 there. But it can't be 16:17.740 --> 16:19.740 stopped, because this 16:19.740 --> 16:21.740 is a whole broad 16:21.740 --> 16:23.740 front that is moving 16:23.740 --> 16:25.740 forward. Genetics 16:25.740 --> 16:27.740 is one aspect of it. Computers 16:27.740 --> 16:29.740 are another aspect of it. 16:29.740 --> 16:31.740 Communications are another aspect of it. 16:31.740 --> 16:33.740 Everything is changing 16:33.740 --> 16:35.740 about life, 16:35.740 --> 16:37.740 and it's changing 16:37.740 --> 16:39.740 increasingly rapidly. 16:39.740 --> 16:41.740 Should we stop it? 16:41.740 --> 16:43.740 Should we sort of say, 16:43.740 --> 16:45.740 okay, AIQ, 16:45.740 --> 16:47.740 artificial intelligence quotient, 16:47.740 --> 16:49.740 at this level, we're going to 16:49.740 --> 16:51.740 legislate, 16:51.740 --> 16:53.740 perhaps even globally. That's the 16:53.740 --> 16:55.740 cut-off point. No robot, 16:55.740 --> 16:57.740 no artificial intelligence, no 16:57.740 --> 16:59.740 artelect, if you like, is allowed 16:59.740 --> 17:01.740 by law, by human law, to go 17:01.740 --> 17:03.740 beyond that. Do you think 17:03.740 --> 17:05.740 that's going to happen? 17:05.740 --> 17:07.740 I don't! I don't think that's 17:07.740 --> 17:09.740 going to happen at all. 17:09.740 --> 17:15.610 There is no 17:15.610 --> 17:17.610 human, there is no 17:17.610 --> 17:19.610 social, there is no governmental 17:19.610 --> 17:21.610 control over what these technologies 17:21.610 --> 17:23.610 are doing and will do. 17:23.610 --> 17:25.610 How are you going to stop 17:25.610 --> 17:27.610 trillions of dollars 17:27.610 --> 17:29.610 in the industry in building these 17:29.610 --> 17:31.610 god-like machines? The robot 17:31.610 --> 17:33.610 industry, the future Microsofts 17:33.610 --> 17:35.610 and Intels and so on 17:35.610 --> 17:37.610 in the 2030s, 2040s, 17:37.610 --> 17:39.610 I believe will be 17:39.610 --> 17:41.610 artificial brain based 17:41.610 --> 17:43.610 and just enormous. 17:43.610 --> 17:48.080 There may be enormous 17:48.080 --> 17:50.080 political rivalries 17:50.080 --> 17:52.080 for the 17:52.080 --> 17:54.080 dominant country between China 17:54.080 --> 17:58.220 and the US. Now if 17:58.220 --> 18:00.220 that's the case, the development 18:00.220 --> 18:02.220 of this artificial intelligence will just keep 18:02.220 --> 18:04.220 going. 18:04.220 --> 18:06.220 Even if it goes secret, even if the general 18:06.220 --> 18:08.220 population start to really rebel 18:08.220 --> 18:10.220 against it, they get really upset. 18:10.220 --> 18:12.220 They are totally 18:12.220 --> 18:20.620 by and by. But I 18:20.620 --> 18:22.620 think the major reason why it's not going to stop 18:22.620 --> 18:24.620 is about half of the 18:24.620 --> 18:26.620 population will be ideologically 18:26.620 --> 18:28.620 in favor of 18:28.620 --> 18:39.800 it going on. 18:39.800 --> 18:45.870 We are going to 18:45.870 --> 18:47.870 become gods. 18:47.870 --> 18:49.870 Period. 18:49.870 --> 18:51.870 If you don't like it, get off. 18:51.870 --> 18:53.870 You don't have to contribute. 18:53.870 --> 18:55.870 You don't have to participate. 18:55.870 --> 18:57.870 If you're going to interfere with me 18:57.870 --> 18:59.870 becoming 18:59.870 --> 19:03.310 God, I'll have big trouble. 19:03.310 --> 19:05.310 Then we'll have warfare. 19:05.310 --> 19:07.310 For one group, 19:07.310 --> 19:09.310 you'd be building gods. It's just 19:09.310 --> 19:11.310 amazing. It's 19:11.310 --> 19:13.310 awe-inspiring. It's energizing. 19:13.310 --> 19:15.310 It's setting a goal for humanity. 19:15.310 --> 19:17.310 There's the whole universe out there. 19:17.310 --> 19:19.310 The big picture. 19:19.310 --> 19:21.310 And on the other hand, 19:21.310 --> 19:23.310 the potential risk 19:23.310 --> 19:25.310 of seeing the whole 19:25.310 --> 19:27.310 human species annihilated by 19:27.310 --> 19:29.310 these superior creatures who could just 19:29.310 --> 19:31.310 And you did what you wanted 19:31.310 --> 19:33.310 when you wanted. That you got 19:33.310 --> 19:35.310 your God. You poured out 19:35.310 --> 19:39.710 God's boundaries. You have your own rules. 19:39.710 --> 19:43.560 The only way you can 19:43.560 --> 19:45.560 prevent me in this 19:45.560 --> 19:47.560 in this 19:47.560 --> 19:49.560 50 year is to kill 19:49.560 --> 19:51.560 me. And you 19:51.560 --> 19:53.560 kill me, I'll kill you. 19:53.560 --> 19:55.560 I'm anticipating 19:55.560 --> 19:57.560 the most passionate war 19:57.560 --> 19:59.560 that has ever been. We're not talking about 19:59.560 --> 20:01.560 the survival of a tribe or a people 20:01.560 --> 20:03.560 or a country. We're talking about 20:03.560 --> 20:05.560 the survival of a whole species. 20:05.560 --> 20:07.560 So the passion levels 20:07.560 --> 20:09.560 will be extreme. I deserve 20:09.560 --> 20:11.560 hell. You deserve hell. 20:11.560 --> 20:13.560 You gotta see that you deserve 20:13.560 --> 20:15.560 the wrath and anger 20:15.560 --> 20:17.560 and vengeance. What I'm talking 20:17.560 --> 20:19.560 about is a renewed embrace 20:19.560 --> 20:21.560 of our 20:21.560 --> 20:23.560 existence. It's got problems 20:23.560 --> 20:25.560 and 20:25.560 --> 20:27.560 it's finite. 20:27.560 --> 20:29.560 But 20:29.560 --> 20:35.690 I'm not 20:35.690 --> 20:37.690 I'm not 20:37.690 --> 20:39.690 I'm not driven 20:39.690 --> 20:41.690 to flight from it. 20:41.690 --> 20:43.690 We have to learn 20:43.690 --> 20:45.690 humility. 20:45.690 --> 20:47.690 Species humility. 20:47.690 --> 20:49.690 The more I think about 20:49.690 --> 20:51.690 that versus that 20:51.690 --> 20:53.690 the more 20:53.690 --> 20:55.690 magnificent that becomes. Because it's 20:55.690 --> 20:57.690 potential is just so much greater. 20:57.690 --> 20:59.690 Billions of people get wiped out 20:59.690 --> 21:01.690 on the cosmic scale 21:01.690 --> 21:03.690 as a cosmist, right? If you try to think in those 21:03.690 --> 21:05.690 that's nothing 21:05.690 --> 21:07.690 compared to that. But if you can't see 21:07.690 --> 21:09.690 that, this is 21:09.690 --> 21:11.690 absolutely monstrous. 21:13.690 --> 21:15.690 Probably most people can anticipate 21:15.690 --> 21:17.690 horror. It's 21:17.690 --> 21:19.690 a fairly simple concept to understand. People getting 21:19.690 --> 21:21.690 killed, people get run over by cars all the 21:21.690 --> 21:23.690 time. You just multiply that by a billion 21:23.690 --> 21:25.690 right? That's relatively easy to understand. 21:25.690 --> 21:27.690 That is much harder. 21:27.690 --> 21:29.690 It's very exciting because 21:29.690 --> 21:31.690 something will happen. 21:31.690 --> 21:33.690 Without that 21:33.690 --> 21:35.690 nothing will happen and maybe we'll have a 21:35.690 --> 21:37.690 civilization that lasts for 21:37.690 --> 21:39.690 a million years and does the same thing 21:39.690 --> 21:41.690 every day. And then 21:41.690 --> 21:43.690 when the sun gets too 21:43.690 --> 21:45.690 hot or too cold it goes 21:45.690 --> 21:47.690 away. So I don't see the point 21:47.690 --> 21:49.690 I don't see the value of anything that doesn't change. 21:49.690 --> 21:51.690 You're saying in 21:51.690 --> 21:53.690 X number of thousands of years the sun is going to 21:53.690 --> 21:55.690 explode so we have to prepare for it now. 21:55.690 --> 21:57.690 And I say well 21:57.690 --> 21:59.690 okay that's interesting but 21:59.690 --> 22:01.690 how about preparing for 22:01.690 --> 22:03.690 the essentially toxic shock 22:03.690 --> 22:05.690 of our planet today? 22:05.690 --> 22:07.690 Or if you walk around you see 22:07.690 --> 22:09.690 a lot of people with no housing. 22:09.690 --> 22:11.690 No place to live. 22:11.690 --> 22:13.690 Not enough 22:13.690 --> 22:15.690 food. So the explosion 22:15.690 --> 22:26.620 of the sun can wait. 22:31.870 --> 22:33.870 This is a moment in time 22:33.870 --> 22:35.870 where for the first time we 22:35.870 --> 22:37.870 can truly imagine 22:37.870 --> 22:42.680 feeding everyone. 22:42.680 --> 22:44.680 I mean this is something 22:44.680 --> 22:46.680 new without precedence. 22:46.680 --> 22:48.680 We are able to have more humans. 22:48.680 --> 22:50.680 We are able to 22:50.680 --> 22:52.680 fight against diseases 22:52.680 --> 22:54.680 childhood diseases so that there 22:54.680 --> 22:56.680 can be more people and they can live longer. 22:56.680 --> 22:58.680 Isn't this wonderful? 22:58.680 --> 23:00.680 Well no. 23:00.680 --> 23:02.680 Of course it's not wonderful. 23:02.680 --> 23:04.680 That's exactly the problem. 23:04.680 --> 23:06.680 There are too many people and they're living too long 23:06.680 --> 23:08.680 and they're using up the resources of the earth 23:08.680 --> 23:10.680 for the human species. One species 23:10.680 --> 23:12.680 out of a billion species 23:12.680 --> 23:14.680 is using up all of the resources 23:14.680 --> 23:16.680 for its own material 23:16.680 --> 23:24.640 betterment. Every moment 23:24.640 --> 23:26.640 that I speak another species 23:26.640 --> 23:28.640 is being extinguished. 23:28.640 --> 23:34.990 We are moving into 23:34.990 --> 23:36.990 the unknown and we 23:36.990 --> 23:38.990 see lots of possibilities 23:38.990 --> 23:40.990 for catastrophe. 23:40.990 --> 23:42.990 And the 23:42.990 --> 23:44.990 immediate reaction is well 23:44.990 --> 23:46.990 we should stop development in some way. 23:46.990 --> 23:48.990 And yet we can't. 23:48.990 --> 23:50.990 We're on this 23:50.990 --> 23:52.990 you know this raceway. 23:52.990 --> 23:54.990 We really 23:54.990 --> 23:56.990 we can't stop it because 23:56.990 --> 23:58.990 if we try to stop it 23:58.990 --> 24:00.990 it will be completely unsustainable. 24:00.990 --> 24:04.270 The human population 24:04.270 --> 24:06.270 has ridden to a magnitude 24:06.270 --> 24:08.270 that could not be sustained 24:08.270 --> 24:10.270 without technology. 24:10.270 --> 24:48.590 Well I can tell them 24:48.590 --> 24:50.590 what we do now. We establish small 24:50.590 --> 24:52.590 communities with small technologies. 24:52.590 --> 24:54.590 It's very simple. 24:54.590 --> 25:04.520 Just as we have today the Amish 25:04.520 --> 25:06.520 who want to stabilize their culture 25:06.520 --> 25:08.520 at a late 19th century level of technology 25:08.520 --> 25:10.520 I can imagine a group 25:10.520 --> 25:12.520 I like to call them the humanish 25:12.520 --> 25:14.520 who might want to stay merely human 25:14.520 --> 25:16.520 and say you know 25:16.520 --> 25:18.520 okay we'll keep our internet connections 25:18.520 --> 25:20.520 but let's not have any brain plugs 25:20.520 --> 25:22.520 let's not upgrade our intelligence 25:22.520 --> 25:24.520 let's just keep things as they are today 25:24.520 --> 25:26.520 that's enough. And if they want to do that fine 25:26.520 --> 25:28.520 I think they should be quite able to do that 25:28.520 --> 25:30.520 but most of us I think will see the advantages 25:30.520 --> 25:34.410 of living longer, getting smarter, refining our emotions 25:34.410 --> 25:36.410 and our personality. 25:36.410 --> 25:38.410 You can't go back and you can't stand still 25:38.410 --> 25:40.410 if the thunder don't get you 25:40.410 --> 25:42.410 then the lightning will. 25:42.410 --> 25:44.410 We've been traveling this technological path 25:44.410 --> 25:46.410 for 15,000 years 25:46.410 --> 25:48.410 it's a little late 25:48.410 --> 25:50.410 to now rear up 25:50.410 --> 25:52.410 and try and turn in a new direction 25:52.410 --> 25:54.410 our hands 25:54.410 --> 25:56.410 our minds were made 25:56.410 --> 25:58.410 for the manipulation of matter 25:58.410 --> 26:00.410 and the creation of technology 26:00.410 --> 26:02.410 so I embrace it 26:02.410 --> 26:04.410 I think the future 26:04.410 --> 26:06.410 is marvelously 26:06.410 --> 26:08.410 exciting 26:08.410 --> 26:14.220 and bright. 26:14.220 --> 26:16.220 We have all these devices 26:16.220 --> 26:18.220 I think that's a very good definition 26:18.220 --> 26:20.220 because it's a very good definition 26:20.220 --> 26:22.220 that if you're a biophobe 26:22.220 --> 26:24.220 you're a luddite 26:24.220 --> 26:26.220 to silence and dismiss 26:26.220 --> 26:28.220 any and all criticism 26:28.220 --> 26:32.110 not only as irrelevant 26:32.110 --> 26:34.110 and irrational 26:34.110 --> 26:39.050 but also as irreverent 26:39.050 --> 26:41.050 that if you're critical 26:41.050 --> 26:43.050 you're not being reverent enough 26:43.050 --> 26:45.050 Why is it one of my life goals 26:45.050 --> 26:47.050 to raise the alarm 26:47.050 --> 26:49.050 to try to generate this debate 26:49.050 --> 26:51.050 and I 26:51.050 --> 26:56.450 ambivalent see if I were a hundred percent cosmos I would just quietly do 26:56.450 --> 27:00.270 my work and not say anything just just do it right because I I want the 27:00.270 --> 27:05.330 technology to be there and the faster it's there less less climbing time right 27:05.330 --> 27:11.890 so more likely that the these art lex would be built quietly and then suddenly 27:11.890 --> 27:24.980 fait accompli they're just there I think we need to downplay the caution and move 27:24.980 --> 27:46.000 ahead faster the debate will heat up and right and then people take side and 27:46.000 --> 27:54.820 then you start getting assassinations and sabotage 27:57.640 --> 28:08.040 giga death the worst war that we've ever seen we have to grow up as a people 28:08.040 --> 28:15.220 and the faster we do that the better it will be for us all I just feel 28:15.220 --> 28:24.560 profoundly schizophrenic on this issue because it's so horrible and it's so 28:24.560 --> 28:27.360 magnificent 28:27.640 --> 29:45.150 I don't see that we are going to to go back you don't have that choice 29:45.150 --> 29:50.250 we're going to be able to stop this 29:52.250 --> 29:58.290 stop well are we gonna deny the creation of all this magnificent you don't have 29:58.290 --> 30:02.210 that choice all this incredible stuff that may be coming in the future 30:02.210 --> 30:03.830 you don't have that choice all this incredible stuff that may be coming in the future 30:03.850 --> 30:06.310 that's a tragedy that would that would 30:06.310 --> 30:07.530 horrible if we did that 30:07.530 --> 30:15.570 they they could go anywhere like they would be immortal they would be immortal 30:15.570 --> 30:16.570 you will be 30:16.570 --> 30:18.430 dry 30:18.430 --> 30:27.450 it's very curious that is what we're not able to be rational about this 30:27.450 --> 30:31.350 presumably most rational activities if nature is holy 30:31.350 --> 30:31.630 I love you 30:33.850 --> 30:37.390 Anti-nature technology must be the devil. 30:37.510 --> 30:40.410 I got a message from God, you hear me? 30:40.710 --> 30:42.590 I got a message from God to do to y'all. 30:48.060 --> 30:50.760 Now the most pressing issue is aging and death, 30:51.280 --> 30:54.100 and human stupidity, which makes it so hard to solve problems. 30:54.660 --> 30:57.720 So to me, now all the incentive is towards speeding up development. 31:02.600 --> 31:13.170 The record is clear, the historical record, 31:13.170 --> 31:17.990 that human beings are not capable of safely and reliably using that technology. 31:19.490 --> 31:23.190 The potential for mischief is enormous. 31:24.430 --> 31:29.590 And unless human beings somehow reinvent themselves... 31:29.590 --> 31:34.090 Look, I think the solution for us today is the same as it was for the Luddites. 31:34.610 --> 31:38.690 And the Luddites took a hammer like this, a big 10-pound hammer, 31:39.210 --> 31:41.550 and they smashed the machines that bothered them. 31:41.550 --> 31:43.150 And this is a machine, I think, 31:43.170 --> 31:47.170 that bothers me, and bothers our life, and will destroy our life. 31:47.270 --> 31:48.170 Here's what we should do. 31:53.590 --> 31:57.610 Since 1978, the Unabomber has struck 16 times, 31:57.770 --> 31:59.990 killing three people and injuring 23. 32:00.910 --> 32:04.600 And this may be what he looks like. 32:06.280 --> 32:07.500 Sir, are you the Unabomber? 32:08.500 --> 32:09.880 Sir, are you the Unabomber? 32:10.900 --> 32:12.740 Do you have anything to say at all? 32:13.560 --> 32:15.460 Mr. Chad can make a statement, sir. 32:15.460 --> 32:16.400 Are you the Unabomber? 32:16.900 --> 32:17.040 Oh! 32:18.580 --> 32:20.160 Dmitry Kishinsky was the Unabomber. 32:20.480 --> 32:21.620 He was a brilliant mathematician, 32:22.220 --> 32:24.520 an assistant professor at the University of California. 32:27.140 --> 32:29.620 After two years, he resigned without any explanation 32:29.620 --> 32:32.460 and went to live in a small cabin in the woods. 32:33.580 --> 32:36.140 There, he proceeded to form his personal terrorist group, 32:36.680 --> 32:39.340 send letter bombs to scientists and propagators of technology, 32:39.660 --> 32:41.640 and become U.S. public enemy number one, 32:41.940 --> 32:43.700 the bin Laden of the 80s and 90s. 32:44.400 --> 32:47.020 In his manifesto, published by some major newspapers, 32:47.020 --> 32:48.960 he fulminates against modern society. 32:49.340 --> 32:49.740 He says that, 32:49.960 --> 32:52.620 his opponents of modern technology are naïve in their optimism. 32:52.620 --> 32:55.580 If scientists succeed in making intelligent machines, he says, 32:55.580 --> 32:58.300 the fate of the human race will be at the mercy of the machines. 32:59.300 --> 33:01.500 Kishinsky maintains that the bad and good aspects 33:01.500 --> 33:04.200 of the industrial technological society cannot be separated. 33:04.200 --> 33:07.080 Therefore, he declared revolution on modern society. 33:07.080 --> 33:10.200 The destruction of the system must be the revolutionary's only goal. 33:10.200 --> 33:13.340 The factories should be destroyed, technical books burned. 33:13.340 --> 33:16.480 The alternative proposed by Kishinsky is going back to nature. 33:16.480 --> 33:19.940 He calls it wild nature because he understands that this also means 33:19.940 --> 33:22.800 giving up social justice, modern health care, and welfare. 33:22.800 --> 33:30.600 I'm convinced that what the Unabomber was saying, a lot of people think. 33:30.600 --> 33:34.520 He took it another step further, and as he says in the manifesto, 33:34.520 --> 33:37.600 in order to be heard, I had to kill people. 33:37.600 --> 33:42.020 Okay, or we, because he, the manifesto was written as if it were a group. 33:42.020 --> 33:43.440 We had to kill people. 33:43.440 --> 33:47.540 Well, that's a horrible thought, but it's also true. 33:47.540 --> 33:48.760 How do we create, 33:49.940 --> 33:54.960 the space and the attention to these issues, okay? 33:54.960 --> 33:56.940 Kishinsky did it by killing people. 33:56.940 --> 34:03.220 Well, maybe there are better ways of doing that, okay? 34:03.220 --> 34:05.580 I don't know. 34:05.580 --> 34:08.640 What can we expect in the coming decades? 34:08.640 --> 34:11.940 The prospects of technology appeal to people's deepest fears, 34:11.940 --> 34:14.060 as well as to their highest hopes. 34:14.060 --> 34:17.560 A rational debate about the future seems no longer possible. 34:17.560 --> 34:19.720 In fact, such discussion, by definition, 34:19.720 --> 34:22.420 is beyond our human capacities. 34:22.420 --> 34:28.950 Aren't we still too human to be prepared for becoming transhuman? 34:28.950 --> 34:32.490 It is an enormous privilege to be alive right now, 34:32.490 --> 34:36.870 and to be a part of this movement, and it's a very difficult time. 34:36.870 --> 34:38.970 I don't deny that at all. 34:38.970 --> 34:41.530 I look at it more as a birth pain, 34:41.530 --> 34:43.490 that here is this change that's occurring, 34:43.490 --> 34:45.230 and we're coming down the birth canal, 34:45.230 --> 34:49.170 and there is blood around, and it's a difficult process, 34:49.170 --> 34:51.510 but it's a birth that is occurring. 34:51.510 --> 34:52.770 It's not a death. 34:52.770 --> 34:57.770 And I think that when future humans look back on this era 34:57.770 --> 35:00.290 from several hundred years in the future, 35:00.290 --> 35:03.550 they will not remember this time as one 35:03.550 --> 35:06.670 when we squandered the resources of the planet, 35:06.670 --> 35:09.630 when we destroyed our planet, essentially. 35:09.630 --> 35:13.770 They'll look at this as an extraordinary moment in time 35:13.770 --> 35:18.510 when we developed the basic technologies, 35:18.510 --> 35:21.250 the basis for their society. 35:21.510 --> 35:24.510 We developed genetic engineering, 35:24.510 --> 35:29.510 the ability to basically rework our own genetic blueprint, 35:29.510 --> 35:31.510 which is something unprecedented. 35:31.510 --> 35:34.510 It's never happened in three and a half billion years of history. 35:34.510 --> 35:37.510 We began to move out into space. 35:37.510 --> 35:39.510 For three and a half billion years, 35:39.510 --> 35:43.510 life, all of life, has been constrained to this thin film 35:43.510 --> 35:45.510 on the surface of the planet. 35:45.510 --> 35:48.510 And now, quite suddenly, in just an instant in time, 35:48.510 --> 35:50.510 we're moving out towards the universe. 35:50.510 --> 35:51.510 And... 35:51.510 --> 35:54.510 the third thing that has occurred in our era 35:54.510 --> 35:56.510 is artificial intelligence, computers. 35:56.510 --> 35:59.510 Suddenly, nonliving material is beginning to achieve 35:59.510 --> 36:02.510 a level of complexity that rivals that of life itself. 36:02.510 --> 36:05.510 So these are three things that are absolutely unprecedented 36:05.510 --> 36:08.510 in the history of life, and they're occurring now. 36:08.510 --> 36:12.510 And is it any surprise that this is something that is jarring 36:12.510 --> 36:16.510 and shaking up the environment and causing extinctions? 36:16.510 --> 36:18.510 This is going to provide the basis 36:18.510 --> 36:20.510 not just for the next hundred years, 36:20.510 --> 36:22.510 but for thousands of years, 36:22.510 --> 36:25.510 tens of thousands, if not millions of years. 36:25.510 --> 36:28.510 And I see a long future stretching out ahead. 36:28.510 --> 36:33.200 Some people are already preparing 36:33.200 --> 36:35.200 to become part of this transhuman era. 36:35.200 --> 36:38.700 One of them is Terence McKenna, 36:38.700 --> 36:41.700 an ethnobotanist who studied shamanism in the Amazons. 36:41.700 --> 36:43.700 According to McKenna, 36:43.700 --> 36:45.700 to get ready for a future life 36:45.700 --> 36:47.700 where we will live uploaded in computers, 36:47.700 --> 36:49.700 we must first prepare ourselves mentally. 36:49.700 --> 36:51.700 The best way to do so, he believes, 36:51.700 --> 36:53.700 is through the use of psychedelic drugs. 36:54.700 --> 36:57.700 In a sense, this historical crisis 36:57.700 --> 37:00.700 or this singularity that we're approaching 37:00.700 --> 37:04.700 is like a transition from a low-dimensional world, 37:04.700 --> 37:07.700 say a world of two or three dimensions, 37:07.700 --> 37:11.700 to a world of four, five, or six dimensions. 37:11.700 --> 37:14.700 This is what I believe actually happens 37:14.700 --> 37:17.700 to a human brain-mind system 37:17.700 --> 37:20.700 under the influence of psychedelics. 37:20.700 --> 37:23.700 So in a way, the best practice 37:23.700 --> 37:26.700 for the approaching singularity 37:26.700 --> 37:30.700 is the repeated dissolving and reconstituting 37:30.700 --> 37:32.700 of one's personality 37:32.700 --> 37:35.700 through the use of psychedelic substances. 37:35.700 --> 37:39.560 This is one of the most interesting 37:39.560 --> 37:42.560 new psychedelics in the world. 37:42.560 --> 37:45.560 This is salvia divinorum, 37:45.560 --> 37:48.560 and it is definitely one of the plants 37:48.560 --> 37:51.560 which will shape the next few decades 37:51.560 --> 37:55.930 of the new millennium. 37:55.930 --> 37:57.930 This is a coleus. 37:57.930 --> 38:00.930 It's ironic that these plants, 38:00.930 --> 38:02.930 which have been in our kitchens 38:02.930 --> 38:07.930 and in our windowsill flower beds for generations, 38:07.930 --> 38:10.930 turn out to contain psychoactive compounds 38:10.930 --> 38:14.930 as powerful as any known to science. 38:14.930 --> 38:16.930 These are not particularly interesting 38:16.930 --> 38:23.580 in terms of drugs, but they're certainly bizarre. 38:23.580 --> 38:25.580 When I take psychedelics, 38:25.580 --> 38:28.580 I always do it in a shamanic style, 38:28.580 --> 38:31.580 usually at night, usually alone, 38:31.580 --> 38:34.580 in nature, if possible. 38:34.580 --> 38:36.580 And then I watch. 38:36.580 --> 38:41.660 I pay very close attention. 38:41.660 --> 38:45.660 I use my mind as an alchemical vessel 38:45.660 --> 38:48.660 for carrying out observations 38:48.660 --> 38:50.660 on the union of spirit, 38:50.660 --> 38:53.660 my spirit, my personality, 38:53.660 --> 38:56.660 and matter, the physical matter 38:56.660 --> 39:02.700 of the substance that I'm ingesting. 39:02.700 --> 39:04.700 Nothing in human experience 39:04.700 --> 39:06.700 is as much like the singularity 39:06.700 --> 39:09.700 as a psychedelic experience. 39:09.700 --> 39:12.700 In a way, it's a microcosmic anticipation 39:12.700 --> 39:17.700 of this macrocosmic event in history. 39:17.700 --> 39:19.700 When we take psychedelics, 39:19.700 --> 39:22.700 we undergo a mini-apocalypse, 39:22.700 --> 39:24.700 a mini-revelation, 39:24.700 --> 39:26.700 and it positions us then 39:26.700 --> 39:28.700 for these larger events 39:28.700 --> 39:34.800 in the historical time stream. 39:34.800 --> 39:36.800 Would you like to climb up here? 39:36.800 --> 39:38.800 We may. 39:38.800 --> 39:40.800 This is one of the most interesting plants 39:40.800 --> 39:41.800 in the garden. 39:41.800 --> 39:43.800 This is Socotria viridis. 39:43.800 --> 39:47.800 This is the plant which causes the vision. 39:47.800 --> 39:49.800 When taken with ayahuasca, 39:49.800 --> 39:51.800 when taken as a liquid, 39:51.800 --> 39:54.800 the experience lasts about four to six hours. 39:54.800 --> 39:57.800 It's not as intense as smoking it. 39:57.800 --> 40:00.800 Smoking it is the most intense experience 40:00.800 --> 40:11.420 this side of the yawning grave. 40:11.420 --> 40:13.420 When you can see the future, 40:13.420 --> 40:15.420 it is a very difficult thing 40:15.420 --> 40:17.420 to deal with the idea 40:17.420 --> 40:19.420 that we are, in fact, 40:19.420 --> 40:21.420 one of the last generations 40:21.420 --> 40:24.420 that will live a normal human lifespan. 40:24.420 --> 40:26.420 And there's a tendency for us, therefore, 40:26.420 --> 40:29.420 to want these things to occur more rapidly 40:29.420 --> 40:34.580 than they may actually occur. 40:34.580 --> 40:38.580 This is the number one intellectual challenge. 40:38.580 --> 40:42.580 Namely, you get to rejuvenate yourself. 40:42.580 --> 40:45.580 Now, how much is that worth? 40:45.580 --> 40:48.580 It's worth a great deal of money. 40:48.580 --> 40:50.580 As a matter of fact, 40:50.580 --> 40:52.580 when you get people my age, 40:52.580 --> 40:57.760 it's worth all the money that they have. 40:57.760 --> 41:00.760 I don't think people live long enough right now. 41:00.760 --> 41:05.760 It takes 50 years to understand modern mathematics. 41:05.760 --> 41:07.760 We're into life extension. 41:07.760 --> 41:09.760 Bottom line, we don't want to die. 41:09.760 --> 41:11.760 It's not a question of will we, 41:11.760 --> 41:16.760 it's a question of when will we have in our hands 41:16.760 --> 41:18.760 the interventions at the molecular level, 41:18.760 --> 41:20.760 at the genetic level, 41:20.760 --> 41:24.760 that will truly extend the human lifespan 41:24.760 --> 41:27.760 perhaps hundreds of years into the future. 41:27.760 --> 41:42.670 I'm not sure what methods are actually going to work. 41:42.670 --> 41:44.670 But if you and I are going to live 41:44.670 --> 41:47.670 until those methods become available, 41:47.670 --> 41:49.670 we had better do everything that we can 41:49.670 --> 41:51.670 to protect ourselves 41:51.670 --> 41:55.670 by making sure that we have a healthy lifestyle. 41:55.670 --> 41:57.670 And that includes 41:57.670 --> 41:59.670 eating the proper foods, 41:59.670 --> 42:01.670 taking your vitamins 42:01.670 --> 42:03.670 and mineral supplements, 42:03.670 --> 42:06.670 and it includes exercise. 42:06.670 --> 42:08.670 And everybody needs to have 42:08.670 --> 42:11.670 approximately a half hour a day of exercise 42:11.670 --> 42:13.670 and stress reduction, 42:13.670 --> 42:15.670 because stress is another way 42:15.670 --> 42:19.670 that you can certainly reduce your lifespan. 42:19.670 --> 42:21.670 Doing those three things in different ways 42:21.670 --> 42:24.670 are a critical part of what I call the bridge plan, 42:24.670 --> 42:26.670 the plan or recommendations 42:26.670 --> 42:28.670 that you need to adopt in your life 42:28.670 --> 42:31.670 in order to bridge yourself from where you are now 42:31.670 --> 42:33.670 until the time 42:33.670 --> 42:37.670 in which all of these wonderful scientific medical interventions 42:37.670 --> 42:39.670 will become possible. 42:39.670 --> 42:41.670 Some people say, you know, 42:41.670 --> 42:43.670 if we live for a thousand years 42:43.670 --> 42:45.670 or even two hundred years, 42:45.670 --> 42:46.670 we will have nothing to do, 42:46.670 --> 42:48.670 we will get bored, 42:48.670 --> 42:51.670 and, you know, it will be pointless. 42:51.670 --> 42:54.670 And I say, well, first of all, 42:54.670 --> 42:55.670 how do we know? 42:55.670 --> 42:57.670 You know, maybe we'll get bored, 42:57.670 --> 42:58.670 maybe we won't. 42:58.670 --> 42:59.670 And if we do, 42:59.670 --> 43:01.670 we can always just stop taking the medicines 43:01.670 --> 43:04.670 or we can, you know, jump off a cliff or whatever. 43:04.670 --> 43:07.670 But, you know, how do we know? 43:07.670 --> 43:10.670 You know, we should do the experiment. 43:10.670 --> 43:12.670 But the second thing that I say is, 43:12.670 --> 43:13.670 well, subjectively, you know, 43:13.670 --> 43:15.670 if I look at myself, 43:15.670 --> 43:17.670 how could I possibly ever get bored of punting? 43:17.670 --> 43:18.670 I mean, what can be better? 43:18.670 --> 43:20.670 What can possibly be better in life 43:20.670 --> 43:22.670 than just strolling down the river 43:22.670 --> 43:23.670 with a beer in one hand 43:23.670 --> 43:24.670 and a poll in the other hand 43:24.670 --> 43:27.670 You know, I could live for a million years 43:27.670 --> 43:29.670 and I would never get bored of doing this. 43:29.670 --> 43:33.670 Of course, some people will not be able to live long enough 43:33.670 --> 43:36.670 to benefit from these therapies. 43:36.670 --> 43:39.670 Some people who are already much older than me, 43:39.670 --> 43:41.670 for example, much older than you, 43:41.670 --> 43:43.670 have no chance, really. 43:43.670 --> 43:44.670 I am 42. 43:44.670 --> 43:45.670 I think I have some chance 43:45.670 --> 43:48.670 of living long enough to live forever. 43:48.670 --> 43:50.670 But I have a good chance 43:50.670 --> 43:52.670 that the science will go more slowly 43:52.670 --> 43:54.670 and so it will not be good enough. 43:54.670 --> 43:56.670 So I think that anyone 43:56.670 --> 43:59.670 who is interested in living a long time 43:59.670 --> 44:01.670 should think very seriously 44:01.670 --> 44:07.480 about cryonic preservation. 44:07.480 --> 44:11.500 Cryonics. 44:11.500 --> 44:13.500 There is experimentation now 44:13.500 --> 44:15.500 with the possibility that a body 44:15.500 --> 44:18.500 might be frozen and revived. 44:18.500 --> 44:20.500 If the frozen traveler awakes, 44:20.500 --> 44:22.500 what will he find? 44:22.500 --> 44:24.500 The advance of science tempts us 44:24.500 --> 44:26.500 to speculate on the nature of the world 44:26.500 --> 44:30.860 which lies ahead. 44:30.860 --> 44:32.860 They told a little bit about 44:32.860 --> 44:35.860 the basic idea of cryonics. 44:35.860 --> 44:38.860 And it just seemed like a great idea. 44:38.860 --> 44:40.860 I think it's pretty cool. 44:40.860 --> 44:42.860 Like, you die and you come back 44:42.860 --> 44:45.860 and you see whatever happened in the future. 44:45.860 --> 44:49.860 For me, I feel like it's just a waste. 44:49.860 --> 44:51.860 You know, maybe I'm a woman, 44:51.860 --> 44:57.060 so that's the way. 44:57.060 --> 44:59.060 Cryonics is a procedure by which 44:59.060 --> 45:01.060 people are frozen shortly after death 45:01.060 --> 45:04.060 in the hopes that the information 45:04.060 --> 45:06.060 that is encoded in the brain 45:06.060 --> 45:08.060 will be usable in order to reconstitute 45:08.060 --> 45:10.060 the person sometime in the future. 45:20.440 --> 45:22.440 Some people currently only have 45:22.440 --> 45:24.440 their heads suspended. 45:24.440 --> 45:26.440 It's a cheaper process. 45:26.440 --> 45:28.440 It takes less nitrogen to boil off 45:28.440 --> 45:30.440 to maintain such a thing. 45:30.440 --> 45:33.440 But there could be some arguments 45:33.440 --> 45:36.440 that they're losing some part of what they are. 45:36.440 --> 45:39.440 It is their belief that future science 45:39.440 --> 45:41.440 will be able to develop maybe a new body 45:41.440 --> 45:44.440 or an android or something. 45:44.440 --> 45:47.440 More and more people only go for the head. 45:47.440 --> 45:49.440 Not just because it's cheaper, 45:49.440 --> 45:52.440 the process is also easier to control. 45:52.440 --> 45:54.440 However, how to recover your body afterwards 45:54.440 --> 45:57.440 still remains an open question. 45:57.440 --> 45:59.440 But there are many examples in nature 45:59.440 --> 46:01.440 to make it seem possible. 46:01.440 --> 46:03.440 Some animals, like lizards, have the ability 46:03.440 --> 46:05.440 to regenerate a limb after it is lost. 46:05.440 --> 46:11.030 But in humans also, when a reasonably small part 46:11.030 --> 46:13.030 of the liver is cut off, it can grow back. 46:13.030 --> 46:16.890 Or when children before puberty 46:16.890 --> 46:18.890 lose a part of their finger, 46:18.890 --> 46:21.890 the finger can grow back to normal if treated well. 46:21.890 --> 46:24.890 This indicates that this kind of regeneration 46:24.890 --> 46:26.890 is not impossible. 46:26.890 --> 46:28.890 It's not impossible because it's being done 46:28.890 --> 46:30.890 by nature right now. 46:30.890 --> 46:32.890 So if we can simply find those secrets, 46:32.890 --> 46:34.890 the secret of the salamander, 46:34.890 --> 46:37.890 and be able to find how the salamander regenerates, 46:37.890 --> 46:38.890 then we may be able to apply 46:38.890 --> 46:42.890 the same kinds of amphibian techniques 46:42.890 --> 46:45.890 to human beings. 46:45.890 --> 46:48.890 Other possibilities. 46:48.890 --> 46:51.890 We may have vastly improved bodies. 46:51.890 --> 46:53.890 They may be made of metal. 46:53.890 --> 46:55.890 They may be much different than the bodies 46:55.890 --> 46:57.890 that you're looking at right here. 46:57.890 --> 47:00.890 However, the mind would be the same. 47:00.890 --> 47:04.890 And with this mind in a metal body, 47:04.890 --> 47:06.890 I might be able to walk around 47:06.890 --> 47:08.890 on some of the heavy planets. 47:08.890 --> 47:11.890 On Uranus, for example. 47:11.890 --> 47:14.890 Or on Jupiter. 47:14.890 --> 47:17.890 So that is a possibility that's suggested. 47:17.890 --> 47:20.890 Another possibility is simply living inside a computer. 47:20.890 --> 47:23.890 To where we're living in a virtual world, 47:23.890 --> 47:25.890 a virtual reality. 47:25.890 --> 47:26.890 And if that's the case, 47:26.890 --> 47:28.890 there's certainly no problem with space. 47:28.890 --> 47:31.890 We'd be able to cram the entire human race 47:31.890 --> 47:36.290 into that computer over there. 47:36.290 --> 47:38.290 Anyone making this trip knows that 47:38.290 --> 47:40.290 it may be a trip that goes on forever. 47:41.290 --> 47:43.290 Anyone making this trip knows 47:43.290 --> 47:45.290 that it may be the fact 47:45.290 --> 47:48.290 that every single person in suspension, 47:48.290 --> 47:50.290 including this dear lady, 47:50.290 --> 47:52.290 may never be revived. 47:52.290 --> 47:54.290 It's a crapshoot. 47:54.290 --> 47:56.290 But we're the only game in town. 47:56.290 --> 47:58.660 Ready? 47:58.660 --> 48:17.940 Yeah. 48:17.940 --> 48:19.940 You guys are not going to get to see 48:19.940 --> 48:31.380 the very bottom things. 48:31.380 --> 48:34.380 That's the biological. 48:34.380 --> 48:36.380 I think that's the biological. 48:36.380 --> 48:45.960 I can tell by the weight. 48:45.960 --> 48:46.960 Yeah. 48:47.960 --> 48:48.960 Sorry. 48:48.960 --> 48:50.960 Not there. 48:54.160 --> 48:57.160 It seems obvious this is the way to go. 48:57.160 --> 49:03.260 Cryonics has some religious aspects 49:03.260 --> 49:05.260 in that our heaven, in a way, 49:05.260 --> 49:07.260 is the future. 49:07.260 --> 49:09.260 And our god, in a way, 49:09.260 --> 49:10.260 is technology. 49:10.260 --> 49:39.780 One of our associates 49:39.780 --> 49:42.780 suggests a program 49:42.780 --> 49:44.780 where you send 49:44.780 --> 49:46.780 a bunch of volunteers 49:46.780 --> 49:48.780 into the rainforest. 49:48.780 --> 49:50.780 And the volunteers 49:50.780 --> 49:52.780 are not trained people. 49:52.780 --> 49:54.780 They cannot tell an endangered plant 49:54.780 --> 49:56.780 or animal from anything else. 49:56.780 --> 49:57.780 But what they do 49:57.780 --> 50:00.780 is they do grab-the-bag fashion. 50:00.780 --> 50:02.780 They have shovels 50:02.780 --> 50:03.780 and they grab some of this. 50:03.780 --> 50:04.780 They see a plant over here, 50:04.780 --> 50:05.780 they grab that. 50:05.780 --> 50:07.780 And they get all this kind of stuff. 50:07.780 --> 50:09.780 And 99.9% of this 50:09.780 --> 50:11.780 is going to be junk. 50:11.780 --> 50:13.780 But 1% may be very valuable. 50:13.780 --> 50:16.780 It may be a plant or an animal 50:16.780 --> 50:18.780 from the rainforest 50:18.780 --> 50:19.780 or some other environment 50:19.780 --> 50:21.780 which has previously 50:21.780 --> 50:22.780 not been discovered 50:22.780 --> 50:23.780 and which will be wiped out 50:23.780 --> 50:25.780 unless it's saved right now 50:25.780 --> 50:28.780 and saved in the best way that we can. 50:28.780 --> 50:30.780 I would love to have 50:30.780 --> 50:32.780 whole ecosystems 50:32.780 --> 50:34.780 stored in some of the vaults 50:34.780 --> 50:36.780 that the American Cryonics Society 50:36.780 --> 50:38.780 is constructing 50:38.780 --> 50:40.780 in out-of-the-way places 50:40.780 --> 50:43.780 in order to time machine forward 50:43.780 --> 50:46.780 some of the library of life 50:46.780 --> 50:48.780 from the 20th century.