Nick Bostrom, director of Oxford's Future of Humanity Institute, specializes in the big questions: What does it mean to be human? If we could live forever, would we choose to? Can we improve our human nature with technological enhancements?
Why you should listen to him:
Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom began thinking of a future full of human enhancement, nanotechnology and cloning long before they became mainstream concerns. From his famous simulation argument -- which presents evidence for the Matrix-like idea that humans are living in a computer simulation -- to the impact of uploading our brains on human consciousness, Bostrom approaches both the inevitable and the speculative using the tools of philosophy, bioethics and probability.
He's the co-founder and chair of both the World Transhumanist Association, which advocates the use of technology to extend human capabilities and lifespans, and the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. In his prolific writing, Bostrom tackles the future of the human condition head-on, laying out both the promises of accelerating technology and its potential for catastrophe.
"It's not every thirty-one-year-old scholar, after all, who gets called out ... by the likes of Francis Fukuyama."Mongrel magazine
Blog Posts on TED
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Nick Bostrom – April 20, 2007
Oxford philosopher and transhumanist Nick Bostrom examines the future of humankind and asks whether we might alter the fundamental nature of humanity to solve our most intrinsic problems.
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Global Catastrophic Risks Conference this July – May 29, 2008
Pessimists, mark your calendars: July 17-20 comes the Global Catastrophic Risks Conference at the University of Oxford. The conference aims to open dialogue about the greatest threats to human survival now and into the future. It is curated by the Future of Humanity Institute, whose director is TEDster Nick Bostrom. Among the discussion topics:+ Advances in nanotechnology leading to radically enhanced intelligences, environmental degradation and social disruption + Helpful breakthroughs in biotechnology being mismanaged, leading to the production of biological weapons + Objects from outer space colliding with Earth, causing horrendous damage on a continental or global scale + Cosmic expansion, entropy and the subsequent darkness that may envelop our universe over trillions of years
At TED in 2005, Bostrom outlined some of humanity's biggest problems -- including death ("most humans who have ever lived have died") and total extinction -- and pointed out that most of such risks are neglected in serious discussion. He recently published a paper in MIT's Technology Review arguing that finding extraterrestrial life would not augur well for humanity.
(Announcement via Accelerating Future.)
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Edge question 2008: What have you changed your mind about? Why? – January 2, 2008
Many TEDTalks speakers have answered the 2008 Edge Foundation question: What have you changed your mind about? Why?
Among the more than 160 essays from leading thinkers -- scientists, philosophers, artists -- look for Wired's Chris Anderson, Nick Bostrom, Stewart Brand, Richard Dawkins, Aubrey de Grey, Juan Enriquez, Helen Fisher, Neil Gershenfeld, Daniel Gilbert, Daniel Goleman, Kevin Kelly, Steven Pinker, Carolyn Porco, Martin Rees, Michael Shermer and Craig Venter. Block out some time to sample these -- it's an addictive read.
