Joe Carlsmith Audio
Joe Carlsmith
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Audio versions of essays by Joe Carlsmith. Philosophy, futurism, and other topics. Text versions at joecarlsmith.com.
Available episodes
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May 11, 2023
On the limits of idealized values
Contra some meta-ethical views, you can't forever aim to approximate the self you would become in idealized conditions. You have to actively create yourself, often in the here and now.
Originally published in 2021. Text version here: https://joecarlsmith.com/2021/06/21/on-the-limits-of-idealized-values
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May 8, 2023
Predictable updating about AI risk
How worried about AI risk will we feel in the future, when we can see advanced machine intelligence up close? We should worry accordingly now. Text version here: https://joecarlsmith.com/2023/05/08/predictable-updating-about-ai-risk
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Mar 19, 2023
Existential Risk from Power-Seeking AI (shorter version)
A shorter version of my report on existential risk from power-seeking AI. Forthcoming in an essay collection from Oxford University Press. Text version here: https://jc.gatspress.com/pdf/existential_risk_and_powerseeking_ai.pdf
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Mar 4, 2023
Problems of evil
Is everything holy? Can reality, in itself, be worthy of reverence? Text version here: https://joecarlsmith.com/2021/04/19/problems-of-evil
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Feb 16, 2023
Seeing more whole
On looking out of your own eyes. Text version at joecarlsmith.com.
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Feb 15, 2023
Why should ethical anti-realists do ethics?
Who needs a system if you're free? Text version at https://joecarlsmith.com/2023/02/16/why-should-ethical-anti-realists-do-ethics
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Jan 24, 2023
Is Power-Seeking AI an Existential Risk?
Audio version of my report on existential risk from power-seeking AI. Text here: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2206.13353.pdf. Narration by Type III audio.
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Dec 23, 2022
On sincerity
Nearby is the country they call life. Text version at: https://joecarlsmith.com/2022/12/23/on-sincerity
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Dec 1, 2022
Against meta-ethical hedonism
Can the epistemology of consciousness save moral realism and redeem experience machines? No.
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Oct 9, 2022
Against the normative realist's wager
If your find a button that gives you a hundred dollars if a certain controversial meta-ethical view is true, but you and your family get burned alive if that view is false, should you press the button? No.
Text version here.
Edited for Joe Carlsmith by TYPE III AUDIO.
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Oct 5, 2022
Actually possible: thoughts on Utopia
Life in the future could be profoundly good. I think this is an extremely important fact, and one that often goes under-estimated.
Text version here.
Edited for Joe Carlsmith by TYPE III AUDIO.
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Oct 5, 2022
On infinite ethics
Infinities puncture the dream of a simple, bullet-biting utilitarianism. But they're everyone's problem.
Text version here.
Edited for Joe Carlsmith by TYPE III AUDIO.
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Oct 5, 2022
Against neutrality about creating happy lives
Making happy people is good. Just ask the golden rule.
Text version here.
Edited for Joe Carlsmith by TYPE III AUDIO.
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Oct 5, 2022
On future people, looking back at 21st century longtermism
I find imagining future people looking back on present-day longtermism (the view that positively influencing the long-term future should be a key moral priority) a helpful intuition pump, especially re: a certain kind of “holy sh**” reaction to existential risk, and to the possible size and quality of the future at stake.
Text version here.
Edited for Joe Carlsmith by TYPE III AUDIO.
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Oct 5, 2022
Can you control the past?
Sometimes, you can “control” events you have no causal interaction with (for example, if you're a deterministic software twin).
Text version here.
Edited for Joe Carlsmith by TYPE III AUDIO.
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Oct 4, 2022
On clinging
How can "non-attachment" be compatible with care? We need to distinguish between caring and clinging.
Text version here.
Edited for Joe Carlsmith by TYPE III AUDIO.
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Oct 4, 2022
Killing the ants
If you kill something, look it in the eyes as you do.
Text version here.
Edited for Joe Carlsmith by TYPE III AUDIO.
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Oct 4, 2022
Thoughts on being mortal
You can't keep any of it. The only thing to do is to give it away on purpose.
Text version here.
Edited for Joe Carlsmith by TYPE III AUDIO.
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