{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Book Review: Deep Utopia","description":"What problem do we get after we've solved all other problems? I. Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom got famous for asking \u201cWhat if technology is really really bad?\u201d He helped define \u2018existential risk\u2019, popularize fears of malevolent superintelligence, and argue that we were living in a \u2018vulnerable world\u2019 prone to physical or biological catastrophe. His latest book breaks from his usual oeuvre. In Deep Utopia, he asks: \u201cWhat if technology is really really good?\u201d Most previous utopian literature (he notes) has been about \u2018shallow\u2019 utopias. There are still problems; we just handle them better. There\u2019s still scarcity, but at least the government distributes resources fairly. There\u2019s still sickness and death, but at least everyone has free high-quality health care. But Bostrom asks: what if there were literally no problems? What if you could do literally whatever you wanted?1 Maybe the world is run by a benevolent superintelligence who\u2019s uploaded everyone into a virtual universe, and you can change your material conditions as easily as changing desktop wallpaper. Maybe we have nanobots too cheap to meter, and if you whisper \u2018please make me a five hundred story palace, with a thousand servants who all look exactly like Marilyn Monroe\u2019, then your wish will be their command. If you want to be twenty feet tall and immortal, the only thing blocking you is the doorframe. Would this be as good as it sounds? Or would people\u2019s lives become boring and meaningless? https:\/\/www.astralcodexten.com\/p\/book-review-deep-utopia  ","author_name":"Astral Codex Ten Podcast","author_url":"http:\/\/sscpodcast.libsyn.com\/website","html":"