The Most Important Century

The Most Important Century has a simple argument: we, currently, live in the most important century ever for humanity. This is ridiculously bold, so Karnofsky spends a good amount of time justifying his position. The gist is that AI will radically change the future in ways that look entirely unfamiliar to us today. This AI-driven future is likely nearer than most people would imagine, and we should start preparing because we're not ready now.

Most definitely, this is interesting, and is fuel for a lot of interesting thought. However, while I can't find specific holes in the argument (which leads towards digital personhood, etc), it feels a bit like science fiction. And perhaps that's the point: the future will be SO weird, we have to be willing to suspend disbelief about what it'll look like. I do think Holden Karnofsky and I could find a lot of common ground about what we should do today, but I do find myself still skeptical due to being a bit more humble about what we can accurately predict.

AI is accelerating. It's wild, and things are changing fast. I still don't know how this will impact humanity, positively or negatively. As a note, the book is free online, and has a free audiobook that can be added to any podcast app.