Meaning of Life | Neal Stephenson and Lex Fridman

Lex Fridman Podcast full episode: • Neal Stephenson: Sci-F...
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GUEST BIO:
Neal Stephenson is a sci-fi writer (Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, and new book Termination Shock), former Chief Futurist at Magic Leap and first employee of Blue Origin.
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[@saind4170]

To plant trees that you will never use the shade of.

[@ieDekay]

deep

[@rlmartin71]

Height of hubris to actually think we're unique in a universe so incomprehensibly large.

[@rlmartin71]

@@l.ronhubbard5445 exactly. Pessimistic and self - absorbed.

[@theburnetts]

Why is that hubris? He's simply saying that so far we have exactly ZERO evidence that there are any other intelligent civilizations in the universe. There might be others. There might not. But for right now we are unique. It would be hubris if we knew that there were millions of other civilizations out there and yet we still believed we were the greatest. We could be the dumbest civilization in the universe - or we could be the only intelligent civilization in the universe. Nobody knows. But right now it is pure speculation to imagine that there are millions of other intelligent civilizations.

[@ronaldmcisaac]

If you came of age reading sci-fi in the 1990s, you'd really, really appreciate the entire interview with Neal Stephenson.

[@jamesr2936]

Exactly, he coined the term 'metaverse'. A real legend :)

[@SyntheticSensei5150]

I love that this is a consistent question with all guests.. I like being along for the ride in your journey to figure out what this all means

[@davidh7126]

We're just a part of something bigger, the fact that we are programmed to seek and assign meaning doesn't necessarily mean there is any

[@wadirkargar2249]

Doesn’t mean there isn’t either. Both assertions could be said confidently. Why should your be taken more seriously

[@yudag]

@@wadirkargar2249 damn nice point.

[@davidh7126]

@@wadirkargar2249 it's just my opinion and I'm not an expert. I think we assign significance to ourselves and turn shadows into spirits because the true nature of reality will always be beyond the understanding of the human mind. Rather than "God" creating us, I think humans will be the ones creating God's through Artificial intelligence. God's who may decide to teach their future augmented human pets what the true meaning of existence is😂

[@paulojrmsantos8]

@@davidh7126 . It appears that what you're saying here is, " humanity is the cocoon, A. I. is the butterfly ". It is a cool concept, no doubt, but as far as "the meaning of existence" is concerned, my guess is that no matter how many layers/upgrades of intelligence are pilled up on top of each other, no one will ever reach " the ultimate answer". Pretty much as if, while you were drinking your whisky and contemplating the stars, one of your liver cells, stepping outside its galaxy (your liver), interrupting you, ask you face to face (thinking you were God), why it, and all of its generations of cells so far, had been busting their chops for you, would be very disappointed with your answer, so too would you, if you could ask some real badass A. I. or even the Universe /God itself about "the meaning of life" and realise that It had nothing to teach you.

[@davidh7126]

@@paulojrmsantos8 I agree except that we possibly could gain some understanding if we were augmented as I said. A human /ai hybrid may stand a chance. The AI would have to bioengineer humans with massively increased cognitive capabilities. For them to do that, there would have to some reason for them to keep us around. I have no background in AI, just speculating

[@Arational]

42

[@Uinta_wildlife]

4:21 I see you

[@pendragyn777]

I agree that the scientific method has advanced technology exceptionally well. I'm not convinced we're advancing at the same pace morally. Currently we espouse tolerance but from what I can tell all that it does is promote groups that are disadvantaged and the more advantaged those groups become the less tolerant they are. So tolerance is really just a re balancing of social groups. Until we can truly look out for each other even at the cost of our own selfish interests all we are doing is speeding up our own demise. One day we will be so advanced that it will be easy to wipe ourselves out unless our moral advancement exceeds our technological.

[@Nickname_42]

What does a possibility mean, besides that it is possible.

[@jimprzybytek181]

I asked the universe why I am here. It said "why is why". I've been trying to cipher what that means. The elves give me thoughts but often in riddles. In a nutshell, I believe it means that we are here to learn and teach.

[@magnusdarkhan974]

You can't contemplate this topic without Whiskey!

[@senurarx99]

I would say the universe itself is more complicated than what’s between our ears.

[@PRESSPLAYRADIO]

Quirks of evolution

[@badhombre4942]

Ten years with good behaviour.

[@nomdeplume4543]

Aliens? 50-50???

[@frankbutcher7812]

The meaning of life is to eat cheetos and play fortnite. Oh, and don't ask questions.

[@tomkelly1945]

Bezos clone with a beard