Nicolas Berggruen on the Dynamics of Power, Wisdom, and Ideas in the Age of AI

Future of Life Institute Podcast

Nicolas Berggruen, investor and philanthropist, joins us to explore the dynamics of power, wisdom, technology and ideas in the 21st century. Topics discussed in this episode include: -What wisdom consists of -The role of ideas in society and civilization -The increasing concentration of power and wealth -The technological displacement of human labor -Democracy, universal basic income, and universal basic capital -Living an examined life You can find the page for this podcast here: https://futureoflife.org/2021/05/31/nicolas-berggruen-on-the-dynamics-of-power-wisdom-technology-and-ideas-in-the-age-of-ai/ Check out Nicolas' thoughts archive here: www.nicolasberggruen.com Have any feedback about the podcast? You can share your thoughts here: www.surveymonkey.com/r/DRBFZCT Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 1:45 The race between the power of our technology and the wisdom with which we manage it 5:19 What is wisdom? 8:30 The power of ideas 11:06 Humanity’s investment in wisdom vs the power of our technology 15:39 Why does our wisdom lag behind our power? 20:51 Technology evolving into an agent 24:28 How ideas play a role in the value alignment of technology 30:14 Wisdom for building beneficial AI and mitigating the race to power 34:37 Does Mark Zuckerberg have control of Facebook? 36:39 Safeguarding the human mind and maintaining control of AI 42:26 The importance of the examined life in the 21st century 45:56 An example of the examined life 48:54 Important ideas for the 21st century 52:46 The concentration of power and wealth, and a proposal for universal basic capital 1:03:07 Negative and positive futures 1:06:30 Final thoughts from Nicolas This podcast is possible because of the support of listeners like you. If you found this conversation to be meaningful or valuable, consider supporting it directly by donating at futureoflife.org/donate. Contributions like yours make these conversations possible.