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Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Why we may expect our successors not to care about suffering, published by Jim Buhler on July 11, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum. (Probably the most important post of this sequence.)Summary: Some values are less adapted to the “biggest potential futures” than others (see my previous post), in the sense that they may constrain how one should go about colonizing space, making them less competitive in a space-expansion race. The preference for reducing suffering is one example of a preference that seems particularly likely to be unadapted and selected against. It forces the suffering-concerned agents to make trade-offs between preventing suffering and increasing their ability to create more of what they value. Meanwhile, those who don't care about suffering don't face this trade-off and can focus on optimizing for what they value without worrying about the suffering they might (in)directly cause. Therefore, we should - all else equal - expect the “grabbiest” civilizations/agents to have relatively low levels of concern for suffering, including humanity (if it becomes grabby). Call this the Upside-focused Colonist Curse (UCC). In this post, I explain this UCC dynamic in more detail using an example. Then, I argue that the more significant this dynamic is (relative to competing others), the more we should prioritize s-risks over other long-term risks, and soon. The humane values, the positive utilitarians, and the disvalue penalty Consider the concept of disvalue penalty: the (subjective) amount of disvalue a given agent would have to be responsible for in order to bring about the highest (subjective) amount of value they can. The story below should make what it means more intuitive. Say they are only two types of agents: those endorsing “humane values” (the HVs) who disvalue suffering and value things like pleasure; the “positive utilitarians” (the PUs) who value things like pleasure but disvalue nothing. These two groups are in competition to control their shared planet, or solar system, or light cone, or whatever. The HVs estimate that they could colonize a maximum of [some high number] of stars and fill those with a maximum of [some high number] units of value. However, they also know that increasing their civilization's ability to create value also increases s-risks (in absolute). They, therefore, face a trade-off between maximizing value and preventing suffering which incentivizes them to be cautious with regard to how they colonize space. If they were to purely optimize for more value without watching for the suffering they might (directly or indirectly) become responsible for, they'd predict they would cause x unit of suffering for every 10 units of value they create. This is the HVs' disvalue penalty: x/10 (which is a ratio; a high ratio means a heavy penalty). The PUs, however, do not care about the suffering they might be responsible for. They don't face the trade-off the HVs face and have no incentive to be cautious like them. They can - right away - start colonizing as many stars as possible to eventually fill them with value, without worrying about anything else. The PU's disvalue penalty is 0. Image 1: Niander Wallace, a character from Blade Runner 2049 who can be thought of as a particularly baddy PU. Because they have a higher disvalue penalty (incentivizing them to be more cautious), the humane values are less “grabby” than those of the PUs. While the PUs can happily spread without fearing any downside, the HVs would want to spend some time and resources thinking about how to avoid causing too much suffering while colonizing space (and about whether it's worth colonizing at all), since suffering would hurt their total utility. This means, according to the Grabby Values Selection Thesis, that we should - all else equal - expect PU-ish values to be s...
Welcome to the Season 2 opener of Fabulous Film and Friends where this week we will be throwing down with a Battle of the Blade Runners , as we compare Ridley Scott's 1982 sci fi giant Blade Runner starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Darryl Hannah, William Sanderson, M. Emmet Walsh, Joanna Cassidy, Edward James Olmos, Brion James, Joe Turkel and James Hong with Denise Villenueve's 2017 follow-up: Blade Runner 2049, starring Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana De Armas, Jared Leto, Sylvia Hoeks, Robin Wright, , Mackenzie Davis, Dave Bautista, Edward James Olmos and Sean Young. Joining me are the two helped launch this podcast one year ago, Roseanne Caputi and Dave Johnson, DDS. Set in a once futuristic, but now alternate 2019 Los Angeles megalopolis, Blade Runner centers around Rick Deckard, a Sam Spade-style, world weary ex-LAPD officer from a unit known as Blade Runners, who is pulled out of retirement to hunt down five artificial humans known as replicants. Replicants are illegal on earth and used as slave labor in space exploration and colonization and five top of the line, Nexus 6 replicant outlaws led by super soldier Roy Batty, come back to earth in an attempt to extend their life span, which is limited to four years. Aiding Deckard in his pursuit of the fugitives is the alluring Rachel, executive secretary to Dr. Eldon Tyrell whose corporation manufactures replicants. Upon meeting Rachel and administering a device on her known as Voight-Kampf, an empathy test used to detect replicants, Deckard learns that Rachel herself is a replicant, and while cold to her initially, Deckard ends up falling in love with her. After Deckard confronts and kills three of the wanted replicants, -- with Rachel's help—he is pummeled and beaten by Batty and nearly left for dead until Batty has a change of heart and saves Deckard from a precipitous fall off a towering building. Battered and bruised, Deckard learns the true meaning of empathy and he reunites with Rachel. The pair escape Los Angeles and go into hiding, unsure of how long they have together. Set 30 years later --after a great famine and information blackout, as well as a buyout of the Tyrell Corporation by a blind tech giant/savior named Niander Wallace, Blade Runner 2049 follows Blade Runner Agent K, who after a seemingly routine run-in with an erratic old style Nexus 8 replicant named Sapper Morton, discovers a link to events of the past that could change life on earth as they know it: the buried remains of the Replicant Rachel, who died after giving birth to her and Rick Deckard's child. With that discovery, Agent K, a new-style tamed replicant himself known as “Joe” to his AI girlfriend Joi, embarks on a journey to find the identity and truth of Rachel and Deckard's human/replicant hybrid offspring, believing himself to be that very child that will start a revolution. This quest will lead K not only to Deckard but to a face-to-face confrontation with himself and his place in the universe. Who is the winner?
This time, we're looking at 2049's big bad, Niander Wallace.
This time, we're looking at 2049's big bad, Niander Wallace.
Who doesn't watch their own films? Well, our latest guest for one - a hugely versatile actor and musician most presently to be seen as Paolo in Ridley Scott's House Of Gucci. Jared Leto first gained recognition in My So Called Life, went on to form 30 Seconds To Mars with his brother, Shannon, and has also landed numerous notable cinematic roles, including The Joker in Suicide Squad and Niander Wallace in Blade Runner 2049. He absolutely loves scores too - and you'll find out which ones in particular during the conversation.
For Officer K, the lines between replicants and humans are blurred. Welcome to 2049! Lovers of electric sheep beware?!E-mail me at: ChrisFadestoBlack@gmail.comFollow Me & More:https://omnil.ink/slowfadetoblackpodciinma
In this episode we discuss the sequel to the 1982 classic. We talk about how, even though he is a replicant, K shows more subtle humanity than any other character in the movie. We also talk about the desire for relationship, Niander Wallace's desire to bring back slavery, Ryan Goslings acting, and the humans prejudice against the replicants (who are like them in basically ever manner). Additional Spoilers: The Expanse 43:55
The Wallace corporation is the new power by the time the year 2049 rolls around in The Blade Runner universe. It is headed by a man chasing godhood, Niander Wallace. Find out a little bit more about him right here!Blade Runner 2036: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgsS3nhRRzQCharon Part 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_cSTt-OK3E&t=6sMost recent Meddling Kids: https://www.buzzsprout.com/579088/3887258
Jaime, Patrick and Dan are joined by special guests Peter from the MidWest, and Iain Souter, admin and founder of Blade Runner - Worldwide Fans Group and Blade Runner 2049 - Worldwide Fans Group. In this fantastic episode, we all discuss in granular detail, Niander Wallace as played by Jared Leto. Is Niander a Replicant? Does he believe he’s god? We talk about that and so much more on this exclusive episode. // For more on this and our other projects, please visit www.perfectorganism.com. // If you'd like to join the conversation, find us on our closed Facebook group: Fields of Calantha. // To support the show, please consider visiting www.perfectorganism.com/support. We've got some great perks available! // And as always, please consider rating, reviewing, and sharing this show. We can't tell you how much your support means to us, but we can hopefully show you by continuing to provide better, more ambitious, and more dynamic content for years to come.
This week’s guest is independent culture critic John David Ebert – mythologist, philosopher, art historian, author of twenty-six books, and co-founder (with John Lobell) of http://cultural-discourse.com. We talk about the rich mythological references of Blade Runner 2049 in light of the larger – and very urgent – matter of mechanizing human reproduction and the (actually rather ancient) male quest to appropriate the mysteries of the goddess…Here’s John’s Blade Runner 2049 essay:http://cinemadiscourse.com/blade-runner-2049/John’s awesome YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5B4tbk3U40S4q_3Qt-cVgQJohn has a knack for connecting very different sources across civilizations and millennia, anchoring this conversation about a modern science fiction masterpiece in a transcultural Big Story of the evolution of human consciousness. (Listen if you liked Episodes 42 & 43 with William Irwin Thompson on planetary culture, Episode 38 with Marya Stark on reclaiming the feminine mysteries, Episode 18 with JF Martel on art and reality, and Episode 14 with Michael Phillip on WESTWORLD.)John David Ebert Quotes:“Every new cosmology makes new machines possible.”“I’m interested to hear about utopian projects…because after all, we’re going to need them.”We Discuss:- Marshall McLuhan’s work on Sputnik’s technological enclosure of the planet and the end of “nature” (not to mention “natural catastrophes”);- How poets and artists make visible the “invisible environment” of subliminal information about each age;- Art’s revelation of cosmology through history, from nested heavenly spheres in medieval religious art to the newly-opened skies of Dutch realists to our anxious re-immersion in the closed infinity of the Anthropocene as depicted by H.R. Giger;- The transition from worship of the Earth Mother to the Sky Father, and the centuries-long struggle to control the mysteries of birth and death with science;- The connection between Niander Wallace in 2049 and Enke, sumerian trickster creator god;- The difficulty of replicating ecosystems in space for those “off-world colonies”;- “Here There Be Tygers,” Jurassic Park, and how monsters (as avatars of the pissed-off Great Mother) disappeared from the Renaissance world maps but make a new appearance in hypermodernity, thanks to genetic engineering;- Akhenaten’s experiment in monotheistic sun god worshipping utopia;- What should we do with the 100% certainty that our cosmopolitan super-cities will all soon be underwater, and it’s time to rapidly escalate our alt-civilization experiments?- The evolution of civilizations, from early revelation to imperial phase to decline;- The rhyme of history between Ancient Rome and Modern America;- The retrieval of shamanism and the re-establishment of a polar civilization in the late 21st Century;- The lineage between Pacific Northwest spirit-travel shamanism and contemporary Californian VR avatar science fiction and superhero stories;- And more! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
We return with a highly esoteric discussion on Blade Runner 2049, the 2017 sequel to Ridley Scott's cult-classic from 1982. Despite not doing well at the Box Office, this film succeeds in artfully suggesting a number of stories within one, and like the first film, leaves the audience feeling they have witnessed something profound. Set in the titular year in dystopian Los Angeles, the film follows the replicant LAPD officer 'K' as he uncovers hidden evidence that replicants are capable of reproducing autonomously. After being ordered by his superiors to investigate and destroy the evidence, K is led to believe that he himself may be the offspring of a union between replicants, and so disobeys his orders in search of his origins. We start by summarising the plot and the story, before diving into the multi-layered elements of the film, looking at the heavy use of biblical motifs and creation mythologies in both the script and the subtext. As humanity has fallen from grace in foolishly pursuing godhood, the next epoch of creation is born, and so the film is replete with wordplay and symbolic motifs which elucidate these ideas. We discuss the film's focus on feminine imagery, especially following the many negative reviews given by feminist critics. We deconstruct the notion that the film is overtly sexist and gratuitous in its imagery, by pointing out the deeper symbolic significance in these motifs. The film is both critiquing the objectification of women whilst also celebrating the goddess archetype and venerating the full range of feminine principles. We also spend time talking about the various characters, in terms of what they represent and how they develop throughout the story. The ultimate journey of K in particular is heavily suggestive of Gnostic principles and ideas, though we also touch on the characters of LUV and JOI, who at various points reveal a higher truth or meaning to his journey into selfhood. We touch on a myriad of other topics in this extended podcast, from Silicon Valley execs and the transhumanist demiurge Niander Wallace, to questions of humanity, to the artful cinematography and soundtrack of the film, plus much more. Please excuse the low audio quality. Topics discussed include: Blade Runner, Los Angeles, Dystopia, Environmentalism, Synthetic Foods, Synthetic Society, Replicants, Artificial Intelligence, Original Film, Sequels, Artful production, Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Jared Leto, JOI, LUV, Niander Wallace, Wallace Corporation, Tyrell Corporation, LAPD, DNA, Regeneration, Reproduction, Miracles, Biblical Themes, Adam & Eve, Garden of Eden, Genesis, Creation, Gnosticism, Pyramids, Pharaohs, Godhood, Demigod, Demiurge, Light, Symbolism, Geometry, Human Eye, Feminist Critiques, Goddess Archetypes, Sexuality, Objectification, Veneration, Slavery, Oppression, Self Awareness, Las Vegas, Holograms, Earth Mother Archetype, Masculine vs Feminism, Search for Truth, Materialism, Infertility, Revolution, Wordplay, Secret Societies, Sacrifice, Truth, Love vs Joy, Techniques of Cinema and Sound, Quality of film and music. Intro & Outro music by Hans Zimmer.
"Blade Runner 2049" actor Jared Leto talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about portraying Niander Wallace, a trillionaire tech mogul. By the start of the new movie, Wallace has saved humanity from starvation and rebooted the development of humanlike robots, known as Replicants. Leto, who is also a musician and tech investor, says he chooses to be optimistic about the future in spite of the movie's dystopian tone and explains how he approached playing an antagonist to Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford. (Spoiler warning: This episode discusses the themes and story of "Blade Runner 2049," including the fate of some of the major characters.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices