Nick Bostrom - Bryant McGill

# Nick Bostrom **Domain:** Philosophy / Existential Risk / Simulation **Doc Type:** Thinker Node **Maturity:** Evolving **Related:** [[Are You Living in a Computer Simulation]], [[Simulation Hypothesis]], [[Superintelligence]] --- ## Definition Nick Bostrom is a philosopher known for work on anthropic reasoning, existential risk, superintelligence and the simulation argument. ## Corpus Context [[articles/Beyond the Sea|Beyond the Sea]] uses Bostrom's simulation paper as a formal philosophical branch, not as proof that our world is simulated. The argument's conditional trilemma should remain distinct from cinematic evidence. ## Key Insight **This node connects its historical or conceptual subject to the corpus without treating analogy as proof of direct influence.** ## See Also [[Are You Living in a Computer Simulation]], [[Simulation Hypothesis]], [[Superintelligence]] ## Relationships - **Authored:** [“Human Genetic Enhancements: A Transhumanist Perspective”](https://nickbostrom.com/ethics/genetic), weighing possible cultural and health benefits against practical and ethical uncertainties of germ-line modification. - **Conceptual route:** [[wiki/Self-Directed Evolution|Self-Directed Evolution]] distinguishes an advocated possibility from present clinical capability. - **Corpus routes:** [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]] and [[articles/The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley|The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley]] contextualize, but do not resolve, his proposal.  ## We Cannot Un-Strike the Match [[articles/We Cannot Un-Strike the Match|We Cannot Un-Strike the Match]] is a primary article route for this node. The article uses Bostrom's superintelligence argument to distinguish recursive cognitive capability from incremental tool development.  ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts > “One obvious consequence of uploading is that many copies could be created of one uploaded mind. The limiting resource is computing power to store and run the upload minds. If enough computing hardware already exists or could rapidly be built, the upload population could undergo explosive growth: the replication time of an upload need be no longer than the time it takes to make a copy of a big piece of software, perhaps minutes or hours—a vast speed-up compared to biological human replication.” > **— Nick Bostrom**, *“The Future of Humanity,” 2009* [[reminders/Digital Life/Uploaded Minds Could Become an Explosively Reproducing Population by Nick Bostrom|Uploaded Minds Could Become an Explosively Reproducing Population by Nick Bostrom]] > "The most useful thing that we can do at this stage, in my opinion, is to boost the tiny but burgeoning field of research that focuses on the superintelligence control problem (studying questions such as how human values can be transferred to software)." > **— Nick Bostrom**, *2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?”* [[reminders/AI Control/Superintelligence Control Research Needs Our Best Minds by Nick Bostrom|Superintelligence Control Research Needs Our Best Minds by Nick Bostrom]] > “Healthier, wittier, happier people may be able to reach new levels culturally.” > **— Nick Bostrom**, *“Human Genetic Enhancements: A Transhumanist Perspective”* [[reminders/Evolution/Genetic Enhancement Could Open New Cultural Levels by Nick Bostrom|Genetic Enhancement Could Open New Cultural Levels by Nick Bostrom]] > “Transhumanists view human nature as a work-in-progress, a half-baked beginning that we can learn to remold in desirable ways. Current humanity need not be the endpoint of evolution. Transhumanists hope that by responsible use of science, technology, and other rational means we shall eventually manage to become post-human, beings with vastly greater capacities than present human beings have.” > **— Nick Bostrom**, *“Human Genetic Enhancements: A Transhumanist Perspective,” Journal of Value Inquiry, 2003* [[reminders/Evolution/Human Nature Is a Work in Progress by Nick Bostrom|Human Nature Is a Work in Progress by Nick Bostrom]] > “By defending posthuman dignity we promote a more inclusive and humane ethics, one that will embrace future technologically modified people as well as humans of the contemporary kind.” > **— Nick Bostrom**, *“In Defense of Posthuman Dignity,” Bioethics, 2005* [[reminders/Posthumanism/Posthuman People Could Share Human Dignity by Nick Bostrom|Posthuman People Could Share Human Dignity by Nick Bostrom]] > “If technological development continues then a set of capabilities will at some point be attained that make the devastation of civilization extremely likely, unless civilization sufficiently exits the semi-anarchic default condition.” > **— Nick Bostrom**, *The Vulnerable World Hypothesis, 2019* [[reminders/Existential Risk/Technology Can Make Civilizational Devastation the Default by Nick Bostrom|Technology Can Make Civilizational Devastation the Default by Nick Bostrom]]  > “Such superintelligence would not be just another technological development; it would be the most important invention ever made, and would lead to explosive progress in all scientific and technological fields, as the superintelligence would conduct research with superhuman efficiency.” > **— Nick Bostrom**, *2003, Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence* [[reminders/Machine Succession/Superintelligence Would Be the Most Important Invention Ever Made by Nick Bostrom|Superintelligence Would Be the Most Important Invention Ever Made by Nick Bostrom]]  ## Sources / Provenance - [[articles/Beyond the Sea|Beyond the Sea]] - [Nick Bostrom, “Human Genetic Enhancements: A Transhumanist Perspective”](https://nickbostrom.com/ethics/genetic) — authorial source for the quoted cultural prospect.