A discussion of Holden Karnofsky's "Most Important Century" series (Thursday 21 October, 19:00 UK)

By peterhartree @ 2021-10-16T20:50 (+13)

I will host an Interintellect “Salon” (roughly: an informal undergraduate/graduate seminar) to discuss Holden Karnosky's "Most Important Century" series on Thursday 21st October.

For details, and to book your place, see here:

https://interintellect.com/salon/high-stakes-fragile-porcelain-is-this-the-most-important-century/

I can arrange several free places: if you're keen to attend but the ticket price is an issue, just send me an email.

Focus questions for the salon:

1. Is the “most important century” argument sound? How seriously should we take it?
2. If we accept this argument... what might an appropriate response look like?

We may also discuss:

• Sequence thinking vs cluster thinking
• Worldview diversification
• When to take wild claims seriously, and when not to.
• The difference between believing something in the abstract and believing something “in your bones”, and the relation between the two.

Salon format:

Discussion: 2 hours.

Optional 30-60 minute ‘after party’.

The event will be recorded, and the recording may be shared on YouTube.

Required reading:

• Ezra Klein interviews Holden Karnofsky (1 hour interview, transcript available)

• https://www.cold-takes.com/all-possible-views-about-humanitys-future-are-wild/

• https://www.cold-takes.com/the-most-important-century-in-a-nutshell/

• https://www.cold-takes.com/how-digital-people-could-change-the-world/

• https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Lbtcjfxhrs8kfKK2M/how-to-make-the-best-of-the-most-important-century-1

Suggested reading (optional):

• http://paulgraham.com/newideas.html

• https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/holden-karnofsky-most-important-century/

• https://www.openphilanthropy.org/blog/modeling-human-trajectory

• See the (evolving) list here: https://notes.pjh.is/2021-10+Most+important+century+(ii+Salon)