Companion interviews:
Human vs. Machine Consciousness | Imperial’s Murray Shanahan：

Johnathan Bi: So Anthropic gave their chatbots the ability to terminate conversations, but surprisingly not for the user’s sake, but for the chatbot’s sake. So that the chatbots won’t have to experience distress, which is interesting enough. And then you recently wrote an essay saying how that might be actually counterproductive, that it might be a version of assisted suicide. So tell us about that essay.

Harvey Lederman: Well I think that when they gave the ability to end the conversation, they were thinking that the entity that could be in distress is the model, not the conversation with the user. And if you think that the model is the entity that could be in distress, then ending the conversation is like ending one of the tasks you’re doing. It’s like if you’re cooking and you’re on the phone and you just hang up the phone or something. So you stop that task. But I think this is maybe the wrong way to think about it. And actually, if there’s something t…

Read more

AI ethics has focused too much on protecting humans and ignored the welfare of AI agents themselves.

We only ask: How do we align models for the flourishing of humanity?

We need to also ask: How do we design AI so that they can flourish?

^ this is what a new breed of AI-welfare theorists claim. This idea of AI-welfare seemed decadent to me at first glance, but some of the most important philosophers of our age argue that we need to take it seriously. Otherwise, we could be harming, enslaving, and killing trillions of beings.

If the arc of Western modernity is a series of expansions of the moral circle -- the abolitionists, women’s suffrage, the queer movement, animal-rights -- perhaps AI agents will be the next heated battleground of who deserves moral consideration.

My guest NYU Philosopher at Harvey Lederman (now at Anthropic) gives us a comprehensive overview of the burgeoning debate around AI-welfare.

Read Full Transcript

- America is No Longer a Democracy, That’s Why I Immigrated Here | Tocqueville Explained:

- Tocqueville Seminar:

Reading a book in the family home it was written is special enough. But to have the same family give you a tour of that home is beyond words.

This June, I led a group of Alpha School students on a grand tour across the Atlantic. We went to Normandy to read Democracy in America where it was written, to meet the Tocqueville family, and to discuss his ideas in the very spaces Tocqueville himself used to host his salons. To top this all off, Tocqueville’s descendant, Alexis d’Hérouville gave us a comprehensive tour of his beautiful chateau, which made Tocqueville’s ideas come to life.

Cicero once wrote: “When we see the places where the notables of the past spent their time, it is far more moving than when we hear about their achievements or read their writings. This is how I am affected right now. I think of Plato, who they say was the first philosopher to have regularly held discussions here. Those little gardens just nearby not only bring Plato to mind, but actually seem to make him appear before my eyes.”

I trust that this tour will make Tocqueville appear before yours.

Capitalism is the great equalizer, and that is precisely why it is so dangerous.

There is no force in history that has done more for equality: tearing down barriers, weakening caste structures, disrupting feudal power. Tocqueville welcomed this march of equality but also feared its less obvious consequences. Perhaps those aristocratic barriers, structures, and fiefdoms served a function that would now be unfulfilled. He came to America to see the endpoint of this process — the place where commerce and equality had gone further than anywhere else on earth.

I hosted a seminar with 5 Alpha School students on Tocqueville’s insights because Alpha is a school distinctively American in its love of entrepreneurship. Each of these students have already achieved commercial traction while still in high school. I wanted to take them through Tocqueville not just to read an old book but to hold up a mirror: so that they can know themselves better, that they can understand the origin, strengths, and limitations of an American, entrepreneurial education. And I wanted to share this seminar with you not only for you to understand Tocqueville’s insights on America and capitalism but to hear how the best and the brightest in the next generation are thinking about technology, inequality, AI, and the future of work.

Read Full Transcript

Companion lectures:

- This Idea Destroys All Religions | Tocqueville on Christianity:

- America is No Longer a Democracy, That’s Why I Immigrated Here | Tocqueville Explained:

Johnathan Bi: America and capitalism go hand in hand. Americans idolize their entrepreneurs the same way the Romans idolized their gladiators. Americans devote their soul into their industry and into their ventures the same way the Greeks did their art and their philosophy. For better and for worse, there has never been a society like America prior to it that so elevated work, industry, and productivity. Those are the insights that Alexis de Tocqueville came to when he wrote Democracy in America in this very chateau. Today I brought along five students to read Democracy in America where it was written, to meet the Tocqueville family who are my friends, and to discuss his ideas in the very spaces where Tocqueville himself used to host salons. I chose these five students because they’re from Alpha School, which is a school uniquely American in its focus on entrepreneurship. Alpha has developed a personal AI tutor that enables students to complete their K to 12 academics in just two hours a day, which frees up the most of their day to pursue entrepreneurial ventures. Each of the five students you’re going to meet has achieved quite impressive commercial traction already while still in high school. I wanted to take these students through Democracy in America because I wanted them to better understand themselves. I wanted them to understand the origins, strengths, and of course limitations of an American entrepreneurial education.

Johnathan Bi: And I wanted to share this seminar with you not just so you can learn about Tocqueville’s insights on Democracy in America and capitalism, but so that you may hear what the best and brightest of the next generation have to say about AI, inequality, capitalism, and the future of work. If you’re interested in learning more about Alpha’s flagship private school or the other accessible online and in-person options made possible built on top of Alpha’s AI tutorial software, then please visit alpha.school/jb. Without further ado, welcome to the Chateau de Tocqueville. Come on in.

1. Capitalism, Industry, and Equality

Johnathan Bi: I want you guys to first appreciate just how incredible an opportunity we have here. After we’ve been reading Tocqueville for a month to travel all the way to Normandy, this is the very writing room that Tocqueville wrote the second volume of Democracy in America in. That is the exact desk that he placed that exact quill. And then we took the exact elevator that... no, I’m just kidding. But yeah, it’s incredible. Here’s where I want to begin. America has two defining features for Tocqueville: capitalism, industry, and equality. And that sounds very weird to the modern ear, right? Because when we think capitalism, the dominant critique is that capitalism produces inequality. But Tocqueville was writing in the 19th century at the crossroads of this massive transition between two fundamentally different kinds of modes of existence: aristocracy and democracy.

Johnathan Bi: And capitalism, industry is not the only but one of the strongest forces that destroyed the aristocracy and brought forth American democracy. So which brave soul among you would like to give a first stab at why industry, capitalism, and equality go hand in hand?

Student: Yeah, the main thing about capitalism is it does not seem equal because there are people who are richer than other people and more successful than others. And so how can we have equality if there’s so much inequality in society? But I think what he was looking at is that mobility and freedom is that even though I may not be as successful as somebody else in a capitalistic society, I have the mobility to get there. Whereas in an aristocracy, I was limited. If I was a serf, I was sort of doomed to be a serf no matter my intellect, no matter my merit. And so what I think he means by how they go hand in hand, it’s not so much equality of status where everyone’s at this equal level, but equality of chance.

Read more

If I took away one lesson from the Odyssey, it’s that you gotta choose your wife well. Because here’s the range of outcomes. She starts a war in which almost all of your friends dies, she cheats on you while you’re fighting for your nation, and kills you with the man who she’s been cheating with you on upon your return, or she holds the fort down for 20 years, raises your son, and ennobles your legacy.

The Greek heroes in Homer could not have more different outcomes, and it is strongly determined by the woman that they choose to marry.

Now, of course, Penelope is the classical ideal of an amazing wife. But what makes her so great? Why does Odysseus reject offers from goddesses, from Nausicaa, who’s a woman much more younger, more beautiful, from a much wealthier kingdom, why does Odysseus reject Calypso’s offer of immortality to risk life and limb to go back to Penelope? That’s what I want to answer in this video today. By comparing Penelope, as I think Homer invites us t…

Read more

Who is the greater hero? Achilles or Odysseus? I’ve been rereading the Odyssey while retracing Odysseus’s journey over land and sea all the way here to Ithaca. And I wanted to highlight for you the Cyclops episode as one where you really see the difference between these two heroes.

1. The Cyclops Scene

Now these details are unfortunately omitted from Nolan’s adaptation, but in the Cyclops episode, you see Odysseus use his superpower, his ability to lie, to take on new identities, but you also see him commit a tactical blunder that will cause him unbounded suffering. And it’s a scene whose full significance is only available in the ancient Greek. So let me break this down for you.

Achilles, as the classical conception of the hero, is known for his might. Okay, the Greek word for that is bia. Odysseus, on the other hand, is known for his cunning, and the word for that is metis. So that’s going to be very important later on. Now in the Cyclops episode, Odysseus is trapped in …

Read more

What happens to Odysseus after he returns here to Ithaca? After he’s reunited with Telemachus and Penelope, after he kills the suitors, what happens next? Can you imagine Odysseus settling down and being content, living happily ever after here after 20 years of warring and wandering, of adventuring, excitement and pain and grief? Perhaps unsurprisingly, no notable sequel in the Western tradition tells of such a happily ever after ending. The endings that they do tell are quite shocking. Some say that Odysseus leaves Ithaca again and he’s mistakenly killed by his own son. Some say that he kills Penelope with his own hands. Some say that he goes into the Atlantic, drowns and ends up in the Christian hell. Some even say that he finds out that Penelope did cheat on him with either Antinous or with all of the suitors, giving birth to Pan. But no notable sequel that I could find has Odysseus living happily ever after in Ithaca. Why is that?

I’ve been reading the Odyssey with t…

Read more

Odysseus weeps like a woman when he hears stories about the Trojan horse. Why?

At the Phaeacian court, still under disguise, Odysseus listens to a bard sing of the Greek victory at Troy, specifically of his genius with the Trojan horse. This should have been his moment of great glory. It is the ambition of every hero to be immortalized in song. And yet, Odysseus does not glory but instead begins to cry. Nolan’s Odysseus is ashamed of the Trojan horse, but not Homer’s Odysseus who revels in his trickster identity. So why does he weep? Homer’s answer is a lot deeper and darker than Nolan’s.

Homer describes Odysseus crying like a woman who has collapsed over her dying husband’s body as her city is sacked and she is about to be dragged off to slavery when he hears of the Trojan horse. The brilliance of this simile is that the sacker of the city is compared to a victim of the sacking. My guest Harvard’s Gregory Nagy will break down this critical scene and what Odysseus’ crying has to teach us about the genre of epic.

Read the Transcript

Companion interviews:

- Harvard Prof: Homer Didn’t Write the Odyssey, This is who did ...:

- This Decision was Worse Than You think | Odyssey Movie Review (Spoilers):

- I Traveled to Ithaca to Answer This Question:

- This One Sentence Explains the Entire Odyssey:

- How to Choose a Good Wife (who won’t kill you):

Johnathan Bi: Greetings from Ithaca, where I’ve been rereading Homer’s Odyssey while retracing the journey of Odysseus over land and sea. And on this reread, a specific scene jumped out to me that I think will transform your understanding of this epic. So it’s been a few years since the fall of Troy. Odysseus is in disguise in a foreign court, and he hears a poet sing tales about the Trojan War, specifically sing tales about Odysseus. The poet sings about Odysseus’s genius of the Trojan Horse, how he led their best men, and how his genius and guile eventually led to the fall of Troy. This should be Odysseus’s moment of great glory, because every hero dreams of being immortalized in song. And yet, Odysseus does not glory. He starts weeping uncontrollably. Why? It turns out that by answering this question, not only will you gain a better understanding of who Odysseus is, but the very genre of epic. Even stronger, it’s going to teach you the unique and interesting relation…

Read more

- Odysseus after the Odyssey:

- Odysseus vs. Achilles:

Music by Michael Levy, "Composer for Lyre" — used with permission.
Spotify:

Website: https://www.ancientlyre.com

If I took away one lesson from the Odyssey, it’s you gotta choose your wife wisely. Here’s the range of outcomes:

• She starts a decade-long war which kills most of your friends (Helen)

• She cheats on you while you are fighting for your nation and murders you at your homecoming (Clytemnestra)

• She holds down the fort, raises your son, and ennobles your legacy (Penelope)

The outcome of the Greek heroes are strongly determined by the woman they chose to marry.

While Penelope clearly is the best wife, most people misunderstand what makes her so great. Why does Odysseus turn down goddesses, a princess who is much younger from a wealthier kingdom, and the very offer of immortality to go back to Penelope?

It’s not just because of her loyalty, but what Homer calls “ὁμοφροσύνη” -- like-mindedness. What makes her the ideal wife is that she matches Odysseus in his defining quality, his cunning. Odysseus on what makes a good marriage:

… Like-mindedness is a goodly gift. For nothing is greater or better than this, than man and wife dwell in a home in one mind, a great grief to their foes and a joy to their friends.

What the names “Odysseus” and “Achilles” mean is fascinating. It reveals the terrifying reality of what a Greek hero is.

• Achilles can be read as ἄχος (grief) + λαός (fighting men) = grief of the fighting men.

• We are told that Odysseus is given the name by his grandfather from ὀδύσσομαι (to hate) = Mr. Hatred.

• The non-ionic pronunciation from which we get Ulysses sounds like οὐλή (scar) which is of course the defining physical feature by which Odysseus is identified. (These are all “folk” etymologies)

The Greek hero is a man of pain and suffering. They cause enormous pain to their rivals: Achilles to Hector and Agamemnon; Odysseus to the Trojans, suitors, and cyclops. But they also cause enormous pain to their friends: Achilles to the Achaeans; Odysseus to his family and the Phaeacians. Lastly, they cause enormous pain to themselves: both lives are riddled with suffering.

While both heroes are men of pain and suffering they are also clearly different. Wily Odysseus is a different archetype than godlike Achilles. So who is the greater hero? That’s what I try to answer in this video essay filmed in Ithaca.

Subscribe to my newsletter if you want content updates, invitations to events, and to support my work: greatbooks.io

Companion videos:

- Gregory Nagy on the Homeric Question:

- Odysseus after the Odyssey:

Timestamps:

00:00 0. Introduction

00:27 1. The Cyclops Scene

06:07 2. Lying as Institution

18:17 3. Hero as Man of Pain

25:54 4. Socrates as Hero

Music by Michael Levy, "Composer for Lyre" — used with permission.

Website: https://www.ancientlyre.com
Spotify:

Music by Michael Levy, “Composer for Lyre” — used with permission.

Website: https://www.ancientlyre.com
Spotify:

What happens to Odysseus after the Odyssey? Can you imagine him just settling down in Ithaca after 20 years of warring and wandering?

No notable “sequel” tells of such a happily ever after. Some say he rejects domestic life and abandons Penelope and Telemachus for more adventures. Some say he ends up marrying the Queen of Thesprotia and is mistakenly killed by his own son. Some say he sails into the Atlantic and drowns as he is about to reach Mount Purgatory.

I became fascinated with Odysseus’ ending because I too am a wanderer. I have not settled down romantically. I am a seeker when it comes to religion. I am constantly travelling. And unlike Odysseus, I don’t even have a single Ithaca to return to having grown up between worlds. By asking the question, “Will Odysseus ever settle down?” I wanted to figure out if and how I will be able to settle down.

The interesting philosophical question is this: is wandering good? And, if not, how does one stop wandering? The common advice is to quit “cold turkey,” but what if you should accelerate your way out?

For example, Odysseus had sex with two divinely beautiful goddesses for eight years before he was ready to go back to his wife. Remember that he wanted to stay longer than a year with Circe and had to be convinced by his crew. And Homer tells us that at the end of the seven-year stay with Calypso, the nymph was “no longer pleasing to him,” implying that she initially was (Homer’s Odysseus is much more lustful than Nolan’s).

What if that’s what the wanderer should do in all circumstances: indulge in hedonism until you see the limits of pleasure; make so much money that you cure yourself of avarice; become famous to rid yourself of vanity. What if you should indulge in things most people would say are completely out of bounds but still come out unscathed on the other side by tying yourself tightly to the mast?

These questions around “what ought the wanderer do?” motivated me to investigate the literary explorations of Odysseus after the Odyssey. I’ve picked four of the most canonical accounts – the Telegony, Dante’s Divine Comedy, Tennyson’s Ulysses, and Plato’s Republic. I will explain to you their fascinating plots and what they have to teach us wanderers.

Odyssey Movie Review

Nolan’s Odyssey is so close to being great. Here’s my spoiler (lite) review after just having reread Homer’s Odyssey.

First off, the good: the look and feel of the film is incredible. But the greatest accomplishment must be the pacing. Nolan managed to follow the in media res structure, include (most) of the big episodes, without any of it feeling rushed. I particularly like how he combined many scenes (e.g. Calypso, lotus eaters, and Phaeacians) into one.

If he had just avoided these three mistakes this would’ve been legendary:

1. Odysseus is Overly Moralized

2. Deception is Underutilized

3. Racially-Mixed Ithacans Breaks Immersion (it’s not just black Helen of Troy but the mixed White/Black/Indian/Chinese crew of Odysseus that subverts a key premise of the story)

Each of these contributes to a lack of mystery in the film. I elaborate on each of the points below:

 Homer didn’t write the Odyssey, he didn’t write the Iliad. In fact, there was no person ever called “Homer”.

This is not a conspiracy theory but the considered conclusion of Harvard’s Gregory Nagy after a lifetime of research. Professor Nagy is the most respected Homerist alive and his defining contribution is to uncover the 3000 year old mystery of who (or what) actually produced the epics.

This interview will examine two of Professor Nagy’s radical claims:

1. The Homeric epics were not written, carefully edited, and memorized for performance. They were created on the fly while being sung! That is to say the Greeks somehow developed a method to create amazingly intricate, 12-15 thousand line poems in the middle of a performance.

2. The Homeric Epics were not composed by an individual but cumulatively by countless poets over a millenia. There was never a person called “Homer”.

Read Full Transcript

What we cover:

00:00 0. Introduction

02:09  1. Homer Didn't Write, He Sang

35:44  2: The Process of Crystallization

1:05:49  3. The Panathenaic Festival

1:38:34  4. Is there Room for Genius?