Johnathan Bi

1% of the world own 43% of the wealth. 1% of startups drive over 80% of returns. This power law is even stronger with books: 1% of books contain all the important ideas. My new lecture series will take you through the only books you'll ever need. Watch the launch trailer:

‘The singularity is bullshit,’ says Oxford's AI chair Michael Wooldridge. In fact it's worse than bullshit, as this apocalyptic sci-fi panic is blinding us to the real AI risks already reshaping our world.

It’s time to YAP! Congrats @humford

Every builder's first duty is philosophical: to decide what they should build for. AI is beginning to decide what ideas reach your mind—your next action, your next job, your next relationship. It will tempt you to outsource your thinking in ways you’ve never been tempted before.…

Philosophy is the last discipline worth studying in the AI age. 1. For the first time in history the interface with technology is semantic not numeric. That gives masters of language incredible power. 2. AGI is the end of techne, the end of instrumentality. Yet philosophy is…

I debate with Oxford's AI chair about whether LLMs are just pattern recognition or "real" problem-solvers:

I will duel anyone who insists otherwise

It is better to be raped than be a rapist. It is better to be stolen from than a thief. It is better to be murdered than be a murderer These are just some of the puzzling claims of Plato’s moral psychology. My guest, Cornell’s Rachana Kamtekar will help us unpack why it is…

I only get two kinds of responses in my comment section, nothing in between:

Canadians scoff at America's inequality, yet the best in Canada immigrate to it. We come here precisely for this inequality and the unbounded limits of achievement it opens up. In Canada, all humans are given more respect regardless of their achievements. Society is materially…

Hume: "Past performance does not guarantee future returns." - Treatise of Human Nature

We commonly think that biological theories of evolution inspired social theories of evolution — “social darwinism” — but that’s exactly backwards. Darwin was inspired by British social theorists who saw bottom-up emergent order rather than top-down design as key driving force of…

Glad someone is addressing the Stoicism fad in an accessible way

If you thought “pop” stoicism was ridiculous wait till you hear what “real” stoics believed: it’s somehow more insane, unlivable and counterproductive. In this lecture I'm going to share with you why I think “real” stoicism is wrong, why its counter productive to try and live as…

“AI reshapes workplace relationships, knowledge, freedom of speech issues…it’s not biased to the status quo.” Adaptation is essential. How we adapt will decide whether AI serves human autonomy, or erodes it. More from Cosmos fellow @JohnathanBi with @tylercowen:

No philosophy before 30 (But since he's already been corrupted, this is a very excellent summary!!)

Huge congrats pal, will be ordering my copy soon!