Is There Life After Democracy? with Vijay Boyapati

02/03/22 • 107 min

“I think we are very close to a catastrophic end for our civilisation… the earth is our womb, we were born and grew in the womb, but eventually, we have to escape; if we don’t escape that’s it - we’re never going to answer the big questions, we’re never going to survive as a species, we have to escape the earth.”
— Vijay Boyapati

Location: Los Angeles
Date: Tuesday 1st February
Company: Independent
Role: Software Engineer and Author

In 2005 Ray Kurzweil introduced the idea of the singularity: a point in the near future when artificial superintelligence surpasses human intelligence. In his book “The Singularity is Near”, Kurzweil embraced the benefits such a future presented humans: “Our sole responsibility is to produce something smarter than we are; any problems beyond that are not ours to solve.”

Yet, less than 2 decades later, technologists, futurists, and philosophers are now envisaging potentially catastrophic futures for our species. The conversion from the utopian to a dystopian view of the future has roots in the development of the Fermi paradox, i.e. why, despite high estimates for the existence of extraterrestrial life, is there no clear and obvious evidence for it?

One theory gaining wider acceptance is that there could be a Great Filter: a barrier preventing intelligent colonisation of the universe. Life may be unable to evolve into advanced civilisations through being unable to manage technologies that manifest existential risks. This is evident with existing innovations: nuclear weapons, biotechnology, nanotechnology, poorly designed AI etc.

The risks proliferate when such technology becomes cheap and ubiquitous such that we can all harness great power: it is the democratisation of mass destruction. A range of technologies that can do irreparable harm could be within each individual’s grasp, and our society has enough individuals willing to inflict such harm.

So, technology has the potential to destroy us rather than liberate us. How should we mitigate this potential future if it is enabled by continued advances, decentralisation, and increased freedoms?

In this interview, I talk to Software Engineer and Author Vijay Boyapati. We discuss the Fermi paradox and the Great Filter, whether solutions involve centralisation and reducing freedoms, if society is best served by democracy, and the inevitable need for humans to escape the earth.

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WBD457 - Show Notes

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Location: Los Angeles
Date: Tuesday 1st February
Company: Independent
Role: Software Engineer and Author

So, technology has the potential to destroy us rather than liberate us. How should we mitigate this potential future if it is enabled by continued advances, decentralisation, and increased freedoms?

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Previous Episode

Is There Life After Democracy? with Vijay Boyapati - WBD457

Location: Los Angeles Date: Tuesday 1st February Company: Independent Role: Software Engineer and Author

So, technology has the potential to destroy us rather than liberate us. How should we mitigate this potential future if it is enabled by continued advances, decentralisation, and increased freedoms?

Next Episode

WBD458 - Bitcoin & Personal Proof of Work with Sean Culkin

Location: Los Angeles Date: Wednesday 2nd February Company/project: TBA Role: Retired Tight End

Sean Culkin has lived the dream. An all-round sportsman, he was identified as an American football talent at high school gaining national acclaim in his senior year. There then followed a prodigious college career playing for the Missouri Tigers, which lead to him securing a much sort after professional contract with the LA Chargers.

Professional football careers are unnaturally short: injury and commercial pressures mean most players are lucky to experience more than 2 and a half seasons. Sean Culkin had 4 seasons at three teams, albeit his career was effectively curtailed after he tore his Achilles early into his 3rd season.

Sean didn’t walk for 5 months, and there then followed the harsh realities of having to seek opportunities away from LA to prove himself again in practice and reserve squads. Then, in May of last year, Sean was released, and he decided to make the fateful decision to retire.

The thing is, the dream only manifests as a result of hard work, discipline and sacrifice. Nobody prepares for fate to cruelly cut short a sports career. Then there’s the compounding effect of having to not only find a new path but to replace a life that had been dictated up to that point by routine and teamwork. And do this largely on your own.

Sean, by his own admission, struggled with this transition. He went off-grid, and faced some demons. The measure of a person is how they deal with adversity. And Sean has shown that he has fortitude: he’s turned his life around by developing a Proof of Work mindset.

In this interview, I talk to the former American football player and aspiring entrepreneur Sean Culkin. We discuss sacrifice and hard work, the rigours and harsh realities of American football, the trap of the fiat lifestyle, learning to live in the present, and the next steps.