"'Em Econ 101' The socio-economic impacts of emulation" by Prof Robin Hanson

Past Event

Date
20 June 2012, 5:00pm - 6:30pm

Location
Lecture Theatre, Oxford Martin School
34 Broad Street (corner of Holywell and Catte Streets), Oxford, OX1 3BD

This seminar is hosted by the Oxford Martin Programme on the Impacts of Future Technology

Summary: Professor Robin Hanson will speak about the socio-economic impacts of achieving brain emulation technology in the future. The three most disruptive transitions in our history coincided with the introduction of humans, farming, and industry. If another such transition lies ahead, a good guess for its source is artificial intelligence in the form of whole brain emulations, or “ems.” Most who consider ems discuss their implications for the philosophy of identity, or their feasibility and development paths. Those who consider em social implications gravitate toward heaven or hell scenarios, or invent entirely new economics, etc. for this new era.
In contrast, as a professor of economics I seek to straight-forwardly apply standard economic and other social science theory to these novel technical assumptions, to sketch rough outlines of a relatively-likely reference scenario set modestly far into a post-em-transition world. I consider how ems might change: reproduction, life plans, cycles of daily life, inequality, work training, property rights, families, firm management, industrial organization, urban agglomeration, security, and governance.

Speaker: Professor Robin Hanson, Associate Professor of Economics, George Mason University and Research Associate, Future of Humanity Institute