Dr. Mariana Bozesan interviews:
Tomas Björkman

Dear friends,

Elon Musk is a well-known critic of unsafe and unethical AI. He argues that, if we do not pay attention, the percentage of nonhuman intelligence (i.e., AI) on our planet will continue to grow until it supersedes human intelligence, with potentially dire consequences. Echoing the words of the late Stephen Hawking, Musk warned about the dangers of AI in saying, “We need to be super careful with AI. Potentially more dangerous than nukes” while expressing his frustration about his futile efforts to get governments to regulate it.

During a panel with Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma at the 2019 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, Musk stated, “Most people underestimate the capability of AI” and “the biggest mistake AI researchers are making is to assume that they are intelligent.” In his view, the difference between AI and humans in the future will be like the difference between current humans and chimpanzees. Counteracting Musk’s assessment, Ma argues that “only college people are scared of AI, street-smart people [like him] are not,” because once people begin to understand themselves better, they can improve the world. Musk jokingly called Ma’s statement “famous last words” and argued for the importance of fighting for the preservation of human consciousness.

Famous Last Words

Musk added, “If you can’t beat them, join them” which is one of the reasons he invested in Neuralink, a company that creates brain-machine interfaces aiming to enhance the bandwidth and other capabilities of the human brain. This is obviously an emotive topic. In order to understand what “joining them” means, we must understand what is at stake, what we are trying to preserve, what we are fighting for, what consciousness is, and what human intelligence is. More importantly, we must understand what AI is, the dangers associated with its development and what the rest of us, particularly investors and company builders, can individually do to “secure the future of consciousness such that the light of consciousness is not extinguished” without going to Mars.

As in so many other areas, Musk has shown us the way. In January 2015, he donated US$ 10 million to the Future of Life Institute, an organization founded by Max Tegmark, Jaan Tallinn, Anthony Aguire, et al., to keep “AI beneficial for humanity,” jumpstart AI safety research, and make sure AI is regulated before it spirals out of control. After agreeing that superintelligence presents a clear and present danger to humanity, in January 2015 the “world’s top artificial intelligence developers sign[ed an] open letter calling for AI-safety research,” which on January 6, 2017, led to the development and adoption of the 23 Asilomar AI Principles. These principles acknowledge the benefits of AI without being blinded by them. I have also signed them, and I am inviting you to do the same and to adhere to them.

Is a Conscious Society an Illusion?

My guest for this week’s videocast is Tomas Björkman, another friend and colleague who is driven by a deep desire to unlock the hidden dimensions of consciousness to facilitate the creation of a mindful society, particularly post COVID-19. Tomas is a former investment banker, a successful serial-entrepreneur in financial services, media, property and banking, as well as a caring social entrepreneur, book author, and an applied integral philosopher. He is the founder of the Ekskaret Foundation, former chair of EFG Investment Bank, Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, Fellow of the World Academy of Art & Science (WAAS), and a fellow Member of the International Club of Rome. Moreover, Tomas feels attracted toward deeply understanding the relationship between our inner worlds and the major social and ecological challenges of our time and has dedicated the second half of his life to facilitate the creation of a more conscious society. In this interview, Tomas is using Bill Sharpe’s Three Horizon’s model to explain how he addresses current challenges. The Three Horizons Model is a simple and intuitive framework for helping to navigate complexity and think about the future in the short, medium and the long term.

Enjoy this very special conversation, subscribe and share it widely!


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EPISODE LINKS:
Tomas Björkman’s website: http://www.tomas-bjorkman.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NordicSecret/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009719672100

PODCAST INFO:
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BOOK:
Integral Investing: https://aqalgroup.com/book-integral-investing/

CONNECT:
YouTube: https://bit.ly/3hnNl5D
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AQAL_Investing
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarianaBozesan
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianabozesan/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mariana.bozesan
Medium: https://medium.com/@mariana.bozesan



DISCLAIMER: The AQAL Foundation informs our listeners that the views, thoughts, and opinions expressed by the interviewees of our Investment Turnaround Podcast belong solely to the author and do not represent the views nor the opinions of the AQAL Foundation, its founders, or other associated group of individual.

Narrated by Albert Bozesan, produced by Peak State Entertainment