We May Be Building Our Own Successor | Liv Boeree on AI

<p>Liv Boeree is a science communicator, former professional poker player and host of the Win-Win podcast. She studied astrophysics at the University of Manchester before winning titles on both the European Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker. In recent years she has focused on game theory, AI risk and Moloch, the trap behind races to the bottom, from the Cold War nuclear arms race to today&#39;s race to build superintelligent AI. In this conversation, we ask whether AI could become humanity&#39;s successor species, and why it doesn&#39;t have to. We begin with hyperstition, Liv&#39;s word for 2026 and a term coined by the philosopher Nick Land, and why the stories we tell about AI may become self-fulfilling now that AI agents act on the words they read. From there, we explore accelerationism, what Moloch actually is, and what nuclear arms control can teach today&#39;s AI labs about safety, transparency and verification. Later, we discuss Anthony Aguirre&#39;s idea of tool AI versus building &quot;one omniscient, omnipotent god&quot;, Nick Bostrom&#39;s Superintelligence, Iain M. Banks&#39; Culture series, the rise of AI religion and e/acc, and what Liv calls psycho-security. We also talk about meaning in a world where AI does all the work, from Aristotle&#39;s idea of leisure to why sport might be the one AI-proof industry. Then we turn to Norma, Moloch&#39;s opposite, who brings stagnation and over-regulation instead of collapse. We finish with Liv&#39;s front-runners for the word of 2027.</p><p>Liv&#39;s podcast: </p><p><a href="https://www.livboeree.com/winwinpodcast/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://www.livboeree.com/winwinpodcast/</a></p><p>Instagram and other platforms:</p><p><a href="https://linktr.ee/philosophy.everyday">⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/philosophy.everyday⁠⁠</a></p><p>More from Philosophy Everyday:</p><p><a href="https://www.thephilosophyeveryday.com/">⁠⁠https://www.thephilosophyeveryday.com/</a></p>