Nick Bostrom on AI
5 quotes from Nick Bostrom on the wall, 2003 to 2026, newest first. Each one is verbatim and links to where it was said. Sources include Wikipedia, Nick Bostrom, The Guardian. Topics: philosophy, safety, culture. Open on the wall.
- 2026
Swift to harbor, slow to berth
From Nick Bostrom's working paper on the timing of superintelligence, describing a strategy of building AI quickly but pausing briefly before full rollout; discussed on Arizona's Family show Generation AI, September 2026.
Optimal Timing for Superintelligence: Mundane Considerations for Existing People
- 2016
Small children playing with a bomb
Nick Bostrom, 2016.
Nick Bostrom: 'We are like small children playing with a bomb'
- 2003
10^58 future people are watching
Bostrom's 2003 estimate of potential future lives, turned into a slogan.
Astronomical Waste: The Opportunity Cost of Delayed Technological Development
Bostrom's thought experiment: an AI told to make paperclips converts everything into paperclips.