Physical limits and the long-term future (with Anders Sandberg)

Read the full transcript here. How much energy is needed for GDP growth? Would our civilization have developed at the same rate without fossil fuels? Could we potentially do the same things we're currently doing but with significantly less energy? How different would the world look if we'd developed nuclear energy much earlier? Why can't anything go faster than light? Will the heat death of the universe really be "the end" for everything? How can difficult concepts be communicated in simple ways that nevertheless avoid being misleading or confusing? Is energy conservation an unbreakable law? How likely is it that advanced alien civilizations exist? What are S-risks? Can global civilizations be virtuous? What is panspermia? How can we make better backups of our knowledge and culture? Anders Sandberg is a researcher at the Institute for Futures Studies in Sweden. He was formerly senior research fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute at University of Oxford. His research deals with emerging technologies, the ethics of human enhancement, global and existential risks, and very long-range futures. Follow him on Twitter / X at @anderssandberg, find him via his various links here. Staff Spencer Greenberg — Host / Director Josh Castle — Producer Ryan Kessler — Audio Engineer Uri Bram — Factotum WeAmplify — Transcriptionists Music Broke for Free Josh Woodward Lee Rosevere Quiet Music for Tiny Robots wowamusic zapsplat.com Affiliates Clearer Thinking GuidedTrack Mind Ease Positly UpLift [Read more]