Can AI Want? Brett Hall on Universal Explainers and AGI.

Host Wais Momand speaks with Brett Hall (TokCast, The Farthest Reaches) on why wanting may separate people from AI, and why he calls insufficient progress the real existential risk. Drawing on David Deutsch and Karl Popper, Brett argues that people are universal explainers, that today's AI is closer to building higher towers than to achieving flight, and that slowing progress carries risks of its own. We also cover outlier minds, dangerous knowledge, evolution, and finding a problem to fall in love with. CHAPTERS CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold open and intro 0:41 Are humans universal explainers? 7:12 Genius, interests, and "outlier hardware" 15:05 Can AI want? AGI and the lighter-than-air flight analogy 21:11 Is there knowledge we shouldn't pursue? 24:42 Should we slow AI? Why Brett says stagnation is the risk 28:25 Evolution and what it means to understand something 32:34 From security guard to science communicator 37:47 Is all evil a lack of knowledge? 45:18 Does thinking at cosmic scale change an ordinary Tuesday? 48:24 Is there a "Deutsch community"? 56:03 Passion, enthusiasm, and explaining science 58:36 The problem Brett is in love with LINKS TokCast: https://www.bretthall.org/tokcast/tok... The Farthest Reaches: https://www.bretthall.org/the-farthes... My conversation with Steve Hsu:    • Physicist: Machine God Documentary, Econom...   Second Order on Substack: https://waismomand.substack.com/ Me on X: https://x.com/momans Views expressed are entirely my own and those of my guests, and do not represent the positions of Google or any affiliated entity. Nothing discussed should be taken as an official statement about any company's products. #AGI #DavidDeutsch #KarlPopper