It's a really well-made video. However, they make the claim that the doubling period for Moore's Law is shrinking, which I think is false.
I also don't like that argument (even when presented correctly) because it ignores software and assumes you can brute-force everything.
Shane Legg prepared this graph.
It was enough to convince him that there was some super-exponential synergy:
I dont disagree with the idea of an A.I. Intelligence explosion, but I do think their argument is the wrong one. It is a fairly common idea though, especially from semi-laypeople, so I'm not surprised to have seen it in their video.
Everything else in the video seemed roughly accurate, though.
I'm pretty sure that was Kurzweil's claim originally. Can't remember if they attribute it to him in the video or make it themselves, though.
I also wonder if the extreme "abolitionist" position (with regard to suffering) should be listed along anti-aging and intelligence enhancement. Abolitionism seems like it might be off-putting even to people who might support the first two planks.
"Health is a state of complete [sic] physical, mental and social well-being": the World Health Organization definition of health. Knb, I don't doubt that sometimes you're right. But Is phasing out the biology of involuntary suffering really too "extreme" - any more than radical life-extension or radical intelligence-amplification? When talking to anyone new to transhumanism, I try also to make the most compelling case I can for radical superlongevity and extreme superintelligence - biological, Kurzweilian and MIRI conceptions alike. Yet for a large minority of people - stretching from Buddhists to wholly secular victims of chronic depression and chronic pain disorders - dealing with suffering in one guise or another is the central issue. Recall how for hundreds of millions of people in the world today, time hangs heavy - and the prospect of intelligence-amplification without improved subjective well-being leaves them cold. So your worry cuts both ways.
Anyhow, IMO the makers of the BIOPS video have done a fantastic job. Kudos. I gather future episodes of the series will tackle different conceptions of posthuman superintelligence - not least from the MIRI perspective.
Thanks for posting this - I had seen it elsewhere, but forgot to watch it, and I never knew about the Kickstarter
http://youtu.be/bTMS9y8OVuY
I think this is a nice introduction to Transhumanism, inspired by the style of many well known Youtube educators. Given how much LessWrong likes these ideas, I thought it was worth sharing.
The group also has a Kickstarter here to fund an entire series of videos of this kind. I think they deserve to be backed, and LW can probably influence the video creators in a useful/helpful way.