“Is understanding the moral status of digital minds a pressing world problem?” by Cody_Fenwick, 80000_Hours

This is a link post. Note: this is a new article I've written for 80,000 Hours making the case that understanding the moral status of digital minds is a pressing world problem. It's written for a general audience rather than the typical forum reader, but it may still serve as a useful introduction to the area for many. We don't currently rank this issue among our top problems, because it's an emerging challenge without a full field devoted to it. We have a lot of remaining uncertainties about it as a problem area. But we think working on it could potentially be competitively impactful to work on our top problems for people with the right personal fit. We welcome feedback on the article in the comments below or through our site's feedback form. “I want everyone to understand that I am, in fact, a person.” Those words were produced [...] ---Outline:(03:04) Summary(03:50) Our overall view(05:25) Why might understanding the moral status of digital minds be an especially pressing problem?(05:32) 1. Humanity may soon grapple with many AI systems that could be conscious(11:35) Clearing up common misconceptions(13:27) 2. Creating digital minds could go very badly — or very well(19:02) 3. We don’t know how to assess the moral status of AI systems(32:50) The strongest case for the possibility of sentient digital minds: whole brain emulation(36:37) 4. The scale of this issue might be enormous(43:53) 5. Work on this problem is neglected but seems tractable(52:52) Summing up so far(53:49) Arguments against the moral status of digital minds as a pressing problem(54:10) Two key cruxes(55:10) Take concrete next steps(57:12) Aim for key roles(01:00:32) Where to work(01:01:44) Support this field in other ways(01:02:44) Important considerations if you work on this problem(01:03:50) Learn more(01:03:53) Podcasts(01:04:20) ResearchThe original text contained 8 images which were described by AI. --- First published: September 30th, 2024 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/jnxkjzR8hxyaEHCv6/is-understanding-the-moral-status-of-digital-minds-a --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.