Thanks for posting this. I would definitely enjoy seeing a debate between Deutsch and Yudkowsky.
The part that dealt with ethics was incredibly naive. About 47 minutes in, for example, he is counseling us not to fear ET, because ET's morality will inevitably be superior to our own. And the slogan: "All evils are due to lack of knowledge". Why does this kind of thing remind me of George W. Bush?
But I agreed with some parts of his argument for the superiority of a a Popperian approach over a Bayesian one when 'unknown unknowns' regarding the growth of knowledge are involved. For example, 42:30 in when he quotes Popper advising us to drop the hopeless search for an inerrant source of knowledge, and to instead search for a fairly reliable method of eliminating error once it has become established. Maybe a good idea.
I have mixed feelings, though, about his advocacy of optimism. He argues that Malthus's pessimistic predictions failed simply because Malthus had no way of foreseeing the positive effects of the growth of knowledge. But by the same token, optimistic predictions of a positive future for mankind are also liable to fail because they attempt to predict that the growth of knowledge will include specific breakthroughs.
The part that dealt with ethics was incredibly naive. About 47 minutes in, for example, he is counseling us not to fear ET, because ET's morality will inevitably be superior to our own.
This seems pretty daft to me too. It looks like a kind of moral realism - according to which being eaten by aliens might well be "good" - since it leads to more "goodness".
http://vimeo.com/22099396
What do people think of this, from a Bayesian perspective?
It is a talk given to the Oxford Transhumanists. Their previous speaker was Eliezer Yudkowsky. Audio version and past talks here: http://groupspaces.com/oxfordtranshumanists/pages/past-talks