Deep Utopia

Nick Bostrom, Deep Utopia: Life and Meaning in a Solved World (Ideapress, 2024-03-27, the US hardcover release date given by retailers; some list later dates for other editions). A book, mixing philosophical lectures given by a fictionalized Bostrom with short stories.

Summary

Most writing about AI asks how to avoid the worst outcomes. Deep Utopia assumes the best one: AI goes well, and technology can do every useful task better than any person. Bostrom calls this a “solved world”. Human effort is then no longer needed for any practical purpose, a condition he calls post-instrumental.

The book asks what would still give life meaning there. It works through candidate answers, from pure pleasure to relationships, games, and self-chosen challenges, and asks which survive when nothing has to be done. It does not claim a tidy resolution.

Why it matters here

It is the most sustained treatment of the second problem in the A good future path: a future that sounds ideal may lack something people need. The economic side of the same question is in Scarcity after automation and Labor displacement.