1 of 85

bci/acc: A Path to Manage AI Risk,

then Explore & Reshape the Cosmos

A Solarpunk Future from Today's

AI, Web3, and Brain Technologies

Trent McConaghy

@trentmc0 🌞👨‍🎤

2 of 85

AI Superintelligence is coming

3 of 85

AI Superintelligence is coming

How do we react?

4 of 85

AI Superintelligence is coming

How do we react?

What do we want, ultimately?

5 of 85

"Not die" ?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/will_spark/8603571212

6 of 85

Explore the cosmos?

7 of 85

Reshape the cosmos!

8 of 85

A hitch...

Travel time to Proxima Centauri:

Light speed: 4.3 y

Voyageur speed: 73,000 y

“Sending canned primates .. was never going to end happily.” –Charles Stross

9 of 85

Towards reshaping the cosmos...

Three threads

1: Web3 → Sovereign agents

2: AI → AI superintelligence

3: Humans → Human superintelligence

10 of 85

1. Web3 Sovereign Agents

11 of 85

Now:

decentralized

store of value

12 of 85

Now:

decentralized

data storage

13 of 85

Now: decentralized

compute & contracts

14 of 85

Now: decentralized

compute & contracts

🤯 Every contract is sovereign

(if no governance)

15 of 85

Emerging: large-scale

decentralized compute

with application to AI

16 of 85

Now:

decentralized

data feeds

And they are sovereign

17 of 85

Now:

decentralized

prediction feeds

predictoor

And they are sovereign

18 of 85

Now:

decentralized

AI agents

And they are sovereign

19 of 85

2. AI → AI Superintelligence

20 of 85

AI: “Can do a task that only a human could previously do”

21 of 85

AI: “Can do a task at a level far exceeding a human.”

22 of 85

Market forces are driving AI compute up

20 PFLOPs = "1 person"

23 of 85

AGI: “Can do all tasks that only a human could previously do”

24 of 85

25 of 85

“Can do all tasks at a level

far exceeding a human.”

AI superintelligence

26 of 85

27 of 85

AI Superintelligence

28 of 85

2. Interlude: AI Risk

29 of 85

AI risk

AI Superintelligence

AI Risk

30 of 85

Idea: Let go, this is evolution

Idea: "Let go, this is evolution"

31 of 85

Idea: Let go, this is evolution

Idea: "Let go, this is evolution"

Problem: humanity wants a role in the future 🙋🙋🙋🙋

32 of 85

Idea: "Put it in a cage. Unplug if problems"

33 of 85

Idea: "Put it in a cage. Unplug if problems"

It's smart,

so it's decentralized,

so you can't unplug.

34 of 85

Idea: "fancier cage"

35 of 85

Problem:

humans are gullible

Idea: "fancier cage"

36 of 85

Idea: "slow it down then solve it"

37 of 85

Problem:

no actual brakes

Idea: "slow it down then solve it"

38 of 85

Idea: "Let everyone have at it, speed it up"

39 of 85

Idea: "Let everyone have at it, speed it up"

Problem:

doesn't mitigate AI overtaking

40 of 85

Idea: "Get an AGI to solve it"

41 of 85

Idea: "Get an AGI to solve it"

Problem:

🤡

42 of 85

Idea: "Align the AI via a post-hoc wrapper"

Idea: "Align the AI via a post-hoc wrapper"

43 of 85

Idea: "Align the AI via a post-hoc wrapper"

Idea: "Align the AI via a post-hoc wrapper"

Problem:

endless jailbreaks

44 of 85

Idea: "Align the AI while growing it"

45 of 85

Idea: "Align the AI while growing it"

Q: Can we actually align something 1000x smarter than us?

A: Start with 1x.

46 of 85

Idea: "We need a competitive substrate"

47 of 85

Idea: "We need a competitive substrate"

This has promise...

48 of 85

3. Humans →

Human superintelligence

49 of 85

Now: fast typing

via non-invasive BCI

50 of 85

Now: consumer BCI headphones for focus

51 of 85

Now: Subtitles on glasses

52 of 85

Now: Cameras + mics

Smart Glasses

53 of 85

Now: wearable AR

Quest 3

54 of 85

Early 2024: consumer eye-tracking

Vision Pro

55 of 85

"A rapidly emerging area of research is the use of the eye as a window to changes occurring in the brain"

Now: research on eyes for BCI

56 of 85

We must stay sovereign

in a BCI age

How? Decentralized data & compute infra

"Not your keys,

not your thoughts"

57 of 85

3. Humans → Human superintelligence:

Potential BCI Killer Apps

58 of 85

sming

= silent messaging

= sending text or voice

by thinking about it

  • Send: eye-tracking / BCI / sub-vocalization
  • Receive: subtitles on glasses

59 of 85

Internal dialog

Chat with LLM for Q&A, search

60 of 85

Perfect memory

  • Record via glass cam, then store
  • Retrieve via eye/BCI
  • Project on retina

61 of 85

Share visual memories

  • Retrieve recording via eye/BCI
  • Send to friend's phone
  • Project visually on glasses/retina

62 of 85

Mind meld = conversation in pictures

  • Prompt AI to create images via eyes/BCI
  • Send to friend's phone
  • Friend creates image response. Repeat!

63 of 85

3. Humans → Human superintelligence:

BCI Evolution

64 of 85

A silicon stack co-brain offers

  • 100x+ more storage
  • 100x+ more compute

(compared to bio-stack brains)

But these are held back by low bio ↔ silicon bandwidth

65 of 85

Bandwidth↑ Via Implants

Alas, invasive

66 of 85

Read

& write

Bandwidth↑ Via Optogenetics

Alas, semi-invasive

67 of 85

BCI regulation has a bike-shedding problem

Safety of bike shed

Safety of reactor

Safety for arrow-scope,

specific human ailment

Existential risk for all humanity

95% focus:

5% focus:

68 of 85

Demand will push to go past non-invasive

2. Market forces!

Consumers want more perf:

  • Vs their status quo
  • Vs those with invasive BCI b/c health

1. To fix AI risk!

  • Either western govts will allow it, because risk
  • Or hungry smaller nations will do it first.

69 of 85

Demand will unlock (semi) invasive for mainstream

→100x+ storage and 100x+ compute

→ 100x+ bandwidth

Performance will grow with each new device generation

70 of 85

We are all natural-born cyborgs

  • When you ride a bike, it becomes part of you
  • When you type on a keyboard, it becomes part of you
  • When you use BCI, it becomes part of you

71 of 85

At first, silicon-stack << bio-stack power

(Bottlenecked by bandwidth)

72 of 85

As bandwidth ↑,

silicon-stack power ↑

73 of 85

Then, silicon-stack ≅bio-stack power

74 of 85

Then, silicon-stack > bio-stack power

75 of 85

Then, silicon-stack >> bio-stack power

76 of 85

Then, silicon-stack >> bio-stack power

Remember, it's all still you!

We are natural born cyborgs

77 of 85

Human superintelligence

The market, and AI risk,

will push performance to...

78 of 85

From bio+silicon stack

To pure silicon stack

79 of 85

From bio+silicon stack

To pure silicon stack

For sovereignty,

it will all be on-chain

80 of 85

Soon, many general intelligences:

some of AI origin, some of human, some a mix

They are all Sovereign General Intelligences (SGIs)

81 of 85

SGIs will inhabit the datumplane:

"common ground for man, machine and AI"

  • Dan Simmons

82 of 85

bci/acc: A Path to Manage AI Risk,

then Explore & Reshape the Cosmos

Conclusion

83 of 85

AI Superintelligence is coming

And it will be sovereign

84 of 85

Bring BCI to the masses

With SMs & perfect memory

Market forces & AI Risk

will drive us

to a competitive substrate

85 of 85

Trent McConaghy

@trentmc0

As Sovereign General Intelligences,

let's reshape the cosmos