Chen Qiufan (AKA Stanley Chan) is an award-winning science fiction writer, screenwriter, creative producer, and columnist. He is the president of the World Chinese Science Fiction Association and the founder of the content development studio Thema Mundi.
Chen joins the show to discuss his latest novel, AI 2041: Ten Visions for the Future, which he co-wrote with former Google China president Kai-Fu Lee.
Part science fiction, part science forecasting, over ten short stories AI 2041 imagines the different ways, good and bad, that AI will impact our society. The central thesis? AI will transform our lives, but we remain masters of our fate.
Important Links:
- Qiufan’s Website - http://chenqiufan.cn/
- Qiufan’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/chenqiufan?s=21&t=1ltZWTC4tGaGcYlJKUToqw
Show Notes:
0:00:00 Intro
0:01:24 Main Podcast
0:02:58 Qiufan’s sci-fi influences
0:04:26 When did the third wave of AI begin?
0:08:15 Why is modern sci-fi so dystopian?
0:15:08 How AI is going to impact education
0:30:13 Hidden biases & the objective function
0:37:02 Deep fakes & narrative collapse
0:47:02 Accelerationism, balance & Daoism
0:56:16 Do we need real jobs?
1:06:03 Happiness is a byproduct
1:12:13 Living in a post-scarcity society
1:22:22 What’s next?
Books Mentioned:
- AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future; by Kai-Fu Lee & Chen Qiufan
- Bullshit Jobs: A Theory; by David Graeber
- Tao Te Ching; by Lao Tzu
- Trekonomics: The Economics of Star Trek; by Manu Saadia
- Waste Tide; by Chen Qiufan
