Remarks on the Vulnerable World Hypothesis Nick Bostrom

Abstract

In the past few decades, there is trend of increasing number of new inventions and technologies being introduced to the world. While conventionally, all new technologies are considered as an indicator of human progress, but as Nick Bostrom argues, actually we may think of new inventions as picking balls from an urn. We can find: white balls (good inventions to benefit of mankind), grey balls (inventions which bring some good but also some harms to mankind), and black balls (inventions which may bring the world population into extinction). In this short review, while we agree with Bostrom’s arguments, we don’t agree on his recipe to create a global surveillance. We discuss a few examples other than what Bostrom points out.