Ai Salon: Meaning Beyond Work [Bangalore]

​Humans derive meaning from many sources, but work undeniably is a significant one. Work can be meaningful even if it isn’t positive sum.

​Competitive sports are a good example of this. The existence of the NBA by itself doesn’t directly produce resources, but the fact that every team within it needs to compete constantly with each other creates an immense array of jobs that provide people with money and a degree of meaning. This includes the players themselves obviously, but also the coaches and training staff, the vast organizational and administrative functions, the attendant media ecosystem and merchandisers.

​If we can conceptualize a world where all the positive sum economic activity can be done by benevolent AI, we are left with a world where humans are left to work in areas that only have value when humans do them. This can be zero-sum competitive games, or other kinds of interpersonal work that requires a human touch.

​This is of course assuming that work is necessary to create meaning. It’s possible to imagine that we might be able to live meaningful lives without doing “productive” work. I want this salon to conceptualize what that world might look like. Can we truly have meaningful lives without work? If not, will we spontaneously create games when we feel we are lacking work? Is that enough to satisfy us? I think there are many interesting avenues of discussion around this topic and I hope to explore them in this structured conversation.

​Join us for the second AI salon in this series for an evening of stimulating discussion.

​What to Expect

​6:00 PM: Enjoy some light refreshments and meet the other guests.

​6:30 PM: A guided discussion on the topic

​9:00 PM: Wrap up, feel free to stick around for a bit if you want to socialize.

​Please be advised: The response to the previous event was overwhelming. We expect even more people applying this time, but the space constraints remain the same. So if you’re accepted please show up, or mark on your registration that you’re not going so that we can let in someone else from the waitlist.