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The Economics of Brain Simulations: A Futuristic Perspective on World Product Growth

Explore the potential economic impact of brain simulations on future productivity growth, considering various factors like automation, artificial intelligence, and human advantage. Will simulating brains lead to cheaper immortality and unprecedented economic growth rates? This article delves into the implications of brain simulations, addressing concerns of consciousness, identity theft, and inequality. Expert assessments from different fields are combined to navigate the fog of possibilities and forecast potential scenarios. The intersection of economics, neurology, and computer science creates a thought-provoking discussion on the implications of simulating brains for the future world economy.

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The Economics of Brain Simulations: A Futuristic Perspective on World Product Growth

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  1. The Economics of Brain Simulations Robin Hanson Dept. Economics George Mason U. http://www.cacr.caltech.edu/Publications/annreps/annrep92/schutt.html

  2. World Product, 1930-2000

  3. World Product, 1-2000

  4. World Product, 10K BC-2K AD

  5. World Product, 2 Million BC+

  6. Bigger Brains Millions of Years

  7. World Product Growth Rate Could It Happen Again? Industry Farming Hunting Brains

  8. Growth Mode Statistics Sample transition Year Growth

  9. Space

  10. Fusion

  11. Nanotechnology

  12. Artificial Intelligence

  13. Human Intelligence

  14. Industry Shares of US GDP

  15. Factor Shares of Income

  16. Economics of Robots • Staple of fiction – ancient legends to TV now • Sloppy social analysis • Machine as Substitute (Ricardo 1821) • Wages fall to machine cost • Automation as Complement (Wicksell 1923) • Wages have risen as automation cost have fallen • Both: tasks complement, agents task-compete

  17. Human Advantage Useful Mental Tasks A Rising Tide

  18. Human Advantage Various Mental Tasks A Rising Tide

  19. Human Level Robots Require • Sensors/Actuators (arms, eyes, etc.) now • Processors <~2040 • Software ?? • Direct code it? Hard! • Learn from brain organization? Eventually? • Simulate particular human brain? Can forsee!

  20. What Need To Simulate Brains • Computer (very parallel task) • Scan - freeze, slice, 2D scan • Model each brain cell type

  21. Brain Simulation Implications • Concerns: • “Is it conscious; is it me?” (enough will volunteer) • Alienation & identity theft • Huge inequality in body abilities, mental speed • Cheap: immortality, travel, tech transfer • Cheap: copies • Wages may fall to (fast-falling) simulation cost • Malthusian population explosion of simulations • Very fast economic growth – a hyper Moore’s Law • Ordinary humans rich if have non-wage wealth

  22. World Product Growth Rate Could It Happen Again? Industry Farming Hunting Brains

  23. A Fog of Future Possibilities To Deal With: • Seek big, robust, sharp change • Combine expert knowledge of economics, neurology, computers • Beware: experts in A with newspaper level knowledge of B.

  24. Expert Assessments to Combine • Many: a mind is the behavior of a brain • Neurology: brains are robust signal processors • Computer science: robust signal processors can be effectively simulated on computers • Artificial Intelligence: Eventually, but progress slow, revolution unlikely, collect knowledge key • Economics: cheap brain substitutes lower wages, raise growth rates, are net benefit, huge change • Ethics (?): what mostly matters is how many minds are happy, get what they want

  25. PaleoDemography • DeLong 98 follows Kremer 93 in using Deevey 60 est. • I substitute Hawks et al. 00, who posit exp. pop. growth from ~10K 2MYA. • Based on Multi-regional model (vs. Out of Africa) • 2MYA - simul., signif. new size, pelvis, brain, teeth, … • DNA says inbreeding pop ~10K, before 1.5MYA

  26. Error 9.6% 2.0% 1.7%

  27. Forecasting The Next Mode Sample growth rate transition Transition date

  28. A Simple Robot Growth Model Assume constant: Seek These

  29. Switch Between Growth Modes Exogenous Tech Endogenous Tech Pre-Robot Post-Robot Learning by doing:

  30. 100x Faster Growth Isn’t Crazy Slow Mid Fast

  31. Simulating Dominos • Wave speed, energy are robust • Only a few details matter • Devices, brains similar

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