I really liked this talk as well. One part that I'm not sure I can fully agree with, though, is the idea of fully re-conceptualizing the self. It is possible to self-author, and partially change...but I have never heard of nor met anyone who just became a totally different person. I'm willing to concede that he may have been speaking hypothetically, or that maybe the idea of changing the self will be more accessible to AGI rather than for humanity.
Why aren't cooperative business models more common among software companies? Starting a software company typically doesn't require a large amount of capital, especially with open source projects where individual contributions can play a significant role. In these cases, a cooperative model could effectively distribute ownership among the contributors, essentially making them co-owners. This approach seems simpler than managing a hybrid of nonprofit and for-profit elements.
It seems you have it out for the US and Israel specifically, which is certainly a take, but not a very well rounded one. If you were, say, against the use of this particular technology for any military, that would be one thing, but you seem to only want the US DoD to not have it.
There sure are a lot of comments that ultimately don't get at the root of it: there are too many human beings alive right now for the amount of resources we require (or our technological ability to use resources without destroying everything else). Results like the article all derive from this.
I don't have kids; I really like this perspective, though. I don't happen to share it, but I can appreciate it.
It's obviously a necessary and good thing for people to have children if humanity is going to continue. However, one thing that isn't discussed much by Team Parents is the prospect of there being too much of a good thing. The population explosion over the last 150ish years is a clear trade between more people and less everything else in the natural world. At some point (now, anyone?), that trade is not worth making. It's an irresponsible trade. Does not promote the maturity of society, even if it matures the individual.
What say ye to this line of reasoning? I grant you that city-living and domestication is 'naturally' reigning things in as far as population growth, hence the article. I'm asserting that perhaps there is a kind of virtue in foregoing the wonderful self sacrificial experience known as being a parent, in that the childless are helping the general state of affairs.