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EXISTENTIAL RISK

by LOSTBOYEVSKY & Egoid

supported by
Zoey Ward Bryson (they/she)
Zoey Ward Bryson (they/she) thumbnail
Zoey Ward Bryson (they/she) Globally-minded and forward-thinking in a way that FRAGMENTED and RHYMES N' PUNS N' SHIT weren't, but LOSTBOYEVSKY still manages to address personally existential dilemmas betwixt the tracks on large-scale existential risks. Great. Favorite track: AND THE HOT TUB WAS LUKEWARM.
Clay Cockrell
Clay Cockrell thumbnail
Clay Cockrell Love this album! Great addition to the LOSTBOYEVSKY discography! There's no other artists creating music quite like this, so keep up the originality! Favorite track: WE'RE LIVING IN A GOLDEN AGE, BUT HUMANITY MIGHT GO EXTINCT.
Saint Adakane
Saint Adakane thumbnail
Saint Adakane This breaks some absolutely new ground, at least to me, even in the art rap sub-genre. I think we're humming a similar tune: yours, that of an idealist, and mine, that of a realist, but with similar end goals and aspirations. I've been making friends that study Civil, Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, and Biomedical Engineering, as well as Physics, Education, and Environmental Science. That being said, you can bet I share this with them as much as won't be an annoyance. Much love from a Civil Engineering student at the University of Texas at San Antonio. /Please/ keep going. Favorite track: MULTIPLANETARY.
radekxpies
radekxpies thumbnail
radekxpies I love this track. Makes me feel better each time I listen to it. Favorite track: A REVERIE.
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1.
AMOR FATI 04:25
used to hate life, now it's amor fati will to power like i ran mordor, stop me my whole dojo got that amor fati and more mojo than a condor probably used to hate life, now it's amor fati nietzsche atop a dinosaur, watch me my whole dojo got that amor fati and more mojo than a condor probably Nietzsche said become what you are and love your fate so here i am caressing the soul of Jordan Bates on some future shit, Kurzweil with cyborg traits concocting more elaborate labyrinths than Jorge Borges Phillip K. Dick, hear voices through brain antenna A more novel occurrence than prophesied by McKenna So down with partnership cultures, I'm Riane Eisler SF Renaissance 2.0, text Jack Spicer or make a Facebook Event, invite Gary Snyder combusting tea with Sal Paradise, where's the lighter? type of ape to invite a reverie like Coleridge then pull a Tao Lin and draw a mandala quick then tweet some witty alt lit shit, Melissa Broder or maybe some philosophy jokes like Corey Mohler Snapchatted a shattered urinal to Marcel Duchamp with the caption, "who's anti-art now, n00b-sauce?" I'm Ai Wei Wei destroying an ancient urn burned so many herbs with Ginsberg, I'm taciturn But still got the magical will, son (Wilson), Bob Anton they can't see me, even in a panopticon used to hate life, now it's amor fati will to power like i ran mordor, stop me my whole dojo got that amor fati and more mojo than a condor probably used to hate life, now it's amor fati Nietzsche atop a dinosaur, watch me my whole dojo got that amor fati and more mojo than a condor probably as the world turns it's #FeelTheBern i'm 20,000 fucking leagues deeper than Jules Verne Wilde said give man a mask and he'll speak truth all day So I'm cloaking self in more disguises than Daniel Dumile or Keith Thornton, you know the Octagonecologyst I'm Mary Doria Russell, novelist-anthropologist Eddy Bernays couldn't manipulate my unconscious mind and i stay iconic for peace with Dalai Lama rhymes Like Wendell Berry already opposed to the next war liberating bodies like Foucault with my sex roar Nightmares of bureaucratic prisons, Franz Kafka see? But let food and walking be thy medicine, Hippocrates No sophistry, simple wisdom, Bodhidharma Alan Watts self-responsible action, the true karma Post-rational insight porn, that Sarah Perry swag But more humble than Lao Tzu, I mean I rarely brag Will to soul power, I'm KOOL AD or Joe Tex And I meditate on Moloch, word to Slate Star Codex Rap game Yasutani Roshi, Bodhisattva Gautama under the fig tree attaining nirvana No Sylvia Plath, may her spirit slumber peacefully I'm Bucky Fuller, reject suicide, create gleefully used to hate life, now it's amor fati will to power like i ran mordor, stop me my whole dojo got that amor fati and more mojo than a condor probably used to hate life, now it's amor fati Nietzsche atop a dinosaur, watch me my whole dojo got that amor fati and more mojo than a condor probably used to hate life, now it's amor fati Nietzsche atop a dinosaur, watch me my whole dojo got that amor fati and more mojo than a condor probably
2.
A REVERIE 06:22
neurotic brain wants to go down every rabbit hole analyzing shit that I did like five years ago the more you think about it, the darker it seems until one day it's like you're trapped in your own dream yeah trust me I know, I've been there too hermana but like Wei Boyang said: "hakuna matata" you do not even know enough to worry the cosmos knows better, almost assuredly no need to figure it all out yet no need to determine whether you're good or bad no need to decide if she's one of your soulmates no need to know yet why you feel so strange just be with it; experience and kiss the ambiguity view self with humor, gentleness, equanimity, tenderness, compassion, chill, you're only human might not hurt to go get totally zooted with friends, hah, only if you're into that me I been known to go through a few beers and spinach wraps been known to just go live in a cabin been known to reside at the borders of the real, Atlantis been known to feel gross after my fourth BK sandwich been known to listen to more rap than Chance the Rapper been known to have people watch me unfold on the Internet been known to wander Vang Vieng alone on some intoxicants and yeah one time ended up at a hospital in Bangkok and yeah it might be true that I used to slang pot but you know I do me like autoerotica not immune to a goddess, body exotica just a dumb shiny Australopithecus probably write an opus, then transform into ventriloquist to lend voice to the silly ghost called LOSTBOYEVSKY he's your childhood imaginary friend on hemp leaves he's a possibilian Taoist scientist, simultaneous nature worshipper, Discordian saint, atheist ordained Dudeist priest, nihilist, Zen Buddhist idealist, pragmatist, whatever works, use it post-rationalist, mystic, agnostic, existentialist Dadaist, moral relativist, wizard, effective altruist occasional Luddite, techno-utopian empiricist post-hippie, romantic, skeptic, quasi-pacifist pseudo-capitalist who thinks we should meet everyone's basic needs minimalist who tends not to give in to human greed but nonetheless indulges some shit because YOLO might go to a Jonwayne concert or pay for some dope pho might fork over 1000 U.S. dollars for a MacBook and you know I can't help it man, I always buy books and horde them until I've got fucking shelves full can't bring myself to part with Infinite Jest or On the Road but apart from that man, I really don't own much known to fit whole life in a backpack and go touch a new continent, casually, erratically world as playground, Earth as Wonka's factory pregnant with wonders, shoutout Darwin Deez also shoutout Darwin that one chimpanzee on that one old cartoon, you know, Wild Thornberrys and yeah bro you already know that I mourned Harry Potter, when I thought he was dead born in Iowa -- heartland, man, obviously fed but still aware of the millions who aren't eating enough global Universal Basic Income, anyone? anyone? let's eliminate poverty and get robots to do the lame tasks so we can just do whatever and create and like straight bask in the light of that star that we used to call God I can see why we did that, the sun is like so bomb immaculate, like Christ smooching Schopenhauer literally this instant I'm trying to send hope and power via sound waves and the World Wide Web to humans thousands of miles away who feel cursed by their heads or circumstances. man, there's still beauty everywhere tap into that shit, get uplifted, and flare up like inferno, become self-propelled wheel affirm life, amor fati, create art and heal open eyes so wide, see majesty, find endurance live so damn well you'd embrace eternal recurrence accept that some day human self might perish from heart attack let the problems in your mind become ancient artifacts and to those without basic necessities I'm trying to get you some but i don't quite know how, the systems are rough they work pretty well for a lot of the globe but there are still tens of millions without food or homes approximately 20 million people per year die from poverty man we need to get everyone past that first level of maslow's hierarchy this is probably a good place to mention GiveWell.org through effective altruism, we can make a world where no one starves that should probably be one of our primary aims well, that and making sure our evolutionary branch is sustained
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embrace uncertainty, dogma breeds violence just kiss ambiguity in dark, sweet silence construct working models, no orthodoxies and never lose a holy curiosity type of dude to pause and watch the squirrels play find me in a hexayurt, sipping Earl Grey many teachers, no prophets, forever question shit the universe is digesting me and i’m digesting it imagine the unique suffering of a possum now stand in sunlight and let your soul blossom the goal's to render whole noggin shackle free and see past the cultural tapestry "blasphemy! bring the feathers and tar!" sorry sir but i can't let you lecture the stars the nectar of gods is in my wool socks this is a crowbar that fractures old locks use it to access your holy ghost spot embrace uncertainty, dogma breeds violence just kiss ambiguity in dark, sweet silence construct working models, no orthodoxies and never lose a holy curiosity embrace uncertainty, dogma breeds violence just kiss ambiguity in dark, sweet silence construct working models, no orthodoxies and never lose a holy curiosity not your average vessel of consciousness mainlining the strange future, smoking the bombest shit am i down? down like the Earth’s core life’s not much different from death but it hurts more aesthetic: dark internet ghost wizard hailing from a land with heatwaves and cold blizzards whoever you are, i’d kiss you if you needed it find me at home observing evolution in a pitry dish living in a body that’s temporary like henna anti-dogmatic Bob Wilson or T McKenna embrace uncertainty, dogma breeds violence just kiss ambiguity in dark, sweet silence construct working models, no orthodoxies and never lose a holy curiosity
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20 million people per year die from poverty man let’s get all humans past first level of Maslow’s hierarchy effective altruism; meet everyone’s basic needs and avoid existential risks that threaten entire species applying rationality to help world as much as possible because preserving Earth-originating life is far from optional 80,000 hours to do as much good as we can yeah i follow Robert Wiblin on Facebook, he’s the man i’m also way down with the Global Priorities Project helping us determine which pressing issues to select i read Peter Singer’s ‘The Most Good You Can Do’ and i find Animal Charity Evaluators to be damn cool you know I only donate based on GiveWell’s recommendations sending mosquito nets to places where they’re needed greatly i’d rather use my wealth to help Earth than buy a rolex and i value empirical evidence, word to Slate Star Codex 20 million people per year die from poverty man let’s get all humans past first level of Maslow’s hierarchy effective altruism; meet everyone’s basic needs and avoid existential risks that threaten entire species Man existential risks are too real, are you hearing me? Humanity might commit species suicide, seriously Effective altruism, let’s find the greatest charities And help save the lives of trillions of future beings i'm eager to see the results of GiveDirectly's basic income pilot and I see that addressing poverty can also decrease violence i understand the importance of an expanding sphere of compassion and I listened to Sam Harris' interview with Will MacAskill i volunteer as a digital strategist for The Life You Can Save and like the Future of Life Institute i help avoid mass graves nuclear close calls make me shudder profoundly and i've read a few things by Eliezer Yudkowsky i like how Tyler Alterman shares things that are not filler and yes I'm well-aware that politics is the mind-killer 20 million people per year die from poverty man let’s get all humans past first level of Maslow’s hierarchy effective altruism; meet everyone’s basic needs and avoid existential risks that threaten entire species Man existential risks are too real, are you hearing me? Humanity might commit species suicide, seriously Effective altruism, let’s find the greatest charities And help save the lives of trillions of future beings thanks to Elon Musk we might soon be multi-planetary that would increase our species’ resilience substantially I tend to listen to endless interviews with Vinay Gupta he’s a kind of like Bucky Fuller 2.0, look him up he says we should move hyper-dangerous tech research off orbit nano and biotech R&D on the moon, that’d be majestic please read Nick Bostrom's existential risk paper plus Wait But Why's series on superintelligent AI, hater i dig the Center for the Study of Existential Risk and if I didn't mention the Global Catastrophic Risk Institute, I'd be remiss oh and let's not forget the Future of Humanity Institute cheers to making our chance of extinction more miniscule 20 million people per year die from poverty man let’s get all humans past first level of Maslow’s hierarchy effective altruism; maximize utility and avoid existential risks that threaten entire species [Vinay Gupta on moving dangerous tech R&D out of Earth orbit] Man existential risks are too real, are you hearing me? Humanity might commit species suicide, seriously Effective altruism, let’s find the greatest charities And help save the lives of trillions of future beings shoutout Worldwatch Institute, Cool Earth, SolarCity RegenVillages, Tesla, and Open Source Ecology One Acre Fund, Evidence Action, and Good Ventures Against Malaria Foundation, SpaceX, and the Future Thinkers HighExistence, Radically Enlightened, Refine The Mind Innovations for Poverty Action and the Sublime I think Giving What We Can is extraordinary too Bill and Melinda Gates seem to make an altruistically effective duo i appreciate the Machine Intelligence Research Institute ensuring AI doesn’t optimize for non-human-friendly values here's to getting less wrong, navigating this millennium's insanity, and building a more cooperative, harmonious, sustainable humanity Man existential risks are too real, are you hearing me? Humanity might commit species suicide, seriously Effective altruism, let’s find the greatest charities And help save the lives of trillions of future beings 20 million people per year die from poverty man let’s get all humans past first level of Maslow’s hierarchy effective altruism; meet everyone’s basic needs and avoid existential risks that threaten entire species
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aspiring Übermensch in a big data panopticon scrolling through Twitter thinking, "damn, this epoch is odd" while billions of humans still believe they can talk to God i'm contemplating Berlin's dichotomy of fox and hedgehog reading Venkatesh Rao in Bangladesh now feeling future nauseous listening to Spankmaster, wow i'm breaking smart while making art taking part in effective altruism, combining head and heart i'm eating grey pills while software eats the world contemplating Phenomenology of Perception, Husserl absolute belief is the death of intelligence your tribal affiliations make your thinking irrelevant it's all confirmation bias and motivated reasoning you derps should probably read more LessWrong and Meaningness plus Slate Star Codex and Ribbonfarm admit your own uncertainty; it will diminish harm and render your estimation of universe more accurate reality is ambiguous, word to David Chapman i hit the volcano vape then read wikipedia pages on the dunning-kruger effect and mcluhan's theory of media broadcasting live from a cottage in bulgaria let's build some eco-cities and eradicate malaria most peaceful and prosperous period of history but humanity might go extinct you buy products to signal tribe memberships i try to save the world on some last airbender shit while chugging beers in the blogosphere viewing relationships as mirrors and, uh, dodging fear type of ape to get swept away by both cheer and tears even though Buddha knows that means I'll suffer here but like Niezsche said, despair and joy grow together find me engaging in BDSM, minus the leather plus practicing other types of rituals; Sarah Perry's essay on the consciousness monoculture is a rare read i stare d-e-a-t-h in the countenance then casually hurl through sky to other continents the dominant global monoculture sure has its convolutions but I'm not convinced we need a violent revolution i mean, like, I'm down for a renaissance we need to address ecocide and existential risk and stuff but your anger at the quote unquote system is sorta misplaced friend, this is the most peaceful period of human history Better Angels of Our Nature, shoutout Stephen Pinker personally I'd like much of our civilization to linger things seem so fucked not because it's all broken but because you now have a billion times more info, kid your newsfeed shows you a steady stream of tragedies and you assume the world is now unprecedentedly nasty when really we've seen colossal declines in violence and poverty we may actually get everyone past that first level of Maslow's hierarchy you compare our reality with your idealized fantasy and in doing so you commit the Nirvana fallacy no political or economic system is ever utopian the belief in a perfect system led to Hitler and Stalin there are more ways to break complex systems than improve them so it's some degree of gradualism for the win please simply consider the virtues of pragmatism and the idea that modern civilization is actually pretty bitchin' a bulwark against Hobbes' war of all against all and it gave us iPods, running water, science, electricity y'all consider for a moment how fucking great all that shit is and you want to tear it down and live totally primitive? nah, not me, too much love for the Internet i'll live in an off-grid cabin customized with modern tech or maybe a tiny home or a hexayurt on my Carl Sagan shit, cherishing this sexy Earth instructions for humanity must preserve species' sanity yes, there's still much in the world we ought to change but if you're hearing this, know you've got it pretty great appreciate that shit and give back to make things more swell donate to the causes recommended by GiveWell read Nick Bostrom's exceptional thoughts and stuff support the world-saving projects of Elon Musk look into RegenVillages and Cool Earth explore 80,000 Hours and Vinay Gupta's work escape your filter bubbles; question all the things circumvent politics where possible; self-reliance is king live minimalistically, compassionately, sustainably read Robert Anton Wilson to make sure your brain is free all things are in flux so maybe practice non-resistance above all, enjoy this life, friend: affirm existence
8.
white like John Locke, used to collect rocks new Tinder match: virtual chick named Goldilocks ignoring facebook messages as an art form if James Joyce were alive, he'd be watching fart porn dartboard with a picture of Edward Snowden taped to it call me Taco John, this is potato ole music no way stupid, slightly, might be, Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger, rarely tidy blimey, that boy had truth leaking out his pores unshaven bonobo, enjoys sleeping outdoors doubt your firm beliefs; certainty breeds violence would rather kiss ambiguity in dark, sweet silence these tyrants didn't receive enough motherly love on beach watching moonlit ocean, utterly drugged cuddle and hug me; please, cuddle and hug me cuddle and hug me; please, cuddle and hug me cuddle and hug me; please, cuddle and hug me cuddle and hug me; please, cuddle and hug me will to power outage Earth overcrowded skeptic's tagline: just doubt it combusting the loudest learn to filter out the cow shit while savoring the wowness urinating and typing this on an iphone motto: if all else fails, write poems nihilism and chill, netflix and chillum 32 ACT score, but i’m still dumb cuddle and hug me; please, cuddle and hug me cuddle and hug me; please, cuddle and hug me cuddle and hug me; please, cuddle and hug me cuddle and hug me; please, cuddle and hug me
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(freestyle)
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foot step, foot step, walk, breathe foot step, look death, talk, see sometimes feel people stalk me when did i become averse to eye contact awaken eyes open, early afternoon, memory of dream in which apocalypse was occurring blink, blink, forget and check Twitter in a sauna by myself drops of sweat pooling at my feet i spit phlegm through the cracks and continue reading 1Q84 sitting on the couch, thinking sitting on the couch, reading Twitter sitting on the couch, reading Reddit sitting on the couch, reading Facebook sitting on the couch, reading KOOL AD's parenting column sitting on the couch, playing online poker sitting on the couch, missing her sitting on the couch, missing her sitting on the couch, missing her sitting on the couch, missing her slicing vegetables, slicing vegetables slicing carrots, peppers, onions, tomatoes slicing vegetables, i am calm concentrate on the task years slip by as i'm cutting vegetables living in the thought space only alive in the realm of the abstract barely aware of the concrete having conversations on autopilot having conversations while wanting to be on the internet having conversations about things i don't want to have conversations about spending time with friends partially to respect an abstract idea that humans should spend time with friends partially because i am actually lonely and need camaraderie partially to distract myself from missing her partially as a way to pass the years and partially because i do love them as a way to pass the years as a way to pass the years one million Macbook keystrokes one billion Macbook keystrokes sitting on the couch, missing her sitting on the couch, missing her sitting on the couch, missing her sitting on the couch, missing her i brush my teeth and pee at the same time bristles move across teeth and gums for the 8,000th time look in the mirror and barely notice myself older older oxygen oxygen oxygen sleep sleep sleep the past is a ghost that infiltrates the present for fun mind is a broken projector looping the same movie over and over and over where is she and why did this and how do you live again and where am i going again and look at all of it and i don't know i don't know but i miss the warmth so near like sun heating soil, soil was fertile, what we had, and i uprooted or was uprooted or exposed exposed shattered unrecognizable staring through a tunnel into a dream of what once was and cannot be again the shower made a screeching sound reminiscent of a pterodactyl or an old metal door the song snatched his soul and wrung it out like washcloth he began to sob, convulse no choice tears bursting forth as rain from clouds and the hot tub was lukewarm I'm supposed to resign myself to never talking to you again how can I possibly do that how can I accept that I love you I miss you
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Elon Musk plans to colonize mars Elon Musk plans to colonize mars Elon Musk plans to colonize mars Elon Musk plans to colonize mars I just thought you should know I just thought you should know I just thought you should know I just thought you should probably know that because Humanity could become a multi-planetary species And that would be cool because existence on Earth is precarious There’s hella existential risk if we’re all on this one pebble But if we expand outward into space—if we build a self-sustaining civilization on another planet—we increase our species’ resilience exponentially We may even be able to engineer another biosphere on Mars or elsewhere that can sustain other earthly species—to increase the resilience of many earthly species, not just humans Our branch of evolution is an anomaly in the cosmos, as far as we know Our candle of consciousness, as far as we know, is the only one that exists Our diverse and thriving biosphere is a jewel in the vast black void of space Life is bursting with color and beauty and wonder and love And pizza and orgasms and cannabis and all sorts of other great stuff So we should want to preserve that We should want to preserve our branch of evolution Think of the trillions of future human and post-human beings who will thank us if we do so If we at least ensure that our branch of evolution persists, creation can continue to evolve and produce untold wonders for potentially trillions of years Some promising ways to mitigate global catastrophic risk are to stop destroying the environment, transition to renewable energy and resources, find ways of reversing overpopulation, and disarm all nuclear weapons, or perhaps reduce humanity’s nuclear arsenal to the bare minimum necessary to disincentivize major international conflicts. But even if we do these things, Earth is still risky An asteroid could strike the Earth again and cause an apocalyptic scenario Eventually some kind of mass extinction event will occur Whether caused by an asteroid impact, climate change, or the eventual exponential expansion of the sun in its giant red phase, sooner or later something will wipe out much or all of life on Earth For intelligent earthly life to persist into the deep, deep future, high technology was always going to be a necessity. To mitigate natural existential risks and eventually leave Earth, we needed to develop high technology at some point. Don’t get me wrong: we should preserve Earth for as long as possible and treat it and its inhabitants much better than we historically have But eventually, if we want to continue surviving, we will need to leave the pale blue dot and venture out into the stars High technology is necessary for us to do this, but unfortunately, it also poses momentous risks Experts believe molecular nanotechnology weapons have a 5% chance of causing the extinction of humanity before 2100 The same experts suggest a 5% chance that superintelligent AI optimizing for non-human-friendly values will result in humanity’s demise prior to 2100 And the same experts give a 2% probability to the possibility of an engineered pandemic, a kind of bioweapon, wiping out humanity before 2100 I’m really not making this stuff up—read the Wikipedia page for ‘Global Catastrophic Risks’ Because of these technological risks, Vinay Gupta has suggested that we should move all research and development of these dangerous technologies out of Earth’s orbit—conduct the R&D on the moon or Mars instead, so that if something goes wrong, our home planet isn’t decimated What I’m describing might seem like the substance of science-fiction, but we now live in a sci-fi world Look around you These are real risks, and some of the world’s most intelligent people are discussing them in all seriousness This is why getting some humans off of Earth is a good idea If we can become a multiplanetary and eventually interstellar or intergalactic civilization, we will all but ensure the persistence of life in the universe We are life We are life Our most basic drive is to help life continue to exist So I say Let the roadshow go on This is much larger than you or I or the 7 billion of us and the billions of animals on Earth right now This is about trillions upon trillions upon trillions of potential future beings that will never know life, unless we enable them to So if we do nothing else in this world, we must ensure that humanity doesn’t destroy itself and all other life We must ensure that life is protected from the various existential risks that may threaten Earth in the coming decades and centuries This is the most basic question we should be asking ourselves: How to ensure the persistence of our evolutionary branch, of our flicker of consciousness The show must go on Life is such a marvelous, ineffable, and incomprehensibly complex show It must go on You can help with this Unfortunately, our species’ ethical and moral progress has not kept pace with our technological progress You can help to change that, by prioritizing your moral and ethical development Live compassionately, cooperatively, minimalistically, sustainably, non-dogmatically, and self-reliantly Begin to view yourself as a member of a vast community of 7 billion humans and billions of other sentient beings The greater the peace and solidarity among humanity, the less chance that we will blow ourselves to hell Do whatever you can to help our systems become more sustainable and regenerative as well Basic stuff like reducing, reusing, and recycling Try not to waste stuff, and don’t buy so much unnecessary stuff Consider trying not to own a car, or get a hybrid or electric car Think about transitioning to solar power or other renewable energy sources in the coming years or decades Start where you are, and do what you can with what you have Google “effective altruism” and read about their initiatives Google “Vinay Gupta” and listen to like 10 hours of his lectures and interviews Read ‘The Righteous Mind’ by Jonathan Haidt Look into things like the Future of Life Institute, the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, and the Future of Humanity Institute And spread these ideas Raise awareness of the fact that addressing existential risks and becoming a multiplanetary civilization is good for humanity, if we care about giving future sentient life --- human, non-human, post-human, and otherwise --- the greatest chance of actually coming into this universe and experiencing its wonders and grandeur and creating things that are incomprehensible to us currently I think we should care about that more than anything Don’t get me wrong: I think ending or greatly reducing extreme poverty, slavery, human trafficking, animal cruelty, and other things are extremely important and worthy causes too But we have to start from square one --- with the fact that if life on Earth is utterly decimated or ceases to exist, no other causes matter It will all be over Everything we know and love --- gone No chance for future generations to experience this cosmos As I said, we are life Life has already become so much, and it can become so much more Let’s make sure that it does Let the show go on Let the show go on Let the show go on Let the show go on

about

dear friend,

after countless hours of work over the last 14 months, this experiment of an album has finally been released into the world. i feel a strange ambivalence, at once joyful to share the work and hollow, having just let go of this art(ifact) which has incubated within me for so long. there is also the familiar sensation of being so close to the project now that i no longer have more than a vague inkling of its merits. i look forward to listening to it a few months from now with fresh ears.

'EXISTENTIAL RISK' is an attempt to come to terms with a number of rather heavy issues facing humanity, many of which i've never heard anyone else address in the rap genre. it is also an urn containing the ashes of past selves and many experiential particles which needed to be ejected from my psyche.

thank you, from the bottom of me, for listening to and contemplating this thing i made. i sincerely hope it gives you something.

love,
jordan

p.s. if you buy this thing, in addition to the songs displayed here, you also get a 23-page .PDF i made called 'SOME BREADCRUMBS,' which will lead you to many wondrous places, if you wish. and you get a bonus track: a reprise of one the tracks on here, fairly similar to the original track but with a unique twist

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"An existential risk (or x-risk) is a risk posing permanent large negative consequences to humanity which can never be undone."

— LessWrong

"I want to learn more and more to see as beautiful what is necessary in things; then I shall be one of those who make things beautiful. Amor fati: let that be my love henceforth! I do not want to wage war against what is ugly. I do not want to accuse; I do not even want to accuse those who accuse. Looking away shall be my only negation. And all in all and on the whole: some day I wish to be only a Yes-sayer."

— Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science

“Because of accelerating technological progress, humankind may be rapidly approaching a critical phase in its career. In addition to well-known threats such as nuclear holocaust, the prospects of radically transforming technologies like nanotech systems and machine intelligence present us with unprecedented opportunities and risks. Our future, and whether we will have a future at all, may well be determined by how we deal with these challenges... While we have had long exposure to various personal, local, and endurable global hazards, this paper analyzes a recently emerging category: that of existential risks. These are threats that could cause our extinction or destroy the potential of Earth-originating intelligent life. Some of these threats are relatively well known while others, including some of the gravest, have gone almost unrecognized. Existential risks have a cluster of features that make ordinary risk management ineffective.”

— Nick Bostrom, Existential Risks: Analyzing Human Extinction Scenarios and Related Hazards

“People think the world’s getting worse, and we see that on the left and the right, and we see that in other countries. People think the world is getting worse… That’s the perception. What’s actually happening is our information about what’s wrong in the world is getting better. A century ago, there would be a battle that wiped out the next village, you’d never even hear about it. Now there’s an incident halfway around the globe and we not only hear about it, we experience it.”

— Ray Kurzweil

“Making life interplanetary, and then interstellar, enables creation to generate untold wonders over potentially trillions of years. We have no idea how long human life could last, if we can get it off this one fragile, risk-filled, tiny sphere into the ocean of darkness and light above our heads, and into every nook and cranny of the observable sphere. We owe all the potential futures that could emerge from our present the possibility of existence, and to accomplish this, we must go not only into space, but eventually, by any means found necessary, into the stars.”

— Vinay Gupta

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credits

released May 31, 2017

ALL BEATS (except one) PRODUCED BY: egoid —— soundcloud.com/egoid

'HOLY CURIOSITY' BEAT PRODUCED BY: OPHELIA DIES —— soundcloud.com/ophelia-dies

VOCALS: LOSTBOYEVSKY

COVER ART ILLUSTRATED BY: Christopher Kerouac / OGALALA --- soundcloud.com/ogalala

COVER ART COLORED BY: LOSTBOYEVSKY

MIXED BY: LOSTBOYEVSKY

MASTERED BY: LOSTBOYEVSKY

special thanks to my girlfriend Jacki for her support and feedback during the album creation process. and for her essential awesomeness

many thanks to Conner for his feedback on a draft of this album

colossal thanks to Vinay Gupta for giving me permission to sample a substantial number of his words for this album (find Vinay: twitter.com/leashless /// re.silience.com /// hexayurt.com)

and abundant thanks to my friends Mike Gilliland and Euvie Ivanova, the Future Thinkers (futurethinkers.org), for giving me permission to sample audio from their interviews with Vinay Gupta for this album. i highly recommend listening to these interviews in full (www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpMTgZESNM4 /// www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKLHIzC0r-s)

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jordan bates Villa Las Estrellas, Antarctica

aka jb, lostboyevsky, goku, mowgli, master splinter, ryokan the fool, trick jester, tom bombadil, albus voldemort, etc

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