Eörs Szathmáry is a professor of evolutionary biology at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest and one of the leading theorists of major evolutionary transitions. With John Maynard Smith, he coauthored the landmark 1995 book The Major Transitions in Evolution, which examined the pivotal transitions through which simpler evolutionary units have combined to form new, more complex levels of organization—from the earliest replicating molecules and cells to multicellular organisms and human societies.

Szathmáry’s research has continued to explore the principles underlying these transitions, including changes in how information is stored, transmitted, and inherited. More recently, he has applied this evolutionary perspective to artificial intelligence, examining the possibility that increasingly autonomous and evolvable AI systems could constitute part of a new major transition. In this conversation, he discusses what earlier transitions can teach us about the opportunities and risks posed by the rapidly evolving technological systems of today.

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This episode is from the podcast, Evolving Alignment.

Evolving Alignment explores one of the central questions of our time: How can humanity and artificial intelligence coevolve in ways that enhance cooperation, creativity, and human flourishing?

Hosted by evolutionary scientist David Sloan Wilson, each episode features leading thinkers from fields including evolutionary biology, cultural evolution, artificial intelligence, economics, psychology, philosophy, complexity science, and the social sciences. Rather than focusing on the narrow technical challenge of aligning AI systems with human interests, these conversations examine the broader evolutionary processes that have enabled living systems to solve problems of cooperation at ever higher levels of complexity, producing increasingly sophisticated forms of biological and cultural organization.

Can we learn from the deep history of evolution to shape a future in which humans and AI cooperate rather than compete, and develop new forms of collective intelligence we can only begin to imagine today? Evolving Alignment brings together many of the world’s leading researchers to explore these questions—and to consider how the choices we make today may influence the future evolution of intelligence itself.

Evolving Alignment is presented by Human Energy, a catalytic hub for evolving collective consciousness. ‍Learn more about Human Energy here, https://www.humanenergy.io/about