This Friday, Josiah Ober examines the ethical implications were artificial intelligence to gain personhood; Tom Church and Daniel Heil explain why for most Americans Medicare benefits are greater than their individual lifetime contributions; and Amit Seru and coauthor John Griffin call on Congress to make sure anti-money-laundering and counterterrorism protections are included in forthcoming legislation regulating decentralized finance.
Freedom Frequency
It’s not unthinkable that artificial intelligence will lead to a machine that reasons and feels just as we do, writes Senior Fellow Josiah Ober at Freedom Frequency. What will humanity do about these “ensouled tools”? Ober finds disturbing context in antiquity, taking a close look at Aristotle’s elaborate arguments for natural slavery, a concept modern Western civilization has rejected. Aristotle built his structure on views of natural hierarchies and the usefulness of possessing inanimate and animate (enslaved) tools, Ober writes. But the West has abandoned Aristotle’s theories about how to treat the “ensouled instruments” (slaves) of his day. This rejection is a timely reminder for modern people who cherish freedom, justice, and individual rights. Read more here.
In a new Plot Points analysis at Freedom Frequency, Policy Fellows Daniel Heil and Tom Church investigate the widespread belief that Medicare spending should not be restrained, because, as many taxpayers say, “I paid for it.” But comparing lifetime collection of Medicare payroll taxes to expected benefits shows a great mismatch: On average, the majority of workers will get back more in healthcare benefits then they ever paid in taxes. Only a worker with lifetime earnings of at least $220,000 a year can expect to see the benefits be equal to what was paid in, they write. Over the next 10 years, Medicare will add an estimated $8 trillion to the federal debt—and since increased spending on Medicare is a key driver of the federal budget, Medicare must somehow be reformed. If the program is to be sustainable, Heil and Church write, there needs to be an honest conversation—one that doesn’t hinge on whether an enrollee “deserves” the benefits of today. Read more here.
Answering Challenges to Advanced Economies
Writing at Barron’s, Senior Fellow Amit Seru and coauthor John M. Griffin argue that a recent draft of the Responsible Financial Innovation Act, a crypto market-structure bill, is commendable for its aim to provide regulatory clarity for digital assets. They show that the migration of much crypto activity to a “decentralized finance” (or DeFi) structure threatens to undermine “mundane but effective” regulations, including anti-money-laundering rules and know-your-customer requirements. “A more serious bill should treat any DeFi platform that provides exchange, lending, or payment functions as a financial institution under the Bank Secrecy Act, giving the Treasury clear authority to restrict high-risk services,” Seru and Griffin conclude. “What is at stake isn’t the existence of crypto, but whether the US can preserve the financial perimeter that gives its laws force beyond its borders.” Read more here. [Subscription required.]
Stanford Emerging Technology Review
On the latest episode of Matters of Policy & Politics, Science Fellow Allison Okamura, a Stanford University engineering professor and contributor to this year’s Stanford Emerging Technology Review (SETR), discusses robotics’ growth and its role in present-day and future societies. Among the topics discussed: how the 10 science and technology chapters within the SETR report are interwoven; the integration of robotics into everyday life; a “100,000-year data gap” and massive shortage of training data for physical robot manipulation; Elon Musk’s new Optimus Gen 3 model and the feasibility of robotic workforces; the public’s comfort level with autonomous technology; and what the future may hold. Okamura explains the potential of better robotic “brains” and “bodies.” She also details developments leading to shape-changing fabrics, greater intelligence and physical autonomy, and improvements in robotic hands and humanoids’ dexterous manipulation. Watch or listen here.
Education and Development
Aging is often assumed to impose unavoidable declines in cognitive capacity, productivity, and innovation. The evidence—drawn from the research of Senior Fellow Eric Hanushek and presented in a new episode of Intellections—shows otherwise: Cognitive skills typically increase into midlife and remain stable when individuals regularly engage in math, reading, and problem-solving. Declines emerge primarily among those who do not use these skills, irrespective of formal education or professional status. These findings highlight the economic imperative of early skill formation and sustained cognitive engagement across the lifespan to support growth, adaptability, and long-run prosperity. Watch here.
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