# Can AI Lead Us to the Good Life?

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/machines-like-us-97796/can-ai-lead-us-to-the-good-life
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/machines-like-us-97796/can-ai-lead-us-to-the-good-life.md
Podcast: [Machines Like Us](https://stenobird.com/podcast/machines-like-us-97796)
Published: 2025-11-18T11:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/podcasts/machines-like-us/?token=s3d
Audio file: https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/afp-119681-injected.calisto.simplecastaudio.com/7862a9c5-dc9a-4d42-9fcd-d04ed44df073/episodes/4175795a-616d-4573-bfba-c7d1a58901c1/audio/128/default.mp3?aid=rss_feed&awCollectionId=7862a9c5-dc9a-4d42-9fcd-d04ed44df073&awEpisodeId=4175795a-616d-4573-bfba-c7d1a58901c1&feed=FJSi7gLl
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/machines-like-us-97796/episodes/can-ai-lead-us-to-the-good-life
Duration seconds: 3065

## Resource

In Rutger Bregman’s first book, Utopia for Realists, the historian describes a rosy vision of the future – one with 15-hour work weeks, universal basic income and massive wealth redistribution. It’s a vision that, in the age of artificial intelligence, now seems increasingly possible. But utopia is far from guaranteed. Many experts predict that AI will also lead to mass job loss, the development of new bioweapons and, potentially, the extinction of our species. So if you’re building a technology that could either save the world or destroy it – is that a moral pursuit? These kinds of thorny questions are at the heart of Bregman’s latest book, Moral Ambition. In a sweeping conversation that takes us from the invention of the birth control pill to the British Abolitionist movement, Bregman and I discuss what a good life looks like (spoiler: he thinks the death of work might not be such a bad thing) – and whether AI can help get us there.

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/machines-like-us-97796/episodes/can-ai-lead-us-to-the-good-life/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/machines-like-us-97796/can-ai-lead-us-to-the-good-life.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.