Artificial Will: Nietzsche contra Rationalist Theories of Artificial General Intelligence

This thesis is a critical examination of Nick Bostrom’s and Reza Negarestani’s rationalist theories of artificial general intelligence (AGI). I argue that these theories are anthropocentric in that they model AGI on human capacities, values and ends. I demonstrate this by putting these theories in dialogue with an alternative perspective on intelligence derived from aspects of Nietzsche’s philosophy. This approach is motivated by my hypothesis that the Nietzschean perspective raises the possibility that AGI might not pursue the anthropocentric ends that Bostrom and Negarestani believe it can, because such ends are overridden by more fundamental drives of its own.