full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Nick Bostrom: A philosophical quest for our biggest problems

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Suppose we approximated one person with one book? Now, of course, this is an underestimation. A person's lifetime of learning and erneecipxe is a lot more than you could put into a sgnlie book. But let's suppose we did this. 52 million people die of natural causes each year corresponds, then, to 52 million vuelmos destroyed. Library of ceonrsgs holds 18 million volumes. We are usept about the burning of the Library of Alexandria. It's one of the great cultural tragedies that we rmeebmer, even today. But this is the equivalent of three Libraries of Congress — burnt down, forever lost — each year.

Open Cloze

Suppose we approximated one person with one book? Now, of course, this is an underestimation. A person's lifetime of learning and __________ is a lot more than you could put into a ______ book. But let's suppose we did this. 52 million people die of natural causes each year corresponds, then, to 52 million _______ destroyed. Library of ________ holds 18 million volumes. We are _____ about the burning of the Library of Alexandria. It's one of the great cultural tragedies that we ________, even today. But this is the equivalent of three Libraries of Congress — burnt down, forever lost — each year.

Solution

  1. remember
  2. upset
  3. experience
  4. volumes
  5. single
  6. congress

Original Text

Suppose we approximated one person with one book? Now, of course, this is an underestimation. A person's lifetime of learning and experience is a lot more than you could put into a single book. But let's suppose we did this. 52 million people die of natural causes each year corresponds, then, to 52 million volumes destroyed. Library of Congress holds 18 million volumes. We are upset about the burning of the Library of Alexandria. It's one of the great cultural tragedies that we remember, even today. But this is the equivalent of three Libraries of Congress — burnt down, forever lost — each year.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
big problem 5
existential risk 4
human nature 4
larger space 4
annual death 3
death rate 2
million volumes 2
percent probability 2
percentage point 2
account future 2
future generations 2
good life 2
greater subjective 2
modification technologies 2
neural machinery 2
worthwhile modes 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
account future generations 2

Important Words

  1. alexandria
  2. approximated
  3. book
  4. burning
  5. burnt
  6. congress
  7. corresponds
  8. cultural
  9. destroyed
  10. die
  11. equivalent
  12. experience
  13. great
  14. holds
  15. learning
  16. libraries
  17. library
  18. lifetime
  19. lost
  20. lot
  21. million
  22. natural
  23. people
  24. person
  25. put
  26. remember
  27. single
  28. suppose
  29. today
  30. tragedies
  31. underestimation
  32. upset
  33. volumes
  34. year