Richard Dawkins might disagree with Thomas Edison. He’d likely say the purpose of our bodies and our brains is to carry around–and perpetuate– our genes. Increasingly, though, the purpose of body is to carry around our technology and interface it with our brains. Wearable electronics…VR goggles…smart phones…our devices are becoming more than tools. They are merging with our being. Add to this the onrush of emerging BCI (brain-computer interface) technologies and one thing becomes clear. We are becoming what we build.
The IEEE brain initiative seeks to set standards for, and explore the ethics of, many of these technologies. Laura Cabrera is a brain researcher working with the initiative. In this episode of Seeking Delphi™ I talk to her about many issues surrounding the accelerating use of technology to diagnose, treat, and eventually enhance, the brain.
“Sustainability is no longer about doing less harm. It’s about doing more good.” ―Jochen Zeitz
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In January of 2017 the first two episodes of Seeking Delphi™ featured David Wood, chair of the London Futurists, on his book The Abolition of Aging. Wood’s newest effort, Sustainable Superabundance: A Universal Transhumanist Invitation, is an apt follow-up. It deals with the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead; it maps out his preferred scenarios for a better world, while warning about the dangers of making a worse one. David joins me in this episode for a discussion of some the key ideas in his new book.
This special edition of the Seeking Delphi™ podcast provides a preview of the 2018 IEEE Technology Time Machine, to be held October 31-November 1, at the Hilton Resort and Spa, San Diego, CA. Joining host Mark Sackler to discuss the upcoming program is Roberto Saracco, who heads the IEEE initiative on Symbiotic Autonomous Systems and is one of the conference organizers. He was previously interviewed on Seeking Delphi Podcast #22. See links below the embedded podcast audio and YouTube slide show to access event information and registration.
In the popular HBO series Westworld, robotic hosts are depicted as being placed into a kind of psychiatric analysis by their creators. Could this actually happen one day? Joanne Pransky thinks it will. She bills herself as the World’s First Robotic Psychiatrist® (yes, she even registered that title!). She was dubbed the real life Susan Calvin by Isaac Asimov, after the robot psychologist he created in his classic 1950 short story anthology, I, Robot. In this episode of the Seeking Delphi™ podcast, host Mark Sackler talks to her about this and other significant issues in the man/machine relationships to come.
Is privacy dead? The answer may be more indifferent than you suspect. Gray Scott says it’s becoming irrelevant. People and politicians may squawk, but if you look at their behavior, it looks as if they just don’t really care. It seems we’d rather have free content–even at the cost of privacy–than pay even nominal amounts to access online materials. In this wide ranging interview, conducted just hours before Mark Zuckerberg’s senate testimony in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica data breach, Gray provides us with his nuanced view of the state of privacy, both present and future.
You’ve heard it all, and lately you’re hearing it more. The singularity is near. Robots are going to take our jobs. Robots are going to take over altogether. Robots are even going to take over our sex lives. Yadda yadda yadda.
I’m not saying it won’t happen; I just think it’s farther away than the impression most people are getting from all the news. What’s here right now is genetic editing, and with it, the possibility of directing human evolution. The very real and very near possibility of changing what it means to be human. Read all the artificial intelligence and future of work articles–yes. But listen to what Elizabeth Parrish has to say about modifying the human genome to reverse aging and to keep up–cognitively and physically–with robots.
Seeking Delphi™ will be on vacation next week. Enjoy the peace and quiet.
—Here’s the latest take on the robot job apocalypse. A new report suggests the UK will lose one in 12 jobs to robots and automation by 2030. That’s less then some forecasts, but still enough to be a bother.
Self-Driving vehicles–Have we been hearing altogether too much about autonomous vehicle development, lately. Satirical web site, The Onion, seems to think so. The released the image below with headline Tesla Debuts Carless Driver.
Image Credit: The Onion
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