This week our guest is AI researcher and founder of Conjecture, Connor Leahy, who is dedicated to studying AI alignment. Alignment research focuses on gaining an increased understanding of how to build advanced AI systems that pursue the goals they were designed for instead of engaging in undesired behavior. Sometimes, this means just ensuring they share the values and ethics we have as humans so that our machines don’t cause serious harm to humanity. In this episode, Connor provides candid...

In this episode we check back in with one-time presidential candidate and author of The Transhumanist Wager, Zoltan Istvan, to see how his views have changed since we last talked. This included exploring his changing views in ethics thanks to his study at Oxford, the incredible changes that chatGPT appears to be bringing to society, the disappointments of the longevity movement, and especially concerns around AGI retribution and the “useless” class of humans who will have very few skills that...

This week’s guest is lawyer, author, and Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Ethics in AI at Oxford University, Elizabeth M. Renieris. In this episode, we explore Elizabeth's brand new book, Beyond Data: Reclaiming Human Rights at the Dawn of the Metaverse. This takes us on a tour through the ways in which our obsession with data has failed and distracted us, how we need to return to the pillars of basic human rights law that are already well established if we are to regulate...

This week our guest is research scientist and adjunct professor, Justin Hendrix, who is the CEO and editor of Tech Policy Press (https://techpolicy.press/), a non-profit media community dedicated to exploring the intersection of technology and democracy. In this episode, Justin and I enjoy a wide tour through a variety of topics, including political polarization, social media as a public square, social media as a public utility, the economic possibilities including Universal Basic Income,...

This week I’m honored to be joined by MIT Professor, Rosalind Picard, who not only founded the field of affective computing, but is easily considered one of the most impactful inventors alive. In this episode, we explore affective computing and its many impacts on society. This takes on a tour through concepts as wide-ranging as manipulating emotions, treating health challenges, surveillance, social robots, and more. You can follow Rosalind at twitter.com/rosalindpicard, or check out one of...

This week my guest is entrepreneur and technologist, Christopher Nguyen, who–in addition to starting his own companies–has spent four decades working at some of the world’s biggest tech giants. In this episode we explore many facets of AI, including Christopher’s ideas around knowledge-first AI, bad training data for AI, issues with the black box, GPT3, deepfakes, and much more. Follow Christopher and his AI work with Aitomatic at twitter.com/pentagoniac ** Learn more about Singularity:...

This week my guest is computation social scientist and professor at Columbia University, Sandra Matz, who recently published her book, The Psychology of Technology: Social Science Research in the Age of Big Data. In this episode, we explore many different ways in which technology and psychology are influencing one another in the modern era. This includes but isn’t limited to the influence of big data on psychological research, the battle between exploitation and exploration as fundamental...

Our final guest of 2022 is entrepreneur, product innovator, and lecturer at MIT, David Rose. Pulling on an extensive background as VP at Warby Parker and as a long-time explorer of ambient technologies, David recently released his book Supersight: What Augmented Reality Means for Our Lives, Our Work, and the Way We Imagine the Future. Exploring this topic takes us on a tour of some of the incredible work currently taking place and the pragmatic impacts many industries will soon experience,...

This week our guest is Distinguished Professor in Law at the University of Virginia, Danielle Citron, who recently released her book The Fight for Privacy: Protecting Dignity, Identity, and Love in the Digital Age. Danielle’s book, as well as this episode, explores the darker side of technology as it relates to the data of our intimate lives. This includes sensitive and challenging topics such as revenge porn and online abuse. We additionally explore the broader topics of online privacy,...

This week our guest is law professor, author, and distinguished speaker, Orly Lobel, who recently published her latest of three books, The Equality Machine: Harnessing Digital Technology for a Brighter, More Inclusive Future. In this episode we explore the thread that weaves through Orly’s work, which often emphasizes the way economic markets, technology, and the human condition interact. Specifically, we take a deep dive into the limitations and future of intellectual property and...

This week my guest is Rama Chellappa, a pioneering AI researcher and distinguished professor at John Hopkins University who recently published his book, Can We Trust AI? In this episode we try to tackle the question posed by Rama’s book from many angles, exploring topics such as the transparency of AI in regards to the black box issue, the accountability issues for when programmers create algorithms that end lives, the reliability of self-driving cars to navigate an ever-changing...

This week our guest is David Wood, a long-time futurist and renowned transhumanist thinker. David has authored 10 books on the subject of our technological future, including his recently published book Singularity Principles: Anticipating and Managing Cataclysmically Disruptive Technologies. In addition to exploring some of the principles and ideas from David’s latest publication, this episode takes a wide but succinct tour of the singularity. This includes (but is certainly not limited to)...

This week our guest is Dr. Gloria Mark, who is Chancellor's Professor of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine. In addition to having a PhD in psychology and acting as a visiting senior researcher at Microsoft since 2012, Gloria has recently authored the book Attention Span, which will release on January 10th, 2023. In this conversation, we explore many different facets of attention, including but certainly not limited to how our attention span is decreasing, how technology is...

This week our guest is writer, artist and technologist, James Bridle. Famous for trapping a self-driving car with salt in the mountains of Greece, his artworks have been commissioned by numerous galleries and institutions and have been exhibited worldwide. His writing on literature, culture and networks has appeared in magazines and newspapers including Wired, the Atlantic, the New Statesman, the Guardian, and the Financial Times. He is the author of 'New Dark Age' (2018) and his recently...

This week our guest is Brett Johnson, who was listed on America’s Most Wanted list in 2006 for cyber-crime and who the secret service once declared as the “original internet godfather.” Since serving his jail sentence and leaving behind his criminal past, Brett has become a leading consultant on tech security, now helping people learn how to protect themselves against the type of person he once was. In this discussion, we explore a wide variety of topics, including social engineering, deceit...

This week our guest is David Carroll, a professor of media design at the New School in New York City who gained worldwide renown when he decided to engage in a legal battle with the Cambridge Analytica. For those who may not know, Cambridge Analytica was involved in a massive data scandal using Facebook data to manipulate voters into voting for Donald Trump and Brexit. In this conversation, we explore David’s battle against Cambridge Analytica from start to finish, attempting to go beyond the...

This week our guest is business and technology reporter, Peter Ward. Earlier this year, Peter released his book The Price of Immortality: The Race to Live Forever, where he investigates the many movements and organizations that are seeking to extend human life, from the Church of Perpetual Life in Florida, to some of the biggest tech giants in Silicon Valley.  In this episode, we explore Peter’s findings, which takes us on a tour from cryonics to mind uploading, from supplements to gene...

This week our guest is author and podcaster, Azeem Azhar, who has a robust background as an investor, founder, and regulator in the tech space, including several years working with the World Economic Forum on the Global Future Council on Digital Economy and Society.  Azeem spends much of his time these days creating content for ExponentialView.co, where he provides weekly assessments of the dynamics at play in humanity’s exponential transformation. The key ideas he’s uncovered on this...

This week our guest is Michael Shermer, who founded Skeptic Magazine and is the executive director of the Skeptic’s Society. Michael’s written many books over the years, including Heavens on Earth, which explores technologists efforts towards immortality; Giving the Devil His Due, which is a collection of essays on scientific humanism; and later this month he’ll be publishing Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational. Given Michael’s wide array of interest, we take a wide tour of...

Hi everyone,  Just wanted to make a quick episode to let you know we're taking a short break for these next few weeks, but we'll be back with a steady stream of more episodes on October 2nd. I also wanted to take a moment to say thank you to all of those who take time to listen every week. With your support we've been able to consistently rank as one of the most listened to tech podcasts in the world, attracting a remarkable lineup of guests who I've felt truly honored to talk to and whose...

This week our guest is Kevin Roose, a tech columnist for The New York Times and author of several books including his latest Futureproof: 9 Rules for Humans in the Age of Automation. In this episode, Kevin and I discuss how the world’s tendency towards automation is leading to the end of many professions as well as a world of individuals whose behavior is shaped by algorithms. We explore how humans have promoted technology from an assistant that helps us meet our goals into now being a boss...

This week our guest is Mark Mills, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute who recently authored The Cloud Revolution: How the Convergence of New Technologies Will Unleash the Next Economic Boom and A Roaring 2020s. In this episode, Mark and I discuss how the latest advancements in materials, machines, and information are unlocking a profound new paradigm represented by the cloud, the impact of which Mark argues has been severely underestimated. As part of this conversation, we also...

This week our guest is author and technologist, David Weinberger, who has spent years lecturing at Harvard as well as acting as a fellow and senior researcher at the renowned Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. And just prior to covid, David released his latest book, Everyday Chaos: Technology, Complexity, and How We’re Thriving in a New World of Possibility. In this episode, David and I explore some of the key ideas he focused on in Everyday Chaos. This includes looking at the...

This week our guest is lecturer, investor, and author, Nir Eyal, whose previous two books include Hooked: How To Build Habit Forming Products and Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life. Nir has a lot of experience teaching and discussing these subjects, so we were able to explore many different aspects of attention in a very short time. This include the triggers that drive us to get hooked to products, the morality of “hooking” people’s attention, the distinction...

This week our guest is NBC technology correspondent, Jacob Ward, who recently released his book, The Loop: How Technology Is Creating a World Without Choices and How to Fight Back. In this episode we focus broadly on the ways in which technology and AI are learning from the worst instincts of human beings, and then using those bad behaviors to shape our future choices. As a result, Jacob suggests this creates feedback loops of increasingly limited and increasingly short-sighted behavior....