Anticipating and managing exponential impact - hosts David Wood and Calum ChaceCalum Chace is a sought-after keynote speaker and best-selling writer on artifici...
Longevity activism at 82, 86, and beyond, with Kenneth Scott and Helga Sands
Our guests in this episode have been described as the world’s two oldest scientifically astute longevity activists. They are Kenneth Scott, aged 82, who is based in Florida, and Helga Sands, aged 86, who lives in London.David has met both of them several times at a number of longevity events, and they always impress him, not only with their vitality and good health, but also with the level of knowledge and intelligence they apply to the question of which treatments are the best, for them personally and for others, to help keep people young and vibrant.Selected follow-ups:Waiting For God - 1990s BBC ComedyAdelle Davis, NutritionistRoger J. Williams, BiochemistThe Importance of Maintaining a Low Omega-6/Omega-3 RatioLife Extension MagazineCalifornia Age Management InstituteFibrinogen and agingProfessor Angus Dalgleish, Nuffield HealthAbout Aubrey de Grey speaking at the Royal InstitutionGeorge Church, GeneticistJames Kirkland, Mayo ClinicDaniel Munoz-Espin, CambridgeNobel Prize for John Gurdon and Shinya YamanakaVSELs and S.O.N.G. laserXtend Optimal HealthFollistatin gene therapy, MinicircleExosomes vs Stem CellsPrevent and Reverse Heart Disease - book by Caldwell Esselstyn Jr Dasatinib and Quercetin (senolytics)We reverse atherosclerosis - Repair BiotechnologiesBioreactor-Grown Mitochondria - MitrixNobel Winner Shinya Yamanaka: Cell Therapy Is ‘Very Promising’ For Cancer, Parkison's, MoreDeath of the world's oldest man, 25th Nov 2024Blueprint protocol - Bryan JohnsonMusic: Spike Protein, by Koi Discovery, available under CC0 1.0 Public Domain Declaration
--------
45:10
Models for society when humans have zero economic value, with Jeff LaPorte
Our guest in this episode is Jeff LaPorte, a software engineer, entrepreneur and investor based in Vancouver, who writes Road to Artificia, a newsletter about discovering the principles of post‑AI societies.Calum recently came across Jeff's article “Valuing Humans in the Age of Superintelligence: HumaneRank” and thought it had some good, original ideas, so we wanted to invite Jeff onto the podcast and explore them.Selected follow-ups:Jeff LaPorte personal business websiteRoad to Artificia: A newsletter about discovering the principles of societies post‑AIValuing Humans in the Age of Superintelligence: HumaneRankIdeas Lying Around - article by Cory Doctorow about a famous saying by Milton FriedmanPageRank - WikipediaNosedive (Black Mirror episode) - IMDbThe Economic Singularity - book by Calum ChaceWorld Chess Championship 2024 - WIkipediaWALL.E (2008 movie) - IMDbA day in the life of Asimov, 2045 - short story by David WoodWhy didn't electricity immediately change manufacturing? - by Tim Harford, BBCResponsible use of artificial intelligence in government - Government of CanadaBipartisan House Task Force Report on Artificial Intelligence - U.S. House of RepresentativesMusic: Spike Protein, by Koi Discovery, available under CC0 1.0 Public Domain Declaration
--------
41:02
From ineffective altruism to effective altruism? with Stefan Schubert
Our subject in this episode is altruism – our human desire and instinct to assist each other, making some personal sacrifices along the way. More precisely, our subject is the possible future of altruism – a future in which our philanthropic activities – our charitable donations, and how we spend our discretionary time – could have a considerably greater impact than at present. The issue is that many of our present activities, which are intended to help others, aren’t particularly effective.That’s the judgement reached by our guest today, Stefan Schubert. Stefan is a researcher in philosophy and psychology, currently based in Stockholm, Sweden, and has previously held roles at the LSE and the University of Oxford. Stefan is the co-author of the recently published book “Effective Altruism and the Human Mind”.Selected follow-ups:Stefan Schubert - Effective AltruismEffective Altruism and the Human Mind: The Clash Between Impact and Intuition - Oxford University Press (open access)Centre for Effective AltruismProfessor Nadira Faber - Uehiro Institute, OxfordWhat are the best charities to support in 2024? - Giving What We CanEffective Altruist Leaders Were Repeatedly Warned About Sam Bankman-Fried Years Before FTX Collapsed - TimeVirtues for Real-World Utilitarians - by Stefan Schubert & Lucius Caviola, UtilitarianismDeworming - Effective Altruism ForumWhat we know about Musk's cost-cutting mission - BBC article about DOGEWhat is your p(doom)? with Darren McKeeLongtermism - WikipediaMusic: Spike Protein, by Koi Discovery, available under CC0 1.0 Public Domain Declaration
--------
34:12
The global energy transition: an optimistic assessment, with Amory Lovins
Our guest in this episode is Amory Lovins, a distinguished environmental scientist, and co-founder of RMI, which he co-founded in 1982 as Rocky Mountain Institute. It’s what he calls a think do and scale tank, with 700 people in 62 countries, and a budget of well over $100m a year.For over five decades, Amory has championed innovative approaches to energy systems, advocating for a world where energy services are delivered with least cost and least impact. He has advised all manner of governments, companies, and NGOs, and published 31 books and over 900 papers. It’s an over-used word, but in this case it is justified: Amory is a true thought leader in the global energy transition.Selected follow-ups:Inside Amory's Brain - RMIGet to know us - RMIBooks by Amory B. Lovins - GoodreadsReinventing Fire - RMIIntegrative Design: A Practice to Tackle Complex Challenges - Stanford d.schoolWhat is Integrative Design? - RMIMusic: Spike Protein, by Koi Discovery, available under CC0 1.0 Public Domain Declaration
--------
34:34
Building brain-like AIs, with Alexander Ororbia
Some people say that all that’s necessary to improve the capabilities of AI is to scale up existing systems. That is, to use more training data, to have larger models with more parameters in them, and more computer chips to crunch through the training data. However, in this episode, we’ll be hearing from a computer scientist who thinks there are many other options for improving AI. He is Alexander Ororbia, a professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York State, where he directs the Neural Adaptive Computing Laboratory.David had the pleasure of watching Alex give a talk at the AGI 2024 conference in Seattle earlier this year, and found it fascinating. After you hear this episode, we hope you reach a similar conclusion. Selected follow-ups:Alexander Ororbia - Rochester Institute of TechnologyAlexander G. Ororbia II - Personal websiteAGI-24: The 17th Annual AGI Conference - AGI SocietyJoseph Tranquillo - Bucknell UniversityHopfield network - WikipediaKarl Friston - UCLPredictive coding - WikipediaMortal Computation: A Foundation for Biomimetic Intelligence - Quantitative BiologyThe free-energy principle: a unified brain theory? - Nature Reviews NeuroscienceI Am a Strange Loop (book by Douglas Hofstadter) - WikipediaMark Solms - WikipediaConscium: Pioneering Safe, Efficient AIThe Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness (book by Mark Solms)Carver Mead - WikipediaEvent camera (includes Dynamic Vision Sensors) - WikipediaICRA (International Conference on Robotics and Automation)Brain-Inspired Machine Intelligence: A Survey of Neurobiologically-Plausible Credit AssignmentA Review of Neuroscience-Inspired Machine Learningngc-learnTaking Neuromorphic Computing to the Next Level with Loihi 2 Technology Brief - IntelMusic: Spike Protein, by Koi Discovery, available under CC0 1.0 Public Domain Declaration
Anticipating and managing exponential impact - hosts David Wood and Calum ChaceCalum Chace is a sought-after keynote speaker and best-selling writer on artificial intelligence. He focuses on the medium- and long-term impact of AI on all of us, our societies and our economies. He advises companies and governments on AI policy.His non-fiction books on AI are Surviving AI, about superintelligence, and The Economic Singularity, about the future of jobs. Both are now in their third editions.He also wrote Pandora's Brain and Pandora’s Oracle, a pair of techno-thrillers about the first superintelligence. He is a regular contributor to magazines, newspapers, and radio.In the last decade, Calum has given over 150 talks in 20 countries on six continents. Videos of his talks, and lots of other materials are available at https://calumchace.com/.He is co-founder of a think tank focused on the future of jobs, called the Economic Singularity Foundation. The Foundation has published Stories from 2045, a collection of short stories written by its members.Before becoming a full-time writer and speaker, Calum had a 30-year career in journalism and in business, as a marketer, a strategy consultant and a CEO. He studied philosophy, politics, and economics at Oxford University, which confirmed his suspicion that science fiction is actually philosophy in fancy dress.David Wood is Chair of London Futurists, and is the author or lead editor of twelve books about the future, including The Singularity Principles, Vital Foresight, The Abolition of Aging, Smartphones and Beyond, and Sustainable Superabundance.He is also principal of the independent futurist consultancy and publisher Delta Wisdom, executive director of the Longevity Escape Velocity (LEV) Foundation, Foresight Advisor at SingularityNET, and a board director at the IEET (Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies). He regularly gives keynote talks around the world on how to prepare for radical disruption. See https://deltawisdom.com/.As a pioneer of the mobile computing and smartphone industry, he co-founded Symbian in 1998. By 2012, software written by his teams had been included as the operating system on 500 million smartphones.From 2010 to 2013, he was Technology Planning Lead (CTO) of Accenture Mobility, where he also co-led Accenture’s Mobility Health business initiative.Has an MA in Mathematics from Cambridge, where he also undertook doctoral research in the Philosophy of Science, and a DSc from the University of Westminster.
España