AI Podcast Interviews Articles and Reports

Prof Nick Bostrom is widely respected as the premier academic thinker on topics related to strong artificial intelligence, transhumanism, and existential risks. His talks, books, and articles cover all of these topics, and his vocation involves bringing attention and critical thought to these most pressing human issues.

Anton Þórólfsson is working on letting you work from "home" ... or from the Amazon jungle, or from the moon. Well ... not the actual moon, or your real home, but a virtual one. His company, MURE VR (he sits today as co-founder and COO) is working on allowing indiviuals to interact with all of their computer programs in a totally virtual world, thanks to the help of the Oculus Rift.

The human genome is the complete set of genetic data for human beings. The interpretation of the human genome sequence has been one of the major scientific breakthroughs of the 21st century. Since its initial release in 2001, our understanding of the sequence has deepened exponentially. By 2014, we had completely sequenced thousands of human genomes. The resulting information is used on a global scale, in fields as diverse as anthropology and forensics, and of course in biomedical science.

Dr. Christoph Guger is founder of g.Tec, a company that focuses on creating devices and parts for the field of brain-machine interface. In this particular interview, Christoph shares with us the direction and progress of brain-machine interface, as well as explaining the concept of "embodiment," where a person truly "feels" that a device controlled by their thoughts is a part of themselves, and extension of themselves. Where might these technologies make their jump into the mainstream? Listen to Christoph's interview here.

Research in the field of brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) dates back to the 1950s when National Institute of Health researcher John Lilly implanted a series of between 25 to 610 electrodes in the cortex of rhesus monkeys. By using the electrodes to stimulate the monkeys' cortex, Lilly was able to study the spread of motor function throughout the cortical tissue.

Augmented reality, for the most part, is still relegated to smartphones and relatively novel headset experiences. We've come a long way in the last 15 years since Georgia Tech's Blair MacIntyre first got involved in AR, and in this episode he explains what the future might look like as we get closer and closer to an immersed AR experience.

Brain-computer interfacing (BCI) is a rapidly growing field that offers huge potential for many applications, such as medical grade BCIs, to help people with sensory-motor disabilities. Currently, a number of researchers are developing more affordable BCI systems designed to address a wider range of neurotherapeutic applications.

Brown's BrainGate project is hailed as one of the premier research projects in the entire field of brain-machine interface. Researchers here have given paralyzed patients the ability to move robotic arms and check emails with their thoughts alone, thanks to experimental neural implants in their motor cortex. Dr. Beata Jarosiewicz has been with BrainGate project for years, with a specific focus on interpreting neurological signals and turning them into actionable outputs.
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