AI Podcast Interviews Articles and Reports

There are “techno-optimists” and “techno-pessimists”… and there’s those who just don’t know what they’re talking about. Skeptic Magazine’s founder Michael Shermer shares his thoughts on what’s hyped-up and what’s worth considering in the human race to the future.

It’s called “transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS),” haven’t you heard about it? The process involves zapping your brain through subtle electrical stimulation on the outside of the head - and though research has been going on in this field for decades, the mechanisms for it’s effects on mood, memory, and more, are still mostly unknown.

Dr. James McLurkin works with swarm robots at Rice University, and his unique work on robot communication has landed him on PBS’s “Nova,” in addition to speaking engagements at events like TED and Singularity Summit.

David Brin is recognized as one of the most iconic futurist fiction writers of our time. With huge bestsellers like “The Postman” (later turned into a movie starring Kevin Costner), David’s work explores the ramifications of human choices of our collective future.

Regis Kopper runs the Duke Immersive Virtual Environment, or “DiVE.” His research focuses on the interactions of virtual and real humans. In this interview, he discusses his predictions for the non-gaming applications of virtual reality - and the surprising evidence that virtual reality humans might “relate” to us in much the way that real humans do. What happens when we can’t tell the difference?

Ofer Leidner is co-founder of Happify, an app aimed at supporting behavior change for well-being. In this interview, Ofer explains his views on the potential for technology to influence habits, and where he feels this particular kind of technology might mold our wearable / technologically immersive future.

Sean Ellis is recognized as the originator of the term “growth hacking,” and is widely recognized as one of the world’s best startup and technology marketers. Heading up growth at companies like DropBox and LogMeIn, Sean has gone on to found Qualaroo, a qualitative data collection startup.

Current brain-machine interface technologies like MUSE or Mellon detect your mental activity with a headband, and represent it in unique apps. Thync is aiming to actively stimulate your mental activity, creating a more excited or tranquil mental state at your discretion.