What Our Brains are Good at, and Bad at, and Why That Matters - with Dr. Gary Marcus

What Our Brains are Good at, and Bad at, and Why That Matters – with Dr. Gary Marcus

Episode Summary: The brain that we have is suited to our past, not our present - and is the (sometimes unfortunate) result of evolution stumbling forward for hundreds of thousands of years. In this episode, we aim to make sense of and deal with it. Dr. Gary Marcus shares his insight as to what the brain is good and bad at, and why - in addition to what this might imply for the future of human enhancement.

Episode #105 - Public Opinion Around Artificial Intelligence, is the Media Helping or Hurting? - with Dr. Joanne Pransky

Episode #105 – Public Opinion Around Artificial Intelligence, is the Media Helping or Hurting? – with Dr. Joanne Pransky

Joanne Pransky received her BA from Tufts University in the mid 1980’s, and began championing public awareness and exposure to robotics and AI technology, playfully calling herself the “first robot psychiatrist.” Since then, she’s been featured on CNN, The Discovery Channel, the Sci-Fi Channel, and even the Tonight Show with Jay Leno - aiming to expose the world to technology and it’s ethical implications.

Episode #104 - We’re Cyborg’s Now, but Here’s What Cyborg’s Will Be in the Future - with Dr. Chris Hables Gray

Episode #104 – We’re Cyborg’s Now, but Here’s What Cyborg’s Will Be in the Future – with Dr. Chris Hables Gray

Dr. Hables Gray graduated with a PhD in applied philosophy from UCAL Santa Cruz, and is best known for his writings on technology, war, and cyborgs (the combination of organic and inorganic, the evolved and the invented).

Google "Inception," AI Ethics in Washington Post - This Week in Artificial Intelligence 07-08-15 1

Google “Inception,” AI Ethics in Washington Post – This Week in Artificial Intelligence 07-08-15

1 - Google’s Visual AI “Inception”
The in middle of last month, Google published an article on the Google Research blog called “Inceptionism: Going Deeper in Neural Networks.” Frankly, the title didn’t seem all that appealing, and it’s unlikely that it would have jumped out as anything other than science-jargon, even to people signed up for RSS of Google’s blog.

Episode #102 - The Work and Death - an Interview with Filmmaker Sean Blacknell

Episode #102 – The Work and Death – an Interview with Filmmaker Sean Blacknell

Sean Blacknell has spent the last year working on a film called “The Future of Work and Death,” based on interviews with futurists, economists, philosophers, and other experts - with an aim to bring the film to Sundance and other prominent festivals in the coming year.

Episode #101 - The Kind of Artificial Intelligence That Google Doesn’t Care to Build - with Dr. Roger Schank

Episode #101 – The Kind of Artificial Intelligence That Google Doesn’t Care to Build – with Dr. Roger Schank

Dr. Roger Schank received his PhD from Stanford, taught at Yale, and altogether has spent around three decades attempting to solve the big problems of artificial intelligence.
In this interview, Dr. Schank talks about a kind of helpful “teaching” artificial intelligence that would go beyond Siri and help us to make the right decisions at the right times given our own objectives. He explains why he believes such a project is not on Google’s agenda, and what he believes might be required to create such an AI.

Episode #100 - Computers Do Their Own Kind of “Creative,” Not Like Ours - with MIT’s Nick Montfort

Episode #100 – Computers Do Their Own Kind of “Creative,” Not Like Ours – with MIT’s Nick Montfort

Dr. Nick Montfort doesn’t hold Shakespeare and DaVinci as the high water mark of “creativity,” nor does he believe that human creative endeavor is the only worthwhile kind.
In this interview, Dr. Montfort shares some of his own examples of how computers can aide the creative process in ways that might result in “art” that humans aren’t capable of making alone. In addition, he provides his insight as to where the intersections of artificial intelligence and “creativity” might really lie.
Check out this episode on Libsyn.

Episode #98 – Inevitable Transhuman - How Human Nature May Force Itself to Evolve - with Dr. Nayef Al-Rodhan

Episode #98 – Inevitable Transhuman – How Human Nature May Force Itself to Evolve – with Dr. Nayef Al-Rodhan

Listen to This Episode Now: On iTunes - or - On Libsyn

Guest: Professor Nayef Al-Rodhan, PhD

Episode #96 - Emerging Tech “Hype Bubbles” vs Real Influence - with Dr. Ian Pearson

Episode #96 – Emerging Tech “Hype Bubbles” vs Real Influence – with Dr. Ian Pearson

Dr. Ian Pearson has been working as a full-time futurologist since 1991. Being featured on BBC and other major media outlets for his predictions about the future of technology, an commissioned future prediction work for large companies like Canon, EA Games, and more.

Episode #94 - Progress and Next Steps in Neuroscience - Dr. Hal Blumenfeld of Yale University

Episode #94 – Progress and Next Steps in Neuroscience – Dr. Hal Blumenfeld of Yale University

Dr. Hal Blumenfeld is a pathbreaking neuroscience researcher in the domains of deep brain stimulation and epileptic conditions. His recent Yale research work pertaining to the neurological mechanisms of consciousness and awareness (specially in patients with epilepsy) has garnered quite a bit of attention in recent years.