Singularity 1 on 1

David Orban on Singularity 1 on 1: What is the question I should be asking?

by Socrates
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This Thursday I interviewed David Orban for Singularity 1 on 1. I have to admit that David is one of my favorite singularitarians and I enjoyed talking to him immensely. During our conversation we discuss issues such as: David’s personal background and early interest in science and technology; the motivation and goals behind his work; his involvement in Singularity University; his take on the technological singularity and our chances of surviving it; religion, death and life extension technology; the internet of things; the role of technology in liberating humanity; the value of human-centered communication; Ted Kaczynski‘s arguments against technological progress; why communicating through on-line videos is so popular and powerful. Hope you enjoy watching the interview as much as I enjoyed talking to David! (As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in [...]

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Dan Barry on Singularity 1 on 1: Don’t Let Anyone Tell You That You Can’t Reach Your Dreams

by Socrates
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During my 10 weeks at Singularity University I was able to ambush Dan Barry for a 20 min interview for Singularity 1 on 1. Former NASA astronaut and veteran of 3 space missions, Dan is currently the head of faculty at Singularity University and the co-chair for AI, Robotics, Space and Physical Sciences. (As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.) For me Dan Barry was an inspiration from the very beginning of the program: His inaugural lecture, Failure is an Option, during which he shared both his wife’s moving story (documented in her best-selling book Fixing My Gaze) and his own life’s story (with his 13 unsuccessful attempts to become an astronaut), not only moved me deeply but also taught me that nothing is impossible and that one should never give [...]

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James Martin on Singularity 1 on 1: We Can Control Accelerating Technology

by Socrates
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Yesterday I was privileged to have an hour long Skype interview with James Martin for my Singularity 1 on 1 podcast. James Martin is Andrew Crofts‘ archetype Change Agent in addition to being a world-renowned computer scientist, author, lecturer, teacher, philanthropist, futurist and film-maker. During our conversation we cover a whole spectrum of interesting topics such as: James’ interest in computers in particular and technology and futurism in general; his book that eventually turned into a movie -  The Meaning of the 21st Century, his current project titled the Transformation of Humankind; the technological singularity; the risks and promises of exponential growth of 21st century technologies such as genetics, robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnologies. So, go ahead, listen to or download the audio above or scroll down to watch the video of the interview in full. Most importantly – don’t hesitate [...]

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Stephen Wolfram on Singularity 1 on 1: To Understand the Future, Explore the Computational Universe

by Socrates
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Yesterday I was privileged to have an hour long phone interview with Dr. Stephen Wolfram for my Singularity 1 on 1 podcast. We started our conversation on how Stephen got interested in exploring science in general and eventually focused on computation in particular. Then we moved on to a number of other interesting topics such as his work on Mathematica, his monumental book A New Kind of Science, his unique computational search engine Wolfram|Alpha, artificial intelligence and the technological singularity. I have to say that after spending 2 or 3 days in intense preparation for the interview I already knew that Dr. Wolfram is an exceptionally intelligent person. However, after our conversation and especially after taking into consideration Wolfram’s breadth and depth of work, and the profound actual and potential implications thereof, it seems to me that he may be [...]

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I Am Eyeborg: Rob Spence on Singularity 1 on 1

by Socrates
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Today I am very happy to have the Eyeborg Rob Spence as my guest on Singularity 1 on 1. (As usually, you can listen to or download the audio above, or scroll down to see the video recording of the interview in full.) Rob Spence is a Canadian director and producer who lives in Toronto. His work has appeared on Discovery, Vision, Space TV and the CBC for which he made the controversial documentary Let’s All Hate Toronto. Currently Rob is working on a documentary about how video and humanity intersect especially with regards to issues of surveillance and personal privacy. Who is Rob Spence? What is project Eyeborg? Take a one eyed film maker, an unemployed engineer, and a vision for something that’s never been done before and you have yourself the EyeBorg Project. Rob Spence, Kosta Grammatis and [...]

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