Socrates

Joscha Bach on AI, Cosmology, Existence and the Bible

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Joscha Bach is a beautiful mind and a very rewarding interlocutor. No surprise I had many requests to have him back on my podcast. I apologize that it took 4 years but the good news is we are going to have a third conversation much sooner this time around. If you haven’t seen our first interview with Joscha I suggest you start there before you watch this one. Enjoy and don’t hesitate to let me know what you think.

During our 2-hour conversation with Joscha Bach, we cover a variety of interesting topics such as his new job at Intel as an AI researcher; whether Moore’s Law is dead or alive; why he is first and foremost a human being trying to understand the world; the kinds of questions he would like to ask God or Artificial Superintelligence; the most recent AI developments and criticisms from Gary Marcus, Marvin Minsky, and Noam Chomsky; living in a learnable universe; evolution and the frame problem; intelligence, smartness, wisdom, and values; personal autonomy and the hive mind; cosmology, theology, story, existence, and non-existence.

My favorite quotes that I will take away from this conversation with Joscha Bach are:

What is a model? A model is a set of regularities that we find in the world – the invariances like the Laws of Physics at a certain level of resolution, that describe how the world doesn’t change but is the same. [These are the things that remain constant.] And the state that the world is in. And once you combine these constants and the known state you can predict the next state of the world.

Intelligence is the ability to dream in a very focused way.

As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full. To show your support you can write a review on iTunes, make a direct donation, or become a patron on Patreon.

Who is Joscha Bach?

Joscha Bach, Ph.D. is a cognitive scientist focused on cognitive architectures, mental representation, emotion, social modeling, and learning. He earned his Ph.D. in cognitive science from the University of Osnabrück, Germany. He is especially interested in the philosophy of AI, and in using computational models and conceptual tools to understand our minds and what makes us human. Joscha has taught computer science, AI, and cognitive science at the Humboldt-University of Berlin, the Institute for Cognitive Science at Osnabrück, and the MIT Media Lab, and authored the book “Principles of Synthetic Intelligence” (Oxford University Press). He currently works at the Harvard Program for Evolutionary Dynamics in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The Cassandra of Futurism Faith Popcorn: Futurism Doesn’t Come from the Past

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Photo Credit Victor Jeffreys III

Faith Popcorn founded her futurist marketing consultancy in 1974. She’s been called “The Trend Oracle” by the NY Times and “The Nostradamus of Marketing” by Fortune. Faith is a trusted advisor to the CEOs of Fortune 200 companies and has predicted a variety of trends such as Cocooning and its impact on the COVID culture, Social Media, and The Metaverse. She has been invited to speak all over the planet and is the best-selling author of four books. Finally, in her own words, Faith is a jew educated at a Christian School, a Caucasian who grew up among Asians, a 6th generation New Yorker and the adopted mother of 2 girls from China.

During our 2-hour conversation with Faith Popcorn, we cover a variety of interesting topics such as why she is the Cassandra of our era; her unique background and upbringing; the origins of her Faith Popcorn name; futurism, misogyny and gender equality; her mission to bring a vision of what’s coming; saving the planet and the trends to pay attention to; her client cases like Campbell Soup, Kodak, Coke, Pepsi, Tyson Foods and others; male vs female leaders; Futurism vs Applied Futurism; why the future is vegan; why the biggest shifts are in humanity, not in technology; trend recognition, utilization, and creation; AI and the singularity.

My favorite quotes that I will take away from this conversation with Faith Popcorn are:

The people who are making today cannot make tomorrow.

Futurism doesn’t come from the past.

As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full. To show your support you can write a review on iTunes, make a direct donation, or become a patron on Patreon.

 

Who is Faith Popcorn?

Faith founded Faith Popcorn’s BrainReserve (FPBR), the futurist marketing consultancy, in 1974. The New York Times has called her “The Trend Oracle,” Fortune Magazine named her “The Nostradamus of Marketing,” and she is recognized globally as the original and foremost Futurist. She has identified such sweeping societal movements as “Cocooning,“ “SOS,” “AtmosFear,“ “Anchoring,“ “99 Lives” and “Vigilante Consumer.”

As the key strategist for Faith Popcorn’s BrainReserve, Faith and her esteemed team apply their insights to cultural and business Trend Truths, opening the vision of FPBR clients, repositioning their brands/companies, developing new models and innovating for sustainable growth. She is a trusted advisor to the CEOs of The Fortune 200 including such companies as American Express, Apple, Campbell’s Soup, Citigroup, Chipotle, Colgate, Comcast, Constellation Brands, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Kellogg’s, KFC, Mars, Pfizer, SC Johnson, Tylenol, Unilever and The USPS.

With a documented 95% accuracy rate, Faith predicted the demand for fresh foods, home delivery, telemedicine, enhanced entertainment and home schooling, as well as capturing the spiritual tenor of the millennium with Cocooning and its impact on the COVID-culture. Additionally, she predicted the rise of Social Media, The Metaverse, and has a significant following on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.

She has been invited to speak all over the planet on subjects such as The Future of Masculinity, Child-Free by Choice, Five Future Forces, EVEolution: The Rise of Females & Gender Fluidity, and The “Fake” Food Explosion. Among her engagements: Cannes Lions, SXSW, WSJ: The Future of Everything, The Beverage Forum, ANA (The Association of National Advertisers), Advertising Women of New York, CECP (Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose), NYU, Fordham University and Dubai’s Arab Innovation Summit.

She is a best-selling author of four books: The Popcorn Report, Clicking, EVEolution, Dictionary of the Future and the upcoming, Popcorn Report 2030: A Leap of Faith.

Heralded for her extraordinary ability to forecast emerging consumer patterns, Faith is frequently interviewed and cited in the media by The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, Fortune, Fast Company, The Today Show, Face the Nation, and CNN as well as all the Social Channels.

She has recently launched a podcast entitled Jolty, co-created SPACED, a 7 Episode series being considered by HBO, and recorded an album about The Future.

Faith was raised in Shanghai, China, is a sixth-generation New Yorker from the now chic East Village, and a graduate of New York’s High School of Performing Arts and New York University. She is a single mother of two daughters, Georgica, 23 & Clara-Cecil, 17 (both adopted from China), and two Japanese Chins, MochiKo and Rei-Rei Kawakubo, all residing in Manhattan and Wainscott, New York.

Kendall Haven on Story Proof: The Science Behind the Startling Power of Story

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Dr. Kendall Haven is the only West Point graduate to ever become a professional storyteller. Haven holds a Doctorate in Oceanography and spent eight years as a Senior Research Scientist for the Department of Energy before finding his true passion for what he calls, a very different kind of “truth.” Kendall is the author of 34 books but the 2 most relevant to our conversation today are Story Proof: the Science behind the Startling Power of Story which pioneered and reported on some of the first neuroscientific studies of the Brain on Story. And was later followed by Story Smart: Using the Science of Story to Persuade, Inspire, Influence, and Teach. Finally, Kendall Haven has performed for audiences of over 5 million people for the past four decades and has been appointed as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Stanford University.

During our 2 1/2 hour conversation with Kendall Haven, we cover a variety of interesting topics such as why stories are like famous chess games; the problem with reading scientific reports; going to West Point, doing a Ph.D. in oceanography, and becoming a storyteller; how he discovered the power of story and a very different kind of truth; memory, information, and story; Story Proof and the science behind it; our most powerful tool and why we are Homo narrative; how information is story-processed before it gets to the conscious mind; the definition of story; whether storytelling has a bad reputation; why reframing the story, and not more information, is the way to change behavior; why change stories are about preservation; the need for ReWriting the Human Story; the danger that story can become a universal hammer for all nails.

My favorite quote that I will take away from this conversation with Kendall Haven is this:

Story is not theoretical anymore. It’s not hyperbole. Story is woven into our DNA. We are story. That’s now science.

As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full. To show your support you can write a review on iTunes, make a direct donation, or become a patron on Patreon.

Who is Kendall Haven?

The only West Point graduate to ever become a professional storyteller, Kendall Haven also holds a Doctorate in Oceanography (Oregon State University) and spent eight years as a Senior Research Scientist for the Department of Energy before finding his true passion for storytelling and a very different kind of “truth.”

With 35 years of experience as a touring master storyteller, and after three decades leading the research effort for the National Storytelling Association and the International Storytelling Center, Haven has emerged as the nation’s leading, and an internationally recognized, Subject Matter Expert on the neuro- and cognitive-science of story, on story structure, and on story architectural design. This effort has culminated in his two seminal books that have revolutionized our understanding of the relationship between the human mind/brain and the elements of effective story structure: STORY PROOF: The Science Behind the Startling Power of Story and STORY SMART: Using the Science of Story to Persuade, Inspire, Influence, and Teach. For this work, Haven has been appointed as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Stanford University for his neural and cognitive story research expertise. Haven has also been recruited by the Department of State’s U.S. Speaker’s Program as an expert on Storytelling and Neural Influence Messaging

Kendall Haven regularly serves as a story consultant to departments in various governmental science agencies from the Navy and Army Intelligence to EPA, to NASA, NOAA, and NPS (the National Park Service), and to organizations and corporations from The World Bank, Boeing, and ARAMCO to United Way America and the Climate Protection Campaign. He was also selected as the only storyteller to participate in the 2012-2014 Department of Defense (DARPA) Narrative Networks Research Program.

Haven was selected as a Featured Presenter at the 2013 and at the 2014 Aspen Ideas Fest, the first storyteller ever to be so invited. In addition, he has been a featured presenter and performer at over 150 Industry and Science conferences, corporate and professional conferences, Government Conferences, Education Conferences, School and Public Library Conferences, and Storytelling Conferences and Festivals; has performed for audiences of over 5.5 million in 44 states and four foreign countries, and has won numerous awards both for his story-writing and for his story-telling.

Haven has published five audiotapes, and 34 books including ten collections of original historically-themed stories, one children’s novel, one picture book, four classroom story/activity books, and six award-winning instructional books on the process and use of story. For the International Storytelling Center (ISC) and the National Storytelling Association (NSA) Haven led a series of multi-year studies into the effective use of storytelling and current storytelling Best Practices.

Kendall also wrote two scripts for an animated Education Channel program and created a three-hour high adventure radio drama style mini-series for National Public Radio on the effects of watching television that has won five major national awards. He created a book of 50 science stories, Marvels of Science, to make the history and process of science fascinating and compelling, and, more recently a book of forty stories illuminating the fascinating and little-known women’s share of American history, Amazing American Women. His most recent story releases include Close Encounters with Deadly Dangers: Stories of Major Natural Predators, That’s Weird! Awesome Science Mysteries, Voices of the American Revolution, Voices of the American Civil War, and Women on the Edge of Discovery.

Kendall Haven is the 2012 winner of the Leo Politi Golden Author Award, a nine-time winner of the Storytelling World Silver Award for best Story Anthology, 3-time 2009 Telly and Communicator Silver Award Winner, and has won the 1993 International Festival Association Silver Award for Best Educational Program at a major national festival, the 1992 Corporation for Public Broadcasting Silver Award for Best Children’s Public Radio Production, and the 1991 Award for Excellence in California Education. He has twice been designated an American Library Association “Notable Recording Artist,” and is the only storyteller in America with three entries in the American Library Association’s Best of the Best for Children.

Haven has used his writing talent to create stories for many non-profit organizations, including The American Cancer Society, International Storytelling Center, United Way America, the Institute for Mental Health Initiatives, the Climate Protection Campaign, several Crisis Centers, the Children’s Television Resource and Education Center, one regional hospital, and the Child Abuse Prevention Training Center of California.

Kendall Haven lives with his wife in the rolling Sonoma County grape vineyards in rural Northern California.

Brian Boyd on the Origin of Stories

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Brian Boyd is a Distinguished Professor at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His work has appeared in 20 languages and has won awards on four continents. Most importantly, Prof. Boyd is the author of On the Origin of Stories which examines the connections between evolution, cognition, and fiction.

During our 2-hour conversation with Brian Boyd, we cover a variety of interesting topics such as how Brian fell in love with story; the definition of story; Heider and Simmel’s triangle movie; the evolutionary origins of story in humans and other species; why Brian defines art as “cognitive pattern play”; the AI frame problem; religion as perhaps the most powerful and popular story; Jonah Sach’s “Myth Gap” and the importance of the image of the future; science, values, and story; the human story; the limits of universal explanations; social media as a misguided attempt to control our story; Karl Popper’s views on science, stories, and revolutions.

My favorite quote from Brian Boyd is this:

Story is a type of evolutionary adaptation. Understanding the world as a story – i.e. as a cause and effect, must undoubtedly be of adaptive value. Furthermore, stories help us explore the world not only as an actuality but also as a possibility. So it is a tool of learning, of thinking beyond the here and now.

As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full. To show your support you can write a review on iTunes, make a direct donation, or become a patron on Patreon.

Who is Brian Boyd?

Brian Boyd is a Distinguished Professor at the University of Auckland who has been considered the foremost Nabokov scholar for over a third of a century. He has also published on other American, Brazilian, English, Greek, Irish, New Zealand, Polish, and Russian writers; on fiction, non-fiction, drama, verse, comics, film, translation, adaptation, and literary and art theory; on literature (and art) and evolution (On the Origin of Stories; Why Lyrics Last; On the Origin of Art); and on linguistics, philosophy, and science. Brian’s work has appeared in 20 languages and has won awards on four continents. Prof. Boyd is currently working on a biography of the philosopher of science Karl Popper.

John Smart: Foresight is Your Hidden Superpower

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John Smart has taught and written for over 20 years on topics like foresight and futurism as well as the drivers, opportunities, and problems of exponential processes throughout human history. John is President of the Acceleration Studies Foundation, co-Founder of the Evo-Devo research community, and CEO of Foresight University. Most recently, Smart is the author of Introduction to Foresight, which in my view is a “one-of-a-kind all-in-one instruction manual, methodological encyclopedia, and daily work bible for both amateur and professional futurists or foresighters.”

During our 2-hour conversation with John Smart, we cover a variety of interesting topics such as the biggest tech changes since our 1st interview; machine vs human sentience; China’s totalitarianism and our new geostrategic global realignment; Citizen’s Diplomacy, propaganda, and the Russo-Ukrainian War; foresight, futurism and grappling with uncertainty; John’s Introduction to Foresight; Alvin Toffler’s 3P model aka the Evo-Devo Classic Foresight Pyramid; why the future is both predicted and created despite our anti-prediction and freedom bias; Moore’s Law and Accelerating Change; densification and dematerialization; definition and timeline to general AI; evolutionary vs developmental dynamics; autopoiesis and practopoiesis; existential threats and why we must delay nuclear power; whether we live in a child-proof universe; the Transcension Hypothesis.

My favorite quote that I will take away from this interview with John Smart is:

We must learn to see how physics, chemistry, biology, human culture, and technology are each catalysts for new evolutionary freedoms and new developmental constraints, at the same time. We must also guard against both overly free and overly determined models of the future. It is easy to get out of this evo-devo balance, and oversimplify reality. Exponential Progress: Thriving in an Era of Accelerating Change, PDF page 29

As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full. To show your support you can write a review on iTunes, make a direct donation, or become a patron on Patreon.

Who is John Smart?

John Smart is a student of strategic and adaptive foresight, global futures, exponential processes, and complex systems. He is President of the Acceleration Studies Foundation nonprofit (est. 2003), co-Founder of the Evo-Devo Universe complex systems research community (est. 2008), and CEO of Foresight University, a foresight learning, and development company (est. 2016). For twenty years, John has taught and written on foresight development and the drivers, opportunities, and problems of exponential processes throughout human history. John has a B.S. in business administration from UC Berkeley, an M.S. in futures studies from the University of Houston, and an M.S.-equivalency in physiology and medicine from UCSD School of Medicine. He has an honorary Ph.D. in Technology Education from the University of Advancing Technology (2008) an Outstanding Faculty Award from the California Law Enforcement Command College (2011), and he lectures on personal and team foresight practice, leadership, and technological change at the Naval Postgraduate School (since 2012). He blogs at Medium.com, and his speakers’ website is JohnMSmart.com. John lives in Ann Arbor, MI with his wife and two young children.

Jonah Sachs on Winning the Story Wars: Storytelling is our neglected secret weapon

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Jonah Sachs is an author, speaker, and viral marketing pioneer. He helped create some of the world’s first and most heralded digital social change campaigns. Jonah Sachs is also the author of Winning the Story Wars: Why Those Who Tell (and Live) the Best Stories Will Rule the Future and, most recently, Unsafe Thinking: How to be Nimble and Bold When You Need it Most.

During our 2-hour conversation with Jonah Sachs, we cover a variety of interesting topics such as why stories are the root of who we are; the Story of Stuff, the Meatrix and Grocery Store Wars; the definition of story, and the top 5 markers of a great one; Winning the Story Wars; the hero’s journey; cultural relativism and finding the common space we can build on; the pros and cons of our current human story; AI, GPT3, and 2 Turing Tests; the poison and cure of story and the Buddhist test of suffering.

My favorite quote that I will take away from this interview with Jonah Sachs is:

Storytelling is the neglected secret weapon we all have

As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full. To show your support you can write a review on iTunes, make a direct donation, or become a patron on Patreon.

Who is Jonah Sachs?

Jonah Sachs is an author, speaker and viral marketing pioneer. His new approaches to digital media have been critical in bringing the ideals of social change — such as equity, empowerment, responsibility and transparency — to the forefront of business and popular culture.

Jonah helped to create some of the world’s first, and still most heralded, digital social change campaign. As co-founder of Free Range Studios, his work on Amnesty International’s blood diamonds viral film was seen by 20 million people and was delivered by to every member of congress, helping drive the passage of the Clean Diamond Act.

He later helped to create “The Story of Stuff,” which, viewed by over 60 million people, marked a turning point in the fight to educate the public about the environmental and social impact of consumer goods. Jonah went onto to lead groundbreaking campaigns for Greenpeace, Human Rights Campaigns and the ACLU, as well as major brands including Microsoft and Patagonia.

Jonah’s work and opinions have been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, FOX News, Sundance Film Festival, NPR. Sachs also pens a column for Fast Company, which named him one of today’s 50 most influential social innovators.

Will Storr on the Science of Storytelling: We’re storytelling animals

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Many of you know that I’ve been working on a new book provisionally titled ReWriting the Human Story: How Our Story Determines Our Future. And so I thought it could be useful to me and interesting to you if I were to have a conversation with a few story experts and ask them questions such as why story, what is story and, perhaps most importantly, how does it relate to technology, AI, being human and our future.

My guest today is Will Storr. Will is an award-winning writer, journalist, and storyteller. He’s the author of six books, including the Sunday Times bestseller The Science of Storytelling: How Stories Make Us Human and How to Tell Them Better.

During our 2-hour conversation with Will Storr, we cover a variety of interesting topics such as why we should care about story and the definition thereof; why the brain is a storyteller and a hero maker; Yuval Harari’s claim that we are moving towards unification rather than diversity [or as I put it badly – “we have fewer stories than before”]; science, religion, technology, and story; status and the ways we pursue it; the freedom to choose our own story; ReWriting the Human Story.

My favorite quote that I will take away from this interview with Will Storr is:

We’re not gods, we’re just storytelling animals.

As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full. To show your support you can write a review on iTunes, make a direct donation, or become a patron on Patreon.

Who is Will Storr?

Will Storr is an award-winning writer. He’s the author of six critically acclaimed books, including the novel The Hunger, The Howling of Killian Lone, and the Sunday Times bestseller The Science of Storytelling. His journalism has appeared in titles such as The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. His prizes include a National Press Club award for excellence and the AFM award for Best Investigative Journalism. His work on sexual violence against men earned the Amnesty International Award and a One World Press Award. He’s also been presented with the AIB Award for Best Investigative Documentary for his BBC radio series.

Will Storr teaches popular storytelling classes in London and has been invited to present his Science of Storytelling workshop all over the world. He’s an in-demand ghostwriter whose books have spent months at the top of the Sunday Times bestseller chart and have sold more than two million copies.

Roshi Jundo Cohen on Zen, AI, Transhumanism and Saving the World

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Many of you know that I am a fan of Buddhism in general and Zen Buddhism in particular. So I’ve always wanted to get a Zen Master on the podcast. I never imagined, however, that there is a Zen Master who has listened to almost every episode of my show. But the universe is a weird place and it turns out there is such a person.

Roshi Jundo is a former Newyorker, lawyer, husband, father of 2, cancer survivor, and Japanese Soto Zen Master. He is the founder of the Treeleaf Sangha and co-host of the Zen of Everything Podcast. Jundo is also the author of The Zen Master’s Dance: A Guide to Understanding Dogen and Who You are In the Universe as well as an upcoming book provisionally titled Building the Future Buddha: The Kōan of Robots, Genes, Saving the World and Travelling to the Stars.

During our 2-hour conversation with Jundo Cohen, we cover a variety of interesting topics such as the story of how a Jewish kid from the Bronx became a Zen Master in Japan; Buddhism and Zen Buddhism; oneness, wholeness, and the illusion of separation; whether we are living in a simulation; why the world is both perfect and imperfect; moderation, compassion, simplicity, desire and excess;  dealing with pain and discomfort; why acceptance is not giving up; the wave as a manifestation of the sea; artificial meat, modifying the human genome and other tech solutions to our problems; David Pearce’s Hedonistic Imperative; the singularity, AI and Transhumanism.

As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full. To show your support you can write a review on iTunes, make a direct donation, or become a patron on Patreon.

Who is Roshi Jundo Cohen?

Jundo Cohen is a Zen teacher and founder of the Treeleaf Zendo, a Soto Zen community using visual media to link Zen practitioners around the world. Treeleaf serves those who cannot easily commute to a Zen Center due to health concerns; age or disability; living in remote areas; or work, childcare, or family needs. It provides zazen sittings, retreats, discussion, interaction with a teacher, and all other activities of a Zen Buddhist sangha, all fully online without thought of location or distance.

Jundo was born and raised in the United States but has lived in Japan for more than half his life. He currently resides in Tsukuba “Science City,” Japan, home to Japan’s space program, dozens of research institutes, a particular collider, and several of the world’s fastest Super Computers. He was ordained and subsequently received Dharma transmission from Master Gudo Wafu Nishijima and is a member of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association. He is the author of The Zen Master’s Dance: A Guide to Understanding Dogen and Who You Are in the Universe, Wisdom Publications, 2020

Angus Fletcher on Wonderworks: Seek The Untold Story

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Prof. Angus Fletcher is a story scientist working at the intersection of story and neuroscience. Angus started as a neuroscientist at the University of Michigan but eventually decided to pursue a Ph.D. in Shakespeare at Yale. Then he went to Stanford University and worked with clients in Hollywood, DARPA, and the US special forces. Angus is the author of Wonderworks and the upcoming Storythinking. He has become known for coming up with proof that computer AI lacks the physical hardware to replicate human creativity, let alone innovate or plan to take over the world.

During our 2-hour conversation with Angus Fletcher, we cover a variety of interesting topics such as what computer science is all about; why a neuro/scientist should study literature; why the brain is not a computer; what a Shakespeare Ph.D. can teach/consult DARPA and Spec Ops on; literature as a tool to heal and grow your brain; building a story machine that can establish cause-effect narratives; why story is the operating system of the brain; literature as the engine of science; the mission of Project Narrative; my definition of story; computer vs human creativity; the singularity and transhumanism story; Jonah Sach’s myth-gaps as the greatest leadership opportunity to ReWrite the Human Story; growth as the ability to change our minds; why multiplicity is better than a singularity; humanism and AI-ism.

As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full. To show your support you can write a review on iTunes, make a direct donation, or become a patron on Patreon.

Who is Angus Fletcher?

Angus Fletcher is Professor of Story Science at Ohio State’s Project Narrative. His most recent books are Wonderworks (Simon & Schuster, 2021) and Storythinking (Columbia University Press, 2022). He has written on the limits, and the future, of Artificial Intelligence in Wired, Nautilus, Modern Warfare, and the academic journal Narrative. His writings and media appearances can be found at angusfletcher.co

The Problem with NFTs [Video]

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8 years after I wrote Bitcoin: The Financial Singularity is Here it is time for a little Mea Culpa retrospective. Plus, many have emailed to ask about my views on NFTs. So, here we go. See The Problem with NFTs by Folding Ideas and learn for yourselves. Because if I can’t do better myself I might as well use someone who already has done a great job on Bitcoin, Ethereum, and NFTs. Enjoy!

SciFi Author PJ Manney on the New Mythos and (Con)Science

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This is the second interview of my series on story and my guest is PJ Manney. PJ is the author of the Phoenix Horizon Trilogy and has already been a guest on Singularity.FM twice before. [See our 1st and 2nd interviews.] She is a friend, and I am a big fan of her books. Today we are going to touch on the last book of her trilogy – (CON)Science and will discuss what PJ calls the New Mythos, and what I refer to as ReWriting the Human Story.

During our 2-hour conversation with PJ Manney, we cover a variety of interesting topics such as the genesis and purpose of The New Mythos; Aristotle’s story structure and hero’s journey; Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s concept of the Noosphere as a metaphor of the new mythos; the definition of story and why story is to us like water is to fish; Future Shock, complexity and Jonah Sach’s “myth gaps”; the poison and cure of story and science; ethics, our frame of reference and the powers of 10; the human story and the dangers thereof; Yucky Gets Yummy: How Speculative Fiction Creates Society; (CON)Science and PJ’s upcoming 14 stories on the Axial Age.

As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full. To show your support you can write a review on iTunes, make a direct donation, or become a patron on Patreon.

Who is PJ Manney?

PJ Manney is the author of the bestselling and Philip K. Dick Award-nominated science fiction technothriller, (R)EVOLUTION (2015), published by 47North in the Phoenix Horizon trilogy with, (ID)ENTITY (2017), and (CON)SCIENCE, (2021). Set as alternate, future American histories, the novels chart the influence of world-changing technologies on power and nations.

A former chairperson of Humanity Plus, she helped rebrand the organization, launch H+ Magazine and organize the first multi-org conference on futurist topics, Convergence ’08. She authored “Yucky Gets Yummy: How Speculative Fiction Creates Society“​ and “Empathy in the Time of Technology: How Storytelling is the Key to Empathy,”​ foundational works on the neuropsychology of empathy and media.

Manney has presented her ideas to National Geographic, the Producers Guild of America, Directors Guild of America, NASA-JPL, M.I.T., Huffington Post, The H+ Summit, and the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, is a frequent guest on podcasts/web shows including StarTalk, The World Transformed, Singularity.FM, and Amazing Mind, and has published in BoingBoing, Live Science, and Tor.com. She is also the first person to create and transfer a digital autograph for a novel verified by the blockchain. Manney consults for varied organizations about the future of humanity and technology, including artificial intelligence, robotics, cyborgs, nanotechnology, biotechnology, brain-computer interfaces, space, blockchains, and cryptocurrencies.

Manney graduated from Wesleyan University double majoring in Film and American Studies. She worked for over 25 years in film/TV: motion picture PR at Walt Disney/Touchstone Pictures; story development for independent film production companies; and writing as Patricia Manney for the critically acclaimed hit TV shows Hercules — The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. She also co-founded Uncharted Entertainment, writing and/or creating many pilot scripts for television networks, including CBS, Fox, UPN, Discovery, ABC Family, and Comedy Central.

Manney lives with her husband in Southern California and is a dual citizen of the US and New Zealand. She is a member of the WGA, SFWA, ITW, and PEN America.

Lisa Cron on Story or Die: Question the Story

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Some of you may know that I’ve been working on a new book. The provisional title is ReWriting the Human Story: How Our Story Determines Our Future. Struggling with this book is why it’s been a number of months since my last podcast interview. And so I thought it could be useful to me and interesting to you if I were to have a conversation with a few story experts and ask them questions such as why story, what is story and, perhaps most importantly, how does it relate to technology, AI, being human and our future.

Today is the first interview of this series and my guest is Lisa Cron. Lisa is the author of Story or Die and Wired for Story which is also the title of her fantastic TEDx talk you can see under her bio below. During this 2.5-hour interview with Lisa Cron, we cover a variety of interesting topics such as: why story; the definition of story; why our biology shows we are wired for story; story as a virtual reality simulator; consciousness and story; the boomerang effect of scientific evidence; the only way of walking into someone’s shoes; language, emotion, and the patriarchy; the cure and poison of story; if or how social media is hacking story; the story of AI, democracy, and humanity; ReWriting the Human Story.

As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full. To show your support you can write a review on iTunes, make a direct donation, or become a patron on Patreon.

Who is Lisa Cron?

Lisa Cron is the author of Wired for Story, Story Genius, and most recently, Story or Die: How to Use Brain Science to Engage, Persuade, and Change Minds in Business and in Life. Her video course, Wired for Story: How to Become a Story Genius can be found at CreativeLive.com, and Writing: The Craft of Story at LinkedInLearning.com. Her TEDx talk, Wired for Story, opened Furman University’s 2014 TEDx conference.

Lisa spent a decade in publishing and has been a literary agent, television producer, and story analyst for Hollywood studios. She has also served on the faculty of the School of Visual Arts MFA program in visual narrative and, since 2006, has taught in the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program. In her work as a private story coach, Lisa works with writers, nonprofits, educators, and organizations, helping them master the unparalleled power of story.