This is the video recording of my presentation and consequent Q&A at last week’s Frankfurt AI Meetup. It seems to have struck a chord with a few people and the feedback I got afterward has invigorated me to restart my efforts on ReWriting the Human Story. You can read most of the articles I used to put together my talk here: Technology is a Magnifying Mirror, Not a Crystal Ball; Magic, Manic and Monstrous: How Facebook is Programing Us; Technology is Not Enough; Technology is the How, not the Why or What. Hope you enjoy it.
Gus Hosein on Privacy: We’ve been well-meaning but stupid
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Dr. Gus Hosein is a 20+year-veteran of Privacy International. So to say that he knows a lot about privacy will be an understatement. But his knowledge is not merely academic. Gus and his scrappy team of privacy crusaders have fought the long and hard war while putting everything on the line, over and over again. A war where on a good day you might feel like David facing off Goliath. And yet, time and time again, Privacy International has taken on seemingly lost battles and scored victories from the jaws of defeat. I don’t know about you but to me, these are the kinds of people I want to hang out around, talk to, model, and learn from. The kind of people I want to interview. And Gus is as good an example of the kind as I can ever think of. So I hope you enjoy and learn from our conversation as much as I did.
During this 2-hour interview with Gus Hosein, we cover a variety of interesting topics such as: why he’s a failed mathematician with an interest in cryptography; how he ended up in policy; figuring out the role that tech plays in our life and the future; good timing, gumption and [stoic] fate; the mission and funding of Privacy International; why progress is made of partial victories; the definition of privacy and why we should care about it; the importance of being able to tell your own story; surveillance, national monitoring centers, and IMSI catchers; 5G, quantum encryption and the weakest link of the system; my persistent attempt to get to a new place or reach a new insight during my Singularity.FM interviews; the boring projection of our better selves and the benefits of struggle; why people should be free to be human – i.e. imperfect.
My favorite quote that I will take away from this conversation with Gus Hosein is his raw and off-the-cuff unique definition of privacy:
[Privacy is] The ability to establish the conditions by which we are seen, perceived, understood, and how we project ourselves.
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 Gus Hosein?
Dr. Gus Hosein has worked at the intersection of technology and human rights for over twenty years. He developed national, regional, and global campaigns on communications privacy. He worked on national security and anti-terrorism policy and led global advocacy against border registration, biometric collection, tracking of migration, travel profiling, and mass surveillance of financial data flows. He led research and co-authored a book on identity systems and policy, Global Challenges for Identity Policy. He founded regional and global networks of civil society organizations to work on technology and rights.
Hosein has acted as an external evaluator for UNHCR, advised the UN Special Rapporteur on Terrorism and Human Rights, and has advised a number of other international organizations. In March 2020, he was invited to join the UK Government’s Ethics Advisory Board for the NHSX Covid-19 contact tracing app.
Gus has held visiting fellowships at the London School of Economics and Political Science, Columbia University, and University College London. He was a Visiting Scholar at the American Civil Liberties Union and an advisor to their Technology and Liberty Project. He holds a B.Math (Hons) from the University of Waterloo and a Ph.D. from the University of London.
He’s previously been on the boards of the Foundation for Information Policy Research (advisory), medconfidential, the Omidyar Network Digital Identity Portfolio (advisory), Simply Secure and Tactical Tech.
In 2018 Gus was awarded the International Champion of Privacy award by the Electronic Privacy Information Center. Gus shared number 42 of Silicon.com’s list of top 50 agenda-setters in 2005.
Gus is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA).
Francesca Ferrando on Philosophical Posthumanism
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Though admittedly posthumanist, Francesca Ferrando‘s Philosophical Posthumanism is the best book on transhumanism that I have read so far. I believe that it is a must-read for transhumanists and non-transhumanists alike. In fact, one can argue that Ferrando’s book ranks right up there with the very best not only on the transhuman, but also on the human and the posthuman. The reason for that is simple: Philosophical Posthumanism cracks open, deconstructs, and demystifies all the major historical -isms. Furthermore, it not only lays bare words such as technology but also shows us how all the puzzle pieces fit together in the historical, ideological, theological, philosophical, etymological, scientific and decidedly political realms, like nothing else that I have read before. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Dr. Ferrando and invest the time and the effort to read her book.
During this 2-hour interview with Francesca Ferrando, we cover a variety of interesting topics such as: why I believe Philosophical Posthumanism is a must-read; why the etymological and other roots of a movement matter; child sociology and social mythology; our shared love for Ancient Greek mythology; the definitions of humanism, transhumanism, and posthumanism; why post-modernism is like the Quantum Mechanics of the humanities; the false distinction between human and transhuman; why the Hedonistic Imperative is merely a new version of the White Man’s Burden; theism and techno-solutionism; Martin Heidegger and the definition, poiesis and ontological power of technology.
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 Francesca Ferrando?
Francesca Ferrando teaches Philosophy at NYU-Liberal Studies, New York University. A leading voice in the field of Posthuman Studies and founder of the Global Posthuman Network, she has been the recipient of numerous honors and recognitions, including the Sainati prize with the Acknowledgement of the President of Italy.
Ferrando has published extensively on these topics culminating with her latest book Philosophical Posthumanism (Bloomsbury 2019) and, in the history of TED talks, she was the first speaker to give a talk on the topic of the posthuman. Those are just some of the reasons why the US magazine “Origins” named Francesca Ferrando among the 100 people making a change in the world.
Kim Stanley Robinson on Climate Change and the Ministry for the Future
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Kim Stanley Robinson has an asteroid named after him. The reason for that is simple: Stan, as he’s often known among people who know him, is one of the best known contemporary authors of classic [hard] science fiction. He has written 20 books that have been translated into 25 languages and has won pretty much all literary awards in his genre that you can think of. His latest novel is The Ministry for the Future and it deals with global warming – arguably the main challenge that humanity is facing today. I can keep going but I hope you agreed with me the moment you read his name – Stan is a perfect guest for my podcast.
During this 2 1/2-hour interview with Kim Stanley Robinson, we cover a variety of interesting topics such as: how he fell in love with literature after reading Huckleberry Finn; being Mr. Mom as well as an avid hiker in the Sierra Nevada mountains; the biggest threat humanity is facing today; the literary image of non-human animals in his books; nuclear weapons and AI; the definition of science fiction; the Emeritus syndrome; why AI is science and why it needs philosophy; climate change, the anti-narrative and the importance of story; why the future discount rate is a philosophical and not a scientific argument; how we can still make a good Anthropocene; The Ministry for the Future as an example of resisting dystopia; Maria Farrel as a living prototype of his main protagonist; political violence and eco-terrorism; Steven Pinker and the narcissism of small differences; humanity’s Manifest Destiny and Transhumanism; futurism and Peter Turchin’s cliodynamics; veganism and rapid decarbonization.
My favorite quote that I will take away from this conversation with Kim Stanley Robinson is:
Science needs judicious, humane and philosophical direction
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 Kim Stanley Robinson?
Kim Stanley Robinson is an American science fiction writer. He is the author of about twenty books, including the internationally bestselling Mars trilogy, and more recently Red Moon, New York 2140, Aurora, Shaman, Green Earth, and 2312. Robinson was sent to the Antarctic by the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers’ Program in 1995 and returned to their Antarctic media program in 2016.
In 2008 Kim Stanley Robinson was named a “Hero of the Environment” by Time magazine. He works with the Sierra Nevada Research Institute, the Clarion Writers’ Workshop, and UC San Diego’s Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination. His work has been translated into 25 languages and won a dozen awards in five countries, including the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy awards. In 2016 asteroid 72432 was named “Kimrobinson.”
Matthew Cole on Vegan Sociology, Ethics, Transhumanism and Technology
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Dr. Matthew Cole is the only vegan sociologist that I know of. His unique point of view on veganism, especially its implications with respect to ethics, transhumanism, and the application of technology, has already left a mark on the way I perceive the small challenges of being vegan as an opportunity for personal discipline and growth. I have learned a lot from him and I hope you take this interview as an opportunity to challenge and reconsider your personal choices with respect to non-human animals. Alternatively, if you are dead-set that you are a predator, and consuming animals is the only conceivable alternative that is compatible with your identity, then perhaps you ought to skip this episode altogether. Sadly, I believe it would be a missed opportunity but, at the end of the day, you should make your own choices.
During this 2-hour interview with Dr. Matthew Cole, we cover a variety of interesting topics such as: the story of how he became a vegan sociologist; unemployment and basic income; playing guitar in a thrash metal band; the original vegan society definition of veganism; breaching experiments and social norms; the media representation and image of veganism; Dr. Who and my 6 reasons why I went vegan; transhumanism, nature and human exceptionalism; David Pearce’s Hedonistic Imperative; the importance of social structures and personal humility in everything we do; Matthew’s free open course on why non-human animals are victims of harm.
My favorite quote that I will take away from this conversation with Dr. Matthew Cole is:
Coming up with technical fixes rather than ethical reform, revolution, rebellion . . . Every time that technology tries to stand in for ethics, we do ourselves a disservice, […] we deny ourselves the opportunity for growth. Sex Robots and Vegan Meat, Page 298
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 Matthew Cole?
Matthew Cole is a Lecturer in Criminology at The Open University. His work focuses on how nonhuman animals are socially constructed as objects for human use, and the harms that flow from those constructions. These interests have led him to investigate how children are socialised to simultaneously care for other animals, while accepting the normality of exploiting them, as food, entertainment, and so on. Matthew also researches the history and representation of veganism, not least for veganism’s potential to deconstruct and disrupt the business as usual of exploiting other animals.
Nikola Danaylov on Ex Human: the Lessons of 2020
I want to help out new podcasters as much as I can. So, when they ask me for an interview, I’m almost always looking for a reason to say “Yes.” Here is my 2nd interview for Alexander Padalka’s Ex Human on the lessons of 2020. I hope you find it is worth your time.
During this 40 min conversation, we cover a variety of topics such as: what made 2020 so special; why we should all be grateful for what we have; how our stories skew our views of the evidence; self-driving cars and the definition thereof; space exploration and establishing permanent bases on the Moon and Mars; Hugo Dreyfus’ 1st Step Fallacy and AI; violence, human nature, love, and hate; focusing on what we can, instead of what we can’t change; the practice and process of not giving up; a suggested book-reading list for 2021; why we should ask not for fewer challenges but for a stronger character.
Thomas Homer-Dixon on Climate Change and Commanding Hope
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Thomas Homer-Dixon is one of Canada’s most celebrated intellectuals. Luckily, he was also one of my Professors at the University of Toronto whose class on complexity has left an indelible mark on me. So when I heard that after a long break Homer-Dixon is publishing a new book on climate change I simply had to ask him for an interview. Commanding Hope: The power we have to renew a world in peril is an absolute must-read, especially if you care about the future health of our biosphere and find yourself losing hope or totally despairing. I have to admit that for many years now I have felt quite depressed about the severity and speed of climate change, not to mention the lack of any meaningful actions to limit, if not reverse it. Turns out that Tad’s book was just the medicine I needed.
During this 1.5-hour interview with Thomas Homer-Dixon, we cover a variety of interesting topics such as: my stand-out undergraduate lesson on complexity; why he is a curious person concerned about the world his children will inherit; The Ingenuity Gap and The Upside of Down; why he goes by Tad and not Thomas; his reputation as Dr. Doom; Commanding Hope, defining it and the different types thereof; epistemic fragmentation and the biggest threats to humanity; mass violence and attacking the rules of the game; artificial intelligence and human stupidity; the inspiring story of Stephanie May; Greta Thunberg as an example of the adjacent possible; Tolkien’s distinction between Amdir and Estel.
My favorite quote that I will take away from this conversation with Prof. Homer-Dixon is:
Despair is only for those who know the future without any doubt. We do not.
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 Thomas Homer-Dixon?
Thomas Homer-Dixon is director of the Cascade Institute at Royal Road University, and he holds a University Research Chair in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Canada. Between 2009 and 2014, he was founding director of the Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation and prior to that the Director of the Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Toronto.
Born in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, he received his B.A. in political science from Carleton University in 1980 and his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in international relations, defense and arms control policy, and conflict theory in 1989.
He then moved to the University of Toronto to lead several pioneering research projects investigating the links between environmental stress and violence in poor countries.
Since joining the University of Waterloo in 2008, his research has focused on threats to global security in the 21st century, including economic instability, climate change, and energy scarcity. He also studies how people, organizations, and societies can better resolve their conflicts and innovate in response to complex problems. His work is highly interdisciplinary, drawing on political science, economics, environmental studies, geography, cognitive science, social psychology, and complex systems theory.
He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on topics ranging from environmental security to international relations and complexity theory. In 1999 he received the University of Toronto’s Northrop Frye Teaching Award for integrating teaching and research.
Dr. Homer-Dixon’s books include The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization, which won Canada’s 2006 National Business Book Award, The Ingenuity Gap, which won the 2001 Governor General’s Non-fiction Award, and Environment, Scarcity, and
Violence, which won the 2000 Caldwell Prize of the American Political Science Association.
His academic writing has appeared in leading journals, including Ambio, International Security, Journal of Peace Research, and Population and Development Review. He has written for nonacademic audiences in Foreign Policy, Scientific American, The New York Times, and the Financial Times. He now writes regularly for the Toronto Globe and Mail in Canada.
A widely sought speaker, Dr. Homer-Dixon has delivered addresses on his research to academic and general audiences around the world. He has also consulted to senior levels of government in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Maria Farrell on Technology, Ethics, Stories and the Prodigal Techbro
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Maria Farrell is the author of some of my most favorite op-ed pieces of 2020. She is very smart, gutsy, genuine, feisty, generous, and Irish. Her writing is sharper, it penetrates deeper and she’s not afraid to go further than most others. I have already learned a lot from her and have become a total fan. So it was a blast to have her on my podcast and I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.
During this 2.5-hour interview with Maria Farrell, we cover a variety of interesting topics such as: why she is a reader who eventually became a writer for crooked timber and elsewhere; the image and mythology of Conor McGregor as the Fighting Irish; the biggest issues that humanity is facing today; stories as tools we think with; futurism as an interest of those happy with the present; what Feminism can teach us about our smartphones; how China is selling Autocracy as a service; why the internet must be more than Facebook; whether technology is a magnifying mirror; the importance and impact of story; why I wasn’t welcome at Google and CISCO; Francis Fukuyama’s The End of History; why the Agrarian Revolution is history’s greatest fraud; the Prodical Techbro phenomenon; my interview with Tristan Harris; the Tragedy of the Commons as a false narrative; why no one is coming to save us from ourselves.
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 Maria Farrell?
Maria Farrell is a writer and keynote speaker on technology and the future. An Irish citizen now based in London, Maria has worked in tech policy for twenty years in Europe, the US, and the UK. She was an Internet policy specialist at the International Chamber of Commerce, Paris, the UK’s Confederation of British Industry and The Law Society of England and Wales in the early 2000s, before being appointed deputy head of corporate affairs and policy officer at ICANN, based in Brussels, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. She then led communications and a government advisory project at infoDev, the World Bank/IFC program on technology and development.
Maria has been an invited speaker at the Royal Society, Chatham House and Royal Institute in London, European Forum Alpbach, and Estonia’s NATO cyber-security summer school. She opened the 2018 European Data Protection conference in the European Parliament. She weaves storytelling into speeches about how we can imagine and build technological and political futures we actively choose to live in, and not the dystopia currently on offer.
A graduate of University College Dublin, the Dublin Institute of Technology, and the London School of Economics, Maria taught politics and policy on Oxford University’s doctoral program in cybersecurity from 2014 – 2018. She is now completing a Ph.D. in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths University, London, and uses her fiction skills to write near-future stories and scenarios for technology clients who want to know how the future will really feel.
She has written for The Guardian, Slate, Medium, the Conversationalist, the Irish Times, and Irish Independent, and appeared as a tech expert on BBC, Sky News, NBC, and TRT.
FORMWELT Media SystemTalk with Nikola Danaylov
This is the video of my interview for the Formwelt Institute. It is about 40 minutes long during which time Gitta Peyn and I cover a variety of interesting topics such as: how I got called the Larry King of the Singularity; the misperception around the singularity and transhumanism; why humanity and not AI is the biggest threat to humanity; the potential for human speciation; techno-solutionism as the most common mistake we make today; why climate change is first and foremost an ideological, political and philosophical problem; the importance and function of story; progress, price, value and the End of History; why technology is a magnifying mirror.
Futurist.COM Founder Glen Hiemstra on 40 Years of Futurism: The Future is Something We Do
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Glen Hiemstra has been a futurist for close to 40 years. But if you think his specialty is forecasting the future then you’d be wrong. No. Hiemstra’s focus has not been on the most probable, or even the possible future. Instead, Glen has chosen to focus consistently on what he calls “the preferred future.” This is also what he’s been advising his clients to do. And shouldn’t we all do just that, focus on our preferred future, be it individually – as humans, professionals, and citizens, or collectively – as corporations, organizations, nations, and even as a civilization? Because as Hiemstra often says “the future creates the present.”
During this 2-hour interview with Glen Hiemstra, we cover a variety of interesting topics such as: what being a futurist means; major failures of futurism such as the collapse of the USSR; Francis Fukuyama’s The End of History and Peter Turchin’s cliodynamics; the probable, possible and preferred future; science fiction as Greg Bear’s sugar-coated pill; why science helps us live more comfortable lives but the humanities give us reasons to live for; genius and stupidity as roommates; collective decision making as the #1 problem we are facing today; the Fermi paradox and the McDonald’s Theory of Peace; declaring wars and other national emergencies as a way of maintaining power; Barbara Marx’s futurist vision; compassion as the way for diminishing polarization; Ray Kurzweil’s concept of the singularity; technological unemployment and a guaranteed minimum income.
My favorite thought that I will take away from this interview with Glen Hiemstra is:
The Future is something we do!
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 Glen Hiemstra?
Glen Hiemstra is the Founder and CEO of Futurist.com. An international expert on long range trends and creating the preferred future, Glen has advised professional, business, and governmental organizations for more than two decades and served as a technical advisor for futuristic television programs. He is the co-author of Millennial City: How a new generation can save the future, author of Turning the Future into Revenue: What Businesses and Individuals Need to Know to Shape Their Future, and co-author of Strategic Leadership. Futurist.com is regularly visited by people from over 120 nations.
Laura Major and Julie Shah on What to Expect When You’re Expecting Robots
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Hans Moravec famously claimed that robots will be our (mind) children. If true, then, it is natural to wonder What to Expect When You’re Expecting Robots? This is the question that Laura Major and Julie Shah – two expert robot engineers, are addressing in their new book. Given the subject of robots and AI as well as the fact that both Julie and Laura have experience in the aerospace, military, robotics, and self-driving car industries, I thought that they’d make great guests on my podcast. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.
During this 90 min interview with Laura Major and Julie Shah, we cover a variety of interesting topics such as: the biggest issues within AI and Robotics; why humans and robots should be teammates, not competitors; whether we ought to focus more on the human as a weak link in the system; what happens when technology works as designed and exceeds our expectations; problems in defining driverless (or self-driving) car, AI and robot; why, ultimately, technology is not enough; whether the aerospace industry is a good role model or not.
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 Julie Shah?
Julie Shah is a roboticist at MIT and an associate dean of social and ethical responsibilities of computing. She directs the Interactive Robotics Group in the Schwarzman College of Computing at MIT. She was a Radcliffe fellow, has received an National Science Foundation Career Award, and has been named one of MIT Technology Review’s “Innovators Under 35.” She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Who is Laura Major?
Laura Major is CTO of Motional (previously Hyundai-Aptiv Autonomous Driving Joint Venture), where she leads the development of autonomous vehicles. Previously, she led the development of autonomous aerial vehicles at CyPhy Works and a division at Draper Laboratory. Major has been recognized as a national Society of Women Engineers Emerging Leader. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Juan Enriquez on Right/Wrong: How Technology Transforms Our Ethics
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Juan Enriquez is a bestselling author, TED All-Star with 9 TED Talks, and countless TEDx talks. Juan is an angel investor and Managing Director of Excel Venture Management. He has sailed around the world on an expedition that increased the number of known genes a hundredfold and was part of the peace commission that negotiated the cease-fire with the Zapatistas in Mexico. Most recently, Enriquez is the author of Right/Wrong: How Technology Transforms Our Ethics.
During this 90 min interview with Juan Enriquez, we cover a variety of interesting topics such as: why he is a very curious and optimistic Cromagnon; his work as a venture capitalist at Excel Venture Management; the difference between the price and the cost of health and education; the story of how science, technology, ethics, and angel investment came into his life; his work with Ed Boyden; Catholic ethics and certainty in what’s right and wrong; the importance of humility and forgiveness; why those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities; intelligent design, homo evolutis, and transhumanism; his latest book Right/Wrong; veganism, techno-solutionism and personal development; the Abrahamic religions and adaptation; AI and the technological singularity.
My favorite quote that I will take away from this interview with Juan Enriquez is:
Just do it and enjoy the ride!
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 Juan Enriquez?
Juan Enriquez is a leading authority on the economic impact of life sciences and brain research on business and society as well as a respected business leader and entrepreneur. He was the founding Director of the Harvard Business School’s Life Sciences Project and is a research affiliate at MIT’s synthetic neurobiology lab. After HBS, Juan became an active angel investor, founding Biotechonomy Ventures. He then co-founded Excel Venture Management. Author and co-author of multiple bestsellers including As the Future Catches You: How Genomics Will Change Your Life, Work, Health, and Wealth (1999), The Untied States of America: Polarization, Fracturing and Our Future (2005), Evolving Ourselves: Redesigning Humanity One Gene at a Time (2015,) and RIGHT/WRONG: How Technology Transforms Our Ethics (2020).
As a business leader, advisor, and renowned speaker, Juan Enriquez works directly with the CEOs of a number of Fortune 50 companies, as well as various heads of state, on how to adapt to a world where the dominant language is shifting from the digital towards the language of life. He is a TED All-Star with nine TED talks on a variety of subjects, as well as dozens of TEDx talks. Mr. Enriquez serves on multiple for-profit boards as well as a variety of non-profits including The National Academy of Sciences, The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, WGBH, The Boston Science Museum, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard’s David Rockefeller Center. Juan sailed around the world on an expedition that increased the number of known genes a hundredfold and was part of the peace commission that negotiated the cease fire with the Zapatistas. He graduated from Harvard with a B.A. and an M.B.A., both with honors.