The World Transformed

Latest Episodes:

The Idea Machine: Transformations Are All Around Feb 22, 2014

Show notes

Picking up where last Friday's show left off, hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon discuss the changes that are reshaping our world -- most of which started out as good ideas. A few examples: Human lung produced in a lab The dawn of the age of artificial intelligence A wristwatch to prevent heart attacks Wi-fi from space Thermonuclear Fusion What ideas are coming next? And how will they transform our world still further? Tune in and explore. (WT 060)

The Singularity Is Near -- Sooner or Later Feb 21, 2014

Show notes

Hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon discuss the timing of the Technological Singularity: ...a hypothetical moment in time when artificial intelligence will have progressed to the point of a greater-than-human intelligence, radically changing civilization, and perhaps human nature.Since the capabilities of such an intelligence may be difficult for a human to comprehend, the technological singularity is often seen as an occurrence (akin to a gravitational singularity) beyond which the future course of human history is unpredictable or even unfathomable. If it is going to happen, one of the critical questions is when. Ramez Naam has recently suggested that it probably won't be any time soon. But William Hertling says don't be too sure -- it could happen a lot faster than we think. Who's right? Is the Singularity near? Tune in an explore. (WT 059)

The Amazing $3 Million iPhone Price Drop Feb 19, 2014

Show notes

Last Week Business Insider ran a story calculating what an iPhone would have cost if one had been assembled in 1991. Once you add up the 1991 prices for the processing power, memory, and communication speed that an iPhone delivers today, you're looking at an iPhone that would have cost $3.5 million! Hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon discuss how technological advancement and the process of ephemeralization have made an everyday object out of an item only the wealthiest could have afforded not that long ago. if we project these trends forward, what amazing capabilities that only the wealthy can afford today will be commonplace tomorrow? Plus, the most crucial question: what good would an iPhone have done you back in 1991? (WT 058)

A Matter of Days: A Chapter for the World's Longest Book Feb 15, 2014

Show notes

Host Phil Bowermaster demonstrates how quick and easy it can be to write a chapter for the book version of The World Transformed by composing his in real time on the show. Phil's chapter is called "A Matter of Days," which lays out the following world-transforming idea: people need to get focused on days. How many days do I have? How many days will it take to achieve what I most what to see happen? How many days until we reach the future we are all hoping for? Also, very important, how do I get more days if I need them? Tune in and explore! (WT 057)

Quantum Consciousness: Do Our Minds Control Reality? Feb 13, 2014

Show notes

Hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon explore the relationship between consciousness and the physical world. Can our thoughts determine physical outcomes? Is consciousness itself a quantum phenomenon? What can a physiscist tell us about the relationship between mind and matter? Tune in and explore. (WT 056)

From Here to "Her": Closing in on Real Artificial Intelligence Feb 11, 2014

Show notes

Hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon discuss the possibility that we will soon be interacting with intelligent agents like Tony Stark's digital assistant Jarvis in the Iron Man movies or Joaquin Phoenix's crush Samantha in Her. Our current interactions with Google and SIRI may be just a shadow of things to come. Developments that speak to this future capability: Digital fitness coachesConverstional Chatbots getting closer?Google's interesting moves towards Artificial IntelligenceA proposed computing device with emotional intelligence How long before truly intelligent digital agents are not only a part of our lives, but real people who are in our lives? Tune in and explore. (WT 055)

Humanity Revised: Re-Engineering the Human Machine Feb 08, 2014

Show notes

Hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon review two breakthrough biotech developments that promise to enable powerful human modification capabilities: Simplified editing of DNA Simplified production of Stem cells Human modification will have a tremendous impact on everything from medicine to parenting to athletics. How different is our world about to become? Tune in an explore. (WT 054)

The Art of Prediction: What Will You Do Next? Feb 06, 2014

Show notes

Predicting the future is a daunting task. One area where would-be knowers of the future are making signficant progress is in predicting human behavior. Not to put to fine a point on it, they're getting pretty good at predicting YOUR behavior. Hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon talk through the implications of new predictive models, including: Tracking the outbreak of an epidimic based on search-engine activityRetailers shipping you your order before you've placed it.Psychological (and phsyiological) tests that might provide clues to violent or criminal behavior before it occurs. We no longer have to ask whether Big Brother is watching us. We know he is. The question, increasingly, is: how well does he know what we're going to do next? And what is he going to do about it? Tune in and explore. (WT 053)

Building the Future Feb 01, 2014

Show notes

What is the future made of? Hopes, fears, dreams, possibilities. But also...stuff. Hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon explore an emerging network, a collection of energy technologies, and an ambitious engineering project which combine to provide a glimpse of how tomorrow might be built. (WT 052) 1964 World's Fair photo by Noah Sheridan

The Nine Billion Names of God Jan 30, 2014

Show notes

Taking a cue from George Dvorsky's The 7 Most Intriguing Philosophical Arguments for the Existence of God, hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon discuss the relationship between convergence, accelerating change, transcendence, and the divine. How do traditional (and non-traditional) ideas about God relate to such concepts as the Technological Singularity and the Simulation Hypothesis? Tune in and explore. (WT 051)

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