The World Transformed

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Declaration of Singularity Jul 03, 2013

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Hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon review The Declaration of Singularity. Like the Founding Fathers, transhumanists and singularitarians believe that we are subject to an oppressive regime with no legitimate claim on our lives or our futures. Has the time come to declare our independence from a world of pain, scarcity, and limitations? (WT 022)

Live to See It, Live to Do It Jun 27, 2013

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Today people are embracing new capabilities and possibilities faster than at any previous time in human history. We can know more, do more, and be more than any generation that has come before. And we ain't seen nothin' yet. Hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon discuss the amazing things we can expect to live to see, to do, and to become as this astounding future unfolds. (WT021)

The Once and Future Future Jun 20, 2013

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Here we are more than a decade into the 21st century, and still no sign of a lot of cool future stuff: Moon colonies Underwater cities Rocket Airliners High-speed pneumatic trains Flying cities Hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon discuss futures that could have occured by now, but haven't. Will any of these futures ever become our reality? If so, what has to change to make them happen? (WT020)

The Joy Explosion Jun 13, 2013

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Why are we interested in the future? Because we want to know what happens next? We want to avoid bad things that might happen and make the most of good things that can happen. What if the future was all about happiness? If we can have a possibility explosion and an intelligence explosion, why not a joy explosion? Hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon explore the possibility of a much happier future for everyone -- which may be harder to achieve. Even as we get more of everything else, more happiness may prove elusive. (WT019)

Radical Abundance Jun 06, 2013

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Imagine a technology that will give us pretty much the same control over physical objects that computers have given us over data. Imagine being able to produce anything you want or need -- electronic gadgets, clothing, cars, a house, food -- with little more effort than it currently takes to print out a page or burn a CD. Fantasy? Perhaps not. In his new book Radical Abundance, nanotechnology pioneer K. Eric Drexler argues that such technology is completely possible, that it is an inevitable extension of the technologies we have in place today, and that it will be with us very soon. Hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon discuss Drexler's new book, which outlines how atomically precise manufacturing will utterly transform our world. (WT018)

Red Pill or Blue? May 30, 2013

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Imagine this choice: you can live in the real world with all its limitations and shortcomings or you can live in a perfect simulation of reality...where "perfect" means not only that you will never know the difference -- never suspect for a moment that you are experiencing anything other than reality -- but also that all weakness, frustration, and limitation of your current existence is removed. In the simulation you can have everything you want to have, do anything you want to do, and be anyone you want to be. Which would you choose? Hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon welcome Futurist Aurelian Carpathia, who believes that such a choice will soon be available to all of us, and that moving our experiences to a simulated reality (or "simulaity") will not only make it possible to fulfill our wildest dreams, it will solve the longstanding problem of material scarcity. A world with no limits -- is it possible? Tune in and explore. About Our Guest At eighteen, Jacob Stephen Cook broke from a lifetime of religious indoctrination and spent the next three years completely reconstructing his worldview while overcoming depression, engaging on his wall-turned-timeline and in discussion groups a broad spectrum of views with a no-censorship policy. To symbolically transcend his past, he decided to change his name, finally becoming Aurelian Solaris Carpathia. Carpathia is an administrator with the Singularity Network, where he focuses on the core concepts – neural interfaces, life extension, cryonics, cyborgs, virtual reality – which are of special interest to him. Via the Singualrity network he interacts with such thoughtful and creative minds as Philippe van Nedervelde and David Pearce. He attended the Alcor Life Extension Foundation’s fortieth anniversary conference in 2012. ( WT017)

The OTHER Other 99% May 16, 2013

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It's not about politics. It's about what we know and what we don't know...yet. Speaking on the subject of genetics, geneticist and synthetic biologist Craig Venter recently stated: "We know 1% of what we'll ultimately know." This week, hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon consider that 99% (or more) that we haven't learned yet -- not just genetics, but across the board. Where are our biggest gaps in knowledge? And where are the biggest surprises likely to come from? Tune in an explore. (WT016)

Catastrophic Success May 10, 2013

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What do the following items have in common: A 3D-printed iPhone shoe A guy who planted his own forest Coming technological advances that will completely reshape manufacturing, agriculture, and energy production Each is an example of technological disruption. We all expect some level of disruption, but when does it become creative destruction? And what happens if we start to destroy more than we create? (WT015) Hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon explore the role that accelerating technological development will play in reshaping our world.

Will We Ever Upload? May 02, 2013

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Special guests Ben Goertzel and David Pearce join hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon to examine the question of mind uploading. Is the human mind ultimately a sophisticated piece of software that will one day be translated to run on another platform -- namely, a computer? Will human beings be able to upload their memories, their personalities, and their ongoing subjective experience to a machine substrate? These questions have been hotly debated of late with prominent figures taking a stand both against and for. Who to believe? Tune in! About Our Guests: David Pearce is a vegan activist and author of The Hedonistic Imperative(1995), an online manifesto urging the use of biotechnology to abolish suffering throughout the living world. In 1998. he co-founded with Nick Bostrom The World Transhumanist Association (H+). Dr. Ben Goertzel is the Chief Scientist of Aidyia Limited, a Hong Kong based company using AI technology for financial prediction. He is the leading researcher in the area of AI called "Artificial General Intelligence" or AGI, and leads the OpenCog open source AGI nitiative. Currently he is working with David Hanson to use OpenCog to control intelligent humanoid robots. He has written over a dozen books and over a hundred papers on his research; and has been active in the futurist movement, with roles at Singularity University and Humanity+ ... (WT014)

Reality Plus Apr 11, 2013

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What's better than reality? How about augmented reality -- applications that interact with the world around us to provide startling new insights and capabilities. Special guests Jospeh Rampolla and Collin O'Malley join hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon to discuss the opportunities (and risks) represented by this amazing new technology. What happens when the whole world becomes a computer interface? Tune in and find out! About Our Guests Joseph Rampolla has been a law enforcement officer for 18 years. He became a police officer in 1995 and currently holds the rank of Captain for the Park Ridge Police Department. Joseph enjoys teaching the topics of cyber crimes, augmented reality / virtual worlds, cyber-bullying and advanced undercover Internet Relay Chat (IRC) investigations. He has become an Augmented Reality "Junkie" and dreams about how AR can make our world a better place while protecting society. Joseph is the creator of the Augmented Reality Dirt Podcast and Blog (ARDirt.com). The AR Dirt Podcast is one of the first podcasts dedicated to field of AR and explores cutting edge and emerging technologies that influence society, cybercrime and our legal system. Joseph recently co-authored the book “Augmented Reality – An Emerging Technologies Guide to AR” which was released in December of 2012. Collin O’Malley is the IT Director for Legacy Academy Charter School in Elizabeth, CO. Legacy Academy is the first iSchool in Colorado and one of the first schools to implement a one to one deployment of iPads. Prior to Legacy Academy, Collin worked for Apple.Inc for nearly 6 years in Littleton and Lone Tree, Colorado as well as London, England. (WT013)

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