The World Transformed

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WT Archives: Virtual Worlds and the Future of Personality Jan 02, 2011

Show notes

First broadcast 8/4/2009. Original Description: The World Transformed, Part 7 Are we living in the Matrix? Assuming we're not, are there reasons why we might want to live there? Phil and Stephen welcome a distinguished panel to discuss our future in virtual worlds, our future virtual selves, and the Simulation Hypothesis, which argues that we may already be living in a computer simulation. About Our Guests Dr. Bruce Katz is a leading thinker and researcher in the field of artificial intelligence. He is the Chief AI Scientist at ColdLight Solutions and the author of Neuroengineering the Future: Virtual Minds and the Creation of Immortality. Michael Anissimov is a science/technology writer and consultant. He is the creative force behind one of the leading futurist blogs, Accelerating Future. He is a co-founder of the Immortality Institute, the Media Director for the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence, and the Fundraising Director for North America for the Lifeboat Foundation. Greg Campbell is an Intel alumnus and veteran of several Internet startups. He is an information technology consultant, virtual worlds researcher, and contributing editor to h+ Magazine, where he writes under the name Surfdaddy Orca. recent articles related to the show's topic include Brain on a Chip and Games that Design Themselves.

FastForward Radio -- The Year in the Future, Part 2 Dec 30, 2010

Show notes

Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon continue their review of the year 2010 and make predictions for the year 2011...and beyond. As with lastr week's show they refer to items from Pop-Sci's weekly feature, The Week in the Future as well as items from Pop-Sci's 100 Innovations of 2010 to identify major Speculist trends over the past year.

FastForward Archives #7 -- Unconference and Cure for Cancer Dec 28, 2010

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In this program, which first aired November 11, 2007, Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon discuss the Convergence "Unconference" as well as the pioneering cancer research of Dr. Zheng Cui. Original description follows: Phil Bowermaster returns to FastForward Radio with a report on this year's Foresight Nanotech Unconference. Also, we have an interview with Dr. Zheng Cui who is developing a cancer treatment that works by strengthening the immune system. Click here for the show notes. If the show notes link doesn't work, click "More" below and try the link again.

FastForward Radio -- The Year in the Future, Part 1 Dec 23, 2010

Show notes

Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon begin their review of the year 2010. This time out, they're using items from Pop-Sci's weekly feature, The Week in the Future to identify major Speculist trends over the past year.

WT Archives: Risks, Dystopia, and Unsettling Futures Dec 19, 2010

Show notes

Part six of The World Transformed, originally broadcast July 28, 2009, features a panel of futurists discussing the downside of transformation -- ways in which our world could be dramatically changed for the worse. Original Description Follows The World Transformed, Part 6 Not all transformations are necessarily good. What risks do we face in a coming age of massive change? Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon welcome journalist and futurist Sonia Arrison, and the Lifeboat Foundation's Philippe Van Nedervelde to talk about the risks that accompany massive technological change. We face risks to our privacy, our safety, and our very survival. How do we take advantages of the wonderful opportunities new technologies present in the face of such risks? About our guests: Sonia Arrison is an author and policy analyst who has studied the impact of new technologieson society for more than a decade. She is a Senior Fellow at the California-based Pacific Research Institute, and she is on the Board of Directors of Humanity +. Philippe Van Nedervelde is the Executive Director of the Foresight Institute in Europe. He is also the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of E-spaces, and he is the Director of the Informational Transparency Division of the Lifeboat Foundation, where he also serves on the Board of Directors.

FastForward Radio -- The Jobless Boom Dec 16, 2010

Show notes

Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon welcome futurist Alvis Brigis back to FastForward Radio to discuss how accelerating technological development (particularly automation) is driving economic change. Will these transformations bring about greater prosperity? Will they lead to the end of employment as we know it? If you listen live you can contribute to the show by joining the text chat. Our chat host Sally Morem will be on hand to lead the discussion. Get all the details on listening live at our audio host, Blog Talk Radio. The show starts at: 10:00 Eastern/9:00 Central/8:00 Mountain/7:00 Pacific. About our guest Alvis Brigis is writer, video producer and social media entrepreneur focused on the human side of accelerating change. He's worked extensively in reality and documentary television, co-founded future portal MemeBox.com and serves on the board of the Acceleration Studies Foundation. Alvis blogs about the presnet day "human creativity explosion", which he sees as an autocatalytic component of broader acceleration, and near-term social change at socialnode.com. He's currently based in balmy Mountain View, CA as well as snowy Elka Park, NY.

FastForward Archives #6 -- Singularity and DARPA Urban Challenge Dec 14, 2010

Show notes

This show, which first aired November 4 2007, marked the second consecutive week without Phil Bowermaster on FastForward Radio. Original description: Stephen Gordon and guest host Michael Sargent discuss The Singularity. It turns out that the Singularity means different things to different people. We also covered the DARPA Urban Challenge, and the new Fab Lab that won the Popular Mechanics prize. Click here for the show notes. If the show notes link isn't working click "More" below and try the link again.

WT Archives: Achieving Friendly Artificial Intelligence Dec 12, 2010

Show notes

Part 5 of our ground-breaking series the World Transformed, this program first aired July 21 2009. Original description follows: The World Transformed, Part 5 Are the robots going to take over? The Matrix and Terminator movies present a nightmare world in which artificially intelligent machines pit themselves against humanity with devastating consequences. Could something like that really happen? Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon welcome a panel of leading thinkers on artificial intelligence to explore these issues: In the near future, is machine intelligence going to equal or overtake human intelligence in terms of speed and capability? If so, what can we do to make sure these new intelligences are on our side? Eliezer Yudkowsky is the world's foremost researcher on Friendly AI and recursive self-improvement. He is a research fellow with the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence. James Hughes is the Executive Director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, and he is the producer and host of the weekly syndicated public affairs talk show Changesurfer Radio Ben Goertzel is the chief science officer and acting CEO of Novamente. He is the Director of Research for the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

FastForward Radio -- Living Beyond 200, Alien Life, and Tricky Predictions Dec 09, 2010

Show notes

Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon welcome Michael Anissimov back to fastForward Radio to continue last week's discussion about increases in human life expectancy. Also on the agenda: Last week's big news from NASA about the discovery of "alien" life The recent IEEE report on Ray Kurzweil's missed predictions About our guest: Michael Anissimov is a science/technology writer and consultant. He is the creative force behind one of the leading futurist blogs, Accelerating Future. He is a co-founder of the Immortality Institute and the Media Director for the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

FastForward Archives #5 -- Baseball and Turing Test Dec 07, 2010

Show notes

This show originally aired October 28, 2007. Stephen Gordon and Michael Sargent discuss the Turing Test and other issues related to how we know when we've "arrived" with artificial intelligence. Original description follows: Michael Sargent filled in for Phil Bowermaster this week. He and Stephen Gordon discussed Artificial General Intelligence, the Turing Test, the simplest Turing Machines, Moore's Law, and artery-clearing micro-cyborgs. Click here for the show notes.

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