Dr. Anders Sandberg is a well known transhumanist, futurist, computational neuroscientist and currently a research fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute in Oxford University. I have been thinking of inviting him on Singularity 1 on 1 for some time and when one of my readers actually asked me to do it I could not be happier to oblige. (Thanks Shahan!)

Dr. Sandberg is one of those rare individuals who clearly loves his work and is always very enthusiastic to discuss it. I really enjoyed talking to him and feel that we could have talked a lot more than we did. Thus I will try to bring him back on the show for little more focused discussion on one of his areas of expertise - transhumanism, mind uploading and the ethics thereof.

During our first discussion with Anders we cover a wide variety of topics such as: his childhood and early passion for science fiction; his intellectual journey from science fiction to science and – eventually - to ethics; the goals and benchmarks of his work; human enhancement, body modification and the risks of early adopters; the problem of finding the right priorities; the technological singularity and our chances of surviving it; other existential threats to humanity.

My second favorite quote that I will take away from Anders Sandberg is: The Singularity should not stop us from thinking! (The first one, of course, is the title.)

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who is Anders Sandberg?

Anders Sandberg’s research at the Future of Humanity Institute centres on societal and ethical issues surrounding human enhancement and new technology, as well as estimating the capabilities and underlying science of future technologies. Topics of particular interest include enhancement of cognition, cognitive biases, technology-enabled collective intelligence, neuroethics and public policy. He has worked on this within the EU project ENHANCE, where he also was responsible for public outreach and online presence. Besides scientific publications in neuroscience, ethics and future studies he has also participated in the public debate about human enhancement internationally. Anders also holds an AXA Research Fellowship.

He has a background in computer science, neuroscience and medical engineering. He obtained his Ph.D. in computational neuroscience from Stockholm University, Sweden, for work on neural network modeling of human memory. He has also been the scientific producer for the major neuroscience exhibition “Se Hjärnan!” (“Behold the Brain!”), organized by Swedish Travelling Exhibitions, the Swedish Research Council and the Knowledge Foundation that toured Sweden 2005-2007. He is co-founder and writer for the think tank Eudoxa.

Karl Schroeder is one of those fantastic science fiction authors and futurists who, despite his numerous and profound books, have not quite made it into the mainstream yet. In fact, it was just a week ago that Eric Boyd emailed me to suggest that I interview Karl on Singularity 1 on 1 and I was skeptically struggling to figure out who Schroeder is, why I’ve never heard of him before and why he would be a good interview subject.

Little did I know that Karl Schroeder will turn out to be one of the smartest and most enjoyable interviewees I have ever had on the show. He not only managed to challenge and stimulate me intellectually but also provided alternative lenses that I can now use when looking at the world and thinking about the future. I can honestly admit that it took only an hour for me to become a Schroeder fan and I have already finished reading one of his earlier books – Sun of Suns.

During our discussion with Karl we cover a wide variety of topics such as: his Mennonite background and early interest in science fiction; the Hunger Games and Karl’s peacekeeping foresight novel for the Canadian military – Crisis in Zefra (free download);  the differences and the similarities between foresight and science fiction; the technological singularity as a possible though, in Karl’s estimate, not a probable scenario for our future; the concepts of the technological maximum, rewilding and natural selection; Schroeder’s Law as a solution to the Fermi Paradox; his novels Lady of Mazes and Sun of Suns; exponential growth, systems theory and limiting factors thereof; transhumanism and his concepts of trans-lionism; trans-dogism and inhumanism.

My favorite quote from Schroeder:

“You have to keep moving forward. [...] The singularity is not the most interesting current idea. It’s old at this point. You’ve got to keep up. You’ve have got to look at what’s going on now. [...] Sure, take the singularity – use it – it’s a lens. Develop other lenses! Use other lenses! Keep looking forward! Keep looking for new ideas, for blind-spots! And the world will continue to be a very interesting place.”

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Technological Maximum (as defined by Karl Schroeder):

You hit the technological maximum when you have systems that can rapidly perform natural selection on technological designs. As one of the characters puts it in my novel The Sunless Countries, “Everybody’s equally able to evolve new devices because everybody has the same, perfect physics model. Once you’ve got that model, and fast enough calculation, nobody in the universe should be able to come up with a machine that you can’t duplicate. You just select for it and its design eventually pops out. So there’s a technological stalemate everywhere in the universe.” This is analogous to the biological stalemate that pertained on Earth prior to the evolution of human beings.

The Rewilding (as defined by Karl Schroeder):

The Rewilding, by contrast, is simply a vision of what happens when you erase the distinction between the natural and the artificial. Some cognitive studies, for instance, suggest that the human brain offloads difficult calculations to the physical environment whenever it can. When catching a pop-fly in baseball, for instance, the brain does not attempt to do the calculations necessary to predict the trajectory of the ball; instead it gets you to run backward while occluding the ball with your glove and keeping a fixed angle between your arm and the horizon. This replaces the calculations. Such ‘partial programs’ mean that you’re not required to process all information internally; you use your ambient environment as part of your thinking apparatus. In The Rewilding, we have a world of physical partial programs. Why build a water treatment plant when you can use the local wetlands for the same purpose? In The Rewilding, we establish mutually beneficial relationships with physical and ecological systems while not compromising our ambitions; if you need a nuclear power plant, you still
build a nuclear power plant, but if there’s a partnership with some natural system that will provide the same result, you go that way.

Who is Karl Schroeder?

Karl Schroeder is one of Canada’s leading science fiction and fantasy authors. He lives in Toronto, Ontario, and divides his time between writing science fiction and consulting in foresight studies (chiefly concerning the future of technology). He is the author of nine novels, as well as the influential “foresight scenario fiction,’ Crisis in Zefra, which was written for the Canadian army in 2005. His novels have been translated into French, German, Spanish, Russian and Japanese. In addition to his fiction works, Mr. Schroeder has published The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Science Fiction, written with Cory Doctorow (MacMillan, August, 2000). As an active member of the Canadian speculative fiction writing community, he helped found SF Canada, the Canadian national science fiction and fantasy writers’ association, in 1989, and was president from 1996 to 1997. He taught science fiction writing at George Brown College from 1992 to 1994.

Karl was born and raised in Brandon, Manitoba. He has a Mennonite background, and in fact comes from the same southern Manitoba Mennonite community as “golden age” SF grand master A.E. van Vogt. Growing up, Karl assumed that novel writing was a career option because his mother had published two novels with Zondervan, “Year of Discovery” and “The Secret of His Presence” and so books with Schroeder on their spines were in the bookshelf along with those of Andre Norton, Agatha Christie, and others. He moved to Toronto in 1986, married Janice Beitel in 2001, and he and Janice have one child.

Since 2003 Karl has been doing work in strategic foresight (also known as futurism) for clients such as the Canadian government and army. In 2011 he achieved a Master’s degree in Strategic Foresight and Innovation from OCAD University of Toronto. He regularly consults on the future of technology, and also does public speaking both in person and in the media on the intersection of science and society, and on trends for the future.

Karl’s novels present technology as a realm of experimental philosophy, where previously theoretical constructs are given flesh. His current concern is the notion that “technology is legislation” and that because of this fact, humanity will not gain control of its own political or evolutionary destiny until we learn to anticipate and control the effects that new technologies have upon society.

Yesterday I interviewed John Smart on Singularity 1 on 1.

Among many other things John is an advisor in Futures Studies and Forecasting for Singularity University where I met him last summer. He is also one of those rare people who are (literary) Smart since birth and totally justify the name. So it was no surprise that I learned a lot during our one-hour-long conversation and I hope you can learn from him too.

During our discussion with John we cover a wide variety of topics such as: the Foresight Education and Research Network (FERN); planning and creating your personal and professional future; the story of how John got interested in futurism and technology; his Acceleration Studies Foundation as well as the meaning of accelerating change; his totally fascinating idea of STEM compression; the Barrow scale vs the Kardashev scale; cosmology, black holes and different interpretations thereof; Moore’s Law and the limits of Physics.

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who is John Smart?

John M. Smart is a technology foresight educator and a scholar in global processes of evolution, development, and accelerating change. He is president of the Acceleration Studies Foundation (Mountain View, CA), and professor and program champion for the Emerging Technologies masters program at the University of Advancing Technology (Tempe, AZ), which teaches foresight in exponentially advancing technologies, and seeks innovative technology solutions to humanity’s grand challenges. He is also an advisor in futures studies and forecasting at Singularity University (Mountain View, CA). John has a B.S. in business administration from UC Berkeley, an M.S.-equivalency in physiology and medicine from U.C. San Diego School of Medicine, and an M.S. in futures studies from the University of Houston. His blog is EverSmarterWorld.com.

This is my second interview with Dr. Randal Koene for Singularity 1 on 1.

Dr. Koene is perhaps one of the world’s foremost neuroscientists. He is director of analysis at Halcyon Molecular, co-founder of Carbon Copies and co-founder of and director at the Neural Engineering Corporation of Massachusetts.

Randal’s research objective is whole brain emulation, creating the large-scale high-resolution representations and emulations of activity in neuronal circuitry that are needed in patient-specific neuroprostheses.

During our first interview Dr. Koene argued that Mind Uploading Is Not Science Fiction and gave a general overview of his personal and professional background as well as the challenges in working on whole brain emulation.

This time around I wanted to focus our conversation primarily on the ethics of mind uploading so we cover topics such as: ethical dilemmas in whole brain emulation; legal and ethical frameworks and constrains; access to mind uploading technology; R.J. Sawyer‘s fantastic sci fi book Mindscan; the computing requirements behind whole brain emulation; the brain in a vat scenario; brain prosthesis; personal identity and multiple uploads; intelligence rights.

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who is Randal Koene?

Randal A. Koene is heading up Analysis at nanotechnology company Halcyon Molecular in Silicon Valley. Previously, Randal A. Koene, Ph.D., was Director of the Department of Neuroengineering at Tecnalia, third largest private research organization in Europe. He is a former Prof. at the Center for Memory and Brain of Boston University, and co-founder/owner of the Neural Engineering Corporation of Massachusetts. His research objective is whole brain emulation, creating the large-scale high-resolution representations and emulations of activity in neuronal circuitry that are needed in patient-specific neuroprostheses.

Koene has professional expertise in computational neuroscience, psychology, information theory, electrical engineering and physics. He organizes neural engineering efforts to obtain and replicate function and structure information that resides in the neural substrate for use in neuroprostheses and neural interfaces. And based on NETMORPH (netmorph.org), Koene’s computational framework for the simulated morphological development of neuronal circuitry, his lab is creating a Virtual Brain Laboratory to give neuroscientists, neuroengineers and clinicians large-scale high-resolution quantitative tools analogous to the computational tools that have become essential in fields such as genetics, chemistry or the aero-space industry. This effort bridges scales and will help determine how significant functions are encoded robustly in neural ensembles, and how those functions can nevertheless depend in specific ways on the detailed biophysics of particular component physiology.

Koene earned his Ph.D. in Computational Neuroscience at the Department of Psychology at McGill University, and his M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering with a specialization in Information Theory at Delft University of Technology. He is a member of the Oxford working group that convened in 2007 to create a first roadmap toward whole brain emulation (a descriptive term for the technological accomplishment of mind transfer to a different substrate that was first coined by Koene on his MindUploading.org website).

Visit Koene’s personal web site rak.minduploading.org, carboncopies.org, MindUploading.org or watch Koene present and discuss “Scope and Resolution in Neural Prosthetics and Special Concerns for Emulation of a Whole Brain”.

Related articles

• Randal Koene on Singularity 1 on 1: Mind Uploading is not Science Fiction

A couple of days ago I interviewed Australian James Harvey.

James is pretty unique among my guests because he was the very first interviewee whose willingness to take a chance on a brand new podcast helped me kick off Singularity 1 on 1.

This, however, is not the only thing that makes him different for James is also “a musician, a poet, a mystic and learned observer of Life…”

Most notably, in 2009 Harvey published his thought provoking book Singularia: Being at an Edge of Time which was my reason for inviting him the first time.

This time around I asked James to share and discuss his unique Both/And point of view of the singularity, which eludes the traditional dichotomy of the struggle of opposites but stresses instead their unity as parts of a whole.

In our first conversation two quotes stood out for me:

1. “I respect science and think it is a marvelous tool but I do not worship it!”

2. “We are Singularia”

This time my favorite quote is Harvey’s observation that:

“Our analog universe has an infinite resolution both zooming in and zooming out.”

In addition, during our second conversation with James we discuss a variety of other topics such as: the importance and differences of digital and analog worlds (e.g. mp3 files and live music); his book Singularia and why the singularity is a lot more than just technology; Jaron Lanier‘s view that the singularity is rapture for geeks; art, creativity, love and the fear of death.

Related articles

• James Harvey’s Singularity Podcast: We are Singularia
• Singularia: a “Both/And” Point of View of the Singularity (Part 1)

Today I interviewed Prof. Linda MacDonald Glenn on Singularity 1 on 1.

Linda is an American bioethicist, healthcare educator, lecturer, consultant, and attorney-at-law. Her academic research encompasses the legal, ethical, and social impact of emerging technologies and “evolving notions of personhood”.

During our conversation with Prof. Glenn we discuss a variety of topics such as: the very personal and moving story behind her interest in bioethics;  women in technology; human rights versus sentience rights; the legal differences of being human vs being a “person”; the legal test (or lack thereof) for recognizing personhood; the problems of defining and measuring intelligence.

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the adapted video interview in full. There is delay between my own video and audio, which are out of sync, but Linda Glenn’s end is very good so you will not be annoyed by it for 90% of the time.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who is Linda MacDonald Glenn?

Linda MacDonald Glenn JD, LLM (Biomedical Ethics, McGill) is a healthcare ethics educator, counselor-at-law, futurist and international consultant. She holds a faculty appointment at the Alden March Bioethics Institute, Albany Medical Center, and is also a Fellow at the Institute for Emerging Technologies and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Her other honors include an appointment as a Senior Fellow at the American Medical Association’s Institute for Ethics, and being named a Women’s Bioethics Scholar. Her research encompasses the legal, ethical, and social impact of emerging healthcare technologies, and evolving notions of legal personhood. She has advised governmental leaders and agencies, published numerous articles in professional journals and books, addressed public and professional groups internationally, and made many media appearances, including the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, and NPR. She is currently working on a book titled Bioethics for a New Earth: How Emerging Technologies Can Change Humankind.

This Monday I interviewed Dr. David Ferrucci on Singularity 1 on 1.

David is the IBM team leader behind Watson – the computer that succeeded in dethroning humanity’s greatest ever jeopardy champion – Ken Jennings.

I met both Dr. Ferrucci and Ken Jennings during last year’s Singularity Summit where both of them spoke about Watson and the opportunities and challenges associated with it. It was then and there that I hatched my plan to get David (and Ken) on Singularity 1 on 1.

I have to say that I learned a lot from and enjoyed talking to David very much. My favorite quote that I will take away from him is this:

“Pursue the big challenges and do the big things that inspire people and make them scratch their heads.”

During our conversation with Dr. Ferrucci we also discuss topics such as: his original interest in biology and medicine and the story of how he got (accidentally) involved in computer science and programming; why Watson is not mere speech recognition software (or statistical database) but natural language processing and (a lot) more; the inside story behind the idea of creating Watson; the motivation and challenges behind the project; overcoming resistance and the danger and fear of failure; the definition of AI; the importance of Watson in the general scheme of things; Watson’s future and David Ferrucci’s plans; the technological singularity; whole brain simulation and/or emulation; the importance of pursuing the big challenges.

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the adapted video interview in full.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Building Watson – A Brief Overview of the DeepQA Project

David Ferrucci of IBM discusses the DeepQA Project; the technology and architecture behind IBM’s newest technological innovation, the question answering and natural language processing system, Watson.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who is David Ferrucci?

Dr. David Ferrucci is an IBM Fellow and the Principal Investigator (PI) for the Watson/Jeopardy! project. He has been at IBM’s T.J. Watson’s Research Center since 1995 where he heads up the Semantic Analysis and Integration department. Dr. Ferrucci focuses on technologies for automatically discovering valuable knowledge in natural language content and using it to enable better decision making.

As part of his research he led the team that developed UIMA. UIMA is a software framework and open standard widely used by industry and academia for collaboratively integrating, deploying and scaling advanced text and multi-modal (e.g., speech, video) analytics. As chief software architect for UIMA, Dr. Ferrucci led its design and chaired the UIMA standards committee at OASIS. The UIMA software framework is deployed in IBM products and has been contributed to Apache open-source to facilitate broader adoption and development.

In 2007, Dr. Ferrucci took on the Jeopardy! Challenge – tasked to create a computer system that can rival human champions at the game of Jeopardy!. As the PI for the exploratory research project dubbed DeepQA, he focused on advancing automatic, open-domain question answering using massively parallel evidence based hypothesis generation and evaluation. By building on UIMA, on key university collaborations and by taking bold research, engineering and management steps, he led his team to integrate and advance many search, NLP and semantic technologies to deliver results that have out-performed all expectations and have demonstrated world-class performance at a task previously thought insurmountable with the current state-of-the-art. Watson, the computer system built by Ferrucci and his team beat the highest ranked Jeopardy! champions of all time on national television on February 14th 2011. He is now leading his team to demonstrate how DeepQA can make dramatic advances for intelligent decision support in areas including medicine and health care.

Dr. Ferrucci has been the Principal Investigator (PI) on several government-funded research programs on automatic question answering, intelligent systems and saleable text analytics. His team at IBM consists of 32 researchers and software engineers specializing in the areas of Natural Language Processing (NLP), Software Architecture, Information Retrieval, Machine Learning and Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (KR&R).

Dr. Ferrucci graduated from Manhattan College with a BS in Biology and from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1994 with a PhD in Computer Science specializing in knowledge representation and reasoning. He is published in the areas of AI, KR&R, NLP and automatic question-answering.

Related articles

• The Complete 2011 Singularity Summit Video Collection

Last week I interviewed Vivek Wadhwa on Singularity 1 on 1.

I met Vivek last summer at Singularity University where he is the VP of accademics and innovation. Vivek is one of those multi-talented and very outspoken people who is never afraid to take the risk and say what they think. He is also a successful entrepreneur and, as a contrarian in the true Socratic fashion, is someone motivated by impact not profit.

During our conversation with Vivek we discuss issues such as: the stories behind his becoming (accidental) entrepreneur and an (accidental) SU linchpin; his current position at Singularity University, its structure and the amazing group of people gravitating around it; the convergence of exponential technology and Vivek’s motivation to do good; the pro’s and con’s of being an outspoken contrarian; the bubble in some tech stocks such as GroupOn; his love of science fiction and the fact that technology has already delivered more than he expected; the rapture of the nerds criticism; the up and coming technologies that will change the world as well as the risks and benefits thereof.

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who is Vivek Wadhwa?

Vivek Wadhwa is Vice President of Academics and Innovation at Singularity University; Fellow, Arthur & Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance, Stanford University; Director of Research at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at the Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University; and distinguished visiting scholar, Halle Institute of Global Learning, Emory University.

Wadhwa oversees the academic programs at Singularity University, which educates a select group of leaders about the exponentially growing technologies that are soon going to change our world. These advances—in fields such as robotics, A.I., computing, synthetic biology, 3D printing, medicine, and nanomaterials—are making it possible for small teams to do what was once possible only for governments and large corporations: solve the grand challenges in education, water, food, shelter, health, and security.

In his roles at Stanford, Duke, and Emory universities, Wadhwa lectures in class on subjects such as entrepreneurship and public policy, helps prepare students for the real world, and leads groundbreaking research projects. He is an advisor to several governments; mentors entrepreneurs; and is a regular columnist for The Washington Post, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, and the American Society of Engineering Education’s Prism magazine. Prior to joining academia in 2005, Wadhwa founded two software companies.

Yesterday I interviewed David Chalmers for Singularity 1 on 1.

David is one of world’s best known philosophers of mind and thought leaders on consciousness and I was a freshman at the University of Toronto when I first read some of his work. Since then Chalmers has been one of the few philosophers (together with Nick Bostrom) who has written and spoken publicly about the Matrix’ simulation argument and the technological singularity. (See for example David’s presentation at the 2009 Singularity Summit or read his The Singularity: A Philosophical Analysis)

During our conversation with David we discuss topics such as: how and why Chalmers got interested in philosophy; his search in answering what he considers to be some of the biggest questions – issues such as the nature of reality, consciousness and artificial intelligence; the fact that academia in general and philosophy in particular doesn’t seem to engage technology; our chances of surviving the technological singularity; the importance of Watson, the Turing Test and other benchmarks on the way to the singularity;  consciousness, recursive self-improvement and artificial intelligence; the ever-shrinking of domain of solely human expertise; mind uploading and what he calls the hard problem of consciousness; the usefulness of philosophy and ethics; religion, immortality and life-extension; reverse engineering long-dead people such as Ray Kurzweil’s father.

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who is David Chalmers?

David Chalmers is a philosopher at the Australian National University where he is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Centre for Consciousness. Chalmers is also Visiting Professor of Philosophy at New York University and works in the philosophy of mind and in related areas of philosophy and cognitive science. He is particularly interested in consciousness, but also in all sorts of other issues in the philosophy of mind and language, metaphysics and epistemology, and the foundations of cognitive science.

Yesterday I was very fortunate to get a rare English language interview from Dmitry Itskov – the elusive Russian entrepreneur spearheading project Avatar and Global Future 2045.

The first time I saw Itskov was at the recent Singularity Summit where he revealed his uniquely ambitious project. I don’t know Dmitry well but he may just turn out to be one of those soft-spoken, under-the-radar and camera-shy people who actually make things happen. I was impressed by his breadth of knowledge and courage to conduct our interview entirely in English. Itskov also impressed me as a very thorough person who makes the effort to respect all sides and points of view yet without sacrificing his personal integrity and commitments. That is why I will follow his progress with interest.

During our discussion with Dmitry we cover topics such as: his humanitarian motivation and the interesting fact that he initially was not even familiar with the concept of the singularity; the ongoing goals and recent success of the Global Future 2045 congress recently launched in Moscow; his project Avatar – its goals, timeline and benchmarks; brain and head transplantation and the 1960′s experiments of Dr. R. J. White and his Soviet counterparts; our fear of the future and his advice to focus on the benefits and dream more often rather than the risks only; the general resolution that he is working on submitting to the UN general assembly; religion and Dmitry’s genuine desire to engage all major traditions in discussing the project and especially its political and ethical implications.

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Dmitry Itskov: Welcome to the Global Future 2045

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ray Kurzweil about GF2045 and ‘Avatar’

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who is Dmitry Itskov?

Dmitry & Ray at GF2045

Dmitry Itskov is the founder and President of New Media Stars. He attended the top economics university in Russia and has 13+ years of work experience in media projects.

Itskov heard about life-extension with the use of cybernetic technology and immediately realized how he could apply his experience and resources to create a social movement in support of such life-saving technology. Since then he has collaborated and partnered with many of the world’s leading scientists, physicists, philosophers, and religious leaders to create life-extension products that will be affordable and available to all of humanity.

Dmitry has initiated a conversation with the UN about life-extension technology (which was the purpose of the recent GF2045 congress in Moscow) and hopes to spark global discussion on its ethical and political implications.

Related articles

• The Complete 2011 Singularity Summit Video Collection

Last week I interviewed Raymond McCauley for Singularity 1 on 1.

I met Raymond last summer at Singularity University where he is the Co-Chair of Biotechnology & Bioinformatics.

McCauley is one among many former hackers and computer scientists who went into the exploding biotech industry. He has an infectious passion for bioinformatics and a fantastic radio-voice that simply disarms skepticism.

During our conversation we discuss issues such as: Raymond’s background in hacking and computer science; his move to bioinformatics and his day-job at Genomera; his involvement in Singularity University and BioCurious; biology as the growth industry of the 21st century; the faster-than-exponential growth in genomic data; personal genomics and the promise of personalized medicine; the Oxford Nanopore DNA USB sequencer; DNA sequencing for less than a penny; synthetic biology and intellectual property rights; religion, philosophy and ethics.

My favorite thought that I will take away from Raymond:

“Be your own scientist! Find the simplest idea or thing that you can test, prototype, try it and see.”

I think that this is what true science is all about — Thank you Raymond!

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who is Raymond McCauley?

Raymond McCauley is Chief Science Officer at Genomera, Biotechnology & Bioinformatics Co-Chair at Singularity University and Co-Founder and Chief Architect at BioCurious.

Raymond is a bioinformaticist and computer scientist working on practical nanotechnology, genomics and bioinformatics. He was previously Senior Biomformatics Scientist at Illumina – a Bay Area biotechnology company that uses next-gen sequencing technologies to build applications in areas such as miRNA, ChlP-Seq, methylation and epigenomics. Before that, as a Sr Scientific Engineer at Ingenuity Systems (pathways analysis and systems biology software) he modeled metabolic and signaling pathways and built drug and disease models. At Rapigene (acquired by OUIAGEN) he built systems to support SNP genotyping work. Raymond has also done bioinformatics consulting for pharmaceutical companies and government agencies.

McCauley did his graduate studies at Stanford (bioinformatics) and at Texas A&M University, where he received his MS in Biochemistry and Biophysics.

Related articles

• Daniel Kraft on Singularity 1 on 1: You Don’t Have To Be a Doctor to Improve Health Care
• Top 5 Tips for Applying to Singularity University
• Jose Cordeiro on Singularity 1 on 1: The Energularity is Near

Last Sunday I spoke at Podcamp Toronto.

Since I never considered myself to be a successful blogger or podcaster, I wanted to simply introduce people to the concept and ideas behind the technological singularity and transhumanism.

That was the plan. But few things get me riled up more than ignorance posing as true knowledge.

So, given that many of the sessions I attended put forward information which I found to be not merely wrong, but outright detrimental for those who choose to follow it, I had no option but to step up to the plate and set the record straight.

Looking at the video now, I regret to admit that my impassioned near-impromptu presentation may have been a bit too long, too frank and too emotional to be as good as I wanted it to be. But it was genuinely authentic and that is one quality that is harder to learn than good public speaking…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Socrates’ Top 10 Blogging and Podcasting Tips:

1. Do your homework and start with the right foundation!

How do you do that?

Learn from the best! Studying mediocrity only produces more mediocrity. Success leaves traces. The breadcrumbs are there. All you need to do is find them and follow the path.

For example, in terms of blogging I learn from and follow ProBlogger, Copyblogger, Entrepreneurs-Journey, David Risley, John Chow and Smart Passive Income.

If you are a total beginner you should start with BecomeABlogger.com. This is a fantastic free video course where all you need to do is provide an email address and get the training videos straight into your inbox.

To learn about podcasting check out PodcastAnswerMan.com and especially his free online course Learn How To Podcast.

To learn video blogging see Gideon Shalwick and especially his free Rapid Video Blogging ebook.

2. Buy your own domain and build your online hub there. Never use third party hosts such as TypePad, Blogger, WordPress.com, PodBean or Libsyn. This way you will have full control over your own content while building domain equity, looking professional and even saving money. (Hosting your podcast at Libsyn for 6 years is a tragedy. Teaching this to others is a crime!)

3. Start an Email List as soon as you start blogging or podcasting. This is and will remain to be your most valuable asset.

I personally use MailChimp and love it. Plus it’s free for users with less than 1,000 subscribers. You really can’t beat that.

4. Go for quality not quantity. This applies both for the articles you post (and their frequency) as well as the audience you are trying to reach. Get 1,000 True Fans and you will be set.

5. Write for People not for search engines: SEO is important, so do the basics: tag your images, write smart titles, provide a good meta description of your articles and use a professional blog theme. Once you’ve got that covered – write for real people. It is real people (or lack thereof) who will make you succeed or fail as blogger and a podcaster. (as well as most other things in life.)

I admit that catering to search engine spiders may provide some short-term results. The question is though: What do you do when Google updates their search algorithm and you lose your Page rank placement?! You would have to start catering to people.

Why not start with the right focus, ignore short-term temptations and write for the long term?

Write for people. Write so that you have a lasting on-line presence, business and reputation.

6. Be authentic! Be honest. Never sell out. Never miss the bad or the imperfect end of things. Once you commit to something – follow through. And follow the evidence no matter where it takes you! When you fail or mess up – admit you made a mistake, own up to it and take action to remedy the situation.

7. Give first, give often and give a lot without asking or expecting something back. Best way to achieve your dreams is to help others achieve theirs. It is not about you – it is about other people. (e.g. tweet and link even to your competition.)

8. Campaign a cause. Don’t market yourself or your product. Set the goal to be making a difference for all – not only your readers or customers, and go after that. If you make a difference people will reward you by reading your blog and buying your product.

9. Do the work. There are no shortcuts. So just do the work. (By the way – writer’s block is a myth!)

10. Never give up!… and don’t wait for permission to go after your dreams and change the world. (Dan Barry had to apply 13 times to NASA but he never gave up on his dream to be an astronaut.)

This is my second interview with George Dvorsky.

The first time I had George on Singularity 1 on 1 we ended up talking for 1h 14 minutes. I am afraid that I enjoy his company so much that this time we talked for almost 1h 40min.

During our conversation we discuss issues such as: Dvorsky’s agonizing decision to stop being vegetarian and embrace the Paleo diet; cross-fit training, organic farming and the cost of food; the seeming contradiction between transhumanism and paleo/cross-fitness; animal enhancement (aka animal uplift), human-equivalent non-person rights and the list of candidate species; mass extinction and the Fermi paradox; SETI and the Dysonian approach that George and co are suggesting; the potential for and implications of friendly and unfriendly alien intelligences.

This interview is long but if you are interested in the above topics, then, it is very much worth watching.

One of the main points that I will take away is a brilliant quote that Dvorsky brought to my attention:

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

-Robert A. Heinlein

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who is George Dvorsky?

Canadian futurist, ethicist, and sociologist, George Dvorsky has a popular blog called Sentient Developments. He has written and spoken extensively about the impacts of cutting-edge science and technology – particularly as they pertain to the improvement of human performance and experience. George is a founding member of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies and is the founder and program director for its Rights of Non-Human Persons program.

In addition, George is the co-founder and president of the Toronto Transhumanist Association and has served on the Board of Directors for Humanity+ for two terms. George has been interviewed by such publications as The Guardian, the BBC, Radio Free Europe, and Beliefnet. He made an appearance on the CBC’s The Hour and has been profiled in NOW and This Magazine. His work has been cited in such publications as the New York Times, Forbes, and Slate. He has also written for such publications as The Humanist, Canadian Freethinker, Cryonics Magazine and a number of Thomson & Gale university texts.

George is also an avid CrossFitter, an ancestral health enthusiast, and an accomplished music performer, composer, and recording engineer.

Related articles

• Singularity Podcast: George Dvorsky on Transhumanism and the Singularity
• Singularity University Lectures: Science Searches for ET by Seth Shostak
• Sentient Developments Podcast Rebooted

Last week I went to visit Eric Boyd at HackLab.TO. While visiting I took the opportunity to interview Eric for my Singularity 1 on 1 podcast. Eric is the president of HackLab.TO, one of the co-founders of StumbleUpon and a regular public speaker on topics such as cyborg, transhumanism, electronic jewelry and hacking.

In the past, I have lacked the proper equipment to do an on-site audio or video recording without having to borrow it from my friends or my very generous brother-in-law. Fortunately, though, last week I got the biggest anonymous donation ever received at Singularity Weblog. (Thank you anonymous donor.) The money allowed me to purchase a brand new Canon VIXIA HF G10 (aff) camcorder as well as a Fujifilm X10 (aff) photo camera, and thus equipped I headed to HackLab.TO.

During our conversation we discuss issues such as: Eric’s early interest in technology; his co-founding of StumbleUpon and eventual leaving the company; his work in Silicon Valley and involvement in NoiseBridge – the hacker space in San Francisco; building a vibrant hacker and techno-community in Canada; SenseBridge, the philosophy behind it and the electronic jewelry he makes (e.g. the Sound Spark, Mood Spark and North Paw); body augmentation and transhumanism; religion and the technological singularity; why humans are naturally born cyborgs; early adopters of tech and judging when to join a revolution so that we are not left behind.

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who is Eric Boyd?

Eric Boyd is the founder of Sensebridge. He was born and raised in Ontario Canada, on a small chicken farm. He attended Queens University for engineering, graduating in 2003, but not before co-founding StumbleUpon.com. After graduating, he lived and worked in Silicon Valley at a high tech startup, designing industrial sensors and helping install them at semi-conductor fabs across the United States. Around this same time, he also became fascinated with fashion and style, watching Beauty and The Geek and transforming his own personal style.

He now lives and works in Toronto Canada, where he is President of Hacklab.to, a technology community space. He gives frequent public talks on wearable electronics, the combination of electronics and fashion that is most noticeable these days in performers costumes. At Sensebridge, Eric designs, manufactures and sells new sensory interfaces, like the North Paw compass anklet (it vibrates to tell you what way is north, giving you a sense of direction), and electronic jewelry, like Heart Spark (it flashes lights in time with your heart beat, broadcasting your emotions). Eric is a trustee of the Toronto Awesome Foundation, which gives away $1000 each month to support an awesome project somewhere in Toronto. His recent favorites include the Toronto Kiss Map and Cardboard Fort Night. Eric is also involved with the Toronto Guerrilla Gardeners, making the more beautiful one unauthorized garden at a time.

Eric blogs at digitalcrusader.ca. You can learn more about wearable electronic senses at sensebridge.net, and see the electronic jewelry at sensebridge.com.

Related articles

• HackLab.TO: Toronto’s Hacker Collective
• Ramez Naam on Singularity 1 on 1: The World Needs Innovation. Don’t Be a Spectator, Participate!
• Robert J. Sawyer on Humanity 2.0

Yesterday I interviewed Steven Kotler on Singularity 1 on 1.

Together with Peter Diamandis, Steven is the co-author of Abundance: The Future is Better than You Think.

Abundance is a book that provides both hope and inspiration in an ocean of doom and gloom. Its main message being that the future can and, most likely, will be better than we think.

Impossible?!

Check out the interview to see why you are probably wrong.

During our conversation with Steven Kotler we discuss issues such as: running a dog shelter for special needs dogs; the story of how Steven got his first writing job and eventually published articles in Maxim, Wired, GQ, Popular Science and other periodicals; his first novel; environmental degradation, global warming and biodiversity; the neuroscience behind out cognitive biases such as why we are local optimists but global pessimists; environmentalism and nuclear energy; the story of how Steven met Peter Diamandis  and eventually got together to write Abundance; the four forces shaping the world today — exponentially growing technology, DIY Innovators, techno philanthropists and the rising billion; the Qualcomm Tricorder X Prize, AI (such as Watson) and putting a doctor in your cell phone; scarcity, abundance and capitalism; why he believes that we are living an an age of unparallelled personal empowerment.

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who is Steven Kotler?

Steven Kotler is a best-selling author, award-winning journalist, co-founder of the Rancho de Chihuahua dog sanctuary and director of research for the Flow Genome Project. His award-winning books include the non-fiction works Abundance, A Small Furry Prayer, West of Jesus and the novel The Angle Quickest for Flight. His articles have appeared in over 60 publications, including The New York Times Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, Wired, Forbes, GQ, Outside, Popular Science, and Discover. You can find more about Steven Kotler on his website: http://www.stevenkotler.com.

Related articles

• Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think

Yesterday I interviewed Ramez Naam for my singularity podcast.

Ramez is the author of an award-winning, timely and easy to digest book on the ethical, political, economic and other implications of transhumanism titled More Than Human.

Since I enjoyed reading the book very much I simply had to interview Naam and ask him to talk more about his ideas. During our conversation we discuss a variety of topics such as: Ramez’ early interest philosophy, physics and computer science; the motivation behind his work at Microsoft on projects such as MS Word, Outlook and the Bing search engine; the inspiration behind his book on transhumanism; human evolution and the way technology has become a crucial part of who we are; playing God in general and altering the human DNA in particular; life extension and the probability of overcoming death; artificial intelligence, the technological singularity and why he is not a singularitarian; the limits to growth, resource depletion, innovation and optimism.

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who is Ramez Naam?

Ramez Naam is a computer scientist and entrepreneur. He is the author of More Than Human: Embracing the Promise of Biological Enhancement, which the LA Times called “a terrific survey of current work and future possibilities in gene therapy, neurotechnology, and other fields.” For More Than Human, Naam was awarded the 2005 H.G. Wells Award for Contributions to Transhumanism.

Ramez spent 13 years at Microsoft, where he lead development on early versions of Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Internet Explorer, and most recently the Bing search engine.

Naam is a Fellow of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies and blogs at UnbridledSpeculation.com. He lives in Seattle, where he is currently working on his next book The Infinite Resource: Harnessing the Power of Ideas on a Finite Planet.

This morning I interviewed Daniel Kraft for Singularity 1 on 1.

I met Dr. Kraft at Singularity University where he is the Medicine and Neuroscience Chair and executive director of the FutureMed Program. Daniel is one of those people with an incredibly diverse spectrum of talents and interests for he is not only a medical doctor and oncologist but also an inventor, a technology and space enthusiast, an entrepreneur and an F-16 flight surgeon.

During our conversation we discuss a variety of topics such as: Daniel’s early interest and talent in technology and science; his original fascination with the Apollo Space program and eventual participation in International Space University; his passion for flying and being a pilot; his medical education and personal journey to becoming a faculty member at Singularity University; his desire to be an instigator, connector and motivator of innovation; the story behind as well as the purpose and structure of the FutureMed program; bone marrow harvesting, regenerative medicine and stem cell research; longevity and the future of medicine and health care; his greatest inspiration and concerns about the field of medicine and his belief that one doesn’t have to be a doctor to improve health care.

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who is Daniel Kraft?

Daniel Kraft is a Stanford and Harvard trained physician-scientist, inventor, entrepreneur and innovator.

Dr. Kraft has over 20 years of experience in clinical practice, biomedical research and healthcare innovation.  Daniel chairs the Medicine track for Singularity University and is Executive Director for FutureMed, a program which explores convergent, exponentially developing technologies and their potential in biomedicine and healthcare.

Following undergraduate degrees at Brown and medical school at Stanford, Dr. Kraft was board certified in the Harvard combined Internal Medicine and Pediatrics residency program at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital. He went on to complete Stanford fellowships in hematology/oncology & bone marrow transplantation, and extensive research in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine.  He has multiple scientific publications (including in Nature and Science), medical device, immunology and stem cell related patents through faculty positions with Stanford University School of Medicine and as clinical faculty for the pediatric bone marrow transplantation service at UCSF.

Dr. Kraft recently founded IntelliMedicine, focused on enabling connected, data driven, and integrated personalized medicine. He is also the inventor of the MarrowMiner, an FDA approved device for the minimally invasive harvest of bone marrow, and founded RegenMed Systems, a company developing technologies to enable adult stem cell based regenerative therapies.

Daniel is an avid pilot and serves in the California Air National guard as an officer and flight surgeon with an F-16 fighter Squadron. He has conducted research on aerospace medicine that was published with NASA, with whom he was a finalist for astronaut selection.

Daniel Kraft on Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cells:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Daniel Kraft at TED:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related articles

• Sonia Arrison on Singularity 1 on 1: Make Regenerative Medicine A Top Priority
• Aubrey de Grey’s Singularity Podcast: Longevity Escape Velocity May Be Closer Than We Think
• Aubrey de Grey on Singularity 1 on 1: Better Funding and Advocacy Can Defeat Aging
• FutureMed Faculty Synthesize their 2011 Presentations in these Short Videos

A couple of months ago I interviewed Rachel Haywire for Singularity 1 on 1. I had some dificulties in posting this interivew but, since those were eventually resolved, better late than never…

Rachel Haywire is a multi-media artist and writer currently residing in Los Angeles, California. She is the founder of The Human 2.0 Council which is a Transhumanist network of artists and students on the edge of society and media.

Known for bridging the gap between the counterculture and academia she founded the Extreme Futurist Festival which is a 2 day entertainment and tech convention focusing on radical performers and voices of the new evolution.

Rachel is known as an “antisocial media coach” and considered a leading voice in digital media. She is credited for bringing DIY Transhumanism into the mainstream.

I have to admit that I worked for 10 hours before my interview with Rachel and was totally wasted by the time we started. Thus I began our conversation a bit low on energy but was quickly energized by her willingness to share frankly some of her very personal struggles and limitations.

In addition, during the interview we discuss issues such as: what does it mean to be “anti-social media coach”‘; how Rachel got interested in transhumanism and issues surrounding the technological singularity; the difference between transhumanism and cyber-punk; being an extreme futurist and organizing the Extreme Future Fest; the early Italian futurists such as Marinetti and their fascist inclinations; women in transhumanism; DIY synthetic biology, human enhancement and bio-hacking; the risks of early adopters; flying as the ultimate freedom; Rachel’s appreciation for ballet and love of dance in general; neuro-diversity; artificial intelligence and others.

My favorite quote from Rachel (apart from the title) is:

“Just because you are smart, it doesn’t mean that you can’t be cultured. And just because you are cultured it doesn’t mean that you can’t be smart. There is intelligence and there is artistic merit, and those two things should, can and do exist at the same time.”

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Rachel Haywire describes the Extreme Future Fest

Click here to view the embedded video.

Extreme Future Fest Opening: Rachel Haywire and Michael Anissimov

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related articles

• Visual Culture and Transhumanism
• The Complete 2011 Singularity Summit Video Collection
• Extreme Futurist Festival (acceleratingfuture.com)

Those of you who followed SingulatityWeblog.com last summer know that I was very fortunate to attend Singularity University on NASA’s campus in Mountainview, California. The 10 weeks I spent there were one of the most challenging yet inspiring periods of my life. I learned a lot about technology, leadership, entrepreneurship and about myself. I was inspired by meeting people such as futurist and inventor Ray Kurzweil, space enthusiast and entrepreneur Peter Diamandis, astronaut Dan Barry, Apple co-founder Steven Wozniak, and many others from across the globe. I had the unique opportunity to go inside the kitchen of technology, talk to some of the chefs and see what will likely be on the menu for the next decade or more.

Since I came back I have been getting numerous emails from people interested in applying who are asking me to read their applications or for tips on being successful in applying to Singularity University. Today I decided to make a short video with my top 5 tips. If you are seriously thinking about applying take a few minutes and watch the video below where for the first time ever I reveal all my secret shortcuts and hidden tricks which helped me get accepted to SU on a full scholarship.

My Top 5 Tips for Applying to Singularity University:

Click here to view the embedded video.

1. Do your homework: Learn as much as you can about Singularity University, its mission, founders, employees and alumni. Try and connect with as many of those people as you can. Get to know their work, their dreams and aspirations. Eventually, they may even begin recognizing your name or your face. For example, my personal strategy was to interview as many well known singularitarians as possible. Once I did that I approached the top 3 people with whom I had developed very friendly relationships and asked them for letters of reference.

2. Do the Work! Despite of what I promised above, I have to admit that there are really no shortcuts for your application. So, just do the work. I honestly hate paperwork and writing extensive applications but despite that I probably spent at least one whole week writing and polishing my application for 4-5 hours each day. So, take the time and put the maximum effort to submit as great and as polished an application as you possibly can.

3. Submit your optional short video – it is the best way to showcast your passion and personality. Tell them what you’ve done in the past and what you dream of doing in the future. Tell them why you care. And, if you feel so, don’t be afraid to say that you’re different. But be authentic. Don’t fake it. Realize that once you actually make it to SU everyone there is either a rocket scientist or a geek or an entrepreneur or a genius so, one way or another, everyone stands out and is different. Don’t glorify yourself beyond measure and don’t be afraid to mention your weaknesses. Be honest. (See for example, my own video: Don’t Accept Me To Singularity University: My Top 10 Reasons Why I Should Not Be Accepted. While it is clearly horrible as a video it worked in the sense that it managed to show who I am and what I am passionate about.)

4. Never give up and get lucky! There is an old proverb saying: “Everything I have accomplished in life – I owe it to luck. And the harder I work – the luckier I get.” So, if you fail in your first attempt don’t give up. Keep working at it until you get lucky. For example, I had to apply 3 times to Singularity University and was placed on the waiting list the last time that I applied. It was not even 36 hours before the beginning of the program when I was finally notified that someone didn’t show up and I was accepted on a full scholarship in their place. So, I just got lucky, but if you persist you will get lucky too.

Astronaut Dan Barry (who has been twice in space, worked on the International Space Station and, for a while, held the record for the longest space-walk) had to apply 13 times to NASA. So, if you are sure that this is what you want to do and where you want to be, then, don’t let anyone or anything stop you. Just keep working at it and eventually you will get lucky.

5. Don’t wait for permission to change the world. Just go and do it. No institution can ever grant you or prevent you from making a dent in the universe. So, own up to the fact that it is really up to you. While SU may be both inspirational and a lot of fun, in the end of the day, it is really just a tool. Not the goal itself. The goal is to change the life of a billion people in a positive way. So, don’t wait for permission – just go and do it.

Related articles

• Peter Diamandis on Singularity 1 on 1: Singularity University is Star Fleet Academy for the World’s Biggest Challenges
• Dan Barry on Singularity 1 on 1: Don’t Let Anyone Tell You That You Can’t Reach Your Dreams
• Singularity University Tours Autodesk
• Peter Diamandis’ Laws: The Creed of the Persistent and Passionate Mind
• How I Almost Didn’t Make It to Singularity University: Moses vs The US DHS
• Singularity University Day 1: Meeting Ray and Peter
• Singularity University Day 2: Failure is an Option
• Singularity University Video Tour
• Google’s Self-Driving Robocar at Singularity University
• Snap-shots from My First 4 Days at Singularity University
• Singularity University Lectures: Astro Teller on Innovation
• Salim Ismail on Singularity 1 on 1: We Are Already Gods, We Might As Well Start Acting As Such
• Singularity University: Random Video Highlights from GSP11
• Singularity University Lectures: Terence Kawaja on the Science-ification of Media
• Singularity University Lectures: David Rose on Entrepreneurship
• Singularity University Lectures: Dr. Alex Jadad on Making Longer Life Worth Living
• Singularity University Lectures: Science Searches for ET by Seth Shostak
• Singularity University Lectures: Mark Jacobson on Powering the World with Wind, Water and Sunlight

I couple of days ago I interviewed Michael Shermer for Singularity 1 on 1.

I met Dr. Shermer at the recent Singularity Summit in New York where he was one of the most entertaining, engaging and optimistic speakers. Since he calls himself a skeptic and not a singularitarian, I thought he would bring not only balance to my singularity podcast but also a healthy doze of skepticism, and I was not disappointed.

During our conversation we discuss a variety of topics such as: his education at a Christian college and original interest in religion and theology; his eventual transition to atheism, skepticism, science and the scientific method; SETI, the singularity and religion; scientific progress and the dots on the curve as precursors of big breakthroughs; life-extension, cloning and mind uploading; being a skeptic and an optimist at the same time; the “social singularity”; global warming; the tricky balance between being a skeptic while still being able to learn and make progress.

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Michael Shermer’s Singularity Summit presentation: “Social Singularity: Transitioning from Civilization 1.0 to 2.0″

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who is Michael Shermer?

Dr. Michael Shermer is the Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine (www.skeptic.com), the Executive Director of the Skeptics Society, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, the host of the Skeptics Distinguished Science Lecture Series at Caltech, and Adjunct Professor at Claremont Graduate University and Chapman University.

Dr. Shermer’s latest book is The Mind of the Market, on evolutionary economics. His last book was Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design, and he is the author of Science Friction: Where the Known Meets the Unknown, about how the mind works and how thinking goes wrong. His book The Science of Good and Evil: Why People Cheat, Gossip, Care, Share, and Follow the Golden Rule, is on the evolutionary origins of morality and how to be good without God. He wrote a biography, In Darwin’s Shadow, about the life and science of the co-discoverer of natural selection, Alfred Russel Wallace. He also wrote The Borderlands of Science, about the fuzzy land between science and pseudoscience, and Denying History, on Holocaust denial and other forms of pseudohistory. His book How We Believe, presents his theory on the origins of religion and why people believe in God. He is also the author of Why People Believe Weird Things on pseudoscience, superstitions, and other confusions of our time.

According to the late Stephen Jay Gould (from his Foreword to Why People Believe Weird Things): “Michael Shermer, as head of one of America’s leading skeptic organizations, and as a powerful activist and essayist in the service of this operational form of reason, is an important figure in American public life.”

Dr. Shermer received his B.A. in psychology from Pepperdine University, M.A. in experimental psychology from California State University, Fullerton, and his Ph.D. in the history of science from Claremont Graduate University (1991). He was a college professor for 20 years (1979-1998), teaching psychology, evolution, and the history of science at Occidental College (1989-1998), California State University Los Angeles, and Glendale College. Since his creation of the Skeptics Society, Skeptic magazine, and the Skeptics Distinguished Science Lecture Series at Caltech, he has appeared on such shows as The Colbert Report, 20/20, Dateline, Charlie Rose, Larry King Live, Tom Snyder, Donahue, Oprah, Lezza, Unsolved Mysteries (but, proudly, never Jerry Springer!), and other shows as a skeptic of weird and extraordinary claims, as well as interviews in countless documentaries aired on PBS, A&E, Discovery, The History Channel, The Science Channel, and The Learning Channel. Shermer was the co-host and co-producer of the 13-hour Family Channel television series, Exploring the Unknown.

Related articles

• Head-Transplantation: A Short Documentary about Dr. R. J. White’s Controversial Experiments
• Randal Koene on Singularity 1 on 1: Mind Uploading is not Science Fiction
• Singularity University Lectures: Dr. Alex Jadad on Making Longer Life Worth Living
• The Complete 2011 Singularity Summit Video Collection

Last week I interviewed Luke Muehlhauser for Singularity 1 on 1.

Luke Muehlhauser is the Executive Director of the Singularity Institute, the author of many articles on AI safety and the cognitive science of rationality, and the host of the popular podcast “Conversations from the Pale Blue Dot.” His work is collected at lukeprog.com.

I have to say that despite his young age and lack of a University Degree – a criticism which we discuss during our interview, Luke was one of the best and clearest spoken guests on my show and I really enjoyed talking to to him. During our 56 min-long conversation we discuss a large variety of topics such as: Luke’s Christian-Evangelico personal background as the first-born son of a pastor in northern Minnesota; his fascinating transition transition from religion and theology to atheism and science; his personal motivation and desire to overcome our very human cognitive biases and help address existential risks to humanity; the Singularity Institute – its mission, members and fields of interest; the “religion for geeks” (or “rapture of the nerds”) and other popular criticisms and misconceptions; our chances of surviving the technological singularity.

My favorite quote from the interview:

“Superhuman AI is coming this century. By default it will be disastrous for humanity. If you want to make AI a really good thing for humanity please donate to organizations already working on that or – if you are a researcher – help us solve particular problems in mathematics, decision theory or cognitive science.”

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related articles

• The Complete 2011 Singularity Summit Video Collection
• Spencer Greenberg on Singularity 1 on 1: To Become Better Thinkers – Study Our Cognitive Biases and Logical Fallacies
• Facing the Singularity
• 80,000 Hours
• Video Q&A about Singularity Institute.
• Robert J. Sawyer on Singularity 1 on 1: The Human Adventure is Just Beginning
• So You Want to Save the World

This weekend I interviewed Jose Cordeiro for Singularity 1 on 1 and I have to admit that this was one of my favorite interviews so far with perhaps the strongest, most positive endings on the show.

Jose is a published book author, energy expert, futurist, transhumanist and Singularity University faculty member. So, even if Venezuela’s terribly slow internet connection did not make for the best video recording, the interview is absolutely worth watching.  Furthermore, if you ever attend a public event or a lecture where you suddenly hear someone scream “Energyyyy!” on the top of their lungs – you will have no doubt that it can be no one else but our friend Cordeiro.

During our 48 min conversation we discuss a large variety of topics such as: Jose’s personal background and his failed attempt to become Venezuela’s energy minister; the staggering murder rates in Venezuela; his journey from MIT’s engineering department through the Oil and Gas Industry to renewable resources, Singularity Unviversity and futurism; the Energularity – its meaning and timeline; the Kardashev scale and the vulnerability of pre-type 1 civilizations such as ours; the biggest change in the largest industry on our planet – i.e. the Energy industry’s shift from fossil fuels to solar, wind, geothermal or fusion; the evolution of intelligence, our chances of surviving the technological singularity and the importance of optimism.

My favorite quote from Jose: “The world is just half full but it is beginning to become fuller and fuller and more beautiful.”

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who is Jose Cordeiro?

José Luis Cordeiro is a world citizen in our small planet in a big unknown universe. He was born in Latin America, from European parents, was educated in Europe and North America, and has worked extensively in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. He has studied, visited and worked in over 130 countries in 5 continents.

Mr. Cordeiro studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, USA, where he received his Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) and Master of Science (M.Sc.) degrees in Mechanical Engineering, with a minor in Economics and Languages. His thesis consisted of a dynamic modeling for NASA’s “Freedom” Space Station (the “International” Space Station of today). He later studied International Economics and Comparative Politics at Georgetown University in Washington, USA, and then obtained his Masters of Business Administration (MBA) at the Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires (INSEAD) in Fontainebleau, France, where he majored in Finance and Globalization. During his studies, Mr. Cordeiro worked with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Vienna, Austria, and with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, USA. He started his doctoral work at MIT, which he continued later in Tokyo, Japan, and finally received his PhD at Universidad Simón Bolívar (USB) in Caracas, Venezuela. He is a lifetime member of the Sigma Xi (ΣΞ, Scientific Research) and Tau Beta Pi (ТΒΠ, Engineering) Honor Societies in North America, is also a honorary member of the Venezuelan Engineers College (CIV), and his name has been included in the Marquis Edition of Who’s Who in the World.

Following his graduation, Mr. Cordeiro worked as an engineer in petroleum exploration for the French company Schlumberger. For several years, he served as an advisor for many of the major oil companies in the world, including Agip, BP, ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil, PDVSA, Pemex, Petrobras, Repsol, Shell and Total. Later, in Paris, he initiated his relation with the international consulting company Booz-Allen & Hamilton, where he specialized in the areas of strategy, finance and restructuring. In Latin America, he has served as an advisor for some of the most important regional corporations and has taken part in the transformation and privatization of a number of oil companies in the continent. His experience and studies in monetary policy, currency boards, dollarization and monetary unions have taken him to participate in several monetary changes in Latin America and Eastern Europe.

At present, he is chair of the Venezuelan Node of the Millennium Project, Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Developing Economies (IDE – JETRO) in Tokyo, Japan, and Energy Advisor and Faculty at Singularity University (SU) in NASA Ames, Silicon Valley, USA. He is also an independent consultant, writer, researcher, professor and “tireless traveler”. He has lectured as an Invited Professor at several major institutions, from MIT in the USA and Sophia University (上智大学) in Japan to the Institute for Higher Studies in Administration (IESA) and the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), where he created the first formal courses of Futures Studies (“Prospectiva”) and Austrian School of Economics in Venezuela.

Mr. Cordeiro is founder of the World Future Society (Venezuela Chapter), director of the Single Global Currency Association (SGCA) and the Lifeboat Foundation, cofounder of the Venezuelan Transhumanist Association and of the Internet Society (ISOC, Venezuela Chapter), board advisor to the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology (CRN), member of the Academic Committee of the Center for the Dissemination of Economic Knowledge (CEDICE), the World Future Society (WFS) and the World Futures Studies Federation (WFSF), former director of the World Transhumanist Association (WTA, Humanity+), the Extropy Institute (ExI), the Club of Rome (Venezuela Chapter, where he was active promoting classical liberal ideas) and of the Association of Venezuelan Exporters (AVEX), where he participated in the original negotiations of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). He has also been advisor to the Venezuelan Business Association (AVE) and other companies and international organizations.

Thanks to his extensive work in technological foresight, futures studies, globalization, economic integration, long-term development, energy, education and monetary policy, Mr. Cordeiro has authored and coauthored several books. El Desafío Latinoamericano, his first book, is a continental bestseller originally published by McGraw-Hill and is used in more than 100 universities in the hemisphere (see introductory pages). Its second Spanish edition is now available completely free in electronic form by the author, who is also donating his book royalties. Arturo Uslar Pietri, the most universal and respected Venezuelan of the 20th century, described other two books of Mr. Cordeiro with the following words: “as important to Venezuela as the independence battle of Carabobo” (The Great Taboo) and “an impressive work that describes the grave economic malady… of Venezuela” (La Segunda Muerte de Bolívar). He has authored other books about Ecuador (La Segunda Muerte de Sucre) and Mexico (¿Pesos o Dólares?), and about special topics like education (Benesuela vs. Venezuela), energy (Energía para el Desarrollo de América del Sur and Cenários Energéticos 2020, in Portuguese) and transhumanism (2020: Transhuman & Economy of the Future, in Korean). He has written more than 10 books and co-written over 20 more in five languages, including sections of the State of the Future by the Millennium Project.

Mr. Cordeiro has a fortnightly opinion column in the largest and most prestigious Venezuelan general newspaper (El Universal) and has also written and has been interviewed in major media (press, radio and TV) including ABC, BBC,CNN, Chosun Ilbo (Korean Daily), El Comercio (Ecuador), El Comercio (Peru), El Tiempo (Colombia), El Universal (Mexico), El Universal (Venezuela), Los Andes (Argentina),O Estado de Sao Paulo (Brazil), Mainichi Shimbun (Japan Daily News), La Tribune (France), The New York Times, Univision and The Washington Times (USA).

Related articles

• Singularity University: Random Video Highlights from GSP11
• Salim Ismail on Singularity 1 on 1: We Are Already Gods, We Might As Well Start Acting As Such
• Sonia Arrison on Singularity 1 on 1: Make Regenerative Medicine A Top Priority

I have always been a huge fan of Cory Doctorow’s – I read his books, I listen to his podcast, I watch his numerous and always ground-breaking keynote speeches and I value his insights and expert opinion.

This time, however, Cory outdid even himself.

Below you can watch Doctorow’s seminal keynote speech given at the 28th Chaos Communication Congress in Germany.

In addition, since the original video recording was released under a creative commons licence and given the immense importance of the topic, I decided to post the audio via my Singularity 1 on 1 podcast.

So, you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the full video recording below. I hope you find it as inspiring, as enraging and as profound as I did.

Enjoy!

Related articles

• Will 2012 Be 1984: DRM and SOPA are Breaking The Internet!
• Scroogled By Cory Doctorow (The Day Google Became Evil)
• Epoch by Cory Doctorow (With A Little Help Chapter 13)
• A Little Bit Pregnant: Cory Doctorow at Boundaries, Frontiers and Gatekeepers iSchool Conference

Last week I interviewed Dr. Randal Koene for Singularity 1 on 1.

Dr. Koene is perhaps one of the world’s foremost neuroscientists. He is director of analysis at Halcyon Molecular, co-founder of Carbon Copies and co-founder of and director at the Neural Engineering Corporation of Massachusetts.

Randal’s research objective is whole brain emulation, creating the large-scale high-resolution representations and emulations of activity in neuronal circuitry that are needed in patient-specific neuroprostheses.

During our 70 min conversation we discuss a large variety of topics such as: Randal’s early childhood and interest in science fiction; his lack of time to do all the things that he wanted to; his fascination with neuroscience; the distinction between whole brain emulation, whole brain simulation and complete understanding of the human brain; his work at Halcyon Molecular, Carbon Copies and Neuro Engineersing; the roadmap and benchmarks on the path of mind-uploading; the best and worst case scenarios that could result from Dr. Koene’s work; some of the ethical implications of mind uploading; the relationship between mind-uploading and the technological singularity.

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who is Randal Koene?

Randal A. Koene is heading up Analysis at nanotechnology company Halcyon Molecular in Silicon Valley. Previously, Randal A. Koene, Ph.D., was Director of the Department of Neuroengineering at Tecnalia, third largest private research organization in Europe. He is a former Prof. at the Center for Memory and Brain of Boston University, and co-founder/owner of the Neural Engineering Corporation of Massachusetts. His research objective is whole brain emulation, creating the large-scale high-resolution representations and emulations of activity in neuronal circuitry that are needed in patient-specific neuroprostheses.

Koene has professional expertise in computational neuroscience, psychology, information theory, electrical engineering and physics. He organizes neural engineering efforts to obtain and replicate function and structure information that resides in the neural substrate for use in neuroprostheses and neural interfaces. And based on NETMORPH (netmorph.org), Koene’s computational framework for the simulated morphological development of neuronal circuitry, his lab is creating a Virtual Brain Laboratory to give neuroscientists, neuroengineers and clinicians large-scale high-resolution quantitative tools analogous to the computational tools that have become essential in fields such as genetics, chemistry or the aero-space industry. This effort bridges scales and will help determine how significant functions are encoded robustly in neural ensembles, and how those functions can nevertheless depend in specific ways on the detailed biophysics of particular component physiology.

Koene earned his Ph.D. in Computational Neuroscience at the Department of Psychology at McGill University, and his M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering with a specialization in Information Theory at Delft University of Technology. He is a member of the Oxford working group that convened in 2007 to create a first roadmap toward whole brain emulation (a descriptive term for the technological accomplishment of mind transfer to a different substrate that was first coined by Koene on his MindUploading.org website).

Visit Koene’s personal web site rak.minduploading.org, carboncopies.org, MindUploading.org or watch Koene present and discuss “Scope and Resolution in Neural Prosthetics and Special Concerns for Emulation of a Whole Brain”.

Related articles

• Mind Reading, Thought Control and Neuro Marketing: Is “the Lord of the World” still science fiction?

Yesterday I interviewed science comedian Brian Malow for Singularity 1 on 1.

Brian is one of those unique comedians who is capable to not only make you laugh but also make you think.

During our conversation we discuss topics such as: the name science comedian and the potential tension between science and comedy; serious comedy, mixing humor with scientific truth and making people think; how Brian became a comedian; the connections between science and science fiction; his favorite science fiction writers; his hobbies of insect photography and writing short sci fi stories; his take on the technological singularity and our chances of surviving it.

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who is Brian Malow?

Brian is a science comedian, based in San Francisco, who has performed for the American Chemical Society, the National Association of Science Writers, Apple, Dell, JPL, NIST, AGU and other acronyms.

He produces science videos for Time Magazine’s website, and audio essays for Neil deGrasse Tyson’s radio show.

Brian has led workshops and given presentations to train scientists to become better speakers for the National Science Foundation, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the National Research Council of Canada.

He has been featured on “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,” and on A&E, and in the New York Times, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and Nature.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related articles

• Robert J. Sawyer on Singularity 1 on 1: The Human Adventure is Just Beginning
• Stephen Colbert Interviews Neil deGrasse Tyson at Montclair Kimberley Academy
• Most of Brian Malow’s Time Magazine Videos

It is only fair that every once-in-a-while Socrates - i.e. “the man with the questions,” ought to get the table turned on him, take the other side of the microphone and answer a few questions himself.

So, when Cameron Reilly asked me to be the next guest on his popular and long-running No Illusions Podcast I was honored and agreed without hesitation.

In 2004 Cameron co-founded the Podcast Network – Australia’s first social media company, which he built into one of the largest independent Australian media sites. In 2007, Reilly was called one of the “40 Biggest Players Of Australia’s Digital Age.” Currently he is a regular speaker on issues surrounding social media, social networking and the future of media in addition to consulting for a number of Brisbane-based companies as their digital strategist.

During my conversation with Cameron we discuss issues such as: my personal history and being born Bulgarian; Canada, Toronto and becoming Canadian; my take on the concept and definition of the technological singularity; the Rapture of the Nerds criticism; the scientific method, science and religion; Moore’s Law; nanotechnology; the potential for dividing humanity into technophile transhumanists and technophobe neo-luddites and all out global war between these two fractions; the pro’s and con’s of being skeptical and using the Socratic method of inquiry.

Related articles

• If Socrates Were A Blogger
• Hamlet’s Transhumanist Dilemma: Will Technology Replace Biology?
• A Transhumanist Manifesto
• What is the best definition of the Technological Singularity?
• Charlie Stross on Singularity 1 on 1: The World is Complicated. Elegant Narratives Explaining Everything Are Wrong!
• Stephen Wolfram on Singularity 1 on 1: To Understand the Future, Explore the Computational Universe

A couple of days ago I interviewed David Simpson for Singularity 1 on 1.

David Simpson is a young up-and-coming science fiction writer from Vancouver. He is the author of the sci-fi novels Post-Human - his 2009 debut, as well as Trans-Human - the sequel.

During our conversation we discuss issues such as: David’s early interest in writing; the motivation and goals behind his work; the relationship between science fiction and technology; his favorite science fiction authors; his current and future books as well as the meaning behind their titles.

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who is David Simpson?

David Simpson is the author of the sci-fi novel Post-Human, his 2009 debut, as well as Trans-Human – the sequel. He is also the author of The God Killers, which is his first sci-fi/horror novel.

David has recently taken the unusual step of re-publishing his books as Kindle ebooks so that he could offer them at extremely low prices, eliminating the overpricing caused by having a traditional publisher. He believes that this is a necessary and positive transition, as the technology that has dictated the practices of the publishing industry – paper books, is rapidly being replaced by ebooks.

Post-Human is available for free on his website. (To get a free copy click here)

Trans-Human and The God Killers are available from Amazon.com for only 99 cents each.

David has a Master’s degree in English Literature from the University of British Columbia and is the winner of over a dozen awards and scholarships, both as a student and as a Teacher at the university level.

He lives with his wife, Jennifer, in West Vancouver British Columbia.

David Simpson’s Books

Post-Human is a well-reviewed sci-fi novel that portrays a vision of a pre-singularity civilization as it deals with the social ramifications of immortality as well as strong A.I. Examiner.com said that it was a “Noteworthy Sci-fi novel” and that “The matter-of-fact way the author handled the science aspects of the plot was refreshing. There were no long-winded, technical explanations; he plunks the reader right in the middle of the society and whips you along for the ride. It was artfully done, creating a complete science fiction backdrop for the novel’s authentic characters. The book also has some excellent character interactions and nicely written, restrained commentaries on tolerance, humanity and the nature of religion. The author lets these observations flow naturally from the plot and dialogue and does not thump the reader over the head with his opinions.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Trans-Human takes the outcome of its predecessor and turns it on its head. Author A.F. Stewart says that “it is an engaging sequel that will delight fans of his book Post-Human. It is a thought-provoking, energetic sci-fi book, with a robust dose of high-octane exploits” and that “if you like your science fiction speculative, philosophical, a little theological and action-packed, Trans-Human is the book for you.” The book takes the reader right to the cusp of the singularity and was described by one reader as “the only sci-fi book that goes far enough.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

The God Killers is David’s first foray into the horror genre and is only tangentially related to the singularity in the sense that the characters are literally trying to kill God, which is something David feels will have to be accomplished metaphorically by the time the singularity arrives. The book contains David’s trademark super fast pacing and should delight his sci-fi fans as well, as God is explained as being an evil alien from a parallel and overlapping dimension. Professor Wilhelm Emilsson from Douglas College, described it as “Gritty Cosmic Existentialism — with fast cars and explosions.”

The God Killers is currently being adapted as a graphic novel, which will be available in 2013.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related articles

• Vernor Vinge on Singularity 1 on 1: We Can Surpass the Wildest Dreams of Optimism
• Sonia Arrison on Singularity 1 on 1: Make Regenerative Medicine A Top Priority
• Robopocalypse: Daniel H. Wilson’s Novel To Become Steven Spielberg’s Film
• Charlie Stross on Singularity 1 on 1: The World is Complicated. Elegant Narratives Explaining Everything Are Wrong!
• Robert J. Sawyer on Singularity 1 on 1: The Human Adventure is Just Beginning

This Thursday I interviewed David Orban for Singularity 1 on 1.

I have to admit that David is one of my favorite singularitarians and I enjoyed talking to him immensely. During our conversation we discuss issues such as: David’s personal background and early interest in science and technology; the motivation and goals behind his work; his involvement in Singularity University; his take on the technological singularity and our chances of surviving it; religion, death and life extension technology; the internet of things; the role of technology in liberating humanity; the value of human-centered communication; Ted Kaczynski‘s arguments against technological progress; why communicating through on-line videos is so popular and powerful.

Hope you enjoy watching the interview as much as I enjoyed talking to David!

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who is David Orban?

David Orban is an entrepreneur and visionary, and is the CEO of dotSUB, the leading technology and services provider powering video viewing via captions and translations as subtitles in any language to increase access, engagement and global reach, based in New York City.

David is also a Lecturer of, and Advisor to Singularity University, an interdisciplinary university whose mission is to assemble, educate and inspire leaders who strive to understand and facilitate the development of exponentially advancing technologies in order to address humanity’s grand challenges.

He is the was Chairman, and is on the Board of Directors of Humanity+, an organization dedicated to promoting understanding, interest, and participation in fields of emerging innovation. H+ represents a growing movement of people willing to work proactively to benefit the human condition through a commitment to scientific advancement.

He is also a Founder of WideTag, a high technology start-up company providing the infrastructure for an open Internet of Things. David shapes the strategic vision of its technologies by developing the policies and communication steps necessary to enable constructive progress.

David is Co-Founder of Startupbusiness, a social network aimed at enabling the Italian startup ecosystem. Startupbusiness is a spin-off of Questar, an Italian software publishing and distribution company, of which David is the Founder. Questar aims to enhance channel oriented electronic software distribution services, making them available to developers worldwide.

He is further a Scientific Advisory Board Member for the Lifeboat Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging scientific advancements while helping humanity survive existential risks. The Foundation creates mechanisms to discourage the misuse of increasingly powerful technologies such as nanotechnology and artificial intelligence.

David is also a Founder of the Open Government Data working group. The group promotes a more robust understanding of why open government data is essential to democracy. The group utilizes increased civil discourse in order to make Government more effective, transparent, and relevant to our lives.

His educational background includes studies in Physics at both the University of Milan and the University of Padua.

David cuts across the limits of deep specialization to contribute to the new renaissance. He explains, “My vision is at the crossroads of technology and society as defined by their co-evolution.”

David Orban’s personal motto is, “What is the question I should be asking?” This concept is his vehicle to accelerating cycles of invention and innovation in order to build the new world ahead.

Related articles

• Salim Ismail on Singularity 1 on 1: We Are Already Gods, We Might As Well Start Acting As Such
• Sonia Arrison on Singularity 1 on 1: Make Regenerative Medicine A Top Priority
• Peter Diamandis on Singularity 1 on 1: Singularity University is Star Fleet Academy for the World’s Biggest Challenges

This week I interviewed Greg Wientjes for Singularity 1 on 1.

I met Greg at Singularity University and picked up a copy of his book Creative Genius in Technology: Mentor Principles from Life Stories of Geniuses and Visionaries of the Singularity.

The book is very well researched and examines the question: “How do you mentor, educate and cultivate the development of individuals with high potential for technology innovation and advancement?”

It is based on Greg’s conversations with some of the most influential people in technology for the past three decades. People such as: Vint Cerf, Bob Kahn, Ray Kurzweil, Bob Metcalfe, Doug Osheroff, Bill Joy, Tim Berners-Lee, Hector Cargia-Molina, James Leckie, Ernesto Sanches-Tirana, Rita Colwell, Ann Graybiel, Joanne Stubbe and Mildred Dresselhaus.

The result is Greg’s GENIUS theory:

G – Give encouragement, validation and self-confidence to the genius. “You can do it!”

E – Energize the genius to explore and experiment in engineering  and science discovery at an early age. Learn by doing.

N – Nurture creative new ideas through ‘play’ and providing the genius with an abundance of educational resources. Love learning. 

I – Inspire through role modeling and mentoring. Set the example.

U – Utilize unexpected events as opportunities for serendipitous benefit, and adapt; encourage the genius to do the same. Ride the wave.

S – Stimulate the genius to solve problems of practical importance and create beneficial technology solutions. Invent.

***

So, what is my favorite point from Creative Genius in Technology?!

“You Can Do It!”

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who is Greg Wientjes?

Greg Wientjes, Ph.D., was awarded his Stanford doctoral degree (Developmental and Psychological Sciences) in 2010.  Wientjes attended Singularity University (2009), which was cofounded by technology genius, Ray Kurzweil, and that experience served as the inspiration for this book.  Dr. Wientjes completed his Master’s of Science in Electrical Engineering (2006) and his Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics (2004), both from Stanford.

Last Sunday I interviewed Robert J. Sawyer for Singularity 1 on 1.

I have to admit that, despite the fact that he is a very well known and successful best-selling science fiction writer, I only recently stumbled onto Robert’s work.

I was taking a ride on the Toronto subway and couldn’t help it but notice the posters for his novel WWW: Wake. The idea of a blind girl seeing the internet and connecting with an emerging virtual intelligence peaked my curiosity so I had to read the book. I thought it was so captivating and brilliant that I went ahead and got book 2 (WWW: Watch) and 3 (WWW: Wonder) as soon as I finished book 1. After finishing the complete trilogy I can honestly say that the story only gets better and better as one moves through the different parts. I recommend it highly.

Having read the WWW series I just had to interview Robert. During our conversation with him we discuss issues such as: how and why he got interested in science fiction and technology; the motivation behind and goals of his work; his current book and film projects; his take on artificial intelligence and the technological singularity; philosophy and religion; and the future of humanity.

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who is Robert J. Sawyer?

Robert J. Sawyer — called “the dean of Canadian science fiction” by The Ottawa Citizen and “just about the best science-fiction writer out there these days” by The Denver Rocky Mountain News — is one of only eight writers in history (and the only Canadian) to win all three of the science-fiction field’s top honors for best novel of the year:

• the World Science Fiction Society’s Hugo Award, which he won in 2003 for his novel Hominids
• the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America’s Nebula Award, which he won in 1996 for his novel The Terminal Experiment
• and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, which he won in 2006 for his novel Mindscan

Rob is also the only writer in history to win the top SF awards in the United States, China, Japan, France, and Spain. In addition, he’s won an Arthur Ellis Award from the Crime Writers of Canada as well as eleven Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards (“Auroras”). The ABC TV series Flashforward
is based on his novel of the same name.

Maclean’s: Canada’s Weekly Newsmagazine says, “By any reckoning, Sawyer is among the most successful Canadian authors ever,” and Barnes and Noble calls him “the leader of SF’s next-generation pack.”

Rob’s novels are top-ten national mainstream bestsellers in Canada, appearing on the Globe and Mail and Maclean’s bestsellers’ lists, and they’ve hit #1 on the bestsellers’ list published by Locus, the U.S. trade journal of the SF field. His twenty novels include Frameshift, Factoring Humanity, Calculating God, WWW: Wake, and the popular “Neanderthal Parallax” trilogy consisting of Hominids, Humans, Hybrids.

He’s often seen on TV, including such program as Rivera Live with Geraldo Rivera, Canada A.M., and Saturday Night at the Movies, and he’s a frequent science commentator for Discovery Channel Canada, CBC Newsworld, and CBC Radio.

Rob — who holds an honorary doctorate from Laurentian University — has taught writing at the University of Toronto, Ryerson University, Humber College, the National University of Ireland, and the Banff Centre. He has been Writer-in-Residence at the Richmond Hill (Ontario) Public Library, the Kitchener (Ontario) Public Library, the Toronto Public Library’s Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy, the Canadian Light Source synchrotron, and at the Odyssey Workshop. And he edits Robert J. Sawyer Books, the science-fiction imprint of Red Deer Press.

Rob has given talks at hundreds of venues including the Library of Congress and the National Library of Canada, and been keynote speaker at dozens of events in places as diverse as Los Angeles, Boston, Tokyo, and Barcelona. He was born in Ottawa in 1960, and now lives just west of Toronto with his wife, poet Carolyn Clink.

Last week I interviewed Sonia Arrison for Singularity 1 on 1.

I met Sonia at the Singularity University, where she is a founder and a trustee, and there I picked up a copy of her seminal book 100 Plus: How the Coming Age of Longevity Will Change Everything, from Careers and Relationships to Family and Faith. The book is very well researched and deals with the most profound implications of life-extension and super-longevity. In the author’s own words, the main question is: “how long science will extend our lives and how that in turn will change our ecological, social, and religious worlds.”

During our conversation with Sonia we discuss issues such as: how and why she got interested in technology in general and transhumanism and regenerative medicine in particular; how science and technology will allow us to live longer and healthier lives; the most common objections against increased longevity; the implications thereof on major religions; cryonics; Sonia’s take on the technological singularity and our chances of surviving it; the fact that we cannot simply sit down and wait for longevity to happen.

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who is Sonia Arrison?

Sonia Arrison is a founder, academic advisor, and trustee at Singularity University, located in Mountain View, CA. She is also a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute (PRI) and a columnist for TechNewsWorld. As a frequent media contributor and guest, her work has appeared on CNN and in the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

To find out more about Sonia visit SoniaArrison.com

Related articles

• 100 Plus Book Review: Sonia Arrison on How the Coming Age of Longevity Will Change Everything

Yesterday I interviewed Spencer Greenberg for Singularity 1 on 1.

Spencer is the Chief Executive Officer of Rebellion Research, the quantitative hedge fund that he co-founded in 2005 at the age of 22.

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

During our conversation with Spencer we discuss issues such as: the unique approach that Rebellion Research takes in investing; artificial intelligence and machine learning; the Black Swan factor and the abilities of AI to account for and react to unpredictable events; Spencer’s take on the technological singularity and our chances of surviving it; the cognitive biases and logical fallacies that humans are prone to exhibit.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who is Spencer Greenberg?

Spencer Greenberg is the CEO of Rebellion Research, a fund that applies machine learning technology to invest in the stock market. Mr. Greenberg graduated Magna Cum Laude from Columbia University’s School of Engineering with a Bachelor of Science in applied mathematics and a minor in computer science. He is currently a math PhD candidate at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences (all but dissertation), specializing in the mathematics of machine learning. Mr. Greenberg has spoken about artificial intelligence and investing on Bloomberg News, Bloomberg Radio, CNBC, Canada’s Business News Network, China’s Phoenix TV, in the Wall Street Journal, at Columbia Business School, and at the Stern School of Business.

Other information about Spencer: He co-writes AskAMathematician.com, a website with about 100,000 monthly page views where his co-author and him answer people’s math and physics questions. In addition, he is very much into rationality, and learning to debug the errors in our own minds and improve our sub-optimal behaviors. On his personal website – SpencerGreenberg.com, he shares his thoughts on these issues.

Related articles

• Stephen Wolfram on Singularity 1 on 1: To Understand the Future, Explore the Computational Universe
• Peter Diamandis on Singularity 1 on 1: Singularity University is Star Fleet Academy for the World’s Biggest Challenges
• Salim Ismail on Singularity 1 on 1: We Are Already Gods, We Might As Well Start Acting As Such

During my 10 weeks at Singularity University I was able to ambush Dan Barry for a 20 min interview for Singularity 1 on 1.

Former NASA astronaut and veteran of 3 space missions, Dan is currently the head of faculty at Singularity University and the co-chair for AI, Robotics, Space and Physical Sciences.

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

For me Dan Barry was an inspiration from the very beginning of the program: His inaugural lecture, Failure is an Option, during which he shared both his wife’s moving story (documented in her best-selling book Fixing My Gaze) and his own life’s story (with his 13 unsuccessful attempts to become an astronaut), not only moved me deeply but also taught me that nothing is impossible and that one should never give up one’s dreams.

During our conversation with Dan we discuss issues such as: his personal background and early childhood dream to become an astronaut; his motivation, goals and aspirations for Singularity University; his personal 10^9 project (aimed at positively impacting the lives of a billion people within 10 years); Artificial Intelligence in general and the process of arming AI in particular; the Turing Test and Asimov’s 3 Laws of Robotics; his take on the technological singularity and our chances of surviving it.

I would like to thank Singularity University for allowing me to use their campus and especially Matt Rutherford for his crucial support in filming. (Hey Matt, thank you so much for all your help but I am afraid that my poor editing skills don’t do justice to the quality of your film footage!)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who is Dan Barry?

Astronaut Daniel Thomas Barry

President and Founder, Denbar Robotics, Dan is a former NASA astronaut and a veteran of three space flights, four spacewalks and two trips to the International Space Station. He retired from NASA in 2005 and started his own company, Denbar Robotics that creates robotic assistants for home and commercial use, concentrating on assistive devices for people with disabilities.

Dan has received numerous honors. A few of them are the following: 2000 and 2002 NASA Exceptional Service Medals, 2001 Top 10 in the world career spacewalk hours, 100 Most Notable Princeton Graduate School Alumni of the 20th Century, Harvard Medical School Paul J. Corcoran Award and honorary doctoral degrees from Beloit College and St. Louis University. Dan is also a frequent speaker and has given keynote addresses to audiences throughout the world.

Dan’s educational background includes a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from Cornell University in 1975; a master of engineering degree and a master of arts degree in electictrical engineering/computer science from Princeton University in 1977; a doctorate in electrical engineering/computer science from Princeton University in 1980; and a doctorate in medicine from the University of Miami in 1982. He has seven patents, over 50 articles in scientific journals and has served on two scientific journal editorial boards. He has film and television experience as well, including roles in two documentary films and as a cast member in season 12 of CBS Survivor.

Related articles

• Singularity University Day 2: Failure is an Option
• Salim Ismail on Singularity 1 on 1: We Are Already Gods, We Might As Well Start Acting As Such
• Peter Diamandis on Singularity 1 on 1: Singularity University is Star Fleet Academy for the World’s Biggest Challenges

During my time at Singularity University I was privileged to get a 30 min interview with Salim Ismail for Singularity 1 on 1.

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

During our conversation we discuss issues such as: Salim’s personal background and early childhood in India; his motivation, goals and aspirations for Singularity University; the term “exponential organisation”; his take on the technological singularity and the surprising fact that he is not a singularitarian; being/becoming gods; our responsibility for what happens to the planet; religion in general and the rapture of the nerds criticism in particular; making money and investing; being Canadian; using technology to address humanity’s grand challenges.

I would like to thank Singularity University for allowing me to use their campus during filming.

Hope you enjoy watching the interview as much as I enjoyed talking to Salim!

Who is Salim Ismail?

Salim Ismail is a sought-after speaker, strategist and entrepreneur based in Silicon Valley. He travels extensively addressing topics including breakthrough technologies and their impact on a variety of industries.

Salim spent the last three years building Singularity University as its founding Executive Director and current Global Ambassador. SU is based at NASA Ames and is training a new generation of leaders to manage exponentially growing technologies. Before that he built and ran Brickhouse, Yahoo’s internal incubator. His last company, Angstro, was sold to Google in August 2010. He has founded or operated seven early-stage companies including PubSub Concepts, which laid some of the foundation for the real-time web. Salim also serves on the board of Breakthrough, a global human rights organization.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related articles

• Peter Diamandis on Singularity 1 on 1: Singularity University is Star Fleet Academy for the World’s Biggest Challenges

Have you ever heard about the investment banker doing stand-up comedy?

Well, in case you think it is worth hearing, I recommend checking out the above audio recording of Terence Kawaja’s Singularity University presentation aptly titled the Science-ification of Media.

By his own admission Terry has been an investment banker for 22 years and a comedian for twice as long. In my opinion his insights about business, entrepreneurship, banking and the new media are as profound as his humor is witty.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. (Terry’s stage introduction made by David Rose.)

Who is Terrence Kawaja?

Terence Kawaja is Founder and CEO of LUMA Partners, a strategic advisory firm focused at the intersection of media and technology. He is a seasoned investment banker with more than 20 years of experience and has advised on over $250 billion of transactions, including some of the most pivotal deals in the media and tech industries. Throughout his career, Terry has leveraged deep industry knowledge to take a strategic approach to deal making rather than chase transactions. The best compliment people say is that he thinks like a principal.

At LUMA, Terry advises both established media and technology companies as well as digital growth companies. He is a recognized expert in the Internet and digital media sectors and is a popular speaker at leading industry conferences. Terry has a straightforward style and is never afraid to tell it like it is. He also likes to keep things light by using humor to aid substantive presentations.

Prior to founding LUMA Partners, Terry was Co-head of Digital Media at GCA Savvian; Global Head of Media M&A at Citigroup and CSFB; and CFO of publicly-traded Raindance Communications. He received an MBA from the Schulich School of Business, a JD from Osgoode Hall Law School, and a BA in Economics from the University of Western Ontario.

When not negotiating deals or telling jokes, Terry enjoys a variety of activities from skiing to water sports. Terry lives in New York City with his wife and their two sons.

Here is copy of Terry’s original presentation:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ad Tech: From Hype to Stereotype 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Tech Star

Click here to view the embedded video.

Don’t Stop Competing

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related articles

• Singularity University Lectures: Astro Teller on Innovation
• Singularity University Lectures: Dr. Alex Jadad on Making Longer Life Worth Living
• Singularity University Lectures: Science Searches for ET by Seth Shostak
• Singularity University Lectures: Mark Jacobson on Powering the World with Wind, Water and Sunlight
• Vinod Khosla and Salim Ismail Explain the Future at Singularity University Graduation 2011

A couple of weeks ago we had the incredible pleasure of having Dr. Alex Jadad at Singularity University.

Dr. Jadad spoke on Making Longer Life Worth Living and I have to admit that it was perhaps the most moving lecture that we have had so far. Furthermore, as attested by the standing ovation at the end of his presentation, it seems that all of us felt the same way.

Alex pulled no punches and did not fail to shock and awe his audience with all kinds of profoundly philosophical, personal and emotional questions. However, the main point of his presentation was a simple yet crucial question aimed at alleviating human suffering that sits at the heart of his work:

“We are putting more years into out lives, but how can we put more life into our years?”

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Dr. Jadad’s Presentation Slides

Who is Alex Jadad?

Dr. Alex Jadad’s mission is to help improve health and wellness for all, through information and communication technologies (ICTs). Dr. Jadad is the founder of the Centre for Global eHealth Innovation. He is also spearheading the development of the Global eHealth and eWellness Network Initiative (GENI, pronounced as “genie”), a unique group of individuals, organizations, tools and facilities working in harmony to promote research, development, education, policy, funding, recognition and commercialization activities related to the uses of ICTs to promote optimal levels of health and wellness, worldwide.

Dr. Jadad’s numerous awards, including a ‘National Health Research Scholars Award’, by Health Canada (1997), one of ‘Canada’s Top 40 Under 40′ awards (1998), a ‘Premier’s Research Excellence Award’ (1999), the New Pioneers Award in Science and Technology (2002). In 2001 and 2002, he was featured by Time Magazine as one of the new Canadians who will shape the country in the 21st century, and as one of the leading medical researchers in the country. In 2004, he received the Canadian Latin Achievement Award, as one of the people who have made important contributions to the relationship between Canada and the Hispanic world. In 2005, he was selected by the Top 40 Under 40 alumni as one of “The Best of the Best” for achievements in Health and Science, and by his peers in Colombia as the scientist who probably has had the greatest impact in the country’s history.

Related articles

• Singularity University Lectures: Science Searches for ET by Seth Shostak
• Peter Diamandis on Singularity 1 on 1: Singularity University is Star Fleet Academy for the World’s Biggest Challenges
• Singularity University Lectures: Astro Teller on Innovation
• Singularity University Lectures: Mark Jacobson on Powering the World with Wind, Water and Sunlight

Last week Seth Shostak came to speak to Singularity University on how Science Searches for ET.

I have to say that Seth’s presentation was not only the funniest but also one of the most interesting ones that we have had so far.  It is for this reason that I asked him to let me post his lecture on singularity podcast and he not only agreed but even supplied copies of his presentation slides.

Hope you enjoy it and find it as funny as I did.

Seth’s Slide Presenation

Who is Seth Shostak?

Seth is the Senior Astronomer at the SETI Institute, in Mountain View, California. He has an undergraduate degree in physics from Princeton University, and a doctorate in astronomy from the California Institute of Technology. For much of his career, Seth conducted radio astronomy research on galaxies, and has published approximately sixty papers in professional journals.

He has written several hundred popular magazine and Web articles on various topics in astronomy, technology, film and television. He lectures on astronomy and other subjects at Stanford and other venues in the Bay Area, and for the last six years, has been a Distinquished Speaker for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is also Chair of the International Academy of Astronautics’ SETI Permanent Study Group. Every week he hosts the SETI Institute’s science radio show, “Are We Alone?”

Seth has edited and contributed to a half dozen books. His most recent tome is Confessions of an Alien Hunter: A Scientist’s Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

Related articles

• Singularity University Lectures: Mark Jacobson on Powering the World with Wind, Water and Sunlight
• Singularity University Lectures: Astro Teller on Innovation
• Peter Diamandis on Singularity 1 on 1: Singularity University is Star Fleet Academy for the World’s Biggest Challenges
• Google’s Self-Driving Robocar at Singularity University
• Singularity University Video Tour

Last Friday Mark Jacobson came to speak to Singularity University on Powering the World with Wind, Water and Sun.

I have to admit that even though his presentation was very technical I enjoyed it immensely. The reason is not only the topic itself but the fact that in the space of an hour Mark managed to make such a powerful argument about the importance and feasibility of wind, water and solar power that he completely changed my views on the rationale behind and necessity of nuclear energy.

It is for this reason that I asked Prof. Jacobson to let me post his lecture on singularity podcast and he not only agreed but even supplied copies of his presentation slides.

Here are Mark`s slides as a .pdf file in 2 parts:

Mark Jacobson – Powering the World Part 1

Mark Jacobson – Powering the World Part 2

After seeing the presentation in person I did sought other interesting videos of Mark`s and found this interesting 2010 TED video. The clip is a debate betweeen Mark Jacobson and Stewart Brand on the pros and cons of nuclear energy:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Finally, I want to share with you how Mark Jacobson not only talks the talk but also walks the walk. He is not only a brilliant scientist but also a really nice guy. During lunch a bunch of us asked him to give us a ride in his Tesla and Mark spent about half an hour in taking a dozen SingularityU students for a ride around campus.

Mark was very nice to take me for a spin in his perfectly quiet Tesla. Wow!...

Pavlo Rudenko - one of my brilliant SU classmates examines the car batteries.

Related articles

• Peter Diamandis on Singularity 1 on 1: Singularity University is Star Fleet Academy for the World’s Biggest Challenges
• Singularity University Lectures: Astro Teller on Innovation
• Singularity University Video Tour

Many of you have asked me to post my lectures and, on those rare occasions that I can, I do so with pleasure.

Last week we had Astro Teller‘s lecture on Innovation and so far it is one of my top five most favorite lectures here at Singularity University.

Special thanks to both Astro and Singularity University who agreed to let me publish the class in full for it is indeed simply the best lecture on innovation that I have ever heard.

Enjoy!

Who is Astro Teller?

Dr. Astro Teller is currently Director of New Projects for Google, working to help the company explore new potential business areas. Astro is also co-founder and a current Director of Cerebellum Capital, Inc, a hedge fund management firm whose investments are continuously designed, executed, and improved by a software system based on techniques from statistical machine learning. Astro is also co-founder and a current Director of BodyMedia, Inc, a leading wearable body monitoring company.

From 2007 to 2010, Astro was the founding CEO of Cerebellum Capital. From 1999 to 2007, Dr. Teller was the founding CEO of BodyMedia, Inc. From 2003 to 2010, Astro was a co-founder and Chairman of Zivio Technologies, an intellectual property holding company. Prior to starting BodyMedia, Dr. Teller was co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of Sandbox Advanced Development, an advanced development technology company. Before his tenure as a business executive, Dr. Teller taught at Stanford University and was an engineer and researcher for Phoenix Laser Technologies, Stanford’s Center for Integrated Systems, and The Carnegie Group Incorporated. Dr. Teller holds a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Stanford University, Masters of Science in symbolic and heuristic computation, also from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence from Carnegie Mellon University, where he was a recipient of the prestigious Hertz fellowship.

As a respected scientist and seasoned entrepreneur, Teller has successfully created and grown five companies and holds numerous U.S. patents related to his work in hardware and software technology. Dr. Teller’s work in science, literature, art, and business has appeared in international media from the New York Times to CNN to NPR’s “All Things Considered.” Teller regularly gives invited talks for national and international technology, government, and business forums on the subject of the future of intelligent technology.

Astro Teller had a single kung fu and judo slide all throughout his 90 min presentation

Video Update:

Here is the full video of Astro’s presentation:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Last week I was privileged to get a 30 min interview with Peter Diamandis for Singularity 1 on 1.

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

Peter is not a very tall man but I have to say that he has the energy of a giant because interviewing him is like plugging into a nuclear power plant – afterwords I felt as if I got 10 gigawatts worth of energy straight into my batteries.

During our conversation we discuss issues such as: his personal background and early childhood dream to become an asteroid space-miner; his motivation, goals and aspirations for Singularity University; his personal 10^9 project (aimed at positively impacting the lives of a billion people within 10 years); the book on abundance that he is currently working on; his take on the technological singularity and our chances of surviving it.

I would like to thank Singularity University for allowing me to use their campus studio and especially Matt Rutherford for his crucial support in filming.

Who is Peter Diamandis?

Dr. Diamandis is a self-admitted nine-year-old child-space-enthusiast and a visionary who dreams big and has the resume to prove that “the best way to predict the future is to create it yourself.” Just some of his resume highlights include: the Founder and Chairman of the X PRIZE Foundation; co-Founder and Managing Director of Space Adventures; the CEO and co-founder of Zero Gravity Corporation; and, most recently, the Rocket Racing League; the International Space University and the Singularity University. (If you want to learn more about Peter Diamandis visit his profile page on SingularitySymposium.com)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related articles

• Peter Diamandis and the Technological Singularity (singularitysymposium.com)

Today my guest on Singularity 1 on 1 is award winning science fiction author Charles Stross. It was his seminal singularity book Accelerando that not only won the 2006 Locus Award (in addition to being a finalist for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award and on the final ballot for the Hugo Award) but was also at least in part responsible for my launching of SingularitySymposium.com and SingularityWeblog.com.

During my conversation with Charlie we discuss issues such as: his early interest in and love for science fiction; his work as a “code monkey” for a start up company during the first dot com boom of the late nineties and the resulting short sci fi story Lobsters (which eventually turned into Accelerando); his upcoming book Rule 34; his take on the human condition, brain uploading, the technological singularity and our chances of surviving it.

(As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

Who is Charles Stross?

Charles Stross, 46, is a full-time science fiction writer and resident of Edinburgh, Scotland. The winner of two Locus Reader Awards and winner of the 2005 and 2010 Hugo awards for best novella, Stross’ works have been translated into over twelve languages.

Like many writers, Stross has had a variety of careers, occupations, and job-shaped-catastrophes in the past, from pharmacist (he quit after the second police stake-out) to first code monkey on the team of a successful dot-com startup (with brilliant timing he tried to change employer just as the bubble burst).

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related articles

• Vernor Vinge on Singularity 1 on 1: We Can Surpass the Wildest Dreams of Optimism
• Jaron Lanier on Singularity 1 on 1: The Singularity Is A Religion for Geeks
• Kevin Kelly On Singularity 1 on 1: Technology Doesn’t Want A Singularity
• Question Everything: Max More on Singularity 1 on 1
• Aubrey de Grey on Singularity 1 on 1: Better Funding and Advocacy Can Defeat Aging

Today my guest on Singularity 1 on 1 is Jaron Lanier.

Jaron lives in Berkeley, California and, like John Horgan, is one of the better known critics of both Ray Kurzweil and the technological singularity. Unlike many other critics, however, Lanier is neither a technophobe nor a Luddite. In fact, he is known as the father of virtual reality technology. In addition, Jaron has worked on the interface between computer science and medicine, physics, and neuro-science. Most recently he is the author of a manifesto titled You Are Not a Gadget.

I thought of asking Jaron for an interview right after I watched a couple of YouTube videos where he argues that the Singularity is a new religion for geeks. Though I certainly disagree with this claim of his, I still think that his book is a great read with a lot of sound arguments about the pitfalls of legacy software backed up by several solid examples. Unfortunately, I have to admit that in my opinion his reasoning during our conversation did not strike me to be as sound as that of his book. This, however, may well be a direct result of my arguably poor questions. Perhaps I somehow failed to lead the conversation in the most productive and constructive manner…

Anyway, as always you can listen to or download the audio file above and don’t hesitate to let me know what you think!

Related articles

• Singularity Is a Religion Just for Digital Geeks
• The First Church of Robotics (Jaron’s Op-Ed at the NY Times)

Today my guest on Singularity 1 on 1 is digital culture and cyberpunk icon R.U. Sirius. (As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

During our conversation we discuss issues such as: R.U.’s early life and Yippie years; his multiple identities and personal motivation; his views on cyberpunk, counter-culture, psychedelic drugs, transhumanism and the technological singularity; the importance of questioning everything, and especially The Authority of Your Brain.

Who is R.U. Sirius?

R.U. Sirius (born Ken Goffman) is a writer, editor and digital culture iconoclast. He was Editor-in-chief of Mondo 2000, the popular and influential cyberpunk magazine of the early 1990s. More recently, he was Editor-in-chief of the transhumanist magazine H+. In addition, R.U. Sirius is the author or coauthor of numerous books including A User’s Guide to the New Edge, True Mutations, Counterculture Through the Ages, and Design for Dying with Dr. Timothy Leary. Sirius has written for Wired, Time magazine, Esquire, Rolling Stone and Boing Boing among many other periodicals. He’s been a musician, audio podcast host, lecturer and minor irritant. He is soon launching a new website tentatively titled Accelerator and he’s writing most of an open source history of Mondo 2000 magazine.

Related articles

• How Do Transhumanists Party?
• Question Everything: Max More on Singularity 1 on 1
• Question The Authority of Your Brain

Today my guest on Singularity 1 on 1 is Vernor Vinge — the very person who coined the technological singularity as a term.

Currently Vernor Vinge is putting the final touches on the sequel to A Fire Upon the Deep. The new book is titled The Children of the Sky and is already available for pre-order on Amazon, though it is not expected to ship until October 2011.

Despite his busy schedule Prof. Vinge still managed to give us over an hour of his time and during our conversation I ask him to discuss issues such as: his childhood and early interest in science fiction; his desire to make sense of the universe; his definition of the technological singularity and the story behind the term; his now classic 1993 NASA paper; his favorite science fiction books and authors; major milestones on the way towards the singularity and our chances to survive such an unprecedented event.

As always you can listen to or download the audio file above and don’t hesitate to let me know what you think!

Who is Vernor Vinge?

Arguably the second most recognized singularitarian, Vernor Vinge spent most of his life in San Diego, California where he taught mathematics and computer science at San Diego State University for over thirty years and where he still lives today.

After retiring from teaching Vernor became widely sought as a public speaker and presenter for business, science, science fiction and general audiences. He has won Hugo Awards for several of his books such as: A Fire Upon The Deep(1992), A Deepness in the Sky(1999) and for the novella Fast Times at Fairmont High(2001).

Known for his rigorous hard-science approach Vinge first became an iconic figure both among cybernetic scientists and sci fi fans with the publication of his 1981 novella True Names, widely considered to be the visionary work behind the internet revolution. Later he gained even more public attention for his coining the term, writing and presenting about the technological singularity.

For a collection of videos of Vernor Vinge see his profile page on SingularitySymposium.com

Related articles

• Question Everything: Max More on Singularity 1 on 1
• Under-predicting the Future

Today my guest on Singularity 1 on 1 is transhumanist strategic philosopher Max More. (As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full.)

As the CEO of the Alcor Life Extension Foundation Dr. More has a full schedule. Never-the-less he generously managed to squeeze in two 30 min interview sessions in his busy day.

During our conversation we discuss issues such as: Max’s early life and childhood heroes; his interest in economics, political science and philosophy; transhumanism and extropy; the proactinary and precautionary principles; cryonics and the Alcor Foundation; his Paleo diet and exercise regimen; why it is important to question everything (and especially yourself).

To find more about Max More visit his web site here.

My favorite quote from Max More:

“No more gods, no more faith, no more timid holding back. Let us blast out of our old forms, our ignorance, our weakness, and our mortality. The future belongs to posthumanity.”

My favorite short articles: A Letter to Mother Nature; The Proactionary Principle; Transhumanism: Towards A Futurist Philosophy

What others have said about Max:

Ray Kurzweil: “Max More’s ideas are very influential among other “big thinkers,” who in turn are influence leaders themselves. Max’s writings represent well grounded science futurism, and reflect a sophisticated understanding of technology trends and how these trends are likely to develop during this coming century.”

Marvin Minsky: “the father of artificial intelligence”, said of Dr. More: “We have a dreadful shortage of people who know so much, can both think so boldly and clearly, and can express themselves so articulately. Carl Sagan was another such one—and  (partly by paying the price of his life) managed to capture the public eye. But Sagan is gone and has not been replaced. I see Max as my candidate for that post.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Video Update:

A fantastic straight-to-the-point interview with Max More discussing the singularity, transhumanism, technological progress, human enhancement etc…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related articles

• Natasha Vita-More on Singularity 1 on 1
• Aubrey de Grey on Singularity 1 on 1: Better Funding and Advocacy Can Defeat Aging

Yesterday I attended the keynote speech at the Boundaries, Frontiers & Gatekeepers third annual University of Toronto iSchool student conference.

The keynote speaker at the conference was best selling author, activist and blogger Cory Doctorow, whose presentation was titled A Little Bit Pregnant: Why it’s a Bad Idea to Regulate Computers the Way We Regulate Radios, Guns, Uranium and Other Special-Purpose Tools.

In his keynote speech Cory addresses the issue of computer regulation in general and, more specifically, asks: What happens when we take the failed regulatory model from the copy-right realm and try to import it into other realms too? What are the consequences?

Here are some key points from Doctorow’s speech:

“Designing general purpose computers that sneak around their owners’ backs is a terrible idea. We’ve already seen what happens when you add just a little bit of control to networks and computers – most recently we saw Iran’s and Egypt’s secret police mining Facebook to figure out whom to arrest. Virus writers and identity thieves have already figured out that when there is a technology, that is supposed to prevent copying, running on a computer, that prevents certain programs from being seen or modified by users, that those are the programs you’d want to infect with your viruses because they also cannot be seen by the user of the computer.

[...]

Once we create the facility to lawfully intercept terrorist communications, or to speedily take down copy-right-infringement or to interdict pirate software, or to remotely prevent bad radios from running, we create the tools by which tyrants, crooks, snoops and jerks will spy on and control us, even if for the best of reasons.

[...]

Building a general purpose PC that is just a little bit locked down is like finding a woman who is just a little bit pregnant. Once the facility can be used for a legitimate purpose, it can also be used for illegitimate purpose…”

So, what is Cory’s proposed way of addressing some of the more clear-cut current and potential future problems surrounding the usage of general purpose computers, such as creating DIY super-bugs, illicit criminal or terrorist communications and child-pornography?

Well, you’ll have to hear his keynote speech in full to find out.

P.S. Special thanks to Mike, Joseph and the rest of the TVO crew who so generously provided a line-in for my audio recorder in order to capture the best possible audio quality for this singularity podcast.

Update: Due to readers’ requests I am also posting the audio of the question period after the keynote speech:

Video Update: TVO just posted the video on their YouTube Channel:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related articles

• Cory Doctorow’s With A Little Help (full audio book)
• Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (free book)

This is my second interview with Prof. Kevin Warwick.

Last time I had him on Singularity 1 on 1 – You Have to Take Risks to be Part of the Future, he shared his views on a wide variety of topics such as human and artificial intelligence, robotics, the technological singularity, God, the beginning of the universe and so on.

This time around Kevin discusses issues such as: the difference between genius and madness; the magnetic implants and sensory-substitution-devices developed by his students (see picture gallery below); the recent problems surrounding his rat-brain-cell-robot project; the historical contribution, under-appreciated genius and tragic life of Alan Turing; the Turing Test; Watson – IBM’s amazing Jeopardy champion; and, finally, be/coming cy/borg.

As always, you can listen to or download the audio above or watch the full video of the interview below. Most importantly – don’t hesitate to let me know what you think…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Picture Gallery:

Who is Kevin Warwick?

Kevin Warwick is Professor of Cybernetics at the University of Reading, England, where he carries out research in artificial intelligence, control, robotics and cyborgs.

As well as publishing over 500 research papers, Kevin’s experiments into implant technology led to him being featured as the cover story on the US magazine Wired. He has been awarded higher doctorates (DSc) both by Imperial College and the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, and has received Honorary Doctorates from Aston University, Bradford University and Coventry University. He was presented with The Future of Health Technology Award in MIT, was made an Honorary Member of the Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, received The IEE Senior Achievement Medal and the Mountbatten Medal. In 2000 Kevin presented the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, entitled “The Rise of the Robots”.

Kevin’s most recent research involves the invention of an intelligent deep brain stimulator to counteract the effects of Parkinson Disease tremors. Another project involves the use of biological neural networks to drive robots around. Kevin is though best known for his pioneering experiments involving a neuro-surgical implantation into the median nerves of his left arm to link his nervous system directly to a computer. He was successful with the first extra-sensory (ultrasonic) input for a human and with the first purely electronic telegraphic communication experiment between the nervous systems of two humans — himself and his wife Irena.

For more information you can visit Kevin Warwick’s Official Site: http://www.kevinwarwick.com/

Related articles by Zemanta

• Kevin Warwick on Singularity Podcast: You Have To Take Risks To Be Part Of The Future
• Kevin Warwick’s Profile on Singularity Symposium
• Aubrey de Grey on Singularity 1 on 1: Better Funding and Advocacy Can Defeat Aging
• Funny Or Serious: Are We Giving Robots Too Much Power?
• Kevin Warwick: The First Cyborg

Last time I had Dr. Aubrey de Grey on Singularity 1 on 1 the interview turned out to be a hit. In fact it is still by far the most popular podcast that I have done and the audio file has been listened to or downloaded over 30,000 times.

Given Aubrey’s popular appeal and the importance of his work, it is no surprise that I am very happy to have him back for a second interview. However, please have in mind that this interview is aiming to supplement and not replace the first one. Thus, this time around we cover some topics that we did not have time to go over the previous time, so if you haven’t heard the first podcast you may want to begin here.

During this conversation I ask Dr. de Grey to discuss issues such as: the term natural death and its impact; the publicity and importance of two long-awaited documentaries about Ray Kurzweil – Transcendent Man and The Singularity is Near; traditional metabolic and more recent DNA tests such as the ones done by 23andMe and others; the slow developmental process of new drugs and therapies, and the problems of taking them from testing in lab rats to humans;  the Thomas Malthus argument of overpopulation and Aubrey’s reply to it.

As always, you can listen to or download the audio above or scroll down to watch the video of the interview in full. Most importantly – don’t hesitate to let me know what you think…

Click here to view the embedded video.

To find out more about Dr. Aubrey de Grey click here.

To see Christopher Syke’s full documentary about the controversial gerontologist watch Do You Want to Live Forever?

To find out more about the SENS foundation click the banner below.

Related articles

• Aubrey de Grey’s Singularity Podcast: Longevity Escape Velocity May Be Closer Than We Think
• Singularity Podcast: Barry Ptolemy on Transcendent Man

Yesterday I was privileged to have an hour long Skype interview with James Martin for my Singularity 1 on 1 podcast.

James Martin is Andrew Crofts‘ archetype Change Agent in addition to being a world-renowned computer scientist, author, lecturer, teacher, philanthropist, futurist and film-maker. During our conversation we cover a whole spectrum of interesting topics such as: James’ interest in computers in particular and technology and futurism in general; his book that eventually turned into a movie -  The Meaning of the 21st Century, his current project titled the Transformation of Humankind; the technological singularity; the risks and promises of exponential growth of 21st century technologies such as genetics, robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnologies.

So, go ahead, listen to or download the audio above or scroll down to watch the video of the interview in full. Most importantly – don’t hesitate to let me know what you think…

Who is James Martin:

According to Computerworld James Martin is the fourth among the top 25 individuals who have most influenced the world of computer science.

The Sunday Times called him “Britain’s leading futurist.”

Martin has honorary doctorates from all six continents and has written 104 textbooks, many of which have been seminal in their field. He also wrote The Meaning of the 21st Century, which was made into a major film, and is a Pulitzer nominee for his book The Wired Society: A challenge for tomorrow. James is renowned for his electrifying lectures about the future and several years ago became the largest individual benefactor to Oxford University by donating over 100 million dollars and founding the Oxford Martin School, which has 30 institutes researching the problems, dangers and opportunities of the future.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related articles

• James Martin’s The Meaning Of The 21st Century
• The Change Agent: Onwards to Utopia or backwards to the Dark Ages?
• The Change Agent, the Ghostwriter and the Singularity: Andrew Crofts on Singularity 1 on 1

A couple of months ago I saw Roman Polanski’s film the Ghost Writer based on the titular bestselling book by Robert Harris. At the time, I could hardly imagine that only a couple of months after the movie premiere I will be communicating with Andrew Crofts – the archetype ghostwriter on whom Ewan McGregor’s character was most probably based upon.

Andrew wrote a popular guest article for SingularityWeblog.com where he shared the story behind his latest book The Change Agent: How to Create a Wonderful World.

The book talks about the life and ideas of Andrew’s archetype change agent – James Martin, a world-renowned futurist, computer scientist, author, lecturer and, among many other things, the largest donor in the history of Oxford University. (Most recently, James Martin produced a pivotal documentary film called The Meaning of the 21st Century. It is based on Martin’s titular book and examines the major perils and promises that humanity faces in the 21st century such as climate change, the technological singularity and others.)

Given the relevance of Andrew’s topic and the success of his guest blog post, I decided to ask him to do an interview for Singularity 1 on 1. We ended up having a 46 minute conversation during which we discussed a variety of interesting topics such as: Andrew’s experience as a guest on James Martin’s private island; the story behind, the accuracy and the goals of Crofts’ book The Change Agent; James Martin‘s life and ideas in general and his take on the future of humanity, technology and the singularity in particular.

So, go ahead, listen to or download the audio above or scroll down to watch the video of the interview in full. Most importantly – don’t hesitate to let me know what you think…

Andrew Crofts on Singularity 1 on 1 (full video)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who is Andrew Crofts?

Andrew Crofts has published more than 80 books over 4o years as an author and ghostwriter, many of which have become international number-one bestsellers. His subject matters and co-authors have ranged from billionaires to bonded laborers, reality television stars to the rulers of medium-sized countries, rock stars to bar girls. He is also a travel writer, a business writer and a published novelist.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related articles

• The Change Agent: Onwards to Utopia or backwards to the Dark Ages?
• James Martin’s The Meaning Of The 21st Century