Kodsnack 136 - You can do all of this with the brain of a sesame seed

<p>This episode is a little special. It is kind of bonus material for the <a href="http://www.oredev.org">Øredev conference</a> of 2015. In it, you will hear Tim Urban and Torill Kornfeldt discuss artificial intelligence, life extension and the differing mindsets of technology and biology.</p> <p>Tim Urban is the writer of <a href="http://waitbutwhy.com/">Wait but why</a>, a fantastic website of deep dives into topics like <a href="http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-1.html">artificial intelligence</a>, <a href="http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/05/elon-musk-the-worlds-raddest-man.html">Tesla and SpaceX</a> but also softer topics like <a href="http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastinate.html">procrastination</a> and <a href="http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/06/taming-mammoth-let-peoples-opinions-run-life.html">the fear of what other people think</a>.</p> <p><a href="https://twitter.com/vet_Torill">Torill Kornfeldt</a> is a biologist and science journalist who is currently working on a book about de-extinction - the bringing back of extinct species.</p> <p>We call this bonus material because you probably want some background in order to enjoy their conversation to its fullest. We highly recommend watching both their Øredev keynotes, and Tim&rsquo;s ideas are of course well covered on Wait but why as well.</p> <p>The conversation was recorded on stage at the conference and is also available in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDu4-o4uFRQ">video form</a>. Unfortunately there is some buzzing in the audio which I&rsquo;ve done my best to filter out in this version. That&rsquo;s why it sounds pretty processed. Special thanks to <a href="http://steveonjava.com/">Stephen Chin</a> of <a href="http://nighthacking.com/">nighthacking.com</a> for providing all the tech and expertise which made this recording possible!</p> <p>We are so happy this conversation came together and how it turned out, pure audio quality aside, and we hope you will enjoy it too!</p> <h2 id="links">Links</h2> <ul> <li><a href="https://vimeo.com/144847615">Tim&rsquo;s keynote</a> - The AI revolution: the road to superintelligence</li> <li><a href="https://vimeo.com/144804778">Torill&rsquo;s keynote</a> - The real Jurassic park - rebirth of extinct species</li> <li><a href="http://waitbutwhy.com/">Wait but why</a></li> <li><a href="https://twitter.com/vet_Torill">Torill on Twitter</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.oredev.org">The Øredev conference</a></li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_neural_network">Neural networks in biology</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.merkle.com/brainLimits.html">Calculations per second of the brain</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.npr.org/2013/06/14/191614360/decoding-the-most-complex-object-in-the-universe">The human brain is &ldquo;the most complex object in the known universe&rdquo;</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h81E-hlSbQ">Bees killing their queen by heating</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Pull-an-All-Nighter">All-nighter</a></li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kurzweil">Ray Kurzweil</a></li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalopod_intelligence">Communicating with octopus</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.wired.com/2014/01/google-buying-way-making-brain-irrelevant/">Billions of dollars</a> spent on AI research</li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_of_Life_Institute">Future of life institute</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existential_risk_from_artificial_general_intelligence">AI safety</a> research</li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest-living_organisms#Clonal_plant_and_fungi_colonies">The oldest organisms in the world</a> are trees</li> <li><a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12877984">Every animal gets the same number of heartbeats</a></li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryonics">Cryonics</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryopreservation">cryopreservation</a></li> </ul> <h2 id="titles">Titles</h2> <ul> <li>You can do all of this with the brain of a sesame seed</li> <li>People both overestimate and underestimate the brain</li> <li>Kill the queen in a hot ball of fire</li> <li>That is so annoying for her</li> <li>Can we just talk about bees?</li> <li>I don&rsquo;t talk to enough biologists</li> <li>Lacking a good definition of intelligence</li> <li>From the drive to get a Nobel price to the drive to go to the toilet</li> <li>We&rsquo;re going to have a huge problem communicating with it</li> <li>The constantly changing hardwarex</li> <li>Every single want is a chemical</li> <li>That good enough-level</li> <li>A completely different take on aging</li> </ul>