Singularity.FM

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.

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. 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.

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! 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.

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!” 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.

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. 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.

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. 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.

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. 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.

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

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

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.

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…

Today my guest on Singularity 1 on 1 is digital culture and cyberpunk icon R.U. Sirius. 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.

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

Today my guest on Singularity 1 on 1 is transhumanist strategic philosopher Max More. 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). 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.”

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; 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.

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 check out that one first. 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.

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. 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.

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.

Yesterday I was privileged to have an hour long phone interview with Dr. Stephen Wolfram for my Singularity 1 on 1 podcast. We started our conversation on how Stephen got interested in exploring science in general and eventually focused on computation in particular. Then we moved on to a number of other interesting topics such as his work on Mathematica, his monumental book A New Kind of Science, his unique computational search engine Wolfram|Alpha, artificial intelligence and the technological singularity. I have to say that after spending 2 or 3 days in intense preparation for the interview I already knew that Dr. Wolfram is an exceptionally intelligent person. However, after our conversation and especially after taking into consideration Wolfram’s breadth and depth of work, and the profound actual and potential implications thereof, it seems to me that he may be considered to be arguably among the smartest people alive. Anyway, this is my own impression but I’ll let you be the judge yourself. So go ahead, listen to or download the audio above and don’t hesitate to let me know what you think… Who is Stephen Wolfram? Dr. Wolfram was born in London and educated in Eton, Oxford and Caltech, where at the age of 20 he was the youngest Ph.D. graduate in theoretical physics. He is a distinguished scientist, inventor, author, and entrepreneur. Wolfram is the creator of Mathematica, the author of A New Kind of Science, the creator of Wolfram|Alpha, and the founder and CEO of Wolfram Research.

Today I am very happy to have Andrew Hessel as my guest on Singularity 1 on 1. During the interview Andrew shares his truly infectious passion about synthetic biology and the unique opportunities that lie ahead of the budding first generation of DIY bio-hackers. We also discuss a variety of other interesting issues such as the singularity, religion, the promise of personalized medicine as cancer treatment, the risks and benefits of open-source synthetic-biology and the fact that biology is a dual-use technology. I have to admit that I was so infected by Andrew’s passion and his unique, open-source approach that I couldn’t help it but buy a 20 dollar share in the Pink Army Cooperative. Who is Andrew Hessel? Andrew Hessel co-chairs the Bioinformatics and Biotechnology track at the Singularity University, an institution founded by futurist Ray Kurzweil and X Prize Foundation CEO Peter Diamandis, with sponsorship from world-leading organizations that include Google, Autodesk, and NASA. He is also the founder of the Pink Army Cooperative, a venture exploring open source personalized cancer therapies. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Futurist Magazine, H+, and Wired News.

Want to find out who, according to the NY Times, is “the first female philosopher of transhumanism”? Today’s episode of Singularity 1 on 1 features Natasha Vita-More. During our conversation with Natasha she covers a wide variety of topics such as: her personal artistic background and how she got to be interested and involved in transhumanism, as well as her take on technology, religion, death, the singularity, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence and others. I found Natasha to be a fascinating interviewee and hope that you enjoy the interview as much as I did. So, check it out and don’t hesitate to let me know what you think…

Today I am very happy to have the Eyeborg Rob Spence as my guest on Singularity 1 on 1. During our 40 min conversation I get Rob to share his views on a wide variety of topics such as project Eyeborg, documentary film making, advanced prosthetics, artificial intelligence, transhumanism, the technological singularity and others. Rob Spence is a Canadian director and producer who lives in Toronto. His work has appeared on Discovery, Vision, Space TV and the CBC for which he made the controversial documentary Let’s All Hate Toronto. Currently Rob is working on a documentary about how video and humanity intersect especially with regards to issues of surveillance and personal privacy. Who is Rob Spence? What is project Eyeborg? Take a one eyed film maker, an unemployed engineer, and a vision for something that’s never been done before and you have yourself the EyeBorg Project. Rob Spence, Kosta Grammatis and a team of others are trying to make history by embedding a video camera and a transmitter in a prosthetic eye. That eye is going in Robs eye socket, and will record the world from a perspective that’s never been seen before.

Today’s edition of Singularity 1 on 1 features prominent author, maverick technologist and regular TED speaker Kevin Kelly. Kevin just published a new book called What Technology Wants. Seth Godin blogged about it and called it The Book Of The Year because in Seth’s opinion “if there’s justice it will win the Pulitzer prize.” Steven Johnson called it the anti-Unabomber manifesto. After such endorsements I could not help it but buy and read the book myself. Having done so I have to say that I agree with both of the above ratings. In my opinion What Technology Wants is perhaps the most optimistic, coherent, beautiful and poetic defense of technology. It provides unique depth and breadth of its techno-analysis together with an altogether new theory of the evolution and interplay of both technology and biology (and Homo Sapiens). (In some ways it may arguably serve as the unofficial prequel to Ray Kurzweil‘s The Singularity Is Near.) During our 45 min conversation I got Kevin to share his thoughts on technology in general and his book in particular but also other topics such as religion, the Unabomber, artificial intelligence, the technological singularity and the omega point. You can listen to or download the audio podcast above or scroll down and watch the YouTube videos of our conversation below. Unfortunately, after the 6th minute of our conversation our Skype video feed gets interrupted and the video becomes choppy and out-of-sync with the audio. While this problem persists until the end of the interview the sound is excellent and I do believe that there is a lot of value listening to or watching what Kevin has to say, even while the Technium is trying to sabotage his message. The good news here is that in due time I may use this technical issue as an excuse to get Kevin for another interview for Singularity 1 on 1. Who is Kevin Kelly? Kevin Kelly is Senior Maverick at Wired magazine. He co-founded Wired in 1993, and served as its Executive Editor from its inception until 1999. His most recent book called What Technology Wants, was published on October 18, 2010. Kevin is also editor and publisher of the Cool Tools website, which gets half a million unique visitors per month. From 1984-1990 Kelly was publisher and editor of the Whole Earth Review, a journal of unorthodox technical news. He co-founded the ongoing Hackers’ Conference, and was involved with the launch of the WELL, a pioneering online service started in 1985. He authored the best-selling New Rules for the New Economy and the classic book on decentralized emergent systems, Out of Control.

Today my guest on Singularity 1 on 1 is Ben Goertzel. During our 40 min conversation we cover a wide range of topics such as: Ben’s original interest in time travel and science fiction; his decision to start working on artificial general intelligence and his views on the potential time-line thereof together with his evaluation of the software vs hardware requirements for building it; scientific funding for AI research in both the USA and China; the technological singularity and our chances of surviving it. As attested by his short bio below, Ben is a brilliant AI scientist with an incredibly wide spectrum of interests and talents. Even more, I can’t help it but mention that he is also a truly nice guy because due to some technical difficulties he was willing to patiently reschedule our interview twice before we finally managed to get it right. Given the number of other things that Ben is juggling within his busy schedule, it would have been only natural for him to cancel. Yet he patiently persisted and I am very grateful for and appreciative of his time. Who is Ben Goertzel Dr. Ben Goertzel is CEO of AI software company Novamente LLC and bioinformatics company Biomind LLC; Chief Technology Officer of biopharma firm Genescient Corp.; leader of the open-source OpenCog AI software project; Chairman of Humanity+; Advisor to the Singularity University and Singularity Institute; Research Professor in the Fujian Key Lab for Brain-Like Intelligent Systems at Xiamen University, China; and general Chair of the Artificial General Intelligence conference series. His research work encompasses artificial general intelligence, natural language processing, cognitive science, data mining, machine learning, computational finance, bioinformatics, virtual worlds and gaming and other areas. He has published a dozen scientific books, nearly 90 technical papers, and numerous journalistic articles. Before entering the software industry he served as a university faculty in several departments of mathematics, computer science and cognitive science, in the US, Australia and New Zealand. He has three children and too many pets, and in his spare time enjoys creating avant-garde fiction and music, and the outdoors.

In today’s edition of singularity 1 on 1 I am very privileged to have Dr. Terry Grossman as my guest on the show. Terry generously agreed to do this interview from his office in Colorado and for about an hour we cover a number of very useful and interesting topics such as: the story and motivation behind his work; the most important medical tests that we all need to do in order to find out where we are and thereby figure out what we need to do to improve longevity; Terry’s top tips for healthy life-style and achieving maximum life-span; his positions on religion, the singularity and artificial intelligence. I have to admit that I not only enjoyed immensely my interview with Terry, but I also learned a ton of very useful information which will help me personally to live a healthier and longer life. I believe that you too can benefit from listening to Terry’s advice and reading his books. Who is Terry Grossman? Terry Grossman is one of America’s leading authorities in anti-aging and longevity medicine. He has co-authored two books with famed inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil, TRANSCEND: Nine Steps to Living Well Forever (2009) and Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever (2004). Grossman has written numerous articles for health related magazines and lectures frequently on topics related to anti-aging medicine nationally and internationally to lay and professional audiences. A 1968 graduate of Brandeis University, Dr. Grossman received his M.D. from the University of Florida in 1979. Following his postgraduate training at St. Joseph Hospital in Denver, he spent 15 years as a community family doctor in the Colorado mountains before opening Grossman Wellness Center in Denver in 1994. His clinic emphasizes advanced nutritional therapies and preventive, anti-aging medicine. Grossman has developed numerous cutting-edge protocols for measuring and modifying biological age and promoting longevity. To learn more see GrossmanWellness.com

Today I have Douglas Rushkoff as my guest on Singularity 1 on1 and we discuss a variety of topics such as his most recent book Program or Be Programmed, the impact of modern media and social networking, technology in general and the technological singularity in particular. Who is Douglas Rushkoff? Douglas Rushkoff is an author, teacher, and documentarian who focuses on the ways people, cultures, and institutions create, share, and influence each other’s values. He teaches media studies at New York University, serves as technology columnist for The Daily Beast, and lectures around the world. Rushkoff’s new book, Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age, is a followup to his Frontline documentary Digital Nation. His previous book was called Life Inc. was also made into a short, award-winning film. Douglas has ten best-selling books on new media and popular culture which have been translated to over thirty languages. They include titles such as Cyberia, Media Virus!, Nothing Sacred, Get Back in the Box and Coercion. He has written and hosted three award-winning Frontline documentaries – The Merchants of Cool, The Persuaders, and most recently, Digital Nation.

It was an interesting and enriching contrast to have John Horgan as my guest at Singularity Podcast. Following Jason Silva‘s super impassioned and optimistic defense of the singularity, accompanied by Jason’s belief that humanity will eventually conquer death and accomplish immortality, it was intellectually stimulating to discuss the opposite point of view. John is perhaps the best known critic of both Ray Kurzweil and the technological singularity, and in the spirit of Singularity Symposium, I invited him to present some of his views and criticisms here at Singularity Weblog. As always, Socrates asks the questions, my guests such as John and Jason provide their answers, and then you make up your mind on your own. (That is not to say that I don’t have an opinion of my own for I clearly do. It is just that I don’t think you must put that much value in it really…)

In today’s edition of Singularity Podcast I’ve had the privilege of doing an interview with Jason Silva. I enjoyed talking to Jason immensely and have to admit that I was fascinated by his impassioned, enthusiastic and poetic take on the singularity and our reach for immortality. If there is one thing, however, that I will personally keep from this first conversation with Silva, it will be the following long but absolutely profound quote from the Imaginary Foundation that he shared with me during the interview: “We live in a society in which spurious realities are constructed by the media, by governments and by big corporations. We are bombarded with pseudo realities fabricated by very sophisticated people using very sophisticated mechanisms. Perhaps for many designers irony is the only possible response to a media space where it’s impossible to distinguish reality from manipulation. Yet the imaginary foundation is future-focused, and always has been, so we’re exploring what comes after we push through the darkness; we’re already revelling in the beauty on the other side of the looking glass. And believe me, it’s wonderful. Living creatively and joyfully requires dismissing gloom, defeatism and negativism. We acknowledge problems, but we do not allow them to dominate our thinking and our direction. So we prefer to be for rather than against, to create solutions rather than to protest against what exists. There are things worth believing in; there are things worth being passionate about; and so our action must not be a reaction but a creation. For ideas catch the dewdrops and reflect the cosmos, so let those ideas be noble, let them be poetic and let them be beautiful.”

In today’s edition of Singularity Podcast I had the privilege of doing an hour long interview with the first cyborg — Prof. Kevin Warwick. I enjoyed talking to Prof. Warwick immensely and got him to share 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. Also, during the interview Kevin Warwick threw a friendly challenge towards Ray Kurzweil by asking: “Why is it that Ray hasn’t experimented with implant technology yet?” Enjoy!

Last week I had the privilege of interviewing Dr. Aubrey de Grey. He is a world famous and controversial author and theoretician in the field of gerontology and is currently serving as a chief science officer at the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS) foundation. During his interview for singularity podcast, Dr. de Grey shared his views on a wide spectrum of topics such as his concept of longevity escape velocity as well as aging, religion, artificial intelligence, the technological singularity, Ray Kurzweil, human uploading and others.

In this edition of Singularity Podcast I had the pleasure of speaking with prominent Canadian transhumanist and animal rights advocate George Dvorsky. George is both a passionate and fascinating interlocutor and, even though I spend over 1h 15 min interviewing him, I feel that I could have easily spent double that time while still remaining highly interested in what he has to say. (So do not be surprised if I invite him for another podcast.) Just one of the thoughts that I will personally take away from my conversation with Dvorsky: “Mass extinction is the simplest explanation for why we are seeing an uncolonized galaxy.” George Dvorsky’s Short Bio: Canadian futurist, ethicist and animal rights advocate, George Dvorsky 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. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies and has a popular blog called Sentient Developments.

In this edition of Singularity Podcast I was privileged to do a phone interview with Barry Ptolemy, the director and producer of Transcendent Man. Barry was very generous to make time in his busy schedule and share his thoughts on the making of the movie, the technological singularity in general and Ray Kurzweil in particular. Listen to the podcast and watch the trailer but be forewarned — if you do so then you may feel compelled to go and watch the movie ;-) Transcendent Man is a new documentary film about the life and ideas of inventor, futurist, singularitarian and transhumanist Ray Kurzweil. About Barry Ptolemy At age 12, Barry Ptolemy was first inspired to create films on the set of E.T. where he worked closely alongside Steven Spielberg for the duration of the production. After attending USC Film School, Barry then wrote, directed and produced hundreds of commercials, television shows and short-form documentaries. In 2006, his interest in the sciences led him to read Ray Kurzweil’s The Singularity is Near, upon which his first feature film is based. About the Movie: In Transcendent Man, Ptolemy follows Kurzweil around the globe as he presents the daring arguments from his best-selling book, The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. Kurzweil predicts that with the ever-accelerating rate of technological change, humanity is fast approaching an era in which our intelligence will become increasingly non-biological and trillions of times more powerful than today. This will be the dawning of a new civilization that will enable us to transcend our biological limitations. In Kurzweil’s post-biological world, there will be no clear distinction between human and machine, real reality and virtual reality. Human aging and illness will be reversed, world hunger and poverty will be solved, and we will ultimately cure death.

This is the second singularity podcast. Given my experience with James Harvey I already knew that interviewing people is an acquired skill that I really need to work on. This interview is another indicator that I have a long way to go before I get to be good at it. Luckily my guest Michael Anissimov is eloquent and knowledgeable for the both of us. Thus, despite Socrates‘ failure to live up fully to his name, Michael’s passion for and knowledge of the technological singularity made this podcast interesting, engaging, informative and very worthwhile. Michael Anissimov is Media Director for the Singularity Institute and Fundraising Director, North America for the Lifeboat Foundation. He is a science and technology writer and futurist. In 2006 Michael started the Accelerating Future blog. Since its founding, the blog has received over six million visits and has been featured on G4.TV’s Attack of the Show and SciFi.com. Michael’s blog posts have appeared on the front page of Digg and Reddit. Michael has been a consultant for a variety of future-oriented non-profit organizations and for-profit companies including the Methuselah Foundation, Center for Responsible Nanotechnology, and Kurzweil Technologies. On behalf of the Lifeboat Foundation and the Singularity Institute, Michael has briefed the representatives of organizations such as the US Navy and spoken informally with reporters at outlets such as The New York Times, New Scientist, Financial Times, The Guardian, and many other regional newspapers. During my interview with him, Michael discusses a variety of topics such as his early interest in technology and its enormous potential for making life better for humanity, his belief that the singularity is the biggest challenge facing humanity, his involvement in the Singularity Institute and the upcoming Singularity Summit, scheduled for August 14-15 in San Francisco.

This is my first singularity podcast. I intend to do many more interviews like that so that we can spark the discussion about the singularity with the help of some of the best and brightest people that I can get to do a podcast for the benefit of us all. My guest today is Australian James Harvey. James Harvey is the author of the thought provoking book Singularia: Being at the Edge of Time. *** I have to admit that I have often been called a very logical person. Most of the time I agree with the above characterization but, occasionally, there are exceptions. I feel that my interview with James was a good example of the alternative, emotional me. The result was that even if logically I didn’t agree with all of James’ arguments, I dare say that I felt a deep connection to him and he managed to move me. Thus, even though this was the first direct conversation between the two of us, I hope that I will have the privilege to talk and socialize with him more and that eventually one day I can call him my friend. I enjoyed the whole interview and believe it is well worth listening to. Though different parts will resonate better with different people, two quotes stand out as something that I will personally take away from James on this occasion: 1. “I respect science and think it is a marvelous tool but I do not worship it!” 2. “We are Singularia” Stay tuned for more great singularity podcast interviews coming soon to SoundCloud from the fantastic archive of Singularity Weblog.