An AI... Utopia? (Nick Bostrom, Oxford)
Nick Bostrom's previous book, Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies, changed the global conversation on AI and became a New York Times bestseller. It focused on what might happen if AI develop...
16 Apr 20241h 45min
Life on Mars? (Robert Zubrin)
When Robert Zubrin published his classic book The Case for Mars a quarter century ago, setting foot on the Red Planet seemed a fantasy. Today, manned exploration is certain, and as Zubrin affirms in T...
13 Apr 20241h 40min
Robots and the People Who Love Them
Shermer and Herold discuss: social robots, sex robots, robot nannies, robot therapists • flying cars, jetpacks and The Jetsons • Masahiro Mori • emotions, animism, mind • emotional intelligence • arti...
9 Apr 20241h 13min
The Formation, Diversification, and Extinction of World Religions
Thousands of religions have adherents today, and countless more have existed throughout history. What accounts for this astonishing diversity? This extraordinarily ambitious and comprehensive book dem...
6 Apr 20242h 1min
The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Uncertain
In an era of terrifying unpredictability, we race to address complex crises with quick, sure algorithms, bullet points, and tweets. How could we find the clarity and vision so urgently needed today by...
2 Apr 20241h 29min
The End of Race Politics (Coleman Hughes)
As one of the few black students in his philosophy program at Columbia University years ago, Coleman Hughes wondered why his peers seemed more pessimistic about the state of American race relations th...
30 Mars 20241h 34min
How to Repair America's Broken Democracy
Order the Artificial Intelligence issue of SKEPTIC magazine at https://www.skeptic.com/magazine/archives/29.1/ (available in print or digital format). Looking ahead to the 2024 election, most American...
26 Mars 20241h 7min
Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren't Growing Up (Abigail Shrier)
In virtually every way that can be measured, Gen Z's mental health is worse than that of previous generations. Youth suicide rates are climbing, antidepressant prescriptions for children are common, a...
23 Mars 20241h 8min
