Nexus: A Science Fiction Novel Trilogy

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I'm very much in favor that I did have a podcast with Paul Bluh. The psychologist who is anti-empathy, he thinks that empathy gets in the way of our rationality. And so I'm going to optimistically agree with you that our ability to experience things as other people in a more visceral way might help the world come together a little bit. We're being optimistic today. And rational is not the default state of a human. Tribal is. and empathy dissolves tribalism where these expands your sense of who the in-group is.

The Earth is heating up, and it’s our fault. But human beings are not always complete idiots (occasional contrary evidence notwithstanding), and sometimes we can even be downright clever. Dare we imagine that we can bring our self-inflicted climate catastrophe under control, through a combination of technological advances and political willpower? Ramez Naam is optimistic, at least about the technological advances. He is a technologist, entrepreneur, and science-fiction author, who has been following advances in renewable energy. We talk about the present state of solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources, and what our current rate of progress bodes for the near and farther future. And maybe we sneak in a little discussion of brain-computer interfaces, a theme of the Nexus trilogy.

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Ramez Naam worked for 13 years at Microsoft, helping to develop early versions of Outlook, Explorer, and Bing. He founded Apex Technologies, which develops software for use in molecular design. He holds 19 patents. His science-fiction trilogy Nexus was awarded several prizes. He is chair of Energy and Environmental Systems at Singularity University.

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