Predicting the Future of Technology and Fiction Writing

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The speaker's 30-year career in Silicon Valley gave insights into various technologies and how they might converge over the next century. The speaker believes many science fiction writers get the future wrong due to their limited exposure to technology. Predicting the future accurately is difficult as seen in the unpredictable events like the invasion of Ukraine. While it's hard to predict short-term AI and LLM advancements, the speaker is confident in making informed long-term technological trend predictions. This confidence led the speaker to place their book in the 'near future' of 2161, aiming to shed light on the major challenges for humankind in the next century and beyond.

What does it mean to be human when your colleague's a bot? Can AI ever truly understand us? This week, we're thrilled to welcome Gary F Bengier, eBay's first CFO and author of the award-winning novel, Unfettered Journey, as we dive into the future of work and the role of AI. Gary's background in Silicon Valley and his understanding of AI and technology make him the perfect guest to shed light on the ethical implications of AI, the potential impact of large language models on business, and the crucial differences between symbolic software and large language models.

As we unpack the World Economic Forum's prediction that AI will generate 97 million new jobs while eliminating 85 million in the next three years, Gary and I contemplate the implications of machines and humans working together. We discuss the possibility that robots could eventually build robot factories, detaching the output of the economic system from labor hours, and explore the question of sentience in the age of advanced technology. Join us for an important conversation and peer into the mind of one of the great philosophers and technologists of our time.

Oh, and learn what Gary says is a better definition for the acronym "LLM" :).

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