The Singularity Discussion Series

This week my guest is entrepreneur and technologist, Christopher Nguyen, who–in addition to starting his own companies–has spent four decades working at some of the world’s biggest tech giants. In this episode we explore many facets of AI, including Christopher’s ideas around knowledge-first AI, bad training data for AI, issues with the black box, GPT3, deepfakes, and much more. Follow Christopher and his AI work with Aitomatic at twitter.com/pentagoniac ** Learn more about Singularity: su.org Host: Steven Parton - LinkedIn / Twitter Music by: Amine el Filali

This week my guest is computation social scientist and professor at Columbia University, Sandra Matz, who recently published her book, The Psychology of Technology: Social Science Research in the Age of Big Data. In this episode, we explore many different ways in which technology and psychology are influencing one another in the modern era. This includes but isn’t limited to the influence of big data on psychological research, the battle between exploitation and exploration as fundamental dynamics in our digital lives, the ways in which algorithms shape our views of the world, and a whole lot more. Sandra delivers her expertise with candor and humor, and this makes for a truly enjoyable discussion that I hope you’ll all enjoy as much as I did. Find out more about Sandra and purchase her book at sandramatz.com ** Host: Steven Parton - LinkedIn / Twitter Music by: Amine el Filali

Our final guest of 2022 is entrepreneur, product innovator, and lecturer at MIT, David Rose. Pulling on an extensive background as VP at Warby Parker and as a long-time explorer of ambient technologies, David recently released his book Supersight: What Augmented Reality Means for Our Lives, Our Work, and the Way We Imagine the Future. Exploring this topic takes us on a tour of some of the incredible work currently taking place and the pragmatic impacts many industries will soon experience, as well as the not-too-distant future where we might all walk around with AR glasses that change the look of reality itself. In addition to the many opportunities this presents for businesses and individuals, we naturally explore the potential dystopian downfalls. We explore the lessons the rapid adoption of GPT3 and AI art have for AR, and ways we might stay optimistic as tech appears to gain increasingly human-like performance. Find more about David and his work at twitter.com/davidrose And we'll be returning on January 9th, 2023 with new episodes for our 4th season of the show. We'll see you then! ** Host: Steven Parton - LinkedIn / Twitter Music by: Amine el Filali

This week our guest is Distinguished Professor in Law at the University of Virginia, Danielle Citron, who recently released her book The Fight for Privacy: Protecting Dignity, Identity, and Love in the Digital Age. Danielle’s book, as well as this episode, explores the darker side of technology as it relates to the data of our intimate lives. This includes sensitive and challenging topics such as revenge porn and online abuse. We additionally explore the broader topics of online privacy, including nuances in section 230 (often considered the most important law in tech), as well as digital IDs, deepfakes, and even potential solutions to some of our current problems. You can buy Danielle's book and find out more about her work at daniellecitron.com ** Host: Steven Parton - LinkedIn / Twitter Music by: Amine el Filali

This week our guest is law professor, author, and distinguished speaker, Orly Lobel, who recently published her latest of three books, The Equality Machine: Harnessing Digital Technology for a Brighter, More Inclusive Future. In this episode we explore the thread that weaves through Orly’s work, which often emphasizes the way economic markets, technology, and the human condition interact. Specifically, we take a deep dive into the limitations and future of intellectual property and monopolies; the way in which cynicism and unrealistic standards hold us back from seeing and implementing humanistic technological solutions; the way in which technology could bring more equality to our societies, and much more. You can find more about Orly and purchase her book at orlylobel.com, or follow her at twitter.com/OrlyLobel ** Host: Steven Parton - LinkedIn / Twitter Music by: Amine el Filali

This week my guest is Rama Chellappa, a pioneering AI researcher and distinguished professor at John Hopkins University who recently published his book, Can We Trust AI? In this episode we try to tackle the question posed by Rama’s book from many angles, exploring topics such as the transparency of AI in regards to the black box issue, the accountability issues for when programmers create algorithms that end lives, the reliability of self-driving cars to navigate an ever-changing environment, and much more. Ultimately, Rama puts forth an argument that is often overlooked: in a world of chaos where things will go wrong and nothing is perfect, are we holding AI to a standard that goes above what we even ask of our human peers? Use code HAI30 for 30% off Can We Trust AI? when you order from Hopkins Press. Order here: https://bit.ly/3tSZ6K6 ** Host: Steven Parton - LinkedIn / Twitter Music by: Amine el Filali

This week our guest is David Wood, a long-time futurist and renowned transhumanist thinker. David has authored 10 books on the subject of our technological future, including his recently published book Singularity Principles: Anticipating and Managing Cataclysmically Disruptive Technologies. In addition to exploring some of the principles and ideas from David’s latest publication, this episode takes a wide but succinct tour of the singularity. This includes (but is certainly not limited to) the rise of artificial general intelligence, and whether we should merge with AI or if it will be a conscious entity separate from humans. We also discuss the variety of challenges that could push us towards a negative Singularity, as well as the many opportunities that could propel us toward an abundant and thriving future.  Find more of David's work at deltawisdom.com or follow him at twitter.com/dw2. ** Host: Steven Parton - LinkedIn / Twitter Music by: Amine el Filali

This week our guest is Dr. Gloria Mark, who is Chancellor's Professor of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine. In addition to having a PhD in psychology and acting as a visiting senior researcher at Microsoft since 2012, Gloria has recently authored the book Attention Span, which will release on January 10th, 2023. In this conversation, we explore many different facets of attention, including but certainly not limited to how our attention span is decreasing, how technology is shaping our attention habits, the consequences of a struggling attention span, and many different solutions that we might consider to take back control of our attention. You can find Gloria's book Attention Span at Amazon and in most bookstores.  ** Host: Steven Parton - LinkedIn / Twitter Music by: Amine el Filali

This week our guest is writer, artist and technologist, James Bridle. Famous for trapping a self-driving car with salt in the mountains of Greece, his artworks have been commissioned by numerous galleries and institutions and have been exhibited worldwide. His writing on literature, culture and networks has appeared in magazines and newspapers including Wired, the Atlantic, the New Statesman, the Guardian, and the Financial Times. He is the author of 'New Dark Age' (2018) and his recently published 'Ways of Being' (2022). In this episode, we explore James’ books, with a particular emphasis on the lessons the natural world is teaching us about intelligence and how we can leverage that information to alter A.I.'s development towards something more humanistic and harmonious with the planet. Find James’ work at jamesbridle.com, or get involved with his latest project at serverfarm.jamesbridle.com ** Host: Steven Parton - LinkedIn / Twitter Music by: Amine el Filali

This week our guest is Brett Johnson, who was listed on America’s Most Wanted list in 2006 for cyber-crime and who the secret service once declared as the “original internet godfather.” Since serving his jail sentence and leaving behind his criminal past, Brett has become a leading consultant on tech security, now helping people learn how to protect themselves against the type of person he once was. In this discussion, we explore a wide variety of topics, including social engineering, deceit in the security sector, common hacking vulnerabilities, the legal abuse of data and privacy by big corporations, digital IDs, the future of deep fakes and brain computer interfaces, and a whole lot more.  Follow Brett's work at anglerphish.com or at twitter.com/GOllumfun ** Host: Steven Parton - LinkedIn / Twitter Music by: Amine el Filali