The Armen Show

How do we think about minds that are not human? How do we look at recent efforts in technology that have come out with platforms able to compete with humans on certain tasks? Science writer Philip C. Ball joins us on episode 357 of The Armen Show to discuss these topics from his book The Book of Minds: How to Understand Ourselves and Other Beings, from Animals to AI to Aliens. “Philip Ball is a freelance science writer. He worked previously at Nature for over 20 years, first as an editor for physical sciences (for which his brief extended from biochemistry to quantum physics and materials science) and then as a Consultant Editor. His writings on science for the popular press have covered topical issues ranging from cosmology to the future of molecular biology. Philip is the author of many popular books on science, including works on the nature of water, pattern formation in the natural world, colour in art, the science of social and political philosophy, the cognition of music, and physics in Nazi Germany. He has written widely on the interactions between art and science, and has delivered lectures to scientific and general audiences at venues ranging from the Victoria and Albert Museum (London) to the NASA Ames Research Center, London’s National Theatre and the London School of Economics. Philip continues to write regularly for Nature. He has contributed to publications ranging from New Scientist to the New York Times, the Guardian, the Financial Times and New Statesman. He is a contributing editor of Prospect magazine (for which he writes a science blog), and also a columnist for Chemistry World, Nature Materials, and the Italian science magazine Sapere. He has broadcast on many occasions on radio and TV, and is a presenter of “Science Stories” on BBC Radio 4. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, sits on the editorial board of Chemistry World and Interdiscipinary Science Reviews, and is a board member of the RESOLV network on solvation science at the Ruhr University of Bochum. Philip has a BA in Chemistry from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Physics from the University of Bristol.” “Understanding the human mind and how it relates to the world that we experience has challenged philosophers for centuries. How then do we even begin to think about ‘minds’ that are not human? In recent decades, the mind – both human and otherwise – has been explored by scientists in fields ranging from zoology to astrobiology, computer science to neuroscience. Taking a uniquely broad view of minds and where they might be found – including in plants, aliens, and God – The Book of Minds pulls these multidisciplinary pieces together. In so doing, it offers for the first time a unified way of thinking about what minds are and what they can do, arguing that in order to understand our own minds and imagine those of others, we need to move on from considering the human mind as a standard against which all others should be measured.” Links: Personal Website | Philip’s Books | The Book of Minds on Amazon | Twitter

You may have thought of the bond market as a relatively calm and uncompetitive location where the idea of getting big profits is not as common, but Bill Gross did not see it that way. In The Bond King: How One Man Made a Market, Built an Empire, and Lost It All, author Mary Childs takes us through his story of growth and scenarios along the way. She takes us through the story, and we also cover her Planet Money podcast, here on episode 356 of the show. “From the host of NPR’s Planet Money, the deeply-investigated story of how one visionary, dogged investor changed American finance forever. Before Bill Gross was known among investors as the Bond King, he was a gambler. In 1966, a fresh college grad, he went to Vegas armed with his net worth ($200) and a knack for counting cards. $10,000 and countless casino bans later, he was hooked: so he enrolled in business school.The Bond King is the story of how that whiz kid made American finance his casino. Over the course of decades, Bill Gross turned the sleepy bond market into a destabilized game of high risk, high reward; founded Pimco, one of today’s most powerful, secretive, and cutthroat investment firms; helped to reshape our financial system in the aftermath of the Great Recession—to his own advantage; and gained legions of admirers, and enemies, along the way. Like every American antihero, his ambition would also be his undoing.To understand the winners and losers of today’s money game, journalist Mary Childs argues, is to understand the bond market—and to understand the bond market is to understand the Bond King.” Mary Childs is an American financial journalist, and non-fiction writer. She is co-host for Planet Money. She graduated from Washington and Lee University. She reported for Barron’s, the Financial Times, and Bloomberg News.

Welcome back guest Rebecca Faith Lawson to the show on episode 355, as we have a discussion live with the backdrop of the beach sands in place. We spoke here on Playa Del Rey Beach about the topics of authenticity, following your beliefs, not getting thrown off by others, perfectionist views, and more. The topic of not taking in outside noise was interesting, as we have to be cautious of the input that we take in from the world. We only have one time around here to make our decisions, and don’t want to be thrown off by the external. Rebecca models with Modern Muse Models in Florida, and also enjoys working with kids. It’s great for us to connect where we are built for, and to reach out from a base of what we are into. Links: Instagram | Modern Muse Modeling

Welcome to episode 354 of the show, live in person at Los Angeles Swim Week, which was having its first run-through in the LA area. Not only did we get to speak with art director and creative consultant Robby Devine on the show, but we had surprise guests Sydney Marcus and Amanda Clair join us late into the episode. There is something great about the live episodes, and this one was no exception. We went into mindset, the value of giving people a full opportunity without having suspicions attached to it, and the idea of how things can grow when allowed to come from a mind of abundance. Having attended various events that Robby has had important parts in, along with seeing his connective and warm ability in person, a talk like this is a delight for me, and we would be glad to have Robby (and our surprise guests) back on the show in the future.

Attorney Jamie Susskind joins on episode 353 of the show, where we discuss his latest book The Digital Republic: On Freedom and Democracy in the Twenty-First Century. Jamie Susskind is also author of the award-winning bestseller Future Politics: Living Together in a World Transformed by Tech (Oxford University Press, 2018), an Evening Standard and Prospect Book of the Year. Future Politics was awarded the 2019 Estoril Global Issues Distinguished Book Prize. Jamie is an author and barrister. He has held fellowships at Cambridge and Harvard Universities, and at the Berggruen Institute. Jamie writes and speaks about technology, politics, and law. His work has appeared in the New York Times, The Times, Wired, the Daily Telegraph, Fast Company, and the New Statesman.

Joining us on episode 352 of the show is Dr. Mike Liu, founder of FreeFuse. Dr. Liu has a Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Science and Engineering from Texas A&M University. He has done research on Additive Manufacturing of CoCrMo using Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS) to print compositional gradients and metal single structures. He also taught two polymer materials courses using Dream Forge 3D printer and AutoDesk Fusion 3D CAD modeling software. “FreeFuse radically transforms the on-line video experience from passive consumption to user-directed exploration. FreeFuse videos are presented as a series of linked optional segments that can be viewed, re-viewed and re-organized in any sequence, at any time.”

Professor Donald Hoffman, author of The Case Against Reality: How Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes, joins on episode 351 of the show. Donald David Hoffman is an American cognitive psychologist and popular science author. He is a professor in the Department of Cognitive Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, with joint appointments in the Department of Philosophy, the Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science, and the School of Computer Science. Hoffman studies consciousness, visual perception and evolutionary psychology using mathematical models and psychophysical experiments. His research subjects include facial attractiveness, the recognition of shape, the perception of motion and color, the evolution of perception, and the mind–body problem. He has co-authored two technical books: Observer Mechanics: A Formal Theory of Perception (1989) offers a theory of consciousness and its relationship to physics; Automotive Lighting and Human Vision (2005) applies vision science to vehicle lighting. His book Visual Intelligence: How We Create What We See (1998) presents the modern science of visual perception to a broad audience. His 2015 TED Talk, “Do we see reality as it is?” argues that our perceptions have evolved to hide reality from us.

Juliana Schroeder Photos Copyright Noah Berger / 2019 Juliana Schroeder is an award-winning professor in the Management of Organizations group at the Haas School of Business. She is a faculty affiliate in the Social Psychology Department, the Cognition Department, and the Center for Human-Compatible AI at UC Berkeley. She teaches the Negotiations and Conflict Resolution course at Haas. She joins me on episode 350 of the show, where we discuss various research topics from her articles. Professor Juliana Schroeder is a behavioral scientist who studies the psychological processes by which people think about the minds of other people. Every day, people make attributions about others’ intellectual and emotional mental capacities. These attributions are consequential because they underlie decisions about how to interact with others, such as whether to help or harm them. For instance, determining whether a negotiation partner is trustworthy affects a person’s willingness to concede. Determining whether an outgroup member is competent affects moral concern for their well-being. Juliana’s research uses experiments to understand how people make inferences about other minds, and to further test the consequences of their inferences.

“Our brains are the most complex machines known to humankind, but they have an Achilles heel: the very molecules that allow us to exist can also sabotage our minds. Here are gripping accounts of unruly molecules and the diseases that form in their wake.” On episode 349 of The Armen Show, we have guest Dr. Sara Manning Peskin, author of “A Molecule Away from Madness: Tales of the Hijacked Brain”. Dr. Sara Manning Peskin received her undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Harvard University, where she graduated magna cum laude prior to moving to Philadelphia. She received her doctor of medicine, along with a master’s degree in cellular and molecular biology, from the University of Pennsylvania. She went on to complete residency and fellowship in neurology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where she now works both in the Penn Memory Center and the Penn Frontotemporal Dementia Center. She’s particularly interested in narrative medicine and teaching the lay public about neurologic afflictions. She has published work in The New York Times and The Boston Globe Magazine.

What is the difference between a citizen and a consumer? How can we become more involved in our society than we currently are? On episode 348, Jon Alexander and Ariane Conrad of the book Citizens join to discuss this concept, as well as steps in the writing process, and being a support for a creative. In 2014, Jon Alexander co-founded the New Citizenship Project with Irenie Ekkeshis, a former adland colleague. Their mission was to figure out how to use their skills not just to sell stuff to Consumers, but to involve people in the decisions that affect their lives as Citizens. Working with Ariane Conrad, a best-selling writer who has built a career turning big ideas into books that change the world, Jon drew on all his experience with NCP, studied the best of what’s going on all over the world, and interrogated three Masters degrees-worth of knowledge to pull this together. He truly believes that we humans are collaborative, creative, caring Citizens by nature – and if we give ourselves and each other the chance, we can fix this. Ariane Conrad is an editorial consultant and coach known as the Book Doula. She nurtures world-changing ideas and the people behind them. Together, they craft effective messages, strategies, and trajectories. Together, they write nonfiction books that are accessible and compelling.