singularity

Bold - INTRODUCTION & CHAP 1

A couple of months ago I saw Roman Polanski’s film the Ghost Writer based on the titular bestselling book by Robert Harris. At the time, I could hardly imagine that only a couple of months after the movie premiere I will be communicating with Andrew Crofts – the archetype ghostwriter on whom Ewan McGregor’s character was most probably based upon.

Andrew wrote a popular guest article for SingularityWeblog.com where he shared the story behind his latest book The Change Agent: How to Create a Wonderful World.

The book talks about the life and ideas of Andrew’s archetype change agent – James Martin, a world-renowned futurist, computer scientist, author, lecturer and, among many other things, the largest donor in the history of Oxford University. (Most recently, James Martin produced a pivotal documentary film called The Meaning of the 21st Century. It is based on Martin’s titular book and examines the major perils and promises that humanity faces in the 21st century such as climate change, the technological singularity and others.)

Given the relevance of Andrew’s topic and the success of his guest blog post, I decided to ask him to do an interview for Singularity 1 on 1. We ended up having a 46 minute conversation during which we discussed a variety of interesting topics such as: Andrew’s experience as a guest on James Martin’s private island; the story behind, the accuracy and the goals of Crofts’ book The Change Agent; James Martin‘s life and ideas in general and his take on the future of humanity, technology and the singularity in particular.

Andrew Crofts on the Change Agent, the Ghostwriter and the Singularity

David Pearce is a British utilitarian philosopher who promotes what he calls The Hedonistic Imperative. David is also a co-founder of the World Transhumanist Association and a vegan who argues that we (or our future posthuman descendants) have a responsibility not only to avoid cruelty to animals within human society but also to alleviate the suffering of animals in the wild.

During our 85 minute conversation with David Pearce we cover a variety of interesting topics such as: why in his view philosophy is mostly a matter of temperament; Utilitarianism as his choice of flavor; why he decided to be a vegan; defining and measuring sentience; his definition of transhumanism and why philosophy has largely ignored it; The Abolitionist Project; the importance and impact of suffering; The Hedonistic Imperative; whether killing other humans can be permissible under extreme circumstances; Buddhism; his take on the technological singularity, mind uploading and the Hameroff/Penrose model of consciousness…

My favorite quotes that I will take away from this interview with David Pearce are his two definitions of transhumanism:

“Technical solution to an ethical problem.”

“The use of technology to overcome biological limitations.”

Transhumanist Philosopher David Pearce: Give Up Eating Meat!

Dave Asprey is founder of The Bulletproof Executive as well as a Silicon Valley investor and technology entrepreneur who spent 15 years and over $300,000 to hack his own biology. He lost 100 pounds without counting calories or excessive exercise, upgraded his brain by more than 20 IQ points, and lowered his biological age while learning to sleep more efficiently in less time.

I first heard of Dave from my friend PJ Manney who highly recommended Asprey for my Singularity 1 on 1 podcast. After such an endorsement I was certain that the Bulletproof Executive will not disappoint. However, I never suspected that, after our conversation, a total coffee fanatic like me would end up changing his morning routine and become an upgraded coffee fan. [It’s been 5 days since the interview was recorded and the results were so impressive that my wife couldn’t help it but join me in the bulletproof coffee morning routine.]

During our 1 hour conversation with Dave Asprey we cover a variety of interesting topics such as: biohacking and the bulletproof executive brand; interval training and electrical stimulation; Asprey’s experience as a technology executive; the bulletproof diet and upgraded coffee; the ethical and health implications of the paleo and vegan diets…

My favorite quote that I will take away from this interview with Bulletproof Executive Dave Asprey is:

“Hack the environment to hack yourself and you can reach levels of performance never imagined.”

Bulletproof Exec Dave Asprey on BioHacking

Singularity University is not about the singularity and is not even a university. It is not about abundance and is not an exponential organization.

Then what is Singularity University about?!

Those are the claims I made and the questions I asked, and tried to address, during my recent presentation at a local meetup organized by Singularity University in the Netherlands. Check it out and judge for yourself.

You can watch the full video here: https://www.singularityweblog.com/socrates-deconstructs-singularity-university/

The Emperor Has No Clothes: Socrates Deconstructs Singularity University

Small Gods

Nikola Danaylov Author of Conversations with the Future,Insights from Interviewing 200+ Tech Leaders

💫✨Always Another Way Podcast ✨💫
✨💫Ep: 32 The World is Transformed by Asking Questions. With Nikola Danaylov, The Modern Day Socrates.

You don’t know what you don’t know and if you don’t ask the question, the answer is always no.

At the very least, you’ll walk away from this podcast smarter than you are today.

Don’t miss my conversation with Nikola. July 26 at 1pm CST. On Always Another Way Podcast Tell your friends. Let’s transform the world.

Nikola Danaylov is an Author, Futurist and Speaker. His Conversations with the Future is an International Bestseller and his popular Singularity.FM podcast is the reason why Danaylov has been called the “Larry King of the Singularity.”

Ep: 32 The World is Transformed by Asking Questions with Nikola Danaylov

This piece is published as part of the collection of 'Letters 
to the Earth', by HarperCollins - a collection of writings in response to
planetary crisis.

We Are In The Underworld And We Haven't Figured It Out Yet

Maria Farrell is the author of some of my most favorite op-ed pieces of 2020. She is very smart, gutsy, genuine, feisty, generous, and Irish. Her writing is sharper, it penetrates deeper and she’s not afraid to go further than most others. I have already learned a lot from her and have become a total fan. So it was a blast to have her on my podcast and I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.

During this 2.5-hour interview with Maria Farrell, we cover a variety of interesting topics such as: why she is a reader who eventually became a writer for crooked timber and elsewhere; the image and mythology of Conor McGregor as the Fighting Irish; the biggest issues that humanity is facing today;  stories as tools we think with; futurism as an interest of those happy with the present; what Feminism can teach us about our smartphones; how China is selling Autocracy as a service; why the internet must be more than Facebook; whether technology is a magnifying mirror; the importance and impact of story; why I wasn’t welcome at Google and CISCO; Francis Fukuyama’s The End of History; why the Agrarian Revolution is history’s greatest fraud; the Prodical Techbro phenomenon; my interview with Tristan Harris; the Tragedy of the Commons as a false narrative; why no one is coming to save us from ourselves.

As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full. To show your support you can write a review on iTunes, make a direct donation, or become a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/singularityfm

Singularity.FM

Maria Farrell on Technology, Ethics, Stories and the Prodigal Techbro

Singularity.FM is the first and best known singularity podcast - the place where we interview the future. 

Singularity.FM is a series of singularity podcast interviews with the best scientists, writers, entrepreneurs, film-makers, philosophers and artists, debating issues such as the technological singularity, transhumanism, artificial intelligence, life-extension and ethics.

Past guests of this singularity podcast include people such as Ray Kurzweil, Peter Diamandis, Noam Chomsky, Stuart Hameroff, Marvin Minsky, Aubrey de Grey, Max More, Michio Kaku, Vernor Vinge, Cory Doctorow, Charles Stross and many, many others.

Transhumanist Philosopher David Pearce: Give Up Eating Meat!

Singularity.FM

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