C-Realm Podcast

KMO and Michael Anissimov of the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence conclude their conversation on the promise and the dangers of the emergence of AI with an eye to the implications of the military aspects of its development and implementation, and then author Derrick Jensen offers a reality check and a counter-balance to Michael's optimism and exuberance. KMO closes the program with an excerpt from Ascent of Humanity by Charles Eisenstein on the diminishing utility of the technological program. Music by Oaltitudo  

KMO welcomes Michael Anissimov, media director for the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence and keeper of the Accelerating Future blog to the C-Realm to dispel some wholly-headed notions about robots, artificial intelligence, and the possible consequences of their emergence from the space of possibilities into the world of our visceral experience. Topics include the uncomfortable similarity of Ray Kurzweil's Law of Accelerating Returns to Terence McKenna's Time Wave Zero, the very contingent nature of human morality, and the need to build "friendliness" into our Mind Children to prevent them from morphing into our Vile Offspring. Music by Yon

KMO turns the interview reins over to Neil Kramer of the Cleaver. Neil took a trip to Wiltshire county in the southwest of England to visit crop circle sites. While in the area he lodged at a B&B on James Sheppard's farm, and a crop circle appeared on the property during Neil's stay there. Neil and James discuss what the crop circle phenomenon means for farmers and how farming practices in recent decades have shaped the English landscape and the myriad life forms that inhabit it. Music by Aldbourne Band Neil Kramer's previous C-Realm appearances: 135: '08 Wrap-Up 134: Zombie Apocalypse Christmas Special 118: 21st Century Koans 117: Aliens Are "Real" 74: The Red Queen 71: Synchronicity Central   Neil writes, "Please include these links in the podcast show notes, so listeners can see the land, the crop circle and get an idea of the surrounding area." http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/2009/ogbourne/ogbourne2009.html http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/2009/ogbourne/groundshots.html http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/2009/ogbourne/comments.html http://www.poultongrange.com/ http://www.aldbourne.org.uk/awg/portal/main/welcome.asp

KMO welcomes Lane Adamson, editor of Robots Beyond, an anthology of unusual robot stories, to the C-Realm Podcast. Using Lane’s robot story patterned after The Grapes of Wrath as a backdrop, they examine the themes of robot religion and possible robot revolution as well as the role of the robot in popular culture and how the development of artificial intelligence might play out counter to our media-induced expectations. Music by Indole Ring The first mp3 that I uploaded to PodOMatic was corrupted somehow. I uploaded a slightly re-edited version on Thursday afternoon. Podcasters, reach a wider audience by uploading samples of your material to Vocalo.org.

War has been a constant in the human experience throughout recorded history. Does that mean that it is inevitable? John Horgan suggests that it is not. Scientific findings indicate that human nature does not compel humans to go to war, but Gwynne Dyer joins John and KMO in the C-Realm to discuss how climate change and efforts to deal with it are likely to lead to armed conflict in the near future. Gwynne Dyer's book Climate Wars was presented in a three part series on the CBC Radio program Ideas. You can find John Horgan's New Scientist article, Winning the ultimate battle: How humans could end war, here: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327151.500-winning-the-ultimate-battle-how-humans-could-end-war.html?full=true Click here to browse the shelves of the C-Realm Book Store. Music by Nine Inch Nails

KMO welcomes Tommy Arlin Tony Monchinski, author of Critical Pedagogy and the Everyday Classroom (Explorations of Educational Purpose), to the program to talk about how patterning education on the corporate model and trying to run everything "by the numbers" in a massively top-down fashion contributes to the problems of modern education. The discussion ranges over some familiar C-Realm topics including psychedelics and the Drug War. Music by Money Tree http://www.myspace.com/moneytreeband Get a jump on next week's show: http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/features/climate-wars/index.html and http://www.archive.org/details/defarewell

KMO reads a passage from Life, Inc about the feedbacks between the real economy and the speculative economy before playing a conversation with Web of Debt author Ellen H. Brown about the refusal of Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and JPMorgan Chase (which each got $25 billion in bailout money from the taxpayers) and Bank of America (which received $15 billion) to accept IOUs from the state of California to help overcome its budget shortfall. The discussion touches on the performance to date and possible motives of US President Barak Obama. Music by Tibet2Timbuk2

What does psychedelic ego inflation have to do with the debt trap perpetrated on the two-thirds world by parasitic oligarchs? Probably not much, but KMO strings together clips from the Psychedelic Salon, Black Light in the Attic, Shamanic Freedom Radio and the Media Squat and comes up with this unlikely metaphor. Music by Richard Grossman and Nine Inch Nails Links to shows sampled in this episode: Black Light in the Attic: http://blacklightattic.podomatic.com/ Diet Soap: http://dietsoap.podomatic.com The Psychedelic Salon: http://www.matrixmasters.com/podcasts/ Shamanic Freedom Radio: http://shamanicfreedomradio.podomatic.com/ The Media Squat: http://wfmu.org/playlists/RK In his blog, OpaqueLens has elaborated on the comments that I sampled for this episode: http://shamanicfreedom.blogspot.com/2009/04/matrixes-outside-matrix.html

KMO welcomes Albert K. Bates back to the program, and they sit down together for a chat with Richard Heinberg, author of Peak Everything. Albert admits that he's finding it hard to maintain his "soft lander" status in the face of mounting evidence, and Richard talks about the themes in his new book, Blackout: Coal, Climate and the Last Energy Crisis. Later KMO plays a clip of post-interview banter with yoga instructor and musician Danny Paradise. Music by Glöd.  

KMO welcomes cartoonist, author and performer Paul Gude (aka sgnp) back to the program to discuss the ideas underlying his zombie apocalypse novel, Love in a Time of Zombies. The zombie apocalypse stands as the absurd hyper-example of the sudden development that turns existing lifestyles, assumptions, and power structures upside down. Why do some people long for such a reversal while others deny the very possibility even as it sinks its undead teeth into their throats? Music by Southside. Click here for the full TalkShoe recording of KMO and Paul Gude.  

KMO welcomes Duncan Crary, host of the Kunstlercast and Chuck Burr, author of Culturequake: The End of Modern Culture and the Birth of a New World to the program for a wide-ranging discussion that touches on humanism, sustainability, the idea of humans (and all oxygen breathers) as natural born consumers and the allure of apocalypse porn. Music by Tibet2Timbuk2 Duncan writes that interested C-Realm listeners can: ...just visit audiblepodcast.com/kunstler . That will give them a free 14-day trial to Audible, through which they can purchase a discounted version of Day of the Triffids. It's really no biggie. I don't make money off that or anything. Just figured it would be a useful tip to your listeners if they want to listen to that book. Make sure to tell them to read the fine print! (They need to cancel their trial after they purchase the book if they don't want their membership to renew).

KMO welcomes Douglas Rushkoff back to the C-Realm to discuss the effect that corporations have on our lives, where corporations came from, and how they enjoy a playing field tilted in their favor by government regulation which insulates them from competition from more local and human-scaled alternatives. Douglas addresses these topics in his new book, Life, Inc.How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take It Back Later in the program, Douglas talks about how messages from Quetzalcoatl really aren't from Quetzalcoatl once they pass human lips and how the ayahuasca crowd really needs to get over 2012. Music by Patrick Ross "The Go" like "The Way" Lyrics and music by Patrick Ross Summer time and the lights are falling on my eyes Something tells me that there's much more we can do than sit around and think about the pain. Grab her by the hands and run across the room Don't look up, don't look down, just close your eyes and fly through places you have never been Before I go I say with you Remember that the Go is what we make it after all Remember that the Go is what we make it after all Remember that the Go is what we make it after all

KMO welcomes Danny Paradise, world traveler, yoga instructor and musician to the C-Realm to look for signs of hope amidst the increasingly obvious markers that bode ill for our collective destiny. Later, KMO plays a clip from Doug Lain's Diet Soap interview with Neil Kramer. You can hear more of Danny's music on his MySpace page.

After finishing up the interview with James Howard Kunstler recorded at the Kunstler Kave, KMO welcomes Duncan Crary, the talent behind the talent on the Kunstlercast, to the C-Realm to talk about pod casting, appropriate technology, the relationship between the old and the new media, finding the sweet spot between opinionated reporting and delusions of objectivity, and creating a niche for "ethical capitalists" in the new economy.

In this second installment of the Kunstler Kave symposium, KMO, JHK and two C-Realm listeners consider the human penchant for identifying patterns, even where none exist, the breakdown of the bicameral mind, and the wages of "success dependent planning." Neal Kramer checks in via the Diet Soap podcast, and KMO wraps up by reading from an essay by SF author David Brin. Music by East Forrest. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101252022