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Cory Doctorow (@doctorow) is a best selling science fiction author, blogger and technology activist. He is the co-editor of the popular weblog Boing Boing), a contributor to many magazines, websites and newspapers and a special consultant to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (eff.org), a non-profit civil liberties group that defends freedom in technology law, policy, standards and treaties. He holds an honorary doctorate in computer science from the Open University (UK), where he is a Visiting Professor; he is also a MIT Media Lab Research Affiliate. In 2007, he served as the Fulbright Chair at the Annenberg Center for Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California. His novels have been translated into dozens of languages and are published by Tor Books, Head of Zeus (UK), Titan Books (UK) and HarperCollins (UK). He has won the Locus, Prometheus, Copper Cylinder, White Pine and Sunburst Awards, and been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula and British Science Fiction Awards. Several of his award winning novels include: * Little Brother * Homeland * Pirate Cinema Cory also co-founded the open source peer-to-peer software company OpenCola, and serves on the boards and advisory boards of the Participatory Culture Foundation, the Clarion Foundation, the Open Technology Fund and the Metabrainz Foundation. You can listen right here on iTunes In our wide-ranging conversation, we cover many things, including: * How GDPR helps and hurts the future of the internet * The big problem with government regulation * Where the US and Europe differ when it comes to civil liberties * How your privacy is bought and sold, well beyond what you already know * Why governments support corporate spying on citizens * The future of surveillance capitalism and how to solve it * Why corruption and special interests are jeopardizing our future * How copyright law could crush the internet * Why Cory is optimistic about our collective future * How to be a prolific author, as a side-gig * How and why citizens need to rebel/react in times of trouble — Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support FringeFM FringeFM is supported by the generosity of its readers and listeners. If you find our work valuable, please consider supporting us on Patreon, via Paypal or with DonorBox powered by Stripe.    

Bernard Bigot is the Director-General of the ITER Organization (@iterorg), an international fusion science and technology research facility based in France. Bernard has been closely associated with ITER since France’s bid to host the project in 2003 and Mr Bigot was delegated by the French government to act as High Representative for the implementation of ITER in France, a position that he has occupied since 2008. Bernard has a long and distinguished career and has held senior positions in research, higher education and government. Prior to his appointment at ITER he completed two terms (2009-2012 and 2012-2015) as Chairman and CEO of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, CEA. This government-funded technological research organization—with ten research centres in France, a workforce of 16,000 and an annual budget of EUR 4.3 billion—is active in low-carbon energies, defense and security, information technologies, and health technologies. From 2003 to 2009 Bernard Bigot served as France’s High commissioner for atomic energy, an independent scientific authority whose mission is to advise the French President and the French government on nuclear and renewable energy policy and in all the other scientific and technological domains where the CEA intervenes. In his career as educator/researcher, Bernard also authored over 70 publications in theoretical chemistry and led research at the Ecole normale supérieure and Director of the Institut de recherche sur la catalyse, a CNRS laboratory specializing in catalysis research. Bernard Bigot is a Commandeur in the French Order of the Legion of Honour, a Commandeur in the Royal Swedish Order of the Polar Star, and an Officer the French Order of the National Merit. In October 2014 he received the Gold and Silver Star in the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun.. “I’ve always been concerned with energy issues. Energy is the key to mankind’s social and economic development. Today, 80 percent of the energy consumed in the world comes from fossil fuels and we all know that this resource will not last forever. With fusion energy, we have a potential resource for millions of years. Harnessing it is an opportunity we cannot miss.” You can listen right here on iTunes In our wide-ranging conversation, we cover many things, including: * The future of fusion and where we are headed * Why nuclear fusion still has not achieved net energy creation * How ITER is building the fusion reactor (tokamak) of the future to supply safe, clean energy for the world * The climate change problem and potential solutions to save us * Why fusion technology has taken so long see the light of day * The importance of governmental collaboration in large-scale scientific research * How fusion differs from “typical” nuclear power, ie fission * The implications of nearly free energy * Bernard’s thoughts on creating a star * Why fusion may be the most exciting technology that no one is talking about * The reason the US and Russia collaborated during the Cold War on fusion research * Why nearly all energy in the solar system isn’t accessible by conventional means — Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support FringeFM FringeFM is supported by the generosity of its readers and listeners. If you find our work valuable, please consider supporting us on Patreon, via Paypal or with DonorBox powered by Stripe.      

Ashwin Seetharaman is a molecular genetics and cell/developmental researcher at the University of Toronto focused on understanding life at its most fundamental level. He is currently focused on unraveling genetic interaction networks underlying human disease using the revolutionary CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technology, ie examining and fighting rare diseases using gene editing. With over a decade of experience in leading scientific research, publishing research articles and presenting scientific findings at conferences, he has a talent for simplifying and communicating complex scientific data in a way that both experts in the field and a non-scientific audience can appreciate them. Ashwin spends much of his time thinking about the dynamics of the future and how this research will impact humanity, especially those unfamiliar with its profound effects. In addition to his research, Ashwin is also passionate about training people to communicate more powerfully and offers powerful tools and training at the highest quality to empower people to articulate their ideas and vision in a powerful and persuasive manner. ​ You can listen right here on iTunes In our wide-ranging conversation, we cover many things, including: * The future of CRISPR and genetic engineering * Why personalized medicine is closer than you would think * How CRISPR and gene drive technology can have butterfly effect like unintended consequences * The problem and solution with causing and treating cancer * Why we need to discuss ethical implications of genetic editing * The importance of DNA based edits and therapies to advance humanity * How to shift the public perception on future technologies * The reason humanity may evolve into multiple species * Ashwin’s thoughts on ethics of great power * The reason Ashwin is cautious with CRISPR technology * How researchers are fighting and will likely eradicate malaria carrying mosquitoes * Why research is now focused on systems vs individual genes * The importance of epigenetics in understanding biological processes * Why we may have a “cure” to aging on the horizon — Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support FringeFM FringeFM is supported by the generosity of its readers and listeners. If you find our work valuable, please consider supporting us on Patreon, via Paypal or with DonorBox powered by Stripe.    

Joanna Bryson (@j2bryson) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computing at the University of Bath. She works on Artificial Intelligence, ethics, and collaborative cognition. In 2010 Bryson published her most controversial work, “Robots Should Be Slaves” and has helped the EPSRC to define the Principles of Robotics in 2010. She has also consulted The Red Cross on autonomous weapons and is a member of an All Party Parliamentary Group on Artificial Intelligence. Joanna is focused on “Standardizing Ethical Design for Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems”. In 2017 she won an Outstanding Achievement award from Cognition X. She regularly appears in national media, talking about human-robot relationships and the ethics of AI EPSRC’s Laws of Robotics: * Robots should not be designed as weapons, except for national security reasons * Robots should be designed and operated to comply with existing law, including privacy * Robots are products: as with other products, they should be designed to be safe and secure * Robots are manufactured artifacts: the illusion of emotions and intent should not be used to exploit vulnerable users * It should be possible to find out who is responsible for any robot You can listen right here on iTunes In our wide-ranging conversation, we cover many things, including: * Why robots and AI should not resemble people * How Joanna helped the British replace Asimov’s laws of robotics * How people confuse consciousness and intelligence and likely problems this creates * Why Joanna is skeptical we’ll achieve AI superintelligence * The big problem with conflicting interests creating filter bubbles, disinformation and overly aggressive Facebook * Why robots cannot be liable/punished for their actions * How people should think about ethics of robot design * The ethical dilemmas with AI and robots in society * How psychology, neuroscience, ethics and AI are merging * The problems with control and governing AI usage * How bad incentives create bad artificial intelligences — Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support FringeFM FringeFM is supported by the generosity of its readers and listeners. If you find our work valuable, please consider supporting us on Patreon, via Paypal or with DonorBox powered by Stripe.    

Brad Waid (@techbradwaid) is an international speaker, influencer and educator with over 15 years of classroom and industry experience. Brad is an industry leader in the fields of educational technology, 21st century learning, culture and innovation and has been name a top 15 influencer/thought leader in Augmented Reality. Brad is a consultant to industry, education and government and is often called on by industry to assist in marketing and telling the story of a product or a company. He also assists school districts and educational conferences in applying technology into education, and he works with government agencies to improve education for all students. ​As a consultant to start-ups from Silicon Valley to New York and government agencies, Brad has a unique perspective on the evolution of the tech landscape. He has been honored by the National School Board Association as one of the “20 to Watch” in Educational Technology. Brad’s knowledge of educational technology, his ability to assist industry and government and his passion to inspire educational change, makes him a highly sought after speaker and influencer who makes an impact where ever he goes.   You can listen right here on iTunes In our wide-ranging conversation, we cover many things, including: * How augmented reality has changed in the past decade * What is on the near-term horizon in terms of holograms, VR and AR * How technology transforms society and cultural norms * The ways education is being rewritten for the modern world * Why Brad is so bullish on AI and machine learning * The problems with AI and AR for freedom and personal privacy * How Brad thinks about the future of work * The reason Brad thinks college is a collapsing system * What Brad believes is necessary to save the education system * The societal struggles to change education * Which of today’s top tech companies will lead the future of tech * Why Minority Report isn’t that far off * Ways technology transforms society more than we realize * Why Brad is big on space travel — Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support FringeFM FringeFM is supported by the generosity of its readers and listeners. If you find our work valuable, please consider supporting us on Patreon, via Paypal or with DonorBox powered by Stripe.    

Prof Peter Stone is the founder and director of the Learning Agents Research Group (LARG) within the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in the Department of Computer Science at The University of Texas at Austin, as well as associate department chair and chair of the University’s Robotics Portfolio Program. He is also the President, COO, and co-founder of Cogitai, a startup company building AIs that learn continually from interaction with the real world – ie brains or continual-learning AI sof tware. Peter’s main research interest is understanding how we can best create complete intelligent agents and focuses mainly on machine learning, multiagent systems, and robotics. Prof Stone has worked with modeling/creating robot soccer, autonomous bidding agents, autonomous vehicles, autonomic computing and social agents. In 2007 he received the prestigious IJCAI Computers and Thought Award, given biannually to the top AI researcher under the age of 35, and in 2016 he was awarded the ACM/SIGAI Autonomous Agents Research Award.     You can listen right here on iTunes In our wide-ranging conversation, we cover many things, including: * Why the general public is confused about artificial intelligence * What is cutting edge in the space of robotics and AI * How Peter and his team are perfecting soccer robotically * The big problem with government action/inaction when it comes to AI * The different types of AI and machine learning and advantages of each * How Peter and others think about consciousness with machines * The problems Peter sees with hype and fear mongering * The implications to healthcare and quality of life in an society with increased automation * Peter’s recommendations to governments and regulators on AI * Why Peter believes we are still a long way off from AGI * Why AI is overhyped and underhyped Here’s the AI 100 Report we discussed — Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support FringeFM FringeFM is supported by the generosity of its readers and listeners. If you find our work valuable, please consider supporting us on Patreon, via Paypal or with DonorBox powered by Stripe.    

Amir Husain(@amirhusain_tx) is a serial entrepreneur, inventor, and author based in Austin, Texas. He was a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2018 Award, has been named Austin’s Top Technology Entrepreneur of the Year, and received the Austin Under 40 Technology and Science Award. Husain is the founder and CEO of SparkCognition, an award-winning artificial intelligence company. Since its founding in April 2013, SparkCognition has received widespread recognition, including the 2017 CNBC Disruptor 50, being named the fastest-growing company in Central Texas by Austin Business Journal in 2017, and ranking on the CB Insights AI 100 list in both 2017 and 2018. Husain is a prolific inventor with 27 U.S. patents awarded and over 40 pending applications. His work has been featured in outlets such as Foreign Policy, Fox Business News, and Proceedings from the U.S. Naval Institute. His book “The Sentient Machine: The Coming Age of Artificial Intelligence” was published in 2017. Husain served as a founding member of the Board of Advisors for IBM Watson and serves on the Board of Advisors for The University of Texas at Austin Department of Computer Science. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Center for a New American Security Task Force on Artificial Intelligence and National Security. Amir is also the author of The Sentient Machine: The Coming Age of Artificial Intelligence which you can get from Amazon here or FREE here from Audible. “Software is eating the world, and A.I. is eating software” ​ You can listen right here on iTunes In our wide-ranging conversation, we cover many things, including: * The nature of intelligence * Why we need to start having mature discussions around artificial intelligence to avoid disaster * How Amir and AI researchers think about consciousness and ethics * What people are not talking about when it comes to AI * Why Amir is optimistic about the future * The reason technological progress is inevitable * How humanity may (or may not) interact and co-exist with AI * The reason we must try to embed human values into AI/robotics * How the shift from public to private space companies is transforming industry * The other political and economic systems which autonomy may necessitate * How AI and big data have the tendency to accelerate inequality * Why the term artificial intelligence doesn’t really mean anything * Which industries will most benefit from AI — Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support FringeFM FringeFM is supported by the generosity of its readers and listeners. If you find our work valuable, please consider supporting us on Patreon, via Paypal or with DonorBox powered by Stripe.      

Ariel Garten (@ariel_garten) is the Founder of InteraXon, makers of Muse: the brain sensing headband. Muse is the award-winning headband that makes meditation easier. During guided exercises, Muse senses your brain activity and sends that information to your phone or tablet, giving you real time audio feedback… Ariel has researched at the Krembil Neuroscience Institute studying hippocampal neurogenesis, displayed work at the Art Gallery of Ontario, DeLeon White Gallery and opened Toronto Fashion Week. The intersections of these diverse interests have culminated into various lectures with topics such as “The Neuroscience of Aesthetics” and “The Neuroscience of Conflict”, featured on TVO’s Big Ideas. Referred to as the “Brain Guru”, Garten has also run a successful real estate business, spent time as the designer of a Canadian fashion boutique, and is a practicing psychotherapist. Garten regularly lectures at MIT, Singularity University and FutureMed. Her lecture on Ted.com has over 400k views and she gave this year’s opening keynote at Le Web (plus numerous times previously), Europe’s biggest tech conference. You can listen right here on iTunes In our wide-ranging conversation, we cover many things, including: * The science of meditation and how it affects your brain * Why Ariel is passionate about neuroscience and its ability to evolve our species * How IoT and technical enhancements will shape humans of the future * The mental health problem we’re facing and how to overcome it * Why elite performers tend to be meditators * The ways to consciously control and hack your brain * How technological innovation will impact our evolution * What brain scientists are just starting to understand * The reason capitalist incentive structures drive many of our most pressing problems * What is really the future for wearables Get 15% OFF Muse when you use this link! — Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support FringeFM FringeFM is supported by the generosity of its readers and listeners. If you find our work valuable, please consider supporting us on Patreon, via Paypal or with DonorBox powered by Stripe.

Isaac Arthur (@isaac_a_arthur) is a physicist and futurist who runs popular YouTube channel Featured Science and Futurism with Isaac Arthur. Isaac’s popular channel has over 270k subscribers and 20M+ views and a legion of loyal, insightful fans, including his own sub-Reddit. Arthur covers a wide range of futurist and science fiction ideas including cyborgs, androids and artificial intelligence, the Fermi paradox and interstellar warfare, Dyson spheres and megascale engineering, quantum teleportation and faster-than-light travel—typically exploring hypothetical scenarios extending to the distant future.     You can listen right here on iTunes In our wide-ranging conversation, we cover many things, including: * The future of interplanetary travel * What you didn’t know about the Fermi paradox * How humanity will likely evolve as we explore space * The reason we probably won’t terraform planets and where we’ll live instead * Why material science and meta-materials may be the most important technology of this decade * The effects of genetic engineering on society * Two paths to free energy for all * The reason Isaac thinks we are close to a post-scarcity world * Why Isaac thinks cybernetics/mechanical human enhancement is more likely than gene editing * How Isaac build the top Science channel on Youtube * The reason manmade structures are the habitats of the future * How AI is likely to evolve and play out in society * Why our education system is failing and how we can fix it — Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support FringeFM FringeFM is supported by the generosity of its readers and listeners. If you find our work valuable, please consider supporting us on Patreon, via Paypal or with DonorBox powered by Stripe.  

Roxanne Meadows (@roxmeadows) is the co-founder The Venus Project (@thevenusproject), an ambitious project looking to find alternative solutions to the many problems that confront the world today and ultimately build an experimental city to design the future of humanity. From 1975 to the present, Roxanne has worked with renowned futurist, Jacque Fresco until his death in 2017. The Venus Project offers society a broader spectrum of choices based on the scientific possibilities directed toward a new era of peace and sustainability for all. Through the global Resourced Based Economy, and many other innovative and environmentally friendly technologies directly applied to the social system, The Venus Project plans to dramatically reduce crime, poverty, hunger, homelessness, and many other pressing problems that are common throughout the world today. By training Roxanne is a technical illustrator , architect, model creator and scientist. Since 1985 she has worked on models and designs to improve architectural development in the United States, in addition to numerous films and publications. The Venus Project has been featured in dozens of publications, news outlets and podcasts and Roxanne personally has presented at conferences and seminars in over 25 countries including joint presentation with with Mr Fresco to the United Nations. You can listen right here on iTunes In our wide-ranging conversation, we cover many things, including: * How we can transition from a world of scarcity to a world of abundance * The possibilities of a post-capitalist world * Why universal basic income is a bandaid rather than a solution to the world’s problems * How and why we need to address climate change * Why The Venus Project is re-engineering society to suit modern life * How government perpetuates inequality * Why Roxanne believes in a Resource Based Economy * Where we are headed with urban planning and future of cities * The reason utopia and “too good to be true” are bullshit terms * How the future looks like in a multi-planetary civilization   — Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support FringeFM FringeFM is supported by the generosity of its readers and listeners. If you find our work valuable, please consider supporting us on Patreon, via Paypal or with DonorBox powered by Stripe.  

Aubrey de Grey (@aubreydegrey) is Cambridge researcher and Chief Science Officer of SENS Research Foundation focused on aging and extending human longevity. He proposes that the first human beings who will live to 1,000 years old have already been born. In addition to his research, Aubrey is editor-in-chief of the academic journal Rejuvenation Research, author of The Mitochondrial Free Radical Theory of Aging (1999) and co-author of Ending Aging (2007).  De Grey’s research focuses on whether regenerative medicine can prevent the aging process. He works on the development of what he calls “Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence” (SENS), a collection of proposed techniques to rejuvenate the human body and stop aging. To this end, he has identified seven types of molecular and cellular damage caused by essential metabolic processes. SENS is a proposed panel of therapies designed to repair this damage. He has been interviewed by most major news sources, including CBS 60 Minutes, the BBC, The New York Times, Fortune Magazine, The Washington Post, TED, Popular Science, The Colbert Report, Time and the Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe. You can listen right here on iTunes In our wide-ranging conversation, we cover many things, including: * Why Aubrey switched from studying AI to the science of human longevity * The causes of aging and how we can “cure” them * Why prevention is orders of magnitude more effective than intervention * The reason Aubrey believes some humans today will live to be 1000 years old * Why there isn’t enough funding or support currently for fighting aging * The reason stem cell research is progressing rapidly and proving fruitful * How caloric restriction effects metabolism and aging * Why SENS often spins out businesses to further their aims * The science of immortality * How mainstream media has reacted to prospect of increasing lifespan — Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support FringeFM FringeFM is supported by the generosity of its readers and listeners. If you find our work valuable, please consider supporting us on Patreon, via Paypal or with DonorBox powered by Stripe.      

Ann Miura-Ko (@annimaniac) has been called “the most powerful woman in startups” by Forbes and is a lecturer in entrepreneurship at Stanford. The child of a rocket scientist at NASA, Ann is a Palo Alto native and has been steeped in technology startups from when she was a teenager. Prior to co-founding FLOODGATE, she worked at Charles River Ventures and McKinsey and Company. Some of Ann’s investments include Lyft, Ayasdi, Xamarin, Refinery29, JoyRun, TaskRabbit, and Modcloth. Given the success of her investments she was on the 2017 Midas List of top 100 venture capitalists.   You can listen right here on iTunes In our wide-ranging conversation, we cover many things, including: * How the space race and a NASA dad lead Ann to venture capital * How the venture ecosystem has evolved, especially for women, since 2001 * The importance of living through and experiencing an economic downturn * What Ann believes needs to be changed about our education system to adapt to the coming changes * How AI will impact the job market/economy and why Ann is fundamentally optimism * Why we need more women and diversity in tech * How Ann sees developments in blockchain and cryptocurrency affect our society * Why Ann passed on investing in Airbnb * The little known truth about startup success   — Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support FringeFM FringeFM is supported by the generosity of its readers and listeners. If you find our work valuable, please consider supporting us on Patreon, via Paypal or with DonorBox powered by Stripe.    

Frank Bunger (@frankbunger) is a veteran technology executive, serial entrepreneur and Founder/CEO at Orion Span – the company that’s building a space hotel (second space station) and looking bring down the cost of visiting and living in space by orders of magnitude. The hotel, named Aurora Station will host 6 individuals at a time for nearly $1M/day, letting everyday folks experience life 200 miles above Earth. Outside of Orion Span, Frank has extensive experience building early stage companies, having gone from zero to eight digit revenue in a previous venture. Frank has a multi-disciplinary background across several industries, including software, hardware, and manufacturing. Most recently, he was Vice President at UpGuard, a firm focused on software automation, where his division performed in the top 3% of SaaS groups – worldwide – by sales and retention. ​   You can listen right here on iTunes In our wide-ranging conversation, we cover many things, including: * The future of interstellar space travel * Why now is the time for space tech startups * How Frank’s company plans to put a profitable hotel in orbit * The big problem with putting people into space * Why we’re still a few years off from a moon or Mars colony * The importance of sci-fi in technology and invention * How the shift from public to private space companies is transforming industry * The effects of ownership and asteroid mining in space * Frank’s thoughts on the evolution and transformation of humans in space * The reason Frank views space exploration as merely amplified globalization * The awesome effects of space technology on the rest of the economy * What life is like is 200 miles above earth — Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support FringeFM FringeFM is supported by the generosity of its readers and listeners. If you find our work valuable, please consider supporting us on Patreon, via Paypal or with DonorBox powered by Stripe.    

Euvie Ivanova (@euvieivanova) and Mike Gilliland (@mikegilliland) are the hosts of the Future Thinkers Podcast, a show about the evolution of technology, society, and consciousness. They co-founded Plovdiv.Digital, an innovation hub and startup incubator for technologies including blockchain, VR and AI and the Cutting Machinery a blog and app about meditation and consciousness. Euvie and Mike are also very bullish on blockchain and run the Crypto Radio Show and cosyndicate.io, the first decentralized platform that connects crypto investment syndicates to the best early stage blockchain startups. A self-described “consciousness explorer”, “artist” and “digital nomad”, Euvie is on a mission to investigate technology, society and consciousness in ways that promote successful adaption to the future. “We want to be active participants in building the kind of future where all of us get to work less, learn more, play more, explore more, express ourselves more…in a way that is sustainable for the rest of humanity and our planet” – Euvie Ivanova   You can listen right here on iTunes In our wide-ranging conversation, we cover many things, including: * The nature of consciousness and how Mike and Euvie explore it * The role of psychedelics and self-actualization * Why the world operates in quantum confusion * How to increase your level of sovereignty (control) in your life * Why Euvie and Mike got excited about Bitcoin and blockchain * How traveling affects and changes you * Why Mike is optimistic and realist about the future * Where we are headed with AI and automation * The complexities of the universe and understanding or accepting them * What leading experts believe when it comes to the future Mentioned in the episode: * Dean Radin’s Book: Real Magic * Link to Radin’s Synchronicity Research — Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support FringeFM FringeFM is supported by the generosity of its readers and listeners. If you find our work valuable, please consider supporting us on Patreon, via Paypal or with DonorBox powered by Stripe.      

Robin Hanson (@robinhanson)is associate professor of economics at George Mason University, and research associate at the Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University with a doctorate in social science from CalTech, master’s degrees in physics and philosophy from the University of Chicago. He has spent nine years as a research programmer, at Lockheed and NASA, has 3500 citations, 60 publications, 700 media mentions, and he blogs at OvercomingBias. Robin is also the author of The Elephant in the Brain – Hidden Motives in Everyday Life and co-authored The Age of Em – Work, Love and Life when Robots Own the World. Hanson is credited with originating the concept of the Policy Analysis Market, a DARPA project to implement a market for betting on future developments in the Middle East. Hanson also created and supports a proposed system of government called futarchy, where policies would be determined by prediction markets. Hanson is a man willing to challenge conventional wisdom/norms and has lately drawn criticism for his unconventional economics positions on sex, gender dynamics and problems with today’s society.   You can listen right here on iTunes In our wide-ranging conversation, we cover many things, including: * The reasons our culture values and norms are quickly changing * Why physics forced Robins to become an atheist * How Robin sees artificial intelligence progressing * The power of prediction markets and why we haven’t seen more uptick * Why brain emulation may be the most likely future scenario * The reason Robin prefers to be more like a historian than a futurist * Why we’ll never answer the hard problem of consciousness * Why economics is a great way to forecast the future * The problem with academia and education * Why Robin isn’t worried about breakout AI * Why Robin is sceptical of blockchains * The reason Robin signed up for cryonics * What folks should know about AI boom and bust cycles — Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support FringeFM FringeFM is supported by the generosity of its readers and listeners. If you find our work valuable, please consider supporting us on Patreon, via Paypal or with DonorBox powered by Stripe.