In this episode, I discuss Trump’s latest executive order which takes aim at section 230 of the communications decency act.  This order comes in the aftermath of Twitter flagging a couple of Trump’s tweets. Some articles referenced in show found here:

https://slate.com/technology/2020/05/trump-twitter-section-230.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/28/business/section-230-internet-speech.html

https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/05/28/1002376/trump-twitter-conservative-bias/

In this episode of Tech Forecast, I consider the possibility that we will create AI systems that pass the Turing test before we solve the problem of AI consciousness.

In this episode of Tech Forecast, I compare and contrast the technological stagnation hypothesis with the philosophy of Transhumanism. The technological stagnation hypothesis (promulgated by the economist Tyler Cowen among others) claims that we are currently living through a period of relative technological stagnation whereas Transhumanism (promulgated by the futurist Ray Kurzweil among others) claims that we are currently in the process of merging ourselves with technology and that this technological merging is a positive development for the human species.

In this episode of Tech Forecast, I discuss virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies. I talk about beneficial applications of VR and AR as well as various social concerns surrounding these technologies. I focus on the ‘social isolation problem’ for VR and what I call the ‘real world filter bubble problem’ for AR.

In this episode of Tech Forecast, I talk about the idea (promulgated by various thinkers) that there is an ‘end of history’, focusing on the end of history hypotheses put forth by Karl Marx and Francis Fukuyama. I argue that both Marx and Fukuyama are wrong, and that there can be no end of history without an end to technological progress.

In this inaugural episode of Tech Forecast, I introduce the show before talking about how emerging technologies force us to consider the tradeoff between individual freedom and public safety. Technologies discussed include: facial recognition technology, drones, 3D weapons, the dark web, and data encryption.