Brains Byte Back

Grab a pillow and turn off your smartphone (unless you're using it to listen to this podcast obviously), because in this episode you will learn how to use or avoid the right technology to get a better night's sleep.

Our guests this week are Dr. Richard Shane, who has more than 25 years of experience treating insomnia and sleep difficulties. He has conducted research with police departments, fire departments, commercial airline pilots and the general public to address serious safety and health issues associated with sleep difficulties. In addition to this, he is the developer of the Sleep Easy method which, through clinically-proven treatment, demonstrated an 81.6% efficacy rate.

In addition to Dr. Shane, we are also joined by Jon Mitchell, a medically trained Functional Medicine Physician Assistant turned health consultant, who hosts 1-on-1s with clients to help them reverse disease and optimize their wellbeing. He achieves this by enhancing patients' home environments, with a heavy focuses on mitigating the negative health effects of certain technologies.

And for our Tech this out feature, where we look at tech predictions from the past, we have a video from 1966 of children sharing their predictions of the future in the year 2000. There are some great predictions in there, with a real mixture of funny, dark and optimistic predictions, so take a listen.

Thanks to AI, seeing is no longer believing. This technology has given birth to deepfakes, false videos that seem really, which can be produced by anyone using a simple app or website. This week, we will be looking at the increasing prevalence of deepfake technology and how it stands to play havoc in the media and our personal lives.

This rise is worrying for a number of reasons but above all, it is the simplicity of how they can be created that is potential the most alarming factor. In the words of this week's expert guest "It is putting an incredibly sophisticated tool into the hands of the unsophisticated and they can disseminate and leverage that in any way they see fit."

My guest this week is a deepfakes expert who has given training to hundreds of people in government, law enforcement, PR, non-profit, healthcare and more. His work has been covered in major publications such as The Washington Post and Mashable, Adam Dodge.

And for our Neuron to Something feature, where we look at scientific research in the field of psychology and technology, we have some hilarious case studies cited in a research paper discussing PornHub traffic during events such as the Hawaiian false missile alert or the 2018 Super Bowl. So stay tuned if you want a laugh.

The man in this episode might be one of the smartest minds we have ever had on this show. Not only is he a professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT, but he will also be teaching a new course at the famous institute titled “Safeguarding Our Humanity in the Age of AI,” professor Bernhardt Trout.

In this episode, you will get a sneak peek of what will be covered on the course, what it means to be human in an AI world and what "optimum efficiency" should look like in an ideal world.

And for our Tech This Out feature, where we look at tech predictions from the past, we have solid predictions from the incredible Alan Watts and his insanely accurate predictions of modern-day tech, recorded before his death in 1973. That will be before our main chat with Prof Trout, so take a listen.

You might want to do some mental exercises to warm up for this cognitive workout. Get ready to get deep, philosophical, and visionary.

Many modern jobs, such as SEO specialist or Instagram influencer, would be difficult to explain to your grandparents, let alone someone from 25 years ago.

Given how far we have come in just one generation, what can we expect for future generations as Artificial Intelligence (AI) becomes more prevalent in our workforce and Universal Basic Income (UBI) gains increasing attention? Could we be looking at a world with no jobs? Could we be living in a world where money to get by is freely given and seen as a human right?

To answer these complex questions I am joined by an ex-computer engineer for NASA, who holds an advanced degree in computer science from Cambridge University, and frequently gives talks on the existential threats of artificial intelligence, Peter Scott. I am also joined by an award-winning engineer, economist, and author who is running for US Congress, he is also a strong advocate for UBI, James Felton Keith.

And for our special feature, we have Good News, where we will be looking at a positive news story on clean technology that was tested at Burning Man.

In a world where our work is becoming more virtual, why do we still wait days to physically see a doctor? This is the question at the heart and soul of this episode of the Brains Byte Back podcast.

To understand the prevalence of virtual healthcare, and the issues holding it back, we spoke with Dr Risa Ravitz, the founder of ModernMigraineMD.com, an online service dedicated to patients with chronic migraines, along with Stephanie Korpal, a mental health therapist who operates out of her practice, Marble Wellness, in St. Louis, while providing private therapy to her clients online, in addition to working as a virtual therapist for the company Better Help.

And for our Weird Wide Web story, we have an update on our story from the last episode, involving Kyle, the 3 million dollar world champion winner of Fortnite, and how his gaming session was interrupted by a SWAT turning up at his home.

In this episode, we speak with Bill Siegel, the CEO of Coveware, a company that negotiates with hackers on behalf of clients that have fallen victim to a ransomware attack. The company has featured on top publications such as Forbes and CoinDesk, due to its expert knowledge and high-level analytics of the industry. We spoke with Siegel to understand the steps they take to get a business' data back, what it is like to negotiate with these hackers, and how you can protect your business.

For our Weird Wide Web piece we have a story about a wealthy US teenager and his world-class Fortnite skills, so stay tuned!

On this episode we take a look at the dark web, an area of the internet that is only accessible by means of special software, allowing users and website operators to remain anonymous or untraceable. This anonymity has given criminals the opportunity to run illegal businesses selling everything from drugs to credit card details, and even child pornography. However, this anonymity has also enabled journalists and activists to communicate, while protecting them from tyrannical governments and regimes. To understand more about this space, we spoke with Alex Heid, the Chief Research Officer at  SecurityScorecard and the president and CEO of HackMiami, along with Alex Peleg, the head of Cyber Operations at CyberInt who also worked for the Israeli Police Cyber-crime unit Lahav 433.

Pornography takes up a large chunk of internet activity. According to The Guardian, it is hard to estimate how much money the online porn industry makes, but a conservative estimate puts it at $15 billion.

That makes the porn industry bigger than not only Netflix ($11.7 billion) but also all of Hollywood ($11.1 billion) and Viacom ($13.3 billion). 

What might come as a surprise is the limited knowledge that we have of the psychological effects of internet porn. 

Moreover, within this field, there is a large division between those who believe porn addiction is real and very dangerous and those who believe it is a myth perpetuated by religious groups and a profitable porn addiction industry.

In this episode of The Sociable Podcast, we speak with two individuals with very different opinions on the matter - Michael Dinneen, a Certified Sexual Addiction Counselor and Lynn Comella, an Associate Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

In this episode, we have a brief Weird Wide Web story about an AI algorithm that can detect tweets sent under the influence of alcohol. And for our main story, we will take a look at the numerous ways blockchain technology is helping to reduce the opioid crisis. To learn more about this topic, we spoke with Tori Adams who leads the public sector practice of ConsenSys, an Ethereum based blockchain software technology company. 

In this episode, for our Neuron to Something piece, we are looking at how your choice of films provides insight into your personality, according to new psychology research. But first our main story on Scopolamine, a drug which VICE calls the "World's Scariest Drug." We will be speaking with a victim of the drug and looking at a Facebook group sharing information to help stop these attack using the drug. You can find a full video of our scopolamine story at Sociable.co