Curious Apes

** This is a partnership episode originally recorded in collaboration with ⁠Singularity⁠ **

Today we are joined by actor, comedian, and musician, Reggie Watts, who many of you might recognize from the Late Late Show with James Corden, where he leads the house band, or from one of his many amazing performances, including TedTalks and music videos that have garnered tens of millions of views.

In this episode, Reggie and I talk about creating content with technology, the failures of the digital advertising model, how to escape the attention economy, the benefits of basic income, and how to bring out the best in people when their needs aren’t being met.

One great example of challenging the current advertising and creator model is Reggie's very own app, WattsApp, which you can find on ⁠Apple⁠ & on ⁠Android ⁠phones.

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Host:⁠ Steven Parton⁠ -⁠ LinkedIn⁠ /⁠ Twitter⁠

** This is a partnership episode originally recorded in collaboration with ⁠Singularity⁠ **

This week our guest is businessman and entrepreneur, Jim Rutt, who you may know as the former chairman of the Sante Fe Institute or from his own podcast, The Jim Rutt show. Jim is also arguably the founding spearhead for a movement known as “Game B,” which we’ll discuss much more deeply in the episode but which could quickly be described here as an alternative to the destabilizing, exploitative, and zero-sum approach to society we currently have. Beyond detailing the specifics of Game B, this episode also explores Jim’s thoughts on technology, including online communities, social media moderation, digital IDs, and the ways in which Game B principles can be utilized to improve technology.

Jim’s article on Game B: ⁠https://medium.com/@memetic007/a-journey-to-gameb-4fb13772bcf3⁠

Join the game B movement: ⁠https://www.game-b.org/⁠

Listen to Jim’s podcast: ⁠https://www.jimruttshow.com/⁠

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Host:⁠ Steven Parton⁠ - ⁠LinkedIn⁠ /⁠ Twitter⁠

** This is a partnership episode originally recorded in collaboration with ⁠Singularity⁠ **

This week our guest is cognitive scientist, Scott Barry Kaufman, who has an impressive resume that includes teaching at NYU and Columbia, writing for Scientific American, hosting a podcast on psychology that is so definitive it’s actually called The Psychology Podcast, and is the author of several books including his latest, Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization.

In this episode we take a very psychology-centric approach to technology, looking very specifically at how we can navigate the negative aspects of technology that threaten our ability to be ourselves and to be happy.

Follow Scott at ⁠Twitter.com/sbkaufman⁠ or look into more of his work at ⁠scottbarrykaufman.com⁠

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Host:⁠ Steven Parton⁠ -⁠ LinkedIn⁠ /⁠ Twitter⁠

** This is a partnership episode originally recorded in collaboration with ⁠Singularity⁠ **

This week we have Douglas Rushkoff, a no-bullshit media theorist who is undeniably one of the most influential thinkers who has been steering digital culture.

We touch on many topics in this episode, but without a doubt the biggest focus throughout is how capitalism and digital culture are negatively impacting the ways in which we interact with one another and how we build our communities. We also briefly touch on topics like basic income, NFTs, cryptocurrency, and climate change.

Find Douglas' wonderful podcast at ⁠www.teamhuman.fm⁠ 

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Host:⁠ Steven Parton⁠ -⁠ LinkedIn⁠ /⁠ Twitter⁠

** This is a partnership episode originally recorded in collaboration with ⁠Singularity⁠ **

This week we sit down with cognitive psychologist and long-time professor at UC Irvine, Donald Hoffman.

Hoffman has a long history working with some of the greatest minds in the history of humanity, including Francis Crick who was part of the team that discovered the double helix of DNA. His own endeavors are no less revolutionary, as he's currently spearheading a new theory that argues humans evolved a perception of reality that looks drastically different from the true appearance of objective reality. It seems a hard argument to make, but once you hear his ideas you'll understand how insightful and profound his work is.

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Hosted:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Steven Parton⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

** This is a partnership episode originally recorded in collaboration with ⁠Singularity⁠ **

This week our guest is William Von Hippel, a social psychologist who teaches at the University of Queensland in Australia, and author of the 2018 novel, the ⁠Social Leap: The New Evolutionary Science of Who We Are, Where We Come From, and What Makes Us Happy⁠.

We explore how the challenges of our evolutionary past shaped many of the most fundamental aspects of our behavior in the modern day, traversing a journey from several million years ago to the present day. Along the way we touch heavily on many topics, including, but certainly not limited to, our evolutionary mismatch with the modern environment, why humans innovate the way we do, and different leadership styles that are rooted in evolutionary responses to hierarchy.

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Host: ⁠Steven Parton⁠ // Music by: Amine el Filali

** This is a partnership episode originally recorded in collaboration with ⁠Singularity⁠ **

This week our guest is Meghan O'Gieblyn, who has written regularly for entities such as Wired, The New York Times, and The Guardian, in addition to authoring books such as Interior States and her latest book: God, Human, Animal, Machine: Technology, Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning.

Interestingly, much of Meghan’s work pulls on her experience losing her faith in religion while simultaneously being drawn into transhumanism from reading the Age of Spiritual Machines by Singularity’s very own Ray Kurzweil. This exploration of Meghan's background and her latest book takes us on a journey through the ways in which technology and spirituality have historically woven together, the current ways in which they are conflicting, and the future philosophical questions we’re going to be forced to reconcile. For those of you interested in this subject, I highly recommend going and listening to episode 52 with Micah Redding, which lays a lot of the foundation that we build on her in this episode. 

Find out more about Meghan through her website ⁠meghanogieblyn.com⁠, or find her book on ⁠Amazon⁠.

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Host:⁠ Steven Parton⁠ -⁠ LinkedIn⁠ /⁠ Twitter⁠

Music by: Amine el Filali

** This is a partnership episode originally recorded in collaboration with ⁠Singularity⁠**

This week my guest is professor of neuroscience at University College London, Karl Friston. Viewed by many as one of the world’s most influential neuroscientists, Friston rose to prominence when he pioneered one of the key techniques that allows neuroscientists to analyze brain activity. And as if that wasn’t enough, he has since developed the Free Energy Principle, which some see as monumental to the field as Darwin’s theory of evolution was for biology and genetics. 

It’s this work on the Free Energy principle that will be the bulk of our conversation in this episode, and I warn you that this is probably one of the most intellectually challenging conversations we’ve had on the show. To help you navigate this, I want to offer just a quick overview that may aid in understanding the ideas. In essence, Friston’s work roughly states that entities that exist must track information from the world around them, create an internal model of that information, and then use that model to navigate the world in a way that reduces the difference (the error) between what was actually experienced and what one’s model predicted. 

While this concept may seem simple on the surface, the actual science behind it is detailed, complex, and holds immense influence for how we develop artificial intelligence.

Learn more about Friston and his work at ⁠fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/~karl/⁠

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Host:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Steven Parton⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Music by: Amine el Filali

** This is a partnership episode originally recorded in collaboration with Singularity **

Chris Ryan is well known for exploring the evolution of human society and behavior through his books, Sex at Dawn and Civilized to Death. 

In this episode, we take a candid tour through the many misconceptions and misunderstandings of early hunter-gatherer lifestyles and how an alternative view could benefit us in modernity. This includes topics such as cooperation vs competition, resource control, capitalism, mental health issues, the current ways technologies like energy production and social media alter our lifestyles, and much more.

Find out more about Chris at ⁠⁠chrisryanphd.com⁠⁠ or follow him at ⁠⁠twitter.com/ThatChrisRyan⁠⁠

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Hosted:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Steven Parton⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Lasana is an associate professor of experimental psychology at the University College London where he runs the boundaries of social cognition lab. In addition to exploring the content of his 2017 book, Invisible Mind: Flexible Social Cognition and Dehumanization, we also explore how these concepts are in play in modern society, especially as it relates to the culture wars and societal issues. 

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Hosted & Produced by: Steven Parton - Twitter - Instagram