Digital Optimist

Maybe one of the more important podcasts in this series, the topic of Digital Wellbeing. A growing problem in the world is our many hours spent interfacing with digital tools, whether at work, or in our personal lives, and many time both. Scott provides an analogy between healthy eating and healthy digital being that you might find interesting!

This is one of Scott’s favorite topics! He has been studying and talking about transhumanism for over a decade and it is time to take this concept more mainstream so we can prepare for the outcome. Our technology tools are becoming more powerful each year and with the advent of powerful robotics and AI, we will soon (historically speaking) have the ability to power our lives and capabilities far past previous generations. At some point, we will no longer be Homo Sapien, we will be a new species that is dimensionally more capable and powerful. We will not be cyborgs, we will humans who are boosted with tools that cause us to be H+. If you have not listened to the previous podast (The Singularity: A Better Definition) please listen to that one first because the Singularity and Transhumanism go together in ways you will learn.

This is one of Scott’s favorite topics! He has been studying and talking about transhumanism for over a decade and it is time to take this concept more mainstream so we can prepare for the outcome. Our technology tools are becoming more powerful each year and with the advent of powerful robotics and AI, we will soon (historically speaking) have the ability to power our lives and capabilities far past previous generations. At some point, we will no longer be Homo Sapien, we will be a new species that is dimensionally more capable and powerful. We will not be cyborgs, we will humans who are boosted with tools that cause us to be H+. If you have not listened to the previous podast (The Singularity: A Better Definition) please listen to that one first because the Singularity and Transhumanism go together in ways you will learn.

Scott starts a new series that is all about finding better definitions for important words we use in the technology field. Too many times words are used that many people really do not understand. In other cases, the words we use are not good at really describing the concepts behind the words. In this first podcast of the series, Scott takes on artificial Intelligence and dramatically expands the words and meanings for different forms of intelligence. By the end, the listener will have a whole new palette of words to choose from when talking about human and synthetic intelligence.

This is an interstitial podcast between two series. There is so much talk about whether AI is good or bad and those words do not do justice to the complexity of that debate. Scott looks at one important aspect by thinking through whether we might become negatively addicted to the use of AI or will AI free us from mundane tasks and free our creative capabilities – or both! The more accurately we can predict the impacts of AI, the better we can adjust how we use it for good. This is the first podcasts that ends in a warning!

Like the story of the fish that do not have a sense that they live in the water because it always all around them, humanity is being impacted by the amplification of technology. For those of us living right in the middle of it, we have a sense that our lives are changing, but we don’t really have the comparative scale to understand how much or how fast. People who have lived for many decades can remember the way it was and compare to the way it is – for better or for worse. Younger people have less perspective to work with. This podcast talks about the dark and the light of digital amplification when looked at through a larger lens. The more precise perspective we can create on what technology can and will do to humanity, the more we can make good decisions on finding the needed balance between humans and machines.

Like the story of the fish that do not have a sense that they live in the water because it always all around them, humanity is being impacted by the amplification of technology. For those of us living right in the middle of it, we have a sense that our lives are changing, but we don’t really have the comparative scale to understand how much or how fast. People who have lived for many decades can remember the way it was and compare to the way it is – for better or for worse. Younger people have less perspective to work with. This podcast talks about the dark and the light of digital amplification when looked at through a larger lens. The more precise perspective we can create on what technology can and will do to humanity, the more we can make good decisions on finding the needed balance between humans and machines.

There are two central ways humans will amplify themselves. This podcast deals with the first which is physically improving our capabilities. We were all born with natural bodies. Some of these bodies had weaknesses from birth. Some of our bodies get damaged along the way. What happens when we can repair either of these states and create physical parity in the world? What happens when we can extend lifespan through the use of biotech, nanotech, and digital tech? We stand at the precipice of amazing improvements through the integration of AI, biotech, and nanotech. What kind of world will that lead us into? How much of what science fiction writers has shared for years will come true? Now is the time to get a clear picture in our minds and wrestle with what we will tell our kids and grandkids when they have the chance to enhance.

Human beings are always looking for an edge or improvement. In a lot of ways, we are achievement junkies who never stop figuring out how to amplify our capabilities. A competitive world drives us from childhood to find ways to be better than those around us. It is no surprise that technologies are becoming a more powerful influence in getting us the advantages we seek. In this opening podcast of the series, Scott looks into what has driven us in the past and how those same catalysts will cause a very Humalogy future – at the individual level. Will we all become cyborgs? No. Will we slowly be drawn more towards technology amplifications? Very likely. The more we wrestle with the direction of amplification now, the more likely we are to avoid some of the blind alleys that have hurt us in the past.

What is the human mind in relationship to our brain? What is a machine mind going to look like? How do humans decide on their next best word or action and how does an LLM do the same? At what point might we believe that a machine mind is waking up? In this episode, Scott dives into the philosophy of mind by asking you the listener a handful of intriguing questions. Along the way you might come to believe that we overstate the sophistication of the human mind and under predict the possibility for a machine mind to be awake. If nothing else, this episode will help you think about analogies and ideas you might not have heard before and that will help inspire your mind!