This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir is interrogating an essay by J. on Buddhism, enhancement, and the self. They discuss the appeal of Buddhism for teenage Hughes, and how Buddhism reconciles a radical deconstruction of the self with moral commitment and principles.

Buddhism and Our Posthuman Future - J. Hughes

Cyborg Buddha - A conversation with transhumanist James Hughes

Personal Immortality in Transhumanism and Ancient Indian Philosophy - Adam Buben

Hume on personal identity 

The Machine Stops - E. M. Forster, 1909 

As always, listeners can contact us at [email protected] with questions, comments, and suggestions for future topics.

This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J are discussing the hit Apple TV show Pluribus. Created by Vince Gilligan, the show runner of Breaking Bad, the show explores a world taken over by a very nice hive mind that wants to give you anything you want. Would you take advantage of the perks, appreciate that the hive reduced humanity’s suffering, or fight like hell to give us all back our miserable individuality?

“In Apple TV’s ‘Pluribus,’ the biggest ethical dilemmas ‘are our fault,’ a philosopher says” Cody Mello-Klein 

“The Benign Zombies of Pluribus” Jonathan Moreno

“The Fable of the Bees” Bernard Mandeville/ (1714) 

Dostoevsky - Notes from the Underground

“The Revolutionary Spirit of Star Wars Andor” Jessie Gender 

“The revolutionary politics of Andor” Jorge Cotte 

As always, listeners can contact us at [email protected] with questions, comments, and suggestions for future topics.

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits

This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J. discuss the simulation hypothesis, the idea that we may actually be living in the Matrix. We discuss its religious and philosophical precedents, Bostrom’s classic argument, and the contemporary physics that some think supports the idea. 

The Simulation Argument

Are we living in a computer simulation? I don’t know. Probably.

As always, listeners can contact us at [email protected] with questions, comments, and suggestions for future topics.

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits

This week on Prosthetic Gods, J and Nir discuss “moral enhancement,” the use of drugs and devices to promote moral sentiments, cognition, and behavior. Is it any different from drinking coffee instead of alcohol when you go to work? What might the unintended consequences be of making ourselves more compassionate? Is happiness a virtue?

Bernie and Hinton ondemocratizing AI

Europe is Bending the Knee to the US on Tech Policy

WHO Sets GLP-1 Weight-Loss Drug Guidelines

As always, listeners can contact us at [email protected] with questions, comments, and suggestions for future topics.

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits

Should you be able to marry your chatbot? Should it be allowed to own property? In this episode of Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J discuss the proposed law in Ohio banning AI personhood. Listen before you make any rash decisions! 

Ohio House Bill 469

Ohio House Bill 469 would label artificial intelligence as 'nonsentient entities' and block legal personhood  

“It’s time to prepare for AI personhood”  Jacy Reese Anthis  

“The Quest for the Transition of Inalienable Rights from Humans to Intelligent Machines” Compierchio, Tretten & Illankoon. Philosophies

The movie 'Her' imagined perfect AI companions 

As always, listeners can contact us at [email protected] with questions, comments, and suggestions for future topics.

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits

This week on Prosthetic Gods Nir and J. chat with astronomer Avi Loeb about the mysteries of our interstellar visitor, 3I/Atlas. Is there a systemic bias in astronomy against the possibility of non-natural explanations for odd astronomical objects? What is the relationship of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence in our galaxy, in our solar system, and in our skies? Dr. Loeb is an astrophysicist at Harvard University, head of the Galileo Project to find extraterrestrial life, and author most recently of Interstellar: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Future in the Stars.

Ohio House Bill 469

Ohio House Bill 469 would label artificial intelligence as 'nonsentient entities' and block legal personhood  

“It’s time to prepare for AI personhood”  Jacy Reese Anthis  

“The Quest for the Transition of Inalienable Rights from Humans to Intelligent Machines” Compierchio, Tretten & Illankoon. Philosophies

The movie 'Her' imagined perfect AI companions 

As always, listeners can contact us at [email protected] with questions, comments, and suggestions for future topics.

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits

This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J discuss the Netflix movie House of Dynamite, a nuclear war drama by Kathryn Bigelow.

“The age of AI-powered cyberattacks is here”

Meet Project Suncatcher, a research moonshot to scale machine learning compute in space.

Anomalies of 3I/ATLAS, Organized by Likelihood by Avi Loeb

Peter Thiel's fund offloaded Nvidia stake in third quarter, filing shows

As always, listeners can contact us at [email protected] with questions, comments, and suggestions for future topics.

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits

This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J chat with Jose Marichal, professor of political science at California Lutheran University, and author of You Must Become an Algorithmic Problem. He is, according to a chatbot, a critical-democratic institutionalist who focuses on everyday algorithmic power and citizen agency.

Find out more about Dr. Marichal and his work via his website or by checking out his new book. 

As always, listeners can contact us at [email protected] with questions, comments, and suggestions for future topics.

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits

This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J. speak with Yuval Levin, one of the most insightful and influential conservative thinkers in America today. As the Director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute and the Editor-in-Chief of National Affairs, Levin's work consistently anchors contemporary political debates in deep institutional history and conservative philosophy. His writing often centers on the critical importance of mediating institutions, the dangers of political hyper-polarization, and the need to restore a sense of civic obligation and prudent governance.

Find out more about Yuval via the American Enterprise Institute. 

As always, listeners can contact us at [email protected] with questions, comments, and suggestions for future topics.

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits

This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J. discuss the prospects for colonizing Mars and space in general. Why do people want to try? How feasible are space colonization schemes? 

SpaceX Mars Colonization “Plan”

The second major European open-source LLM is OUT, and it has been announced as multilingual and fully compliant with the EU AI Act.

Meta launches AI-powered smart glasses

As always, listeners can contact us at [email protected] with questions, comments, and suggestions for future topics.

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits