This week on Prosthetic Gods Nir and J. are joined by Damien G. Walter, a writer and a storyteller who has written for The Guardian, the BBC, Wired, The Independent, Aeon, and others. He teaches The Rhetoric of Story and Writing the 21st-Century Myth to over 35,000 students worldwide, and is the host of the Science Fiction Podcast.  We discuss the interaction between the “New Mythos” of science fiction and philosophy.

Find out more about Damien Walter through the links below:

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits

Griefbots (also called deathbots, AI ghosts, AI clones, death avatars, and postmortem avatars) are large language models built on available information about the  deceased, such as social media, letters, photos, diaries, and videos. Nir and J debate whether they are just another way to commemorate our loved ones or a violation of human dignity.

Dario Amodei, CEO Anthropic. Machines of Loving Grace: How AI Could Transform the World for the Better (October 2024) 

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits

This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J discuss the pros and cons of life-tracking or “self-quantification,” with tools like health watches, and the “life-hacking” that these tools encourage, from dieting and exercise to sleep and meditation. How do we know when we are being distracted and made miserable by all this self-knowledge, and when it is helpful? Could AI life coaches, tracking every vital, help us live happier, longer lives? 

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits

On this week’s Prosthetic Gods Nir and J. discuss the ethics of life extension and anti-aging therapies. Is there a benefit to involuntary death? Would getting very old necessarily be boring or depressing? How can we ensure that everyone benefits? 

Zuckerberg removes fact-checking from Facebook

Bezos imposes ban on criticism of Trump/Musk at WashPo

Sam Altman moves up the timelines for AGI and ASI

Journal abstracts written by asking LLMs to summarize papers are perceived as more authentic, clear and compelling than those created solely by academics.

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits

J and Nir talk to Tal Hassner, formerly of Amazon and Meta, about Deep Fakes, AGI, and whether there is such a thing as a tech-proof job.

Find out more about Tal here: https://talhassner.github.io/home/ 

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits

Nir and J. talk about facial recognition. Topics covered include considerations of bias, the role of privacy, and whether facial recognition is substantially different from other identification technologies. 

“Halt the use of facial-recognition technology until it is regulated" by Kate Crawford

On Liberty by John Stuart Mills 

The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution by C.P. Snow

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits

Nir and J. talk about the prospects for tech policy under Trump's second term. They discuss the new administration's attitudes toward content moderation, what the next four years mean for Artificial Intelligence, and Elon Musk's potential influence on tech policy moving forward. 

Credits:

Nir and J. discuss ethical issues surrounding so-called super soldiers and human augmentation in warfare.

• Human Augmentation - The Dawn of a New Paradigm

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits

In this episode, Nir and J. discuss whether machines can be moral. What does it take for something to be a moral patient or moral subject? Can morality be distilled down to a set of rules? Is the red-teaming and safety testing of large language models a way to teach machines morality? 

• Moral Machines by Colin Allen and Wendell Wallach

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits

Prosthetic Gods: Artificial General Intelligence

In this episode of Prosthetic Gods, J. Hughes and Nir Eisikovits dive into artificial general intelligence (AGI), AI that has reached a human level of consciousness and common sense. Is AI currently a "philosophical zombie," mimicking human behavior without true awareness? Will AGIs be the perfect 24/7 slaves, replacing expensive humans in workplace? Would AGI be the beginning of AI evolving beyond human control? 

Also, check out this week’s Ethics in Action podcast conversation with philosopher Susan Schneider: https://ethics.podbean.com/e/ai-consciousness-and-the-future-mind-a-conversation-with-susan-schneider/

Hosted by: James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits