This week we talked with molecular biology student and plant enthusiast Euan McCubbin about what a society would look like without aging, whether old Sci-fi that gets the science wrong is bad, and the challenges that come with writing a superintelligence. All stories (and movie) we cover are listed in the timestamps below and if you wish to avoid spoilers for anything feel free to skip that section. Euan also wrote a story “The Backgammon Player”, which is published on Synthesized Sunsets which you hope you give a read. Hope you enjoy!

EPISODE TIMESTAMPS:

00:00:12 - Disintegration in the context of molecular aging

00:06:16 - Would a cure for cancer be a cure for aging?

00:09:20 - A Society without aging in “The Algebraist” by Iain M. Banks

00:17:10 - The value of children’s lives across cultures and history

00:23:46 - “Genetics and Eugenics in Frank Herbert’s Dune-verse” by Gwern

00:27:20 - Does older Sci-fi that becomes outdated make it worse?

00:32:53 - Does it change how you view the art if a sci-fi writer gets the science wrong because of when they wrote it compared to getting the science wrong because they did bad research?

00:36:00 - Is it possible to write Sci-fi for the Future or is Sci-fi destined to become dated?

00:40:48 - “Understand” by Ted Chiang and the challenges of writing superintelligence

00:50:17 - Dystopian sci-fi juxtaposed with literal babblings of child in “World of Tomorrow” by Don Hertzfeldt

00:57:58 - Collapse in “Mistborn” and “The Kingkiller Chronicle”

01:05:05 - Conclusion and Euan hopes you read his story “The Backgammon Player”

Lots of changes to the podcast coming down the pipe! We now have a permanent co-host: Gordon Anderson. You can find him at Gordon on Substack! This week we sat down with composer and ML researcher Merrick Ohata to talk about the atomization of media, the AI-ification of media, and the benefits of lying to children. While this conversation kinda goes all over the place, we think there are some real gems in here. We hope you do, too. Thanks for listening!

EPISODE TIMESTAMPS

00:00:12 - Episode Start

00:00:51 - How has the media landscape changed over the past 10 years as a result of atomization?

00:01:22 - How has the role of the critic changed in that timeframe?

00:04:20 - Are people becoming too narrowly read?

00:06:08 - What if you had to become a specialist to consume most pop culture?

00:06:49 - “Ars Longa, Vita Brevis” by Scott Alexander

00:08:18 - Accumulated knowledge puts limits on the speed of scientific progress

00:12:41 - The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson and the Illustrated Primer model of education

00:15:20 - Tacit knowledge erasure

00:18:43 - Importance of rote memorization / doing reps in education

00:20:36 - Multiplication table synesthesia feat. Bronzong

00:21:26 - Placemats are good at teaching things

00:22:52 - That one time Kid Kevin got roasted for talking about bird-eating spiders

00:24:25 - The epistemic loneliness of childhood

00:27:30 - Defending the Santa Claus worldview

00:31:57 - Will you tell your kids that Santa is real?

00:38:09 - Bonus Santa-related lore

00:42:34 - Which pill would you choose in "...And I Show You How Deep the Rabbit Hole Goes" by Scott Alexander?

00:48:41 - Free will and determinism in "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang

00:57:24 - How much do you separate the art from the artist?

01:02:49 - Joining the art from the artist ruins perfectly good arguments

01:05:20 - Kevin is more interested in artists than art

01:06:43 - Freedom of interpretation in "And We, Each" by Michael Hersch

01:09:00 - Consuming the artist as the art

01:09:52 - Star Wars as an argument against the primacy of the artist=

01:10:50 - Does knowing that art was made by AI ruin it?

01:11:16 - Are humans necessary for art?

01:12:05 - Are human artists ready for AI art?

01:13:01 - Underestimating the threat of AI

01:14:09 - You can be underwhelmed by a technology if you want to be

01:15:03 - The threat of AI girlfriends

01:16:05 - Keep AI girlfriends low-status!

01:17:13 - The existential horror of TikTok

01:18:05 - TikTok has created a new type of media

01:20:35 - Conclusion and Merrick's short fiction recommendation

BONUS LINKS (story links are in the timestamps)

* Scott Alexander’s Substack, Astral Codex Ten

* “The Equidistribution of Lattice Shapes of Rings of Integers of Cubic, Quartic, and Quintic Number Fields: an Artist’s Rendering” by Piper Harron (the informal math thesis that Kevin forgot the name of)

* We really wanted to talk about this neat Andy Matuschak article about The Diamond Age called “Exorcising the Primer”, but we totally forgot.

* The Tacit Knowledge Series by Cedric Chin

* Michael Hersch’s website

Yep, you heard that right— Synthesized Sunsets is starting a podcast! We are still experimenting with the format, so please forgive us for any growing pains. Future episodes will feature my co-host Gordon, as well as better audio quality.

Our guest this week is Isaac Olson, who is (fittingly) studying oceanography and science communication at the University of Washington. We will be talking about Isaac’s guest article, which you can find here.

In general, this podcast will be discussing the role of climate fiction, striking the right balance between optimism and pessimism, romantic art, and how we place ourselves in relation to the environment. Want to be less of a doomer? Listen to find out how!

EPISODE TIMESTAMPS

00:00:12 - Episode Start

00:01:04 - Recent separation between the domains of art, life, and nature

00:04:46 - Does technological progress make some human disconnection from nature inevitable?

00:07:18 - Benefits of giving plant life sentience

00:10:03 - Is romantic art right for the modern moment?

00:15:36 - In defense of the sublime

00:20:10 - Why are most cli-fi narratives somewhat pronatalist when environmentalism often expresses antinatalist sentiment?

00:27:06 - Will antinatalism harm the climate movement?

00:29:35 - Who is cli-fi for?

00:33:31 - Why we need fiction / "The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction" by Ursula K. Le Guin

00:35:24 - "The Secret Source" by Ben Okri

00:41:34 - Kindred by Octavia Butler

00:44:49 - What is short fiction for?

00:46:42 - The paradox of short fiction

00:49:03 - Short stories as teasers for longform

00:49:52 - Bridging the gap between literature and television - Love, Death, & Robots

00:51:51 - Are magazines dead?

00:54:16 - Magazines & late night shows v. modern a la carte media

00:56:26 - What's the big vision for Synthesized Sunsets?

00:57:50 - How do you strike a balance between optimism and pessimism in climate fiction?

01:00:42 - What makes a bleak story worth telling?

01:05:02 - The media and sensational climate doomerism

01:06:26 - Where do you find optimism about the climate?

01:08:09 - Recent optimistic climate reads

01:09:50 - Islands of stability in The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

01:10:23 - The duality of the ocean

01:10:47 - Techno duo Drexciya and the value of reinterpretation as healing

01:12:46 - Dangers of viewing the Earth as dangerous

01:14:23 - Wrap-up and Isaac's short fiction recommendation!

LINKS

Hopepunk and Solarpunk: On Climate Narratives That Go Beyond the Apocalypse

“The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction” by Ursula K. Le Guin

Drexciya's Wikipedia page