The After On Podcast

You've probably seen a TED Talk or two (or 500!) online. Chris runs the TED organization, and has some fascinating thoughts both on how we're wired to process oratory, and how we might build a better world.

Sarah Parcak is a pioneer in the emerging field of space archaeology. In 2016 she won the TED Prize to launch a "citizen science" platform, which is finding lost sites and fighting archaeological looting throughout the world.

Technology's pre-eminent publisher, Tim O'Reilly helped trigger the rise of the commercial Web, the open source community, the Web 2.0 era, and the maker movement. I discuss tech's past and future with one of its most original thinkers.

Chris Anderson was Wired's editor-in-chief for 12 years, then started one of the world's great drone companies.

We discuss all this – and his origins as a high school dropout living in a squat and playing bass for a band called REM (no, not that REM).

Our universe's vastness and age has given alien intelligence ample space and time in which to arise. Why can we detect no sign of it?

This is actually a momentous and scientifically serious question. Yes, really! With British astronomer Stephen Webb.

James Barrat's book "Our Final Invention" helped touch off a public debate about the possible dangers of superintelligence, which continues to this day. We discuss these dangers in depth in our interview.

For those who are reading the novel After On, Tom Meritt and I discuss pages 380-464 in the very last section of the podcast.

Sam Harris is one of the most visible and controversial commentators on terrorism and its roots. Our interview dives deep into this subject, as well the personal journey that made Sam into the public intellectual he has become.

For those who are reading the novel After On, Tom Meritt and I discuss pages 289-380 in the very last section of the podcast.

Quantum computers could be almost farcically powerful compared to classical computers. Venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson and I discuss how & why this is – and whether this potential will ever be realized.

For those who are reading the novel After On, Tom Meritt and I discuss pages 241-288 in the very last section of the podcast.

It took 13 years and $3 billion to read the first human genome in 2003. Now takes #$1K and just hours. What happens when we can WRITE DNA as easily as we now read it?

For those who are reading the novel After On, Tom Merritt and I discuss pages 180-241 in the very last section of the podcast.

In this episode, we discuss patent trolls, government hacking, privacy in the digital age, and other vital issues with Cindy Cohn, who runs the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

For those who are reading the novel After On, Tom Merritt and I discuss pages 110-180 in the very last section of the podcast.