The Rhys Show

Rhys was a guest at The Index Show with host Alex Kehaya. A great conversation about the Web3 ecosystem, why capitalism needs marriage counseling, and the evolution of society.

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In this episode, investor, journalist, philanthropist, and amateur cosmonaut Esther Dyson joins us to talk about the importance of moving from short-term self interest to long-term shared interest.

Esther is the executive founding soul behind Wellville. She talks about this ten-year project and the five US communities participating to improve their own health and wellbeing while inspiring other communities to do the same.

We converse about the importance of shifting from a “we” centered way of thinking to one that invests in the success of the whole and we talk about the problem of addiction, how it relates to short term thinking, how it creates competition as opposed to collaboration within a community and how it affects both personal life as well as business growth.

Furthermore, we dive into how to build something sustainable and the story behind ICANN.

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Who is Esther Dyson?

Esther is the chairman of EDventure Holdings and is the executive founder of Wellville, a 10 - year nonprofit project dedicated to demonstrating the value of long-term investment in health and equity.

Esther is an active angel investor, best-selling author, board member and advisor concentrating on emerging markets and technologies, new space and health.

She sits on the boards of 23andMe and is an investor in Crohnology, Eligible API, Keas, Omada Health, Sleepio, and StartUp Health, among others. For 6 months, Esther lived outside Moscow, Russia, training as a backup cosmonaut.

She has a BA in economics from Harvard University, and a completion certificate in space medicine and space plumbing from Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

Topics:

Welcome Esther Dyson to The Rhys Show!: (00:00:00)

About this century being the turning point & the governance system: (01:49)

The problem of having a “WE” centered world: (04:19)

About the metaphor of addiction & how it shows up in different fields: (08:14)

Short term aspiration versus long term aspiration: (12:57)

About Wellville helping five communities to build their own fishing school: (18:05)

The approach of collaborating & complementing one another: (21:38)

Sustainability within nonprofits: (31:43)

The ICANN story: (34:20)

Words of advice to the audience: (38:13)

Mentioned resources:

ICANN: https://www.icann.org/

“The Gardener and the Carpenter: What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us About the Relationship Between Parents and Children” book by Alison Gopnik: https://www.amzn.com/B01ARRWPUS

Connect with Esther Dyson:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/estherdyson/

Wellville Web: https://wellville.net/about/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/edyson?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/esther.dyson

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/estherdyson/

In this episode Kanjun Qiu, the CEO and co-founder of Generally Intelligent joins us to chat about replicators, Genes, Memes and “Temes”, talk about what her company does and help us understand the fundamentals of learning across humans and machines.

Generalized Darwinism is the principle that when any kind of information is copied with variation and selection an evolutionary process inevitably begins.

Genes, memes, and now what? Evolution's third replicator: technological “Temes”. Digital information is now being copied, varied and selected fast. This new kind of meme, which spreads itself via technology and finds ways to keep itself alive, is emerging and evolving into new types of intelligence.

Generally Intelligent investigates the fundamentals of learning across humans and machines, in order to create more capable and humane machine intelligence.

This company tries to get AI to understand very specific forms of how humans learn. AI tries to learn by itself things like object permanence (understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be sensed) and then uses that as a building block to learn other kinds of more generally intelligent behaviors.

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Who is Kanjun Qiu?

Kanjun Qiu is the CEO and co-founder of Generally Intelligent, an AI research company working directly on human-like general intelligence.

Previously she co-founded and was CEO of Sourceress, an AI recruiting company that went through YC and raised $13M. Prior to Sourceress, Kanjun grew Dropbox from 300 to 1500 people as the Chief of Staff after college, and was fortunate to get the equivalent of a business school education along the way. She co-founded and lived at The Archive and co-authored Sew Electric, a book that teaches kids programming using sewable electronics.

Kanjun was recognized as the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 Featured Honoree in Enterprise Technology.

She has a bachelor’s and master's degree in computer science and electrical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology , and worked as a graduate researcher at the MIT Media Lab.

Topics:

Welcome Kanjun Qiu to The Rhys Show: (00:00:00)

All about Kanjun’s company, Generally Intelligent: (00:03:06)

Kanju’s benchmark: (00:19:13)

Using transformers in architecture: (00:23:36)

Talking about sequence to sequence: (00:25:40)

Creating an environment to express tasks & environment design problems: (00:33:47)

Actively changing the world in order to fix your priors: (00:39:18)

Genes and memes as replicators: (00:45:04)

Rejecting the the premise that genes and memes are replicators: (00:54:38)

System framing & digital being framing: (01:05:07)

Is AI overrated?: (01:026:36)

Are transformers overrated?: (01:27:27)

About San Francisco & Kanjun’s new neighborhood: (01:28:33)

Mentioned resources:

Josh Albrecht (co-founder and CTO of Generally Intelligent): https://joshalbrecht.com/

“Darwin's Unfinished Symphony: How Culture Made the Human Mind” book by Kevin N. Laland: https://www.amazon.com/Darwins-Unfinished-Symphony-Culture-Human/dp/0691151180

Connect with Kanjun Qiu:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanjun/

Web: https://kanjun.me/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kanjun

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kanjun

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kanjunqiu

Generally Intelligent Web: https://generallyintelligent.ai/

Generally Intelligent podcast (for machine learning): https://generallyintelligent.ai/podcast/

In this episode, theoretical neuroscientist and authority on brain imaging Karl Friston, helps us understand his Free Energy Principle (FEP) for how life works and evolves.

We tackle this theory from five different perspectives to gain a deeper understanding; all the way from RNA and primordial soup to the future and safety of artificial intelligence.

The Free Energy Principle describes with mathematical precision how the brain conserves energy by minimizing surprise. Life at every scale of organization, from single cells to the human brain, is driven by the same universal imperative. This idea has a very great influence and affects the way we work and organize ourselves socially.

But how does this abstract principle translate into our everyday lives? The brain is continuously engaged in an act of interpretation called active inference that explains how we actively forage in the world for evidence that best satisfies our expectations.

Active inference is a corollary of the FEP and is the process through which we build models of our environment that we update with evidence we actively collect. Those familiar with statistics will recognize this description of the brain as particularly Bayesian.

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Who is Karl Friston?

Karl Friston is a theoretical neuroscientist and authority on brain imaging. He is a Professor at Institute of Neurology, University College London and, Wellcome Trust Principal Fellow and Scientific Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging

Prof. Friston gained a reputation as the main proponent of the free energy principle, active inference and predictive coding theory, and is the inventor of statistical parametric mapping, voxel-based morphometry and dynamic causal modeling.

“Karl Friston’s free energy principle might be the most all-encompassing idea since Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection”

Topics:

Welcome Karl Friston to The Rhys Show: (00:00)

What is FEP / active inference* & how does it apply in our daily life?: (01:39)

Understanding Free Energy Principle from 5 different perspectives: (04:26)

Information pre replicators / FEP pre sentient life: (00:00)

Distinction between animate & inanimate kinds / Predictive capacity / Markov blanket: (12:40)

Inanimate things that can exist based off of the law of physics: (18:23)

FEP compared to the principles of natural selection & evolution: (24:11)

RNA replicating in primordial soup; RNA a model of its environment?: (29:59)

About the brain / mutual predictability: (37:19)

Kind of information a bayesian brain can encode: (46:21)

How free energy applies to social systems: (54:27)

Cristianity a sense of a generative model: (01:02:57)

How free energy applies with machines and AI / AI safety & generative models that include us: (01:06:17)

In this episode our guest is Noor Siddiqui, founder and CEO of Orchid. Noor explains her mission behind Orchid helping couples achieve parenthood and healthy babies through genetic risk and single cell testing.

We dive deep into the history of reproductive technology. Noor takes us along the journey from old days where birth control was obscene and controversial, to modern days with ultra high resolution genetic testing systems for couples, advanced embryo screening for families going through IVF and single cell sequencing.

Understanding genetic risk impacts your lifestyle, your choices and can change the course of any possible diseases. Testing before your child is conceived gives you the best chance of mitigating risk.

Couples can safely reduce their future children’s genetic risk for the most common diseases and avoid suffering from similar conditions they have dealt with during their own lives.

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Who is Noor Siddiqui?

Noor Siddiqui is the Founder and CEO at Orchid, a reproductive technology company which measures genetic predisposition to disease helping families have healthier babies.

Before Orchid, she founded Remedy, a digital health company that helped doctors get instant answers from specialists.

Noor received an M.S/B.S in Computer Science from Stanford, taught a class there on Reproductive Technology, and did AI and genomics research with Anshul Kundaje and Sebastian Thrun.

Topics we touch:

Welcome Noor Siddiqui to The Rhys Show: (00:00)

Throughline that connects Noor’s work / From Thiel fellowship to biotech: (02:50)

Learning about interests & becoming more sincere to them: (04:07)

Hyper about Orchid: (05:41)

A teenager wanting to make “baby making” better : (07:10)

Gene therapy vs. IVF/Alzheimer & different perspectives: (13:13)

Couple report/method & sequencing tool : (18:06)

How Orchid works: (21:24)

Associations that are being done: (23:28)

Embryo report/screening, how IVF works & sequencing : (26:36)

Initial PCR amplification with lots of cells vs with only 5 cells: (33:20)

Mentioned resources:

Thiel Fellowship: https://thielfellowship.org/

Illumina: https://www.illumina.com/

Connect with Noor Siddiqui:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noorsiddiqui/

Web “Noor Siddiqui”: https://noorsiddiqui.com/about/

Twitter “Noor Siddiqui”: https://twitter.com/noor_siddiqui_

Web “Orchid”: https://www.orchidhealth.com/

Twitter “Orchid”: https://twitter.com/orchidinc

CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats and it is a genome editing technology that allows scientists to cut DNA with precision and insert or delete DNA to correct unwanted mutations.

In this episode I talk with Melinda Kliegman about this tool that was discovered ten years ago and how it can benefit humanity by healing genetic disease, by enabling a sustainable agriculture to ensure food security, by helping achieve a carbon-neutral economy to sustain the environment, and making it accessible and affordable to all.

IGI tries to align genome-engineering innovations with societal values. Public education, sharing resources and guiding the ethical use of genome engineering are meant to serve the public so it is crucial that as many people as possible engage in CRISPR, genome editing, and the ethical implications of genetic engineering dialogues. This informs scientists ongoing work and helps them with accurate decision making.

Furthermore we talk about regulations and policies in CRISPR technology and how important they are for responsible use.

Who is Melinda Kliegman?

Melinda (Belisle) Kliegman has a Ph.D. in Biology from Stanford University. She is the Public Impact Director at Innovative Genomics Institute, a non-profit academic partnership between UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco that supports collaborative research driven by the real possibility of using genome engineering to treat human diseases and end hunger.

Formerly she worked at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She also served as a science advisor to the Foreign Agricultural Service.

Topics we touch:

Welcome Melinda Kliegman to The Rhys Show: (00:00)

Transition from biotech to public policy: (01:52)

IGI’s work in human health, climate & genome engineering: (04:27)

CRISPR - Inserting or deleting DNA to correct unwanted mutations: (07:13)

Making CRISPR more affordable: (10:01)

CRISPR cost per-base-pair compared to genome sequencing & synthesis: (13:15)

Education system around CRISPR & its impacts: (15:30)

IGI’s work in climate: (17:52)

CRISPR - Working with plants: (19:17)

Advancing genome engineering: (20:54)

Biggest opportunity & biggest challenge with CRISPR: (24:23)

Optimus future in regards to societal engagement: (27:46)

Regulations & law around CRISPR technology: (31:17)

What the biosphere will look like in 25 years by changing genes: (38:11)

Advice to those who want to lead in a disciplinary career like Melinda: (42:16)

Ranking in order of importance - sequencing, genome editing vs synthesis and CRISPR: (44:19)

Learn more about CRISPR & IGI: (45:52)

Mentioned resources:

Jillian Banfield: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jillian_Banfield

Connect with Melinda Kliegman:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melinda-kliegman/

Web “Innovative Genomics Institute”, IGI: https://innovativegenomics.org/about-us/

Twitter “Innovative Genomics Institute”: https://twitter.com/igisci

Not long ago a machine designed by a computer and constructed of living cells was something crazy to imagine. Not anymore. In this episode I talk with Josh Bongard and Mike Levin about how this is becoming a reality.

There are lots of physical possibilities for how animals and robots can coexist but we have only explored a small part of the morphology design space.

Life began on Earth at least 3.5 to 4 billion years ago, and it has been evolving ever since. The diversity of life on Earth today is the result of evolution that occurs by natural selection. But, in the next 100 plus years there won’t just be plants, animals and humans from natural selection, there will also be computational designed organisms from AI.

Computational designed organisms are living machines inspired by the designs and capabilities of biology and computing. These “biobots” are a new form of artificial intelligence.

We also talk about The Institute for Computationally Designed Organisms doing things to create other things, all what is possible and how it can change the world.

Furthermore we dive into Xenobots, the first living robots they have built which are able to reproduce. They have repurposed living cells from frog embryos and assembled them into entirely new life-forms that can move toward a target. This discovery may be meaningful for the future of medicine, the environment and even life itself.

Who are Joshua Bongard & Michael Levin?

Dr. Joshua Bongard is the Veinott Professor of Computer Science at the University of Vermont and the director of the Morphology, Evolution & Cognition Laboratory. His work involves computational approaches to the automated design and manufacture of soft-, evolved-, and crowdsourced robots, as well as computer-designed organisms.

Dr. Michael Levin is a developmental and synthetic biologist; the Vannevar Bush Professor of Biology at Tufts University, where he directs the Allen Discovery Research Center, and associate faculty at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute. Levin and his colleagues use developmental biophysics, cognitive science, and computational modeling approaches to understand tissue plasticity, especially focused on bioelectrical information processing in non-neural cell networks.

Both Josh and Mike are co-directors of the Institute for Computationally Designed Organisms.

Topics we touch:

Welcome Josh & Michael to The Rhys Show: (00:00)

Through line that ties all of Josh’s work together: (02:24)

Through line that ties all of Mike’s work together: (02:55)

Josh (computational side) & Mike (biology side) collaborating together: (04:35)

The impact of synthetic biology on society in the next decades. Xenobots & ICDO Institution?: (07:01)

How does Xenobot fit into the vision of synthetic morphology?: (11:03)

What is a Xenobot - an organism designed by AI?: (14:06)

Pronunciation & meaning of “xeno”bots: (17:50)

Getting Xenobots to do things: (18:23)

Biochemical/bio electrical signaling - Making things do different things: (23:01)

About perverse instantiation: (26:09)

How is the biosphere going to change in the next couple of decades according to Mike: (30:18)

Rewriting the biosphere according to Josh: (35:10)

About morpho space - what is scary and safe in the morpho space: (36:55)

Advice from Michael: (42:44)

Advice from Josh: (44:58)

Connect with Josh Bongard & Mike Levin:

Josh Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKCmKOwVkoAh2NDp0T-Ovng

Josh Twitter: https://twitter.com/DoctorJosh

Josh Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Bongard

About Mike: https://allencenter.tufts.edu/our-team/michael-levin/

Mike Twitter: https://twitter.com/drmichaellevin

Website “The Institute for Computationally Designed Organisms (ICDO)”: https://icdorgs.org/

CDOs: https://cdorgs.github.io/code

Genetic Screening is a DNA tool that predicts traits, including height, physical appearance, IQ and illnesses such as heart disease, cancer and many more which are known to be heritable.

The genetic component is spread over thousands of DNA regions. In the past decade, extensive genetic databases can screen for these traits. Through analyzing genes, it is possible to calculate polygenic risk scores, which give a person’s plausibility of getting some kind of disease or having a certain trait.

In this episode, Stephen and I talk about genetic screening and how embryo screening fits into this risk forecasting. Couples who are undergoing IVF treatment, have access now to information that gives them another option to pick the healthiest embryo. Stephen believes this tool will create some inequality in the short term but equality in the long term.

We dive deep into how genes are going to be changing in the next ten or fifteen years. With rapid advances in genome sequencing, genetic analysis and precision gene editing, within the next ten years embryo selection and genetic engineering could be used to optimize the intelligence of future generations, disable target genes, correct harmful mutations, and change the activity of specific genes in plants and animals, including humans.

We also talk about cancel culture. Stephen was canceled at Michigan State University for touching a thin-skinned subject. There are genetic markers for almost everything. He was engaged with genetics and finding differences between people from different regions. As bioregions are associated with race, that unfortunately connected genetic markers to racism. Stephen shares his intelligible and fundamented perspective about this.

Furthermore we talk about how important it is to have access to information to be able to make better choices and the importance of understanding and solving problems where the real casualties are.

Who is Stephen Hsu?

Steve is a professor of theoretical physics and professor of computational mathematics, science, and engineering at Michigan State University, professor of theoretical physics at the University of Oregon and scientific advisor at BGI.

Previously senior vice-president for research and innovation at Michigan State University.

Founder of Genomic Prediction, a company that creates advanced genetic screening technology for IVF, SafeWeb, an internet security startup acquired by Symantec in 2003, Othram, a forensic application of DNA sequencing and Robot Genius, Inc., a security software startup.

Topics we touch:

Welcome Stephen to The Rhys Show: (00:00)

Thread line that connects all of Steve’s work: (00:51)

How his work connects to public debate: (01:32)

Science & computers changing genes in the biosphere in the next 200 years: (03:06)

Choosing the best embryo - How Genomic Prediction, Inc. works: (09:18)

The inequality side of genetic screening: (18:52)

Creating a future increasing everyone's IQ: (24:37)

Long term consequences & Hsu biotech perspective: (26:53)

IVF gametogenesis: (30:47)

Twitter mob attack: (33:00)

Blog posts that got Hsu labeled as a racist: (43:12)

Get in touch with Steve Hsu:(49:26)

Connect with Stephen Hsu:

About Steve: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevehsu/

Website “Genomic Prediction”: https://www.lifeview.com/about

Facebook “Genomic Prediction”: https://www.facebook.com/GenomicPrediction/

Blog “Information Processing”: https://infoproc.blogspot.com/

Podcast “ManifoldOne”: https://www.manifold1.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hsu_steve?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Twitter mobs: https://infoproc.blogspot.com/2020/06/twitter-attacks-and-defense-of.html

Alta is a Professor Emerita of Law and Bioethics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She’s been focused on bioethics for a few decades across government, academia, and industry. She was featured in the Netflix documentary on CRISPR, Human Nature.

https://law.wisc.edu/profiles/racharo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alta_Charo

https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark

https://www.roote.co/

Alan Durning is the founder and executive director of Sightline Institute, a think-tank for sustainability in the Pacific Northwest.

We chat about how to make housing abundant.

https://www.sightline.org/2021/02/25/the-contradiction-at-the-heart-of-housing-policy/

patreon.com/rhyslindmark

www.roote.co/