Tim Ventura Interviews

Biohacking pioneer Amal Graafstra discusses Neuralink's first brain implant procedure & speculates on the evolution of neural interactive simulations like the Matrix and networked hive minds like the Borg.

Last month, Neuralink, implanted their first patient with a brain implant containing 64 flexible polymer threads, providing 1,024 sites for recording brain activity, and allowing the patient to control a computer mouse simply by thinking.

Today, moving a mouse is the limit of technology, but in the future brain implants may allow people to enter virtual digital worlds, like the Matrix. Beyond that, the neural plasticity of the human mind may actually spread consciousness out over the network as it offloads tasks for processing - allowing future humans to work as part of a collective consciousness, such as portrayed in Star Trek's Borg Collective.

Amal Graafstra is a book author, TEDx speaker, and CEO of biohacking companies Dangerous Things and VivoKey Technologies. Amal has various RFID and NFC implants in his body that open doors, start vehicles, unlocks his smartgun, and logs into computers.

Prior to his current roles, Amal’s experience includes numerous exective & IT-related roles at firms including Walletmor, Everfind, the medical biotech company Morpheus, Atomic Mobile, Silicon Energy, and more. He joins us today to discuss the intersection of information technology & medicine with a focus on the future of identity and security management.

LINKS & RESOURCES:

Vivokey Technologies

https://vivokey.com/

Dangerous Things Biohacking

https://dangerousthings.com/

Neuralink

https://neuralink.com/

Amal Graafstra at TEDxSFU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DxVWhFLI6E

Amal Graafstra (Personal Website)

https://amal.net/

What if humans are part of a larger collective superorganism - and the internet is its nervous system? Byron Reese discusses bee hives, ant colonies, and explains why humanity is more than the sum of its parts.

In his latest book, "We Are Agora: How Humanity Functions as a Single Superorganism That Shapes Our World and Our Future", Byron Reese discusses the science of superorganisms - living collective organisms that are made of smaller organisms.

Sound outlandish? Actually superorganisms are all around us. Dogs, cats, birds, fish, and even people are superorganisms composed of cells that work together towards a larger goal - and in this book, Byron describes how groups of independent lifeforms, such as individual human beings, may in turn form larger organisms.

A person is made of cells, and a city is made of people - but so are countries, regions, and territories. So not only can superorganisms scale, but they can be nested within each other - with unique goals that don't always align to the benefit of their constituent components.

Superorganisms can be intelligent, conscious, and have "qualia". After all, you're a superorganism yourself. Could larger human collective human superorganisms also posses consciousness - and could the internet by a digital nervous system enabling our own collective to "wake up"?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Byron Reese is a serial entrepreneur with a quarter-century of experience building and running successful technology companies, with multiple acquisitions and IPOs along the way. He is an award-winning author, speaker, and futurist who holds many technology patents and has started two podcasts about artificial intelligence. He currently serves as the CEO of JJ Kent Incorporated, a venture-backed technology company that recently launched Scissortail.ai, a proprietary artificial intelligence tool set to inform new product and listing strategies.

Bloomberg Businessweek credits Byron with having “quietly pioneered a new breed of media company.” The Financial Times of London reported that he “is typical of the new wave of internet entrepreneurs out to turn the economics of the media industry on its head.” Byron and his work have been featured in hundreds of news outlets, including New York Times, Washington Post, Entrepreneur Magazine, USA Today, Reader’s Digest, NPR, and the LA Times Magazine.

Byron graduated Magna Cum Laude from Rice University with a degree in Honors Economics, and is the author of several books, including "The Fourth Age", "Wasted:", "Infinite Progress", and his newest book, "We Are Agora", which we'll be discussing today.

LINKS & RESOURCES:

Byron Reese (Official Homepage)

https://byronreese.com/

We Are Agora: How Humanity Functions as a Single Superorganism That Shapes Our World and Our Future

https://www.amazon.com/We-Are-Agora-Functions-Superorganism/dp/B0CFBC28L6

The Agora Podcast

https://byronreese.com/the-agora-podcast/

Infinite Progress: How the Internet and Technology Will End Ignorance, Disease, Poverty, Hunger, and War

https://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Progress-Internet-Technology-Ignorance/dp/1608324044

The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity

https://www.amazon.com/Fourth-Age-Conscious-Computers-Humanity-ebook/dp/B074ZQ62FW

Dr. John O'Meara discusses the Habitable Worlds Observatory, a next-generation space telescope designed to identify and directly image at least 25 potentially habitable worlds & empower humanity's search for life in the cosmos.

Dr. John O'Meara is the Chief Scientist & Deputy Director at W. M. Keck Observatory and Co-Chair for Habitable Worlds Observatory START team.

John is an observational astrophysicist and cosmologist with a wealth of research & teaching experience, as well as public outreach and science advocacy at the local and federal level. He is member of a number of Astronomy and Astrophysics advisory committees, and also team lead of the LUVOIR large mission concept study as part of NASA's Cosmic Origins Program Analysis Group

John has a Bachelors in Physics from the University of Washington and PhD in Astrophysics from UC San Diego, in addition to extensive career experience in academic research in education at organizations including NASA, the W. M. Keck Observatory, the National Science Foundation, Vermont Academy of Science and EngineeringVermont Academy of Science and Engineering, Saint Michael's College, Penn State University, and MIT.

LINKS & RESOURCES:

NASA Habitable Worlds

https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/research/astrobiology-at-nasa/habitable-worlds/

NASA Habitable Worlds Observatory

https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/programs/habitable-worlds-observatory/

James Webb Space Telescope

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

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

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

Habitable Exoplanets Observatory

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

NASA: Some Icy Exoplanets May Have Habitable Oceans and Geysers

https://www.nasa.gov/science-research/planetary-science/astrobiology/nasa-some-icy-exoplanets-may-have-habitable-oceans-and-geysers

U.S. Transhumanist Party Chairman Gennady Stolyarov II discusses radical life-extension, social & political activism, today's revolution in Artificial Intelligence & prospects of a future Technological Singularity.

Gennady Stolyarov II is an actuary, philosopher, science-fiction novelist, poet, amateur mathematician, composer, and Editor-in-Chief of The Rational Argumentator, Chairman of the US Transhumanist Party, and Chief Executive of the Nevada Transhumanist Party, which he helped to found.

Gennady is the author of "Death is Wrong", an ambitious children’s book on life extension. He's also contributed numerous articles to the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, The Wave Chronicle, Brighter Brains Institute, Immortal Life, Enter Stage Right, Rebirth of Reason, The Liberal Institute, and several other notable publications.

Gennady holds a number of professional designations in the insurance, actuarial, regulatory & compliance industries, and is the author of numerous well-known actuarial study guides, including "Practice Problems in Advanced Topics in General Insurance", along with the science-fiction novel, "Eden against the Colossus", a philosophical treatise "A Rational Cosmology", the play "Implied Consent", and a self-help treatise, "The Best Self-Help is Free".

LINKS & RESOURCES:

US Transhumanist Party

https://transhumanist-party.org/

Death is Wrong (Amazon)

https://www.amazon.com/Death-Wrong-Gennady-Stolyarov-II/dp/0615932045

Gennady Stolyarov (Wikipedia)

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

Gennady Stolyarov (LinkedIn)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gennady-stolyarov-ii-6995077/

U.S. Transhumanist Party Virtual Enlightenment Salon with the OmniFuturists – January 28, 2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHIpd4_Hauc&t=614s

Dr. David Wood discusses "The Economic Singularity", a disruptive economic event originating from Artificial Intelligence & Automation technologies that could lead to wide scale unemployment - and may have already begun.

Today's discussion is focused on themes from the new book, "Future Visions: How to Survive and Thrive in the Upcoming Economic Singularity: A Variety of Perspectives". It's available through Amazon here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CTGHJCT4

Our discussion includes not only speculative analysis of trends related to economic & labor market impacts of AI, but also historical examples from automation & supply-chain efficiency disruption. This includes the growth of Wal-Mart in the '90s, which was accused of disrupting small business due to highly efficient supply chain management, as well as the boom in online shopping through portals like Amazon, which are accused of disrupting shopping malls through pricing & convenience.

Dr. David Wood, a well-known futurist, author, singularitarian, and chair of the London Futurists. He has an MA in Mathematics, graduate studies in the Philosophy of Science from the University of Cambridge, an honorary doctorate in science from the University of Westminster, and over 30 years of experience in the technology industry ranging from mobile software & OS development to corporate advisory and leadership.

As a futurist, Dr. Wood has served as the Co-Founder of Transhumanist UK, Executive Director of Transpolitica, Node Co-Chair of The Millennium Project, Fellow at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, and his current role as Principal at Delta Wisdom. He also holds board positions at SingularityNet, Sustensis, the LEV Foundation, and is a former board member of Humanity Plus.

David is the author of 13 books, and is one of the T3's "100 most influential people in technology". His focus is on radical transformation in society and humanity enabled by technological disruption.

LINKS & RESOURCES:

Future Visions: How to Survive and Thrive in the Upcoming Economic Singularity: A Variety of Perspectives

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CTGHJCT4

U.S. Transhumanist Party Virtual Enlightenment Salon with the OmniFuturists – January 28, 2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHIpd4_Hauc&t=614s

Post-Scarcity Economy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-scarcity

Delta Wisdom: https://deltawisdom.com/

David's Blog: https://dw2blog.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dw2cco/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/dw2

London Futurists: https://londonfuturists.com/

Will AI disrupt the US labor market? Transhumanist pioneer Zoltan Istvan discusses the goals, politics, ideals & philosophical underpinnings of the US Transhumanist Party and expresses concerns about artificial intelligence and The Singularity.

Zoltan Istvan is a well-known transhumanist, journalist, entrepreneur, political candidate, and futurist. He has worked as a reporter for the National Geographic Channel, his writings have appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle and Outside, and his coverage of the war in Kashmir was made into a documentary, "Pawns of Paradise". As an entrepeneur, he's experienced in real estate and owns vineyards in Mendoza, Argentina, Bordeaux, France, and Napa Valley, and more.

Zoltan's writings and ideas on transhumanism, philosophy, atheism and futurist issues have been featured in major media, including Gizmodo, New Scientist, Salon, TechCrunch, The Daily Dot, International Business Times, Singularity Hub, TechInsider, Newsweek, Futurism and Slate. He's also the author of The Transhumanist Wager, Philosophy and the Future, The Anti-Deathist, The Futuresist Cure, and a number of other books on topics in futurism & transhumanism.

Zoltan ran for Governor in California in 2018, and sought Republican nomination for the 2020 Presidential Election on a platform emphasizing science, technology, longevity, transhumanism and Libertarian values - which he has spoken on in forums such as the World Bank, World Economic Forum, Congreso Futuro,Moogfest, the World Future Society's annual conference, Financial Times Camp Alphaville conference, and more.

LINKS & RESOURCES:

Zoltan Istvan (Homepage)

https://zoltanistvan.com/

Zoltan Istvan Books on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Zoltan-Istvan/author/B00ARY87WC

Zoltan Istvan (Futurist Collection)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B093CH4X9T

US Transhumanist Party

https://transhumanist-party.org/

Zoltan Istvan (Wikipedia)

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

Will SETI find post-biological civilizations in our galaxy, or are extraterrestrial explorers already here? Professor Martin Rees discusses themes from “The End Of Astronauts”, the Breakthrough Listen Conference, and Arthur C. Clarke's "The Sentinel".

Professor Martin Rees is a British cosmologist, astrophysicist, and the 15th Astronomer Royal, a post first established in 1675, and to which he was appointed in 1995.

Professor Rees has a BA, MA, and PhD from Cambridge, supervised by Dr. Dennis Sciama, and after his postdoctoral studies in the UK and abroad, later worked as a professor at Sussex University, the University of Cambridge, and Gresham College. He has also been the director of the Institute of Astronomy and later the Master of Trinity College at Cambridge.

Professor Rees has authored over 500 research papers and numerous books, and made contributions to the origin of Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation, black hole formation, quasars, gamma-ray bursts, as well as more expansive topics in anthropic reasoning and the multiverse. He has also been a supporter of the SETI project, and chaired to advisory board for the Breakthrough Listen project funded by Yuri Milner.

LINKS & RESOURCES:

Will SETI detect organic or electronic intelligence?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRVQSRdOYWk

The End Of Astronauts

https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674257726

Most Aliens May Be Artificial Intelligence, Not Life as We Know It

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/most-aliens-may-be-artificial-intelligence-not-life-as-we-know-it/

The Sentinel (by Arthur C. Clarke)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sentinel_(short_story)

Martin Rees Homepage

https://www.martinrees.uk/

Martin Rees, The Lord Rees of Ludlow

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

Books on Space Science by Martin Rees

https://www.amazon.com/Martin-Rees/s?k=Martin+Rees

Centre for the Study Of Existential Risk

https://www.cser.ac.uk/team/martin-rees/

Cory Doctorow discusses the 3-stages of online platform decay, characterized by declining quality for users, advertisers & publishers, and applies those principles to the "Big 5" tech companies: Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft.

Cory has written, "Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die."

Cory Doctorow is a well-known science fiction author, activist, journalist and blogger, currently engaged in writing atboth Pluralistic.net and Craphound.com.

Among his many accomplishments, Cory is the author of numerous fiction and non-fiction novels, former co-editor of Boing Boing, former European director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an a MIT Media Lab Research Affiliate, a Visiting Professor of Computer Science at Open University, a Visiting Professor of Practice at the University of North Carolina’s School of Library and Information Science, and co-founder of the UK Open Rights Group.

Cory is the winner of numerous awards and honors, including the John. W. Campbell, Locus, Sunburst, White Pine, Prometheus, and Inkpot awards for his writing and the Electronic Frontier Foundation Pioneer Award. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, in 2022, he earned the Sir Arthur Clarke Imagination in Service to Society Awardee for lifetime achievement. Additionally, York University has made him an Honourary Doctor of Laws; and the Open University made him an Honourary Doctor of Computer Science.

LINKS & RESOURCES:

Cory Doctorow's Craphound

https://craphound.com/

Pluralistic.Net

https://pluralistic.net/

Cory Doctorow’s Books on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Cory-Doctorow/author/B001I9RSKC

Cory Doctorow (Wikipedia)

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

The Social Life Of Information

https://www.amazon.com/Social-Life-Information-Seely-Brown/dp/0875847625

Is the internet the nervous system for a human superorganism? Futurist & author Byron Reese discusses technology mega-trends from his best-selling books, and explores the evolution of simple life forms into complex superorganisms - and what this means for AI, Agora & The Singularity.

Byron Reese is a serial entrepreneur with a quarter-century of experience building and running successful technology companies, with multiple acquisitions and IPOs along the way. He is an award-winning author, speaker, and futurist who holds many technology patents and has started two podcasts about artificial intelligence. He currently serves as the CEO of JJ Kent Incorporated, a venture-backed technology company that recently launched Scissortail.ai, a proprietary artificial intelligence tool set to inform new product and listing strategies.

Bloomberg Businessweek credits Byron with having “quietly pioneered a new breed of media company.” The Financial Times of London reported that he “is typical of the new wave of internet entrepreneurs out to turn the economics of the media industry on its head.” Byron and his work have been featured in hundreds of news outlets, including New York Times, Washington Post, Entrepreneur Magazine, USA Today, Reader’s Digest, NPR, and the LA Times Magazine.

Byron graduated Magna Cum Laude from Rice University with a degree in Honors Economics, and is the author of several books, including "The Fourth Age", "Wasted:", "Infinite Progress", and his newest book, "We Are Agora", which we'll be discussing today.

LINKS & RESOURCES:

Byron Reese (Official Homepage)

https://byronreese.com/

The Agora Podcast

https://byronreese.com/the-agora-podcast/

Infinite Progress: How the Internet and Technology Will End Ignorance, Disease, Poverty, Hunger, and War

https://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Progress-Internet-Technology-Ignorance/dp/1608324044

The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity

https://www.amazon.com/Fourth-Age-Conscious-Computers-Humanity-ebook/dp/B074ZQ62FW

We Are Agora: How Humanity Functions as a Single Superorganism That Shapes Our World and Our Future

https://www.amazon.com/We-Are-Agora-Functions-Superorganism/dp/B0CFBC28L6

Brad Templeton is the Chairman Emeritus of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a fellow of the Foresight Institute, & Robocar pioneer - and he joins us to discuss self-driving cars & autonomy, drones & EVTOLs, AI copyright infringement, and Ray Kurzweil's timeline for The Singularity.

Brad Templeton, a well-known software developer, internet entrepreneur, online community pioneer, publisher, writer, photographer, civil rights advocate, futurist, public speaker, educator and self-driving car consultant.

Brad has a Bachelor's in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo, and a long career of remarkable achievements, including his current roles as a speaker, writer & consultant at Robocars.com, Chairman Emeritus of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Chair of Networks & Computers at Singularity University, and a former technical and board member at BitTorrent.com, self-driving car strategist at Google, advisor to Deep Map, Tilt Five, Quanenergy, a fellow of the Foresight Institute, and much more.

LINKS & RESOURCES:

Robocars.com (Main Site)

https://www.templetons.com/brad/robocars/

Brad's Blog

https://ideas.4brad.com/topic/robocars

Electronic Frontier Foundation (Bio Page)

https://www.eff.org/about/board/brad-templeton

Singularity University (Bio Page)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brtempleton/