Progress is speeding up even as the world barrels toward one of innumerable disasters. What lies ahead, and what should we do when we get there? In the best-case scenario, we may still have control over our direction.

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Music credits:

"Half Mystery" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

"Hypnothis" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

"Deliberate Thought" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

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"Rising Tide" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

It's a great day for an existential crisis! What are the odds that you ever existed at all? Find that out and more on our latest foray into the insanity of existence!

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References:

Nick Bostrom AI TED Talk

https://youtu.be/MnT1xgZgkpk

All Tomorrows episode inspiration (not directly related)-

https://youtu.be/YbuulUQzHRU

Deepmind destroying Atari -

https://www.infoq.com/news/2020/05/deepmind-ai-atari/

Warming cities - 

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/ng-interactive/2017/nov/03/three-degree-world-cities-drowned-global-warming

The following music was used for this media project:

Music: Relaxing Piano Improvisation by Alexander Nakarada

Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/5978-relaxing-piano-improvisation

License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Artist website: https://www.serpentsoundstudios.com/

Music: Evacuation by Sascha Ende

Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/8118-evacuation

License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Artist website: https://www.sascha-ende.de

Music: Journey Of Hope by Alexander Nakarada

Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/4718-journey-of-hope

License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Artist website: https://www.serpentsoundstudios.com/

There's no real answer for the question of why we are here. At least not one that we know. Sure, the big bang, evolution, emperors and economies. But that doesn't answer the question of why. Why are we here? Well, we emerged. From what - that is the question. As always, thanks for listening. It means a lot to me that someone, somewhere can hear my thoughts.

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Resources:

Aristotle:

https://se-scholar.com/se-blog/2017/6/23/who-said-the-whole-is-greater-than-the-sum-of-the-parts

Space and the distances between:

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

Emptiness of atoms:

https://education.jlab.org/qa/how-much-of-an-atom-is-empty-space.html

Exurb1a and hard logicality:

https://youtu.be/EH-z9gE2uGY

Machine learning:

https://www.sas.com/en_us/insights/analytics/machine-learning.html

Crashcourse neural networks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV3ZY6tJiA0

Honeybee honeycombs:

https://www.nature.com/articles/srep28341

Music:

The Descent by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4490-the-descent

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Anguish by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3373-anguish

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Magic Tavern by Alexander Nakarada

Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/9139-magic-tavern

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Leaving Home by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4708-leaving-home

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

When the robot overlords come for me, tell them I'm out grabbing a byte. I joke, but artificial intelligence may legitimately mean the end of life as we know it if we're not careful. In this series I'll be investigating the many facets of AI and what the future may hold for humanity.

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Resources:

Uyghur genocide, perpetuated by the government of China: 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-59595952 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/22/world/asia/china-surveillance-xinjiang.html

CRISPR gene editing:

https://www.newscientist.com/definition/what-is-crispr/

AlphaFold AI protein folding project:

https://deepmind.com/blog/article/alphafold-a-solution-to-a-50-year-old-grand-challenge-in-biology

Deep Blue chess AI project:

https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/deepblue/

Prions and mad cow disease:

https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-health-literacy/all-about-bse-mad-cow-disease

Tesla’s AI:

https://www.tesla.com/AI

Sam Harris TED Talk:

https://youtu.be/8nt3edWLgIg

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36576608-flowers-for-algernon

Brief history of the universe:

https://www.space.com/52-the-expanding-universe-from-the-big-bang-to-today.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_No_Mouth,_and_I_Must_Scream

Kardashev scale:

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

A significant portion of the video was inspired by CGP Grey’s video on AI, it is definitely worth a watch:

https://youtu.be/7Pq-S557XQU

Music:

Deep Relaxation Preview by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5726-deep-relaxation-preview

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Healing by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3860-healing

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Quite a messy episode. Freedom of speech is messy. Even so, I hope to convince you of the truth of what Voltaire stood for.

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Links-

Voltaire's Treatise on Tolerance: 

https://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/voltaire1763.pdf

Life and times of Voltaire:

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/voltaire/

Voltaire's Candide:

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/19942/19942-h/19942-h.htm

Hong Kong autonomy:

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/China-retreats-from-50-year-pledge-of-Hong-Kong-autonomy2

Mao ZeDong's sparrow drive:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0306422018800259

Whorf hypothesis:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/sapir-whorf-hypothesis

George Orwell's 1984:

http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100021.txt

Music credits:

Waltz (Tschikovsky Op. 40) by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4605-waltz-tschikovsky-op-40-

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Pride by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4239-pride

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Leaving Home by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4708-leaving-home

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

As with many of Plato's works, it is legitimately impossible to overstate the impact and significance of Plato's Republic on our society, development, and life in general. As I explore the smallest fraction of the wisdom within, I relay and relate my thoughts on the January 6th attack on the Capitol Building of the United States of America. Perhaps there is something we can learn from Plato that may help us through this time. Or perhaps not. But if there is even the slightest chance that something can save our republic, I believe it is absolutely worth a try.

Read Plato's Republic at Project Gutenberg:

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1497/1497-h/1497-h.htm

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Music credits:

Relent by Kevin MacLeod - volume adjustments

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4274-relent

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Canon In D For Two Renaissance Harps by Kevin MacLeod - volume adjustments

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/6958-canon-in-d-for-two-renaissance-harps

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Energizing by Kevin MacLeod - volume adjustments

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5709-energizing

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Adding The Sun by Kevin MacLeod - volume adjustments

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5708-adding-the-sun

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Truth in the Stones by Kevin MacLeod - volume adjustments

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4550-truth-in-the-stones

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Hermann Hesse wrote in German, but the concepts within are indescribable in any language. Watch and listen to my struggle to understand. And please, if you can...enlighten us.

Video link: https://youtu.be/PeBec7wzgGM

Read Siddhartha from Project Gutenberg:

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2500/2500-h/2500-h.htm

Listen to the audiobook from LibriVox:

https://librivox.org/siddhartha-by-hermann-hesse/

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In Defense of Sam Harris. Politics are not the most important thing in my life; that spot is reserved for philosophy. Sam Harris found himself in a defensive political game for much of the past few years, which is really a shame as his academic work seems to me much more important a place for Sam to put his PhD brain to use. In this episode I argue that taking breaks from political life is important if you wish to not be entirely consumed by it.

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Sam Harris and Dave Rubin on the Rubin Report:

https://youtu.be/zQqxlzHJrU0

Sam Harris on Bill Maher with special guest Batman (Ben Affleck):

https://youtu.be/vln9D81eO60

Music credits:

Cold Funk by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3522-cold-funk

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ - fade in/out

Sax, Rock, and Roll by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4324-sax-rock-and-roll

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ - fade in/out