We Are Not Saved

One of the major things coming down the pike is job automation. Robots and AI are getting better and better at doing jobs that used to be only available for humans. In this podcast I examine that phenomenon and the effect it has on people, specifically their need to feel valuable.

One of my fundamental positions is that we are in a race between societal collapse on one hand and a technological singularity on the other. But there are some who think it will be neither and others who paradoxically expect both. This podcast examines the impossibility of those two options.

What is civilization? And how do we preserve it? In this episode I connect the idea of time preference to civilization and point out how we are becoming more and more short term in our desires and actions. All civilizations collapse eventually the question is how close are we to collapse and is there anything which can be done to delay it.

I examine whether we should still be worried about overpopulation. I also look at the phenomenon of falling birth rates and what it says about the societies that experience falling fertility. Also what the movie Tommy Boy has to say about the whole thing.

A review and discussion of the book Tribe by Sebastian Junger. In particular an examination of how stress and struggle can improve mental health, and how by removing both struggle and community modern society creates a situation where psychological problems, particularly in the military, become more acute.

In my continuing obsession with the Mormon Transhumanist Association I report back from their annual conference. Specifically I look at their vision of the future vs. mine, the limits of growth and whether the MTA is schismatic. Fun for the whole family!

Having recently gone to the MTA Conference I ended up with more commentary than could fit in the normal episode. So this is a bonus episode. Additionally as part of the patreon rewards I committed to do a bonus podcast every month, so this is the first of those as well.

Pascal's wager is one of those things that you find either ridiculous or intriguing. There appears to be no middle ground. But most people yearn for some form of immortality and the wager is one of the few things which have a chance of providing it, and perhaps it shouldn't be dismissed so easily. Also Pascal's wager is frequently applied as a thought experiment with no practical application. Viewing the wager from the standpoint of a believer is far more productive.

As something of a follow-up to the "But What If We're Wrong?" episode, I look at the connection between the integration of sexes and sexual violence. In particular I focus on the effectiveness of education and how education might be done differently, particularly if approached from a religious perspective. The I ask if integration does cause more sexual violence are we sure that's a good trade off?

In this weeks episode I tackle the subject of global warming. First I start by breaking down the various questions we have to ask, and then I turn to what must be done to keep warming in check, and finally I look at what's really at stake with Global Warming.