Ep 8: Tying up Loose Ends

This episode was recorded in 2012, but through a sequence of unfortunate and lazy events, it is only now being released in July 2013. See how prescient we were about the future, discover whether the world ever came to an end, find out about the Singularity & fashion, why Google makes cars, and what the difference between birds and planes tells us about AI.

Get the shownotes here. Topics discussed:

• The mayan prophecies suggest the world is about to end. Will we survive 2012?!
• Are we shaping the Singularity, or is the Singularity shaping us?
• Do we just exist to serve the purpose of the machines?
• Are we just serving in someone else’s story, or do we write our own?
• Despair, Jason Silva and creating meaning
• Our interview with Jason Silva
• What Technology Wants, the book that triggered these questions.
• Is culture homogenizing? Will the whole world wear Levi’s and drink Coca-Cola?
• Ancient tribes vs the Amish
• Is Facebook proof that the whole world will turn into isolated echo chambers?
• The fashion singularity: society has stopped experimenting with clothes
• Is the singularity gaining public awareness?
• Will the Singularity be boring? And if so, what will be the next stage of technological evolutionary hipsterdom?
• Johnny Depp’s new singularity movie:
• The Lone Ranger, err...
• Transcendence
• Limitless & Cognitive Enhancement
• ProVigil
• Working for the 2010 Census
• Instagram’s new terms of service
• The TOS of the Singularity: Apple and Google are splitting our personalities between them
• Are we going to have to choose sides in the Singularity?
• This podcast is basically proof that we were talking about the Singularity before the Singularity was cool
• Ray Kurzweil joins Google
• Why Google is making cars: The value of foresight to an organization like Google, with massive resources
• Birds vs Planes