Best-selling author and former Harvard University instructor Michael Guillen joined guest host Ian Punnett to discuss how our lives will be changed by scientists pushing the frontiers of science. "We are at this threshold of creating for ourselves a world that can either be grim or great," Guillen said, pointing out spirituality can help steer us in the right direction. He warned of the possibility of doing in humanity in pursuit of improving the human condition through artificial intelligence, robotics, and genetic engineering.
According to Guillen, work in the field of genetic engineering, including resurrecting extinct species, defies the natural order of things as it elevates recessive traits over dominant traits. Humanity may pay a price for flying in the face of evolutionary forces, he advised. Guillen contemplated a world where neural nets allow people to surf the internet with thoughts alone, and how such technology could lead to a kind of immortality. "Once you have that neural net, you have a mechanism by which you can transfer... our thoughts on to a supercomputer," he revealed, noting quantum computers will help facilitate this process.
"If we continue in the trajectory we're now on, it is inevitable the one day... robots powered by artificial intelligence will become so much more intelligent than we that they really reach the level of deity," Guillen continued. He cautioned about the development of robotic soldiers and The Terminator conundrum (giving robots complete autonomy) now faced by many nations. Guillen also reported on doctors who are planning to detach the head of a man from his crippled body to stitch it onto a healthy new donated one, as well as the potential benefits of transhuman augmentation and neural prostheses that can be moved with thoughts.
The remainder of the program featured Open Lines.
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Book(s):
Bumper Music:
Bumper music from Friday October 26, 2018
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Midnight Express (The Chase)
Giorgio Moroder -
A Piece Of Liquid
Joe Satriani -
Godzilla
Blue Oyster Cult -
Fooling Yourself
Styx -
It's the End of the World
REM -
Lung Shadows
The The -
The End Of The World
Skeeter Davis -
Moms
A Tribe Called Quest -
Mary Jane's Last Dance
Tom Petty -
Red Barchetta
Rush -
Home by the Sea
Genesis -
Samba Pa Ti
Santana -
Venus And Mars
Wings -
When You Come Back to Me
World Party -
Haunted House Blues
Bessie Smith -
Inca Dance
Cusco
