Notes
Isaiah Ritzmann and Richard Sandbrook are co-chairing a new organization, the Canadian Coalition for Nonviolent Defence, which is preparing people to resist Trump’s possible takeover of Canada.
Guests
- Isaiah Ritzmann
- Richard Sandbrook
Isaiah Ritzmann and Richard Sandbrook are co-chairing a new organization, the Canadian Coalition for Nonviolent Defence, which is preparing people to resist Trump’s possible takeover of Canada.
Su Cizem and Tereza Zoumpalova are researchers with the Future Society, the main organizer of the safety initiative called “AI Red-Lines,” which was presented at the UN General Assembly recently.
Ulyana Horodyskyj studies the impact of black carbon on polar ice. Tom Goreau studies coral reefs and ocean currents, including in polar regions. Hurricane Melissa was still raging when we talked, but Ulyana was focusing on the plastic nanoparticles she had just collected near the North Pole.
E. Glen Weyl co-authored a book, Plurality, with Audrey Tang, the Minister of Digital Technology of Taiwan, who invented several online tools to help groups of people explore and express their views.
Brian von Herzen and Paul Werbos discuss whether dark matter is neutrinos. Robert Tulip and Brian discuss the importance of aerosols for albedo. Rose Dyson and Alexey Prokhorenko discuss the disadvantages of AI. Eric Schechter discusses capitalism.
Michel Baumann created “The Meal”–once a year people in 40+ countries meet for a great, nutritious meal together, watching each other on big screens. And on a website, people everywhere offer their competencies to others.
Francis Fukuyama and Stuart Russell both worry that AI may escape human control, or just follow instructions too closely and kill us all. They agree that it’s hard to prevent. Let’s try red-lines.ai.
Bill Leikam is removing concrete from a creek. Brian von Herzen wants Metta to be more balanced. Moji Agha says AI is not conscious. Davidson Akhonya tells us about Kenya’s difficult political situation.
Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan edits the annual publication that tracks landmines around the world. He’s at the UN’s First Committee to persuade five countries to reverse their withdrawal from the treaty,
Rebecca is a journalist who writes about hi-tech business; Frank Yu is an entrepreneur who has lived in China and knows the AI industry. They explain the state of the race between China and the US. The winner will be the one that gets AGI first, for they will stay ahead.
Stephan Lewandowsky knows how to convert conspiracy theorists: Just keep arguing with them. Most people get exasperated and quit, but AI is patient and keeps arguing logically. Finally they concede!
Paul Zeitz – and most Americans – worry about the US. He wants states to hold citizens’ assemblies to plan changes to the constitution. Then a federal one may follow.
Siwei Lyu and David Castillo co-chair a center at U of Buffalo that works to detect deepfakes technologically. Cynthia Stewart is the program director, and they are joined by Leon Kosals in a discussion about AI deception.
Jenn Bonilla and Hugo Hinrichsen are creating a cruise company to visit waters where whales were once abundant. The passengers will compensate for some much-needed but scarce whale products.
Brian von Herzen invited some of his friends and colleagues – Soumitra Das, Steve Hamilton, and Shannon McArthur – to discuss a book, Stellar, by Jamie Arbib and Tony Seba. It is enthusiastic about the prospect of an economy that no longer extracts raw materials from nature and emits pollution but that will be abundant for all.
Maxim Gromov and Ben Hassine work in AI already, and in this forum they consider the risks that it will shortly bring and the ways in which humanity should be preparing.
Marianne Larsen and Leon Kosals are retired professors. She is an expert on international education and he has taught in both Russia and Canada. They dscuss the advantages of such education and the ways in which geopolitics is now reducing those opportunities.