New Horizons

As AI systems become increasingly sophisticated, one of the most profound questions facing humanity is emerging: could artificial intelligence already possess consciousness? And if so, how would we even know? In this season finale, we explore the cutting-edge science of AI consciousness with Eric Elmoznino, a PhD student in Yoshua Bengio's lab at the University of Montreal. Eric's research...

What if we could produce real meat without raising and slaughtering billions of animals? Cultivated meat - real animal tissue grown from cells in bioreactors - could revolutionize our food system within the next decade. We sit down with Riley Jackson from Ivy Farm Technologies to explore how this breakthrough technology works. From the science of growing meat in controlled environments to consumer...

Supervolcanoes pose a greater statistical threat to humanity than asteroids or comets - yet while NASA actively tracks space threats and has plans to deflect them, we have no defense against volcanic catastrophes that could end civilization as we know it. In this episode, we explore the science of volcano monitoring and the controversial question of whether we could ever prevent an eruption. Joine...

In this episode, I sit down with recent Georgia Tech graduate and friend of mine, Andre Suzanne, for a philosophical debate on one of humanity's oldest questions: does God exist? We explore some of the classic arguments that have shaped religious and philosophical thought for centuries. The conversation focuses mostly on foundational arguments like the First Mover, examining whether the univer...

LISA - the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna - will be humanity's first gravitational wave detector in space, launching in 2035. Unlike ground-based detectors like LIGO, LISA's three spacecraft will form a massive triangle 2.5 million kilometers on each side, allowing it to detect gravitational waves from entirely new sources. Joined by Dr. Tamara Bogdanovic, astrophysicist at Georgia Tec...

In this episode, we dive into the reproductive tech revolution – IVG in particular - and hear that biological children for same-sex couples are much closer than many people believe. The same goes for the end of infertility, a significant speed-up of agricultural yields, and a variety of other thought-provoking applications. We sit down with Jeff Hsu, co-founder of Ivy Natal, to discuss their break...

In this inaugural episode, we dive into what is perhaps the most pressing question of our time: How do we ensure artificial intelligence remains beneficial as it becomes more powerful? We explore the technical challenges of AI alignment - making sure advanced AI systems do what we actually want them to do, rather than optimizing for unintended goals. The conversation also covers the role of govern...

Aging kills more people than cancer, heart disease, and accidents combined - often causing tremendous suffering along the way - yet most accept it as inevitable. In this episode with world-renowned biogerontologist Aubrey de Grey, we explore the promise of treating aging as an engineering problem that can be solved. We discuss the seven types of cellular damage that cause aging (according to the S...