Singularity.FM

Prof. Chris Eliasmith is currently the director of the Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience at University of Waterloo and the team-leader behind SPAUN – the brain simulation project that recently made news around the world. So, when I discovered that Eliasmith’s lab is just over an hour worth of driving from my place, I decided that I would take this opportunity to go talk to him in person. During...

Ken Hayworth is the president of the Brain Preservation Foundation and a strong proponent of chemical brain preservation. During my Singularity 1 on 1 interview with Ken we talk about a variety of topics such as: his background in electron-microscopy and how he got interested in it; the motivation behind his work; his skepticism towards curing ageing and mind uploading; his optimism for suspended...

Jack Andraka is the miracle whiz kid that came up with a totally unique pancreatic cancer detection test that takes 5 minutes to administer, costs 3 cents, is non-invasive, has been 100% accurate in blind trials, is 168 times faster and 26,000 times cheaper than the current gold standard. During my Singularity 1 on 1 interview with Jack Andraka we talk about a variety of topics such as: the inspir...

This is the second time that I interview Ramez Naam for my Singularity 1 on 1 podcast. Last time we talked about Naam’s interesting background, professional experience and award-winning book More Than Human. During our second conversation with Ramez we talk mainly about his novel Nexus: Mankind Gets an Upgrade. We also cover a variety of related topics such as: the difference between fiction and n...

Lincoln Cannon is not only a software engineer with degrees in philosophy and business but also the president of the Mormon Transhumanist Association. In my first interview with him we talked about the compatibility between Mormonism and Transhumanism. In this special edition of Singularity 1 on 1 we debate whether science and religion are mutually exclusive – as I believe, or complementary – as C...

Gary Marcus is not only a professor in psychology but also a computer scientist, programmer, AI researcher and best selling author. He recently wrote a critical article titled Ray Kurzweil’s Dubious New Theory of Mind that was publsihed by The New Yorker. After reading his blog post I thought that it will be interesting to invite Gary on Singularity 1 on 1 so that he can talk more about his argume...

Lincoln Cannon is one of those people who break the mold. He is not only a software engineer with degrees in philosophy and business but also the president of the Mormon Transhumanist Association. So if, like me, you thought that Mormon Transhumanism is an oxymoron, you should put your presumptions away and give Lincoln the chance to explain why this is not the case. Then you can judge for yoursel...

Last Night I did a one hour interview for FastForward Radio by the Speculist. During our conversation with hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon I covered a few topics such as the personal story behind the start of SingularitySymposium.com, SingularityWeblog.com and Singularity1on1.com. I also talked about technology in general and the singularity in particular and shared for the very first ti...

David Brin is not only a PhD in astro-physics but also an award winning, best selling science fiction author, perhaps best known for his uplift series of novels and, most recently, Existence. Originally, I was supposed to interview Brin in the summer. Unfortunately, I got a concussion the day before and thus had to delay it. David is a busy man so it took a while to book another date but eventuall...

Jamais Cascio is one of the worlds top 100 thinkers according to Foreign Policy. He writes and speaks on a variety of topics from technology and global warming, to war, nuclear proliferation, ethics and sustainable development. Thus my goal was to discuss most of those topics for, in one way or another, they are relevant to our future. Unfortunately I got tangled up in our discussion of the singul...

Tracy R. Atkins is not only a contributor to Singularity Weblog but also the author of a brand new singularity book titled Aeternum Ray. Aeternum Ray is rather unique because it is openly and whole-heartedly utopian in character. It is written in the epistolary literary tradition of classic science fiction works such as Frankenstein, and is structured as a mémoire – a series of letters from a fath...

Dr. James Hughes is not only the executive director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET) but also a well known book author and transhumanist. I enjoyed having him on the show and will probably ask him to come back. During our conversation with Dr. Hughes we cover a wide variety of topics such as: what is the IEET and what does it do; the story behind James’ interest in tech...

The first time that I looked at the The Alpha Centauri Project by Marco Santini, I was struck by the book’s dedication: "To he who explores new horizons, because knowledge doesn’t have limits, to he who tries new ways, because dreams become reality, to he who pursues brotherhood, because peace is not a chimera." Having read such an opening I knew that I have to talk to the author. So, when I decid...

Ray Kurzweil‘s impact on my life in general but especially on what I have been doing for the past 3 or 4 years is hard to exaggerate. It is a simple fact that, if I haven’t read his seminal book The Singularity is Near, I would be neither blogging nor podcasting about exponential technologies, not to mention going to Singularity University. And so it was with great excitement and some trepidation...

Cory Doctorow is one of my all time most favorite science fiction writers. So it is no surprise I had so much fun interviewing him. I don’t know how he does it, but Cory is one of those rare individuals who can juggle successfully being a father, an avid reader, a blogger, an activist, a journalist and a prolific science fiction writer, all at once. It is for this reason that I was persistent in c...

Transhumanism is both misunderstood and feared. Ignorant people with an ideological agenda have gone as far as labeling it “the most dangerous idea.” I thought that it is time to bring some basic intellectual clarity on the topic and who is better prepared to help us do that but “the first female philosopher of transhumanism”!? Dr. Natasha Vita-More has already been a guest on Singularity 1 on 1....

“When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened.” [John M. Richardson, Jr.] Brian David Johnson – Intel‘s futurist and principal engineer with 25 patents behind his back, is without any doubt one of those who really do make it happen. What better guest to invite on Singularity 1 on 1?! During our c...

Giulio Prisco is an Italian information technology virtual reality consultant, as well as a writer, futurist, and transhumanist. Formerly a senior manager in the European Space Agency, Prisco is a physicist and computer scientist who started his career at CERN. Giulio is an avid advocate of cryonics. He is also a member of the advisory board of the Lifeboat Foundation and a founding member of the...

Jerome C. Glenn is co-founder and Director of The Millennium Project. He is well known for inventing the Futures Wheel technique and, among many other things, is also the primary author on their annual state of the future report and editor of futures research methodology. Thus, when Jason Ganz suggested that I invite Jerome on Singularity 1 on 1, I jumped at the opportunity. During our conversatio...

Jim Harris is one of North America’s foremost management consultants, public speakers, authors and thinkers on change and leadership. He is also another local Canadian thought leader that I discovered during the World Future 2012 conference where Jim made the closing keynote speech. His speech was so entertaining, informative and illuminating that I instantly decided to invite him on Singularity 1...

Ryan Janzen applies principles of electrical engineering and physics to diverse fields, from biomedical science, to fluid dynamics and aerospace, to music and acoustics. With eighteen international peer-reviewed publications, he does research and teaching as a Ph. D. candidate at the University of Toronto, with Steve Mann. Janzen is a composer not only for orchestra but also for the hydraulophone....

Steve Mann is sometimes called the first cyborg. Other times he is called the cyborg Luddite because of the stress he puts on choosing which technologies to embrace and which ones to abandon in order to be in harmony with nature. Whatever the case may be, I was super happy to get him on Singularity 1 on 1. During our conversation with Steve we cover a wide variety of topics such as: his early inte...

Dr. Anders Sandberg is a well known transhumanist, futurist, computational neuroscientist and currently a research fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute in Oxford University. I enjoyed talking to him last time he was on Singularity 1 on 1 and was happy to have him back for another one. During our second conversation with Anders we cover a wide variety of topics such as: transhumanism and the...

George Dyson was born in 1953 and had a unique opportunity to witness firsthand the conjunction of mathematics and physics that brought the digital revolution to life. He has been observing the relationship between nature and technology ever since. Dyson’s latest book, Turing’s Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe, illuminates the transition from numbers that mean things to numbers that...

Hugo de Garis is the past director of the Artificial Brain Lab (ABL) at Xiamen University in China. Best known for his doomsday book The Artilect War, Dr. de Garis has always been on my wish-list of future guests on Singularity 1 on 1. Finally, a few weeks ago I managed to catch him for a 90 minutes interview via Skype. During our discussion with Dr. de Garis we cover a wide variety of topics such...