Podcast Episodes
Back to Search338. AI SciFi — Physicist, Science Fiction Author, and AI Expert David Brin on ChatGPT and Whether AI Poses an Existential Threat
Episode 338
Shermer and Brin discuss: AI and AGI • are they existential threats? • the alignment problem • Large Language Models • ChatGPT, GPT-4, GPT-5, and bey…
3 years ago
337. On the Origin of Time — Thomas Hertog on Stephen Hawking's Final Theory
Episode 337
Perhaps the biggest question Stephen Hawking tried to answer in his extraordinary life was how the universe could have created conditions so perfectl…
3 years, 1 month ago
336. The Sacred Depths of Nature — Ursula Goodenough on How to Find Sacred Scientific Spirituality
Episode 336
For many of us, the great scientific discoveries of the modern age — the Big Bang, evolution, quantum physics, relativity — point to an existence tha…
3 years, 1 month ago
335. Jennifer Michael Hecht on How to Find Meaning, Purpose, and Happiness in Everyday Life
Episode 335
We have calendars to mark time, communal spaces to bring us together, bells to signal hours of contemplation, official archives to record legacies, the…
3 years, 1 month ago
334. The End of the World: Bart Ehrman on What the Bible Really Says About the End
Episode 334
You'll find nearly everything the Bible has to say about the end in the Book of Revelation: a mystifying prophecy filled with bizarre symbolism, viol…
3 years, 1 month ago
333. Kevin Kelly — ChatGPT, OpenAI, and Excellent Advice for Living
Episode 333
On his 68th birthday, Kevin Kelly began to write down for his young adult children some things he had learned about life that he wished he had known …
3 years, 1 month ago
332. Wrongfully Convicted, Ultimately Acquitted — Amanda Knox on Criminal Injustice and Why It Happens
Episode 332
Amanda Knox spent four years in an Italian prison for a crime she did not commit. In the fall of 2007, the 20-year-old college coed left Seattle to s…
3 years, 1 month ago
331. Paul Zak — Immersion: The Science of the Extraordinary and the Source of Happiness
Episode 331
The world is rapidly transforming into an experience economy as people increasingly crave extraordinary experiences. Experience designers, marketers,…
3 years, 1 month ago
330. Jim Davies — How to Be a Better Person
Episode 330
Why do we feel like in order to be productive, happy, or good, we must sacrifice everything else? Is it possible to feel all three at once? Without e…
3 years, 1 month ago
329. Marc Schulz — The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness
Episode 329
Shermer and Schulz discuss: an operational definition of the "good life" or "happiness" or "well being" • the reliability (or unreliability) of self-…
3 years, 2 months ago