The After On Podcast
We dive deep into the science, tech, and social issues explored in the novel "After On." It's NOT necessary to be an "After On" reader to listen, learn & enjoy this podcast!
S1 E61 · Sun, August 04, 2024
61: An "Observatory" for a Shy Super AI ?
Might we unwittingly start sharing our world with a super AI? A monologue and (mostly) playful thought experiment.
S1 E60 · Mon, June 05, 2023
Deep Fakes | Sam Harris and Zohaib Ahmed
Will the glittering dawn of the genai era be accompanied by a dark tsunami of pixel-perfect deep fakes? I discuss this prospect with Sam Harris, as well as the CEO of synthetic audio pioneer Resemble.ai.
Wed, March 08, 2023
Generative AI | What’s New & What’s Next
My thoughts on what's happening in the mad world of generative AI, announcing my new home online at robreid.substack.com, and more.
S1 E58 · Mon, February 28, 2022
Recipes for Future Plagues | Kevin Esvelt
USAID’s new “DEEP VZN” program aims to discover new pandemic-grade viruses, then broadcast their genomes to the world, according to MIT evolutionary engineer Kevin Esvelt. He estimates that 30,000 people in dozens of countries could then easily assemble them.
S1 E57 · Fri, October 08, 2021
Octopus Intelligence (and more!) | Roger Hanlon
A wide-ranging discussion of cognition in octopuses & cuttlefish, plus many, many other topics with globally renowned sensory ecologist Roger Hanlon.
S1 E56 · Sat, June 19, 2021
A Massive Future for an Old Vaccine? | Megan Murray
Harvard epidemiologist Megan Murray tells us all about the anti-tuberculosis vaccine “BCG,” and the astonishing protection it may provide against Covid -- as well as looming future pandemics.
S1 E55 · Fri, April 23, 2021
Detecting Disease Outbreaks from Internet Traffic | Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
This is closely tied to a 4-hour collaboration between Sam Harris and me, which Sam is posting to his podcast's feed. I strongly recommend that episode too! But it's not "required" for you to get everything out of this fascinating conversation with Seth.
S1 E54 · Tue, February 02, 2021
Announcing a New Season
This "episode" is just a quick new announcement of a new season of the podcast (finally)! And also of something very cool that I'm working on with fellow podcaster Sam Harris.
S1 E53 · Tue, July 30, 2019
The Case Against Reality | Don Hoffman (classic + updated)
Quantitative Psychologist Don Hoffman has a head-spinning take on the true nature of reality vs. what our senses report to us. This is a revisitation of our original interview, expanded with lots of new material recorded last week.
S1 E52 · Mon, July 15, 2019
Many Quantum Worlds | Sean Carroll
Quantum mechanics – and its eerie "Many Worlds" interpretation – are explored in terms that both poets & physicists can appreciate.
S1 E51 · Tue, June 25, 2019
On Consciousness | Annaka Harris
The baffling and fascinating mysteries connected to the phenomenon of consciousness are explored in this conversation with the deeply thoughtful science writer, Annaka Harris.
S1 E50 · Tue, June 18, 2019
About that TED Talk | Kevin Rose
This morning, TED posted a talk I just gave at their annual conference (on 11 days notice!). Kevin Rose interviewed me about my talk for his podcast. I’m posting his interview here as well.
S1 E49 · Tue, May 28, 2019
Canceling PTSD with MDMA (part 2) | Rick Doblin
The drug known as Molly, Ecstasy and MDMA may soon get regulatory approved for therapeutic use, thanks to a 34-year campaign waged by Rick Doblin. Rick and I discuss all of this, plus his own unique story.
S1 E48 · Tue, May 21, 2019
Canceling PTSD with MDMA (part 1) | Rick Doblin
The drug known as Molly, Ecstasy and MDMA may soon get regulatory approved for therapeutic use, thanks to a 34-year campaign waged by Rick Doblin. Rick and I discuss all of this, plus his own unique story.
S1 E47 · Tue, April 30, 2019
AI Boom, or Doom? | Stuart Russell
Stuart Russell’s textbook is used to teach AI in over 1,400 universities and 120 countries. If AI scares him, it should scare you too.
S1 E46 · Tue, April 09, 2019
Defeating Food Allergies | Kari Nadeau
The food allergy epidemic is mysterious, volatile, and growing fast. Kari Nadeau and her Stanford team are trying to halt it.
S1 E45 · Thu, March 21, 2019
End Games (part 2) | Naval Ravikant
A rampage killer with a knife can kill a few. With a gun, dozens. With a jetliner, way more. What might future tech enable? In Part Two of our conversation, Naval and I discuss "The Ender."And how to preclude this monstrosity.
S1 E44 · Tue, March 19, 2019
End Games (part 1) | Naval Ravikant
Naval & I discuss a horrifying risk. We questioned whether to post this. Might it give someone ideas? Well, the bad guys already HAVE ideas. And cataclysms are only averted if we face them. There’s still time.
S1 E43 · Fri, March 01, 2019
Synthetic Neurobiology | Ed Boyden
Not yet 40, Ed Boyden has already concocted a panoply of tools, which are revolutionizing neuroscience research. He tells us all about optogenetics, expansion microscopy, and more.
S1 E42 · Sun, December 30, 2018
Live from Gainesville + the 2019 Plan
We start with a review of this podcast's 2019 roadmap. Then – recorded before a live audience in Gainesville, Florida – I'M the interviewee for once!
S1 E41 · Wed, December 19, 2018
The Medical Potential of Video Games | Adam Gazzaley
Both a recap and extensive update of last summer's conversation about neuroscience, consciousness, and the medical potential of video games.
S1 E40 · Wed, November 28, 2018
Our Interstellar Visitor | Avi Loeb
Did the product of an alien intelligence make a near-Earth approach last fall? Harvard Astronomy Department Chair Avi Loeb believes this is possible.
S1 E39 · Wed, November 14, 2018
Restoring Sight to the Blind | EJ Chichinilsky
Amazing work at Stanford could restore vision to the blind. Then later become a gateway some mind-blowing neural augmentation! We discuss the astounding neuroscience and engineering behind all this, with the professor who's making it happen.
S1 E38 · Wed, October 24, 2018
The Science & Practice of Happiness | Laurie Santos
This spring, Yale evolutionary psychologist Laurie Santos debuted a course about happiness, almost as an experiment. It became the most popular course in the university's 300+ year history. Listen carefully, because this episode could make you happier!
S1 E37 · Mon, October 01, 2018
On the Future | Astronomer Royal Martin Rees
Can humankind survive this century? Great Britain’s Astronomer Royal Martin Rees shares some of his profoundly original thinking on this fraught question.
S1 E36 · Thu, September 13, 2018
Mapping the Heavens | Priya Natarajan
Dark matter, dark energy, and black holes are the universe's three most massive mysteries. Literally! Yale astrophysicist Priya Natarajan takes us on a fascinating tour of them all.
S1 E35 · Wed, August 22, 2018
Empowering the Acre | Andrew Youn
Andrew Youn's One Acre Found is bringing food security to hundreds of thousands of families throughout Central Africa. Now THAT'S an inspiring startup!
S1 E34 · Tue, July 31, 2018
Ancient DNA | David Reich
The genetic code of Neanderthals, archaic humans, and other elders is reconfiguring much of our understanding of human history. And it could just save hundreds of thousands of modern human lives per year.
S1 E33 · Mon, July 16, 2018
The Evolution of Beauty | Richard Prum
A bold and brilliant refutation of the common wisdom about sexual attraction, aesthetics, and more. Rick Prum is an evolutionary heretic. And the wellspring of his unorthodox ideas is ... Charles Darwin himself.
S1 E32 · Sun, July 01, 2018
Announcement | On the Future of this Podcast
The full lowdown on where this podcast is going from here.
S1 E31 · Tue, June 26, 2018
Expanding DNA's Alphabet (by half!) | Floyd Romesberg
Floyd Romesberg added two letters to DNA's ancient four-letter alphabet. He got this running in cells. And coding proteins. His cell lines have passed it down hundreds of generations. Now what?
S1 E30 · Tue, June 12, 2018
De-extinction, The Whole Earth, and Way More|Stewart Brand
Over six consecutive decades, Stewart Brand has impacted society, tech and science in outlandishly diverse ways. This truly unhurried conversation explores the scope of his intensely original American life.
S1 E27 · Fri, June 08, 2018
Jordan Harbinger | Bonus Episode
An examination of the science of psychopathy from my buddy Jordan Harbinger’s terrific podcast. This bonus episode is in addition to the two new original episodes I’m creating this month.
S1 E28 · Tue, May 29, 2018
Exponential Medicine | Daniel Kraft
Key aspects of medical technology are improving even faster than computers. What are the ramifications for our health? For our lifespans? Dr. Daniel Kraft has tremendous insights into all of this - particularly as it relates to cancer.
S1 E27 · Tue, May 15, 2018
Depression: The Psychedelic Cure | Katya Malievskaia & George Goldsmith
The largest-ever clinical trial of a psychedelic drug will soon begin in Europe and North America. The drug is psilocybin - the active ingredient in magic mushrooms. The target is treatment-resistant depression.
S1 E26 · Mon, April 30, 2018
Reality Isn't | Don Hoffman
Quantitative Psychologist Don Hoffman has a head-spinning take on the true nature of reality vs. what our senses report to us. Is it the most counterintuitive insight since Pythagoras figured the Earth is round?
S1 E25 · Tue, April 17, 2018
A Night at the Battery
In this very atypical episode, the tables turn and I'm the interviewee! We discuss all of my creative projects, including this podcast series. Recorded live at The Battery in San Francisco.
S1 E24 · Tue, April 03, 2018
BioEngineering |George Church
George Church helped found 22 companies, and co-invented the paradigm-shattering gene editing technique CRISPR. In our interview, he delivers a sweeping survey of the world of synthetic biology, and makes some astounding predictions
S1 E23 · Tue, March 20, 2018
AI & Robotics - Their Present and Future| Rodney Brooks
Rodney Brooks is a founding luminary of TWO vital domains in tech: robotics and AI. He's the father of the Roomba, the long-time head of MIT's AI lab, and a serial entrepreneur. Few can rival his breadth & depth in technology.
S1 E22 · Tue, March 06, 2018
Creating the 6th, 7th & 8th Sense | David Eagleman
Neuroscientist David Eagleman has done groundbreaking work on how we perceive time. Now he hopes to radically expand the pantheon of human senses.
S1 E21 · Tue, February 20, 2018
Neural Imaging and ... Telepathy? | Mary Lou Jepsen
After stints at Google and Facebook, serial entrepreneur Mary Lou Jepsen is ready to upend the worlds of medical imaging and ... telepathy. Yup, TELEPATHY. Give it a listen!
S1 E20 · Wed, January 17, 2018
Radical Life Extension | Aubrey de Grey
Aubrey de Grey is a highly credentialed scientist who believes it's within our grasp to REVERSE human aging in the next few decades. Dozens of scientists are now executing on his plan, funded by extremely smart backers including Peter Thiel.
S1 E19 · Tue, January 02, 2018
A Lightning Tour of the After On Universe
A wide-ranging set of excerpts from the After On audiobook, read brilliant folks including John Hodgman, Felicia Day, Jesse Cox, Tom Merritt. Back to "normal" episodes next week, promise! :-)
S1 E18 · Fri, December 22, 2017
It's Really After On
This week, Broadway's own January LaVoy and legendary fantasy writer Patrick Rothfuss read/perform the the opening of the After On audiobook (plus quite a bit more). With some notes & observations from the author.
S1 E17 · Wed, December 13, 2017
The Past Present & Future of Cryptocurrency | Coinbase Co-Founder Fred Ehrsam
Whether you’re a cryptocurrency novice or expert, this episode will teach you a ton. My guest, Fred Ehrsam, founded the world’s largest platform for storing & trading Bitcoin and more. Just us for a full crypto education!
S1 E16 · Wed, November 29, 2017
The Promise & Peril in YOUR Genes | Robert Green
You will soon have access to a dizzying battery of facts about your health. Some could be horrid or positive on a life-changing scale! But most will be wildly ambiguous. Should you peek? NOTE: This is NOT just hypothetical.
S1 E15 · Tue, November 21, 2017
Music Piracy | The Extraterrestrial Threat
A vast alien civilization is so into American pop music, it recently committed the biggest copyright violation since the dawn of time. Against us! How should humanity respond? A special (and rather playful) episode with John Hodgman.
S1 E14 · Tue, November 14, 2017
The Future (if any) of Jobs | Andrew McAfee
Andy McAfee of MIT is a leading thinker about how robotics and other automation will influence the future of work and jobs. We touch on some scary stuff - plus some delightful notes of optimism!
S1 E13 · Tue, October 31, 2017
Medium, Twitter, and Networked Words | Ev Williams
Ev Williams co-founded and ran both Twitter and Blogger.com, and is now the founder/CEO of Medium. He’s a deep thinker about ideas morph & travel, and is carving out a place for thoughtful, serious writing online.
S1 E12 · Tue, October 24, 2017
TED Talks + Organization | Chris Anderson
You've probably seen a TED Talk or two (or 500!) online. Chris runs the TED organization, and has some fascinating thoughts both on how we're wired to process oratory, and how we might build a better world.
S1 E11 · Tue, October 17, 2017
Space Archaeology | Sarah Parcak
Sarah Parcak is a pioneer in the emerging field of space archaeology. In 2016 she won the TED Prize to launch a “citizen science” platform, which is finding lost sites and fighting archaeological looting throughout the world.
S1 E10 · Tue, October 10, 2017
10. Tech's Past & Future | Tim O'Reilly
Technology’s pre-eminent publisher, Tim O’Reilly helped trigger the rise of the commercial Web, the open source community, the Web 2.0 era, and the maker movement. I discuss tech’s past and future with one of its most original thinkers.
S1 E9 · Tue, October 03, 2017
Drones |Chris Anderson of Wired & 3DR
Chris Anderson was Wired’s editor-in-chief for 12 years, then started one of the world’s great drone companies. We discuss all this – and his origins as a high school dropout living in a squat and playing bass for a band called REM (no, not that REM).
S1 E8 · Tue, September 26, 2017
Fermi's Paradox (or, where are all the aliens?) | Stephen Webb
Our universe’s vastness and age has given alien intelligence ample space and time in which to arise. Why can we detect no sign of it? This is actually a momentous and scientifically serious question. Yes, really! With British astronomer Stephen Webb.
S1 Enull · Tue, September 19, 2017
The Dangers of Superintelligence| James Barrat
James Barrat’s book “Our Final Invention” helped touch off a public debate about the possible dangers of superintelligence, which continues to this day. We discuss these dangers in depth in our interview. For those who are reading the novel After On, Tom Meritt and I discuss pages 380-464 in the very last section of the podcast.
S1 E6 · Tue, September 12, 2017
On Terrorism | Sam Harris
Sam Harris is one of the most visible and controversial commentators on terrorism and its roots. Our interview dives deep into this subject, as well the personal journey that made Sam into the public intellectual he has become. For those who are reading the novel After On, Tom Meritt and I discuss pages 289-380 in the very last section of the podcast.
S1 E5 · Tue, September 05, 2017
Quantum Computing |Steve Jurvetson
Quantum computers could be almost farcically powerful compared to classical computers. Venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson and I discuss how & why this is – and whether this potential will ever be realized. For those who are reading the novel After On, Tom Meritt and I discuss pages 241-288 in the very last section of the podcast.
S1 E4 · Thu, August 24, 2017
Synthetic Biology | Andrew Hessel
It took 13 years and $3 billion to read the first human genome in 2003. Now takes #$1K and just hours. What happens when we can WRITE DNA as easily as we now read it? For those who are reading the novel After On, Tom Merritt and I discuss pages 180-241 in the very last section of the podcast.
S1 E3 · Thu, August 17, 2017
Privacy + Govt Intrusion | Cindy Cohn (EFF)
In this episode, we discuss patent trolls, government hacking, privacy in the digital age, and other vital issues with Cindy Cohn, who runs the Electronic Frontier Foundation. For those who are reading the novel After On, Tom Merritt and I discuss pages 110-180 in the very last section of the podcast.
S1 E2 · Thu, August 10, 2017
Consciousness & Neuroscience | Adam Gazzaley
In this episode,we discuss the roots of consciousness and other vital topics with UCSF neuroscientist Adam Gazzaley. For those who are reading the novel After On, Tom Merritt and I discuss pages 51-109 in the very last section of the podcast.
S1 E1 · Thu, August 03, 2017
Augmented Reality | Meron Gribetz
In this episode, we discuss augmented reality (AR) with the CEO of AR pioneer Meta, Inc. Meron Gribetz. For those who are reading the novel After On, Tom Merritt and I discuss pages 1-51 in the very last section of the podcast.
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