Constellation: Making the Graphic Novel
161 episodes - English - Latest episode: 9 months ago - ★★★★★ - 67 ratingsJoin us as we build an original science fiction world.
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Episodes
099: Review of Review the Future
March 18, 2020 19:36 - 54 minutes - 124 MBAfter nearly 100 episodes, we’ve decided to dramatically change the format of the podcast: this episode will be the last traditional Review the Future episode! We are taking this opportunity to reflect back on six years of podcasting and review ourselves. Which predictions seem more or less correct given the passage of time? When were […]
098: Review of WALKAWAY
January 22, 2020 23:26 - 1 hour - 147 MBCory Doctorow’s novel WALKAWAY is the subject of this episode. Ted and Jon discuss the novel’s plot (and this one is full of spoilers, so if you haven’t read it yet beware!) and the wild sci fi ideas inside: emulated brains, matter printers, post-capitalist visions of society, and a growing rift between ‘default’-dwellers who live […]
097: Review of I AM MOTHER
November 27, 2019 23:45 - 44 minutes - 103 MBJon and Ted review I AM MOTHER, a Netflix movie directed by Grant Sputore and written by Michael Lloyd Green. The story is about a robot that raises a human child. We cover the more and less believable aspects of the story, and consider whether the chain of events dramatized seems realistic. This one is full of […]
096: Review of BLACK MIRROR Season 5, Part 3
October 03, 2019 22:08 - 52 minutes - 120 MBThis episode is about Smithereens, the second episode in season 5 of Black Mirror. The episode features a hostage situation caused in part by social media addiction. Jon and Ted use this episode to discuss the increasingly governmental role played by social media and other large tech companies, and speculate about the future of devolving […]
095: Review of BLACK MIRROR Season 5, Part 2
August 22, 2019 21:48 - 37 minutes - 68.4 MBThis episode is about Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too, the third episode in season 5 of Black Mirror. Sure, it’s another story with emulated brain technology where it’s only applied in one narrow way, but its fun fairytale tone helps forgive that and there are a few genuinely interesting speculations, including about how musical creativity […]
094: Review of BLACK MIRROR Season 5, Part 1
August 09, 2019 01:58 - 34 minutes - 64.5 MBIf you were waiting for an episode in which Jon says “shooting orgasmic fireballs,” today’s your lucky day. This episode we look at the STRIKING VIPERS episode of Black Mirror season 5. In it, two friends who are straight men in real life fall in love while playing avatars of differing gender (and race) in […]
093: Review of EXHALATION, Part 2
July 24, 2019 16:00 - 58 minutes - 80.3 MBIn this episode we review the story The Lifecycle of Software Objects from the collection Exhalation by Ted Chiang. The story is about a pair of startup employees who train and bond with software beings created by the company they work for. It’s a metaphor for parenting, but being a longer story with several breaks in time, […]
092: Review of EXHALATION, Part 1
July 12, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 88.5 MBIn this episode we review the story The Truth of Feeling, The Truth of Fact from the collection Exhalation by Ted Chiang. The story is both a philosophical inquisition into memory and technology, and a carefully envisioned speculative take on an advanced video memory replacement software that surfaces memories using AI. We’ll be back in […]
091: Review of Philip K Dick’s ELECTRIC DREAMS
July 03, 2019 18:10 - 25 minutes - 34.8 MBCrazy Diamond, the fourth episode of Amazon’s anthology of Philip K Dick adaptations, is the subject of this week’s episode. We discuss the primary technical supposition in the story, chimeric genetically engineered pig-people, and use that as a window to discuss human genetic engineering and enhancement more generally. We also discuss the elusive tone of […]
090: Review of AUTONOMOUS
June 20, 2019 00:11 - 1 hour - 92.5 MBWe discuss Annalee Neuwitz’s novel Autonomous, a sci fi story set in a world of biotech and aggressive patent enforcement. The book is a two hander about a drug pirate named Jack Chen and a robot named Paladin who awakens and finds love. It’s thematically about the meaning of autonomy, both in terms of political […]
089: Discussion of Ray Kurzweil’s 2019 Predictions
June 10, 2019 19:30 - 1 hour - 116 MBWe’re back! In this return episode we’re looking back at the prediction made for this year, 2019, twenty years ago in Ray Kurzweil’s 1999 book The Age of Spiritual Machines. This list was impressively specific and bold, and as we show not all of the predictions panned out. But is Kurzweil just a bit optimistic, […]
088: Discussion of Hypocralypse and the Future of Punishment
September 19, 2018 20:17 - 55 minutes - 77.1 MBIn this week’s discussion Ted and Jon talk about the new Robin Hanson article positing a future ‘hypocralypse’ in which useful hypocrisies become impossible to pull off because of technology. How will people and culture react? What might happen to laws and norms that are very influenced by symbolic concerns? Also they discuss the four […]
087: What is the Future of Sex Robots?
August 21, 2018 14:19 - 1 hour - 116 MBIn today’s episode, we discuss the future of sex robots. Inspired by the book Robot Sex: Social and Ethical Implications, we consider various benefits and harms that sex robots might have on users, society, and even the robots themselves. Will sex robots be on balance a good thing or a bad thing? Will they provide […]
086: Discussion of Malicious Uses of AI
June 28, 2018 02:29 - 1 hour - 119 MBA team of 26 authors just published a fascinating new report on the malicious uses of AI. Inspired by the structure and content of this report, we decided to do a podcast overview of the various ways AI might be misused in the near future. Many discussions of AI tend to focus on either unintended […]
085: Grab Bag of Short Topics
June 12, 2018 05:19 - 1 hour - 88.5 MBIn today’s episode we tried an experiment. Lacking topics that we felt were big enough for a whole episode, we instead discussed a lot of little topics including self driving cars, the philosophy of David Deutsch, cryptocurrency in the Marshall Islands, a new paper on AI dangers, durable goods increasingly becoming services, Walmart scanning robots, […]
084: Discussion of Conversational AI and Digital Currency
May 15, 2018 19:45 - 1 hour - 91.5 MBIn today’s episode, we discuss Google’s new conversational AI, known as Duplex. Although impressive as a tech demo, this new technology has not received the warmest of receptions. We discuss the various ethical and possibly criminal implications of robots that can convincingly fool humans over the phone. Next, we discuss a possible shift to a […]
083: Discussion of Moore’s Law and Optimism vs. Pessimism
May 08, 2018 03:34 - 1 hour - 86.3 MBWe discuss Moore’s law and how it undergirds most futurist predictions, and what that means now that it appears to be coming to an end. We cover the benefits of predictable gains for software developers versus the low hanging opportunities to optimize. We then cover the abstract idea of optimism vs. pessimism in argumentation and […]
082: Discussion of Subvocal Recognition and Domestic Robots
April 24, 2018 22:13 - 1 hour - 84.8 MBIn today’s episode we dive into the implications of two recent news stories. The first involves an exciting new tech demo that came out of the MIT Media Lab for a device called the AlterEgo. The AlterEgo combines subvocal recognition with bone conduction tech to create the external appearance of computer-aided telepathy. Does this technology […]
081: Discussion of Facebook and Privacy
April 14, 2018 00:00 - 1 hour - 89.8 MBIn today’s episode we wade into the ongoing societal conversation around social media and privacy that has been taking place in the wake of the recent Facebook scandal. But before getting started we do some follow up on previous discussion topics: existential risk and self driving cars. Next, after a quick rehash of the Cambridge […]
080: Discussion of Self Driving Cars and Body Scanning
April 03, 2018 05:01 - 47 minutes - 65.5 MBFor the first time ever, today’s episode was recorded and uploaded on the same day, with no editing. As part of our push to get more content out quicker, we are taking steps towards a live radio format. On this podcast, we discuss coverage of the recent Uber self driving car accident. What does the […]
079: Discussion of AI Risk
March 27, 2018 22:51 - 53 minutes - 73.6 MBWe discuss AI risk argument through two recent articles, one written by sci fi author Ted Chiang and one by Steven Pinker, both of which dismiss the strongest version of the arguments as put forth by Nick Bostrom and others, in this episode. Is insight the same as morality, as Chiang seems to think? Does […]
078: Discussion of Black Mirror and Altered Carbon
March 12, 2018 08:23 - 53 minutes - 61.2 MBAs part of our new casual discussion series, we do two mini reviews of recent science fiction TV shows. Jon shares his critiques of the the first episode of the new season of Black Mirror, while Ted offers his impressions of the new show Altered Carbon. Although we found some things to appreciate, in general […]
077: Robin Hanson on The Elephant in the Brain
February 26, 2018 04:02 - 1 hour - 108 MBToday we are rejoined by professor and friend of the podcast Robin Hanson. Robin has just co-authored a fascinating new book called The Elephant in the Brain. This book examines our hidden motives, and while it has nothing directly to do with the future, it does have significant implications for policy and institutional design. Robin […]
076: What Happens When We Design Babies?
November 02, 2017 01:39 - 1 hour - 91.2 MBIn this episode we discuss the prospect of designer babies. As genetic engineering and reproductive technologies continue to advance, parents are likely to gain unprecedented control over their offspring. We discuss some of the recent progress in germ line engineering and speculate about the degree of manipulation that might be possible in the near term. […]
075: What Happens in a World of Perfectly Fakeable Audio and Video?
August 08, 2017 21:03 - 1 hour - 73.4 MBImpressive demos promise that new technologies will democratize the kind of high-end audio and video fakery we usually associate only with blockbuster films. In this episode Jon and Ted extrapolate on that idea: what happens when many things can be faked, and everyone knows it? We discuss previous eras of forgery and modern forensics, posit an […]
074: Are We Living in a Simulation?
July 25, 2017 03:58 - 59 minutes - 68.5 MBThanks in part to Elon Musk and other popularizers, many people have encountered the notion that we might be living in a simulation. However, far fewer people are familiar with the exact details of Nick Bostrom’s “Simulation Argument”, the paper from which much of the conversation originated. In this podcast, we attempt to do justice to Bostrom’s argument by laying it […]
X012: Future Express | Categorizing Interactive Systems
June 26, 2017 20:26 - 56 minutes - 65.1 MBWith the explosion of possibilities in new interactive systems brought by ubiquitous computing and VR, we thought it made sense to try to nail down some precise language for how to discuss all these types of systems. In this episode we explore a possible categorization schema for interactive systems along two axes: Variability and Goal-Orientation. We walk […]
X011: Future Express | The Replication Crisis and Challenges to Progress
April 26, 2017 04:43 - 53 minutes - 61.8 MBIn this episode, we have a free-ranging conversation that begins by discussing the modern replication crisis in psychology and other fields. We examine how this development might affect our views on the pace of progress generally. Amidst our many tangents, we consider the possibility of getting tech companies to share their proprietary data for the sake of science […]
X010: Future Express | Attention Economics and Loyalty of Digital Assistants
March 07, 2017 08:19 - 1 hour - 73 MBIn this episode, we discuss the modern Darwinian battle for attention currently playing out on the global internet. We consider some of the psychological methods that have been and will be developed for capturing and keeping people’s attention. We wonder whether the solution that will help us navigate this growing war for our eyeballs is digital assistant technology […]
X009: Future Express | What Changes Under Trump?
February 21, 2017 08:04 - 47 minutes - 55.4 MBWe’re back! We really didn’t want to talk about Trump, but we felt like we had to at least address it. How does the new US president affect our future predictions? Find out in this episode. Relevant Links: PAPER: Robots and Jobs: Evidence from US Labor Markets
X008: Future Express | How to Train Your Personal AI and Mailbag
October 13, 2016 23:24 - 1 hour - 71.8 MBIn this episode, we talk about how to train your AI recommendation engine to give you better results, and discuss the growth in music recommendation quality in particular. How much of the future is about the actual work of training your AI assistants? The reinforcement that you give them develops a model of you but […]
X007: Future Express | AI in the Legal System and More on Technological Unemployment
September 13, 2016 19:09 - 1 hour - 83.9 MBIn this Future Express, Jon and Ted discuss bringing AI to legal finance and whether that might push us toward rationalizing our laws. We mention the parking ticket fighting app DoNotPay, and imagine that type of technology growing to cover most legal needs, starting an arms race between assistant software and bureaucracies that will force them […]
X006: Future Express | Listener Questions and Calum Chace Followup
August 26, 2016 13:21 - 57 minutes - 65.9 MBIn this Express episode Jon and Ted answer a listener question about the future of citizenship, and wonder how it will be challenged and whether it’s even necessary at all. We respond to another question asking for a beginner’s reading list. We follow up on our discussion with Calum Chace and talk through Jon’s skepticism of […]
073: Can Capitalism Survive an “Economic Singularity?”
August 10, 2016 05:34 - 1 hour - 96.1 MBAuthor Calum Chace returns to discuss his new book, “The Economic Singularity: Artificial Intelligence and the Death of Capitalism” We discuss the likelihood of long-term technological unemployment and universal basic income, and whether the distribution challenges of our increasingly abundant economy require rethinking some of the basic elements of our current capitalist system. With something […]
X005: Future Express | Robot Used in Dallas and Pokemon Go!
July 22, 2016 22:41 - 31 minutes - 36.9 MBIn this extra bonus Express episode we weigh in on two topics of the moment: robots being used by police to kill civilian suspects and Pokemon Go. We cover the case for ethical use of unmanned vehicles in police work and wonder about the future of lethal and improvised technological use cases in police work, […]
X004: Future Express | More on Kevin Kelly’s THE INEVITABLE
July 20, 2016 05:09 - 39 minutes - 45.3 MBOn Future Express this time Jon and Ted follow up on their discussion of Kevin Kelly’s new book THE INEVITABLE, exploring the rhetoric and wondering whether a more straightforward economic analysis might have turned up more insight than the evolutionary arguments that Kelly relies on in parts of the book. We discuss whether IP reform is desirable […]
072: Kevin Kelly on “The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future”
July 12, 2016 19:25 - 44 minutes - 51.8 MBIn our first “regular” episode in a while, we are joined by Wired cofounder Kevin Kelly to discuss his new book “The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future.” The book takes 12 trends in digital technology and speculates as to what results we might see in the future as digital […]
X003: Future Express | ConsScale and the Threat of Cheap Weapons
June 30, 2016 23:01 - 46 minutes - 53.2 MBIn this week’s Future Express, we discuss the ConsScale twelve-level consciousness scale and the increasing threat of violence from ever-cheaper weaponry. ConsScale describes a continuum from molecule to supergod and attempts to place some mile-markers on the road to consciousness. We discuss the levels and try to figure out where a dog fits in. Murder is getting cheaper […]
X002: Future Express | Autonomous Weapons and Brain to Brain Interfaces
June 21, 2016 20:44 - 49 minutes - 56.6 MBIn this second ever Future Express episode, Jon and Ted each bring a different topic to the table. Jon raises the issue of banning autonomous weapons, the subject of an open letter released last year and of an upcoming UN review conference. Ted shares an article about brain to brain communication, a pathway to technologically enabled telepathy. Relevant […]
X001: Future Express | More on Robin Hanson’s AGE OF EM
June 15, 2016 05:54 - 1 hour - 78.9 MBThe first of a new type of episode, this Future Express features a looser, less polished take on some of the issues raised by Robin Hanson’s recent book The Age of Em. As an addendum to our interview with Hanson last week, this tackles Jon and Ted’s review of the book, whether or not they’d recommend it […]
071: Robin Hanson on “What Does a Future of Emulated Minds Look Like?”
June 03, 2016 13:59 - 1 hour - 85.7 MBWe’re back! After a prolonged hiatus, Ted and Jon return joined by guest Robin Hanson, the economics professor and blogger at Overcoming Bias, who discusses the central concept of his new book, The Age of Em: Work, Love and Life when Robots Rule the Earth. We discuss his assumption that whole brain emulations will emerge before theoretically-driven AGI, […]
070: Review of BLACK MIRROR: WHITE CHRISTMAS
February 03, 2016 22:00 - 1 hour - 85.6 MBIn today’s podcast, we review an episode of the British television series Black Mirror. Black Mirror is an anthology show that presents a dark spin on our relationship with technology. The series, despite its flaws, is highly entertaining and full of interesting thought experiments. Today we are focusing on the Christmas special, a longer episode […]
069: What are the Possibilities of Augmented Reality?
January 13, 2016 21:45 - 1 hour - 84.5 MBIn today’s podcast we offer a broad survey of augmented reality. How will the social and economic aspects of our lives be different in a world where computers are constantly altering our vision? What are the main benefits that AR has over VR? How does one even define augmented reality anyway? Relevant Links Images from Magic Leap Patent Application Analysis of Potential AR/VR […]
068: Does Life Have Meaning in a World Without Work?
December 15, 2015 23:12 - 1 hour - 84.6 MBIn today’s podcast we get philosophical about work and the meaning of life. Repeat guest John Danaher steers us away from the traditional arguments surrounding technological unemployment and towards a different set of questions: Is it possible for humans to have a meaningful existence in a world where they’ve been completely sidelined by machines? Is a life […]
067: Should You Sign Up for Cryonics?
October 22, 2015 08:23 - 1 hour - 78.8 MBIn today’s podcast, we discuss cryonics, a topic we only recently became interested in. After a general overview of what cryonics is and where it comes from, we try to determine whether or not cryonics is a service we would sign up for. The rational arguments in favor of cryonics seem to be very strong, and the cost of […]
066: George Dvorsky on “What is the Future of Human Advancement?”
October 07, 2015 19:18 - 1 hour - 73 MBIn today’s podcast, Jon talks with futurist and bioethicist George Dvorsky about the future of human enhancement. Topics covered include radical life extension, editing the human germline, multiplex parenting, artificial wombs, intelligence augmentation, moral enhancement, and more. What enhancements are just around the corner, and how cautious should we be when it comes to […]
065: What is the Future of Virtual Assistants?
September 21, 2015 08:32 - 1 hour - 69.2 MBIn today’s podcast, we discuss the future of virtual assistant software. A long list of major companies and startups are racing to develop voice activated software that can help organize your life. Today’s assistant apps are still incredibly primitive, but it appears they may get considerably better in the near future. We identify and analyze three major […]
064: Calum Chace on “Is it Time to Start Worrying About AI?”
September 09, 2015 06:09 - 1 hour - 73.9 MBIn today’s episode, Jon speaks with Calum Chace, author of the new nonfiction book Surviving AI. The potential risk posed by superintelligent AI has recently gained unprecedented coverage in the mainstream press, thanks to the release of Nick Bostrom’s book Superintelligence and public statements by the likes of Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Stephen Hawking. In our […]
063: Bonus Episode: Kickstarter Launch, Social VR, and ADVANTAGEOUS Review
August 31, 2015 19:19 - 35 minutes - 40.5 MBOur Kickstarter is LIVE! In this bonus mini-episode, we discuss our sci fi graphic novel project LET GO, and how you can help. We also respond to some listener questions about social networking in virtual reality. To what extent will modern day websites be replaced by virtual counterparts? Finally, Jon gives a short review of the indie sci fi film ADVANTAGEOUS. Relevant […]
062: What is the Future of Brain-Computer Interfaces?
August 26, 2015 08:18 - 47 minutes - 55.2 MBIn today’s episode we talk about brain-computer interfaces. We discuss the range of available invasive and non-invasive sensor options, the difficulties of processing brain signals, and the wide variety of ways computers might use realtime brain data. While it’s clear that BCIs promise incredible benefits to people who are paralyzed, it’s less clear how extensively BCIs will benefit […]