Constellation: Making the Graphic Novel
Enter a simulated universe where software beings engage in classic human struggles for belonging, status, and attention, and old certainties like death and gravity are just settings to be negotiated. You can be the god of your own private world, but if find yourself feeling lonely, you might be tempted to give away some of your precious control. This podcast will take you behind the scenes with comic book authors and veteran podcasters Jon Perry (@perryjon) and Ted Kupper (@tedkupper) as they write and develop a science fiction graphic novel called Constellation, set in a metaverse unlike any you’ve seen before: neither a utopia nor a dystopia, neither real nor virtual, it is a simulation where everyone knows they are being simulated and no one much cares, where there’s no hope of leaving and no reason to, just an endless supply of human-designed worlds to create and explore.
- Update frequency
- every 17 days
- Average duration
- 53 minutes
- Episodes
- 161
- Years Active
- 2013 - 2023
089: Discussion of Ray Kurzweil’s 2019 Predictions
We'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 impressivel…
01:23:49 |
Mon 10 Jun 2019
088: Discussion of Hypocralypse and the Future of Punishment
In 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 wil…
00:55:52 |
Wed 19 Sep 2018
087: What is the Future of Sex Robots?
In 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,…
01:23:55 |
Tue 21 Aug 2018
086: Discussion of Malicious Uses of AI
A 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…
01:26:21 |
Thu 28 Jun 2018
085: Grab Bag of Short Topics
In 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 …
01:04:09 |
Tue 12 Jun 2018
084: Discussion of Conversational AI and Digital Currency
In 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 vari…
01:06:19 |
Tue 15 May 2018
083: Discussion of Moore’s Law and Optimism vs. Pessimism
We 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 develop…
01:02:35 |
Tue 08 May 2018
082: Discussion of Subvocal Recognition and Domestic Robots
In 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 Alt…
01:01:28 |
Tue 24 Apr 2018
081: Discussion of Facebook and Privacy
In 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 …
01:05:07 |
Sat 14 Apr 2018
080: Discussion of Self Driving Cars and Body Scanning
For 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 form…
00:47:24 |
Tue 03 Apr 2018
079: Discussion of AI Risk
We 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…
00:53:15 |
Tue 27 Mar 2018
078: Discussion of Black Mirror and Altered Carbon
As 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 …
00:53:08 |
Mon 12 Mar 2018
077: Robin Hanson on The Elephant in the Brain
Today 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, a…
01:34:05 |
Mon 26 Feb 2018
076: What Happens When We Design Babies?
In 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 offsp…
01:19:38 |
Thu 02 Nov 2017
075: What Happens in a World of Perfectly Fakeable Audio and Video?
Impressive 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 o…
01:03:50 |
Tue 08 Aug 2017
074: Are We Living in a Simulation?
Thanks 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 N…
00:59:33 |
Tue 25 Jul 2017
X012: Future Express | Categorizing Interactive Systems
With 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 …
00:56:31 |
Mon 26 Jun 2017
X011: Future Express | The Replication Crisis and Challenges to Progress
In 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 …
00:53:36 |
Wed 26 Apr 2017
X010: Future Express | Attention Economics and Loyalty of Digital Assistants
In 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 …
01:03:23 |
Tue 07 Mar 2017
X009: Future Express | What Changes Under Trump?
We’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 …
00:47:40 |
Tue 21 Feb 2017
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