The Human Survival Podcast

Technology VS. Society & Survival: Artificial Intelligence, Social Media & Deepfakes

NOTE:  The Joy of Saving the Human Race is now “The Human Survival Podcast.”  For a brief explanation listen to the episode on July 1, 2022, “The Name Of This Show Is Changing…”
This show is part of The Human Survival Project, a grassroots movement that encourages citizens around the world to push for transformation of the United Nations system.  We want humanity to have the tools to protect itself from global catastrophic threats, and solving global threats requires strong global systems.
** Connect and learn more at: https://www.thehumansurvivalproject.org/ **
--------------------------
Some of our new digital technologies are helping to tear our politics apart, make us more angry and hateful, and even make it impossible to know what’s true.  Facebook gets a lot of the negative attention (rightfully), but the problem is so much bigger.  Our society is clearly not dealing with these technologies effectively.  Basically, people are allowed to invent and put into the world whatever they want, no matter how harmful – and there are no rules.  Then, on top of this very shaky foundation, people are creating artificial intelligence that will be profoundly more powerful than anything humanity has created before.
Computing is advancing at an exponential rate.  Things are already moving faster than we’ve been able to keep up with, and it’s about to go a LOT faster.
Should we keep idolizing technology, and let tech companies and inventors do whatever they want?  Or should we responsibly manage these transformative changes to our society, with political and economic systems that encourage safety?
 
This show is also on YouTube.Watch this episode here: https://youtu.be/u07lbdQ2tT0 
Please subscribe.  And please tell your friends about the show.
 
Resources:
Deep Fakes:
~ Bloomberg News, 9/27/18It's Getting Harder to Spot a Deep Fake Videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLoI9hAX9dw~ Radiolab, July 2017Breaking Newshttp://futureoffakenews.com/videos.html(go here to see videos of researchers developing deep fake software)~ 80,000 Hours Podcast, 4/6/21Nina Schick on Disinformation and the Rise of Synthetic Mediahttps://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/nina-schick-disinformation-synthetic-media/
Social Media:
~ New York Times, 10/15/18A Genocide Incited on Facebook, With Posts From Myanmar’s Militaryhttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/technology/myanmar-facebook-genocide.html~ BBC News, 9/12/18The country where Facebook posts whipped up hatehttps://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-45449938~ MIT Technology Review, 3/11/21How Facebook got addicted to spreading misinformationhttps://www.technologyreview.com/2021/03/11/1020600/facebook-responsible-ai-misinformation/~ Center for Humane Technologyhttps://www.humanetech.com/
Artificial Intelligence:
~ The Independent, 5/1/14Stephen Hawking: Transcendence looks at the implications of artificial intelligence - but are we taking AI seriously enough?https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/stephen-hawking-transcendence-looks-at-the-implications-of-artificial-intelligence-but-are-we-taking-9313474.html~ CNBC, 3/13/18Elon Musk: ‘Mark my words — A.I. is far more dangerous than nukes’https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/13/elon-musk-at-sxsw-a-i-is-more-dangerous-than-nuclear-weapons.html ~ SingularityHub, 7/15/18Why Most of Us Fail to Grasp Coming Exponential Gains in AIhttps://singularityhub.com/2018/07/15/why-most-of-us-fail-to-grasp-coming-exponential-gains-in-ai/~ AlphaZero (chess-playing artificial intelligence)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AlphaZero~ MuZero (chess- and Atari-playing artificial intelligence)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MuZero~ SingularityHub, 6/18/20OpenAI’s New Text Generator Writes Even More Like a Humanhttps://singularityhub.com/2020/06/18/openais-new-text-generator-writes-even-more-like-a-human/~ SingularityHub, 8/2/20This AI Could Bring Us Computers That Can Write Their Own Softwarehttps://singularityhub.com/2020/08/02/this-ai-could-bring-us-computers-that-can-write-software/~ SingularityHub, 5/31/17Google’s AI-Building AI Is a Step Toward Self-Improving AIhttps://singularityhub.com/2017/05/31/googles-ai-building-ai-is-a-step-toward-self-improving-ai/ ~ Science, 4/13/20Artificial intelligence is evolving all by itselfhttps://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/artificial-intelligence-evolving-all-itself~ Future of Life Institute - Benefits & Risks of Artificial Intelligencehttps://futureoflife.org/background/benefits-risks-of-artificial-intelligence/~ Future of Life Institute Podcast, 3/19/21Roman Yampolskiy on the Uncontrollability, Incomprehensibility, and Unexplainability of AIhttps://futureoflife.org/2021/03/19/roman-yampolskiy-on-the-uncontrollability-incomprehensibility-and-unexplainability-of-ai/~ AI Research Considerations for Human Existential Safety (ARCHES) by Andrew Critch & David Krueger, 6/11/20https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.04948 (This academic paper is a long read, but I highly recommend it.  It’s understandable and well-written.  It does an excellent job of explaining why AI safety is quite difficult because of complex interactions between multiple people and organizations, and multiple AI systems.)
Lethal Autonomous Weapons:
~ Campaign to Stop Killer Robotshttps://www.stopkillerrobots.org/~ Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systemshttps://autonomousweapons.org/
Efforts to regulate artificial intelligence:
~ International Congress for the Governance of AIhttps://www.icgai.org/~ Future of Life Institutehttps://futureoflife.org/policy-work/~ Centre for the Governance of AI / Future of Life Institute at University of Oxfordhttps://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/govai/~ Center for AI and Digital Policyhttps://caidp.dukakis.org/~ Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligencehttps://gpai.ai/

Technology VS. Environment & Health: Biotechnology, Chemicals, Nuclear & More

NOTE:  The Joy of Saving the Human Race is now “The Human Survival Podcast.”  For a brief explanation listen to the episode on July 1, 2022, “The Name Of This Show Is Changing…”
This show is part of The Human Survival Project, a grassroots movement that encourages citizens around the world to push for transformation of the United Nations system.  We want humanity to have the tools to protect itself from global catastrophic threats, and solving global threats requires strong global systems.
** Connect and learn more at: https://www.thehumansurvivalproject.org/ **
--------------------------
Humans are pretty damn smart.  Our technological innovations are nearly magic, including inventions our ancestors could not have even imagined.  But if we’re so smart, why do we create technology that is so destructive to our health and the natural environment – and even threaten our future with pandemics or other emergencies?  Are we really as smart as we think we are?
If we are as innovative as we think, we should be able to innovate safety systems, regulations and public policies that protect our environment, our health and our future from the dangerous technologies people invent and release into the world.
Today we explore how we might manage ourselves and innovate more safely.
 
This show is also on YouTube.Watch this episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf_uej1Iyrk. 
Please subscribe.  And please tell your friends about the show.
 
Resources:
Nuclear waste:
~ Verge Science, 8/28/1888,000 tons of radioactive waste – and nowhere to put ithttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgVyPwhkoJs
~ CBS This Morning, 6/10/19Inside the $19B hole at the center of a nuclear waste controversyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML3nk02dC2o
Chemicals:
~ Consumer Reports, 9/24/20Why Dangerous 'Forever Chemicals' Are Still Allowed in America's Drinking Waterhttps://www.consumerreports.org/water-quality/why-dangerous-forever-chemicals-are-still-allowed-in-americas-drinking-water/
~ The Conversation, 10/9/20PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ are widespread and threaten human health – here’s a strategy for protecting the publichttps://theconversation.com/pfas-forever-chemicals-are-widespread-and-threaten-human-health-heres-a-strategy-for-protecting-the-public-142953
~ New York Times, 3/5/21Book Review - COUNT DOWN: How Our Modern World Is Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, Threatening Sperm Counts, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race By Shanna H. Swanhttps://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/05/books/review/shanna-swan-count-down.html
~ The Guardian, 3/18/21Plummeting sperm counts, shrinking penises: toxic chemicals threaten humanityhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/18/toxic-chemicals-health-humanity-erin-brokovich?utm_term=4b1133f2176357b0fda5ed60087a09c4&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayUS&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=GTUS_email
~ U.S regulation of chemicals is a joke:Wikipedia - Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxic_Substances_Control_Act_of_1976
BioTechnology:
~ Foreign Affairs, May/June 2018The Ultimate Life Hacker: A Conversation With Jennifer Doudnahttps://www.foreignaffairs.com/interviews/2018-04-16/ultimate-life-hacker
~ MIT Technology Review, 6/19/18US military wants to know what synthetic-biology weapons could look likehttps://www.technologyreview.com/2018/06/19/66749/us-military-wants-to-know-what-synthetic-biology-weapons-could-look-like/
~ Future of Life InstituteBenefits & Risks of Biotechnologyhttps://futureoflife.org/background/benefits-risks-biotechnology/?cn-reloaded=1
~ New York Times Magazine, 1/8/20The Gene Drive Dilemma: We Can Alter Entire Species, but Should We?https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/08/magazine/gene-drive-mosquitoes.html
~ Science Magazine, 7/6/17How Canadian researchers reconstituted an extinct poxvirus for $100,000 using mail-order DNAhttps://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/07/how-canadian-researchers-reconstituted-extinct-poxvirus-100000-using-mail-order-dna
 

The Real Immigration Issue: Get Ready For Climate Change

NOTE:  The Joy of Saving the Human Race is now “The Human Survival Podcast.”  For a brief explanation listen to the episode on July 1, 2022, “The Name Of This Show Is Changing…”
This show is part of The Human Survival Project, a grassroots movement that encourages citizens around the world to push for transformation of the United Nations system.  We want humanity to have the tools to protect itself from global catastrophic threats, and solving global threats requires strong global systems.
** Connect and learn more at: https://www.thehumansurvivalproject.org/ **
--------------------------
Immigration has been a big challenge for many countries, and has been a source of conflict and frustration.  But if we can’t handle today’s migrants, how will we handle the 2 Billion migrants we might see over the next 50 years?  That’s the future of climate change, as many countries will be become too hot for humans to live.  If we are not careful, this situation could be very destabilizing to the world.  This will require completely different thinking about immigration, and a fundamentally different approach. 
The good news: immigration can be economically great for the country receiving those immigrants, if the world plans for the future to take advantage of the opportunities.
 
This show is also on YouTube.Watch this episode here: https://youtu.be/C2Tvd4Yfm5Y 
Please subscribe - and tell your friends about the show.
 
Resources:
Climate-related heat & potential population displacement:
~ New York Times Magazine - July 23, 2020The Great Climate Migrationhttps://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/23/magazine/climate-migration.html
~ The Guardian - May 5, 2020One billion people will live in insufferable heat within 50 years – study: Human cost of climate crisis will hit harder and sooner than previously believed, research revealshttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/05/one-billion-people-will-live-in-insufferable-heat-within-50-years-study
~ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) - May 26, 2020Future of the human climate nichehttps://www.pnas.org/content/117/21/11350
Conditions in refugee camps:
~ Wikipedia - Refugee Camphttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugee_camp
~ Wikipedia - Rohingya refugees in Bangladeshhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohingya_refugees_in_Bangladesh
Economics of migration:
~ Nature - June 21, 2018Migrants and refugees are good for economies: Analysis of 30 years of data from Western Europe refutes suggestions that asylum seekers pose a financial burden.https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05507-0
~ University of Pennsylvania Wharton School - June 27, 2016The Effects of Immigration on the United States' Economyhttps://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2016/1/27/the-effects-of-immigration-on-the-united-states-economy
~ Wikipedia - Economic results of migrationhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_results_of_migration
~ Wikipedia - Economic impact of illegal immigrants in the United Stateshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_impact_of_illegal_immigrants_in_the_United_States
Germany, an interesting case study:
~ The Guardian, 8/30/20How Angela Merkel’s great migrant gamble paid offhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/30/angela-merkel-great-migrant-gamble-paid-off
 

Humans Are Going Nuts: More global chaos reduction systems, please?

NOTE:  The Joy of Saving the Human Race is now “The Human Survival Podcast.”  For a brief explanation listen to the episode on July 1, 2022, “The Name Of This Show Is Changing…”
This show is part of The Human Survival Project, a grassroots movement that encourages citizens around the world to push for transformation of the United Nations system.  We want humanity to have the tools to protect itself from global catastrophic threats, and solving global threats requires strong global systems.
** Connect and learn more at: https://www.thehumansurvivalproject.org/ **
--------------------------
In a bit over 200 years, the human population went from 1 billion to 7.8 billion.  In this very short amount of time we had an 8-fold increase in humans on the planet.  The planet was not ready.  Busy, clever humanity quickly chopped up and devoured the Earth.  Homo sapiens (humans) used to be simply one species among many in nature.  Now, humans have so thoroughly dominated the planet, our choices and actions determine how much of the planet survives – and determines whether we as a species will survive.
These many billions of people joined the planet before systems were put into place to accommodate so many people.  Systems to help us get along with each other, and to collectively make sure we don’t destroy ourselves and our planet.  Instead of thoughtfully planning for our collective future, we humans are just stumbling from emergency to emergency.
Today’s presentation is twofold:
First, a tour of humans’ presence on the earth, and the insane amount of pressure we’ve put on our natural environment and climate.
Second, just as importantly, a review of the incredible progress humans have made on poverty, education, life expectancy, health, peace and much more.  It’s clear – humans can solve big problems.
So, here I offer you equal doses of fear and hope.  And I suggest we put our heads together and cooperate, in a global way.
 
This show is also on YouTube.Watch this episode here: https://youtu.be/TVlIGFanbv0 
Please subscribe, and tell your friends about the show.
 
Resources:
~ The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity by Toby Ordhttp://www.tobyord.com/book
~ World population, last 12,000 yearshttps://ourworldindata.org/world-population-growth
~ World GDP over the last two milleniahttps://ourworldindata.org/economic-growth
~ Vertebrate extinction rates since 1500https://ipbes.net/global-assessment
~ One in four species are at risk of extinctionhttps://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48169783
~ 4005 vertebrate species decline 60% since 1970Zoological Society of London / WWF - Living Planet Index 2018https://www.zsl.org/global-biodiversity-monitoring/indicators-and-assessments-unit/living-planet-index
~ CO2 emission by fuel type, World, 1751-2017https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions
~ Atmospheric CO2 levels last 800,000 yearshttps://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
~ Average temperature anomaly, Global, 1850 to 2018https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions
~ World temperature since last ice ageUS National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationhttps://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-qa/what’s-hottest-earth-has-been-“lately”
~ Land use over the long term, World, 100-2016How the world's land is used (world map comparison)https://ourworldindata.org/land-use
~ Meat production by livestock type, 1961 to 2018https://ourworldindata.org/meat-production
~ Global fishery catch by sector, 1950-2010https://ourworldindata.org/seafood-production
~ Global freshwater use over the long run, since 1900https://ourworldindata.org/water-use-stress
~ Inside Climate News - September 13, 2020Deforestation Is Getting Worse, 5 Years After Countries and Companies Vowed to Stop Ithttps://insideclimatenews.org/news/13092019/forest-loss-rate-global-deforestation-amazon-fires-corporate-agribusiness-international-declaration
~ Global plastics production, 1950-2015https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution
~ World’s Top 500 supercomputershttps://www.top500.org/statistics/perfdevel/
~ The Independent - May 1, 2014Stephen Hawking: Transcendence looks at the implications of artificial intelligence - but are we taking AI seriously enough?https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/stephen-hawking-transcendence-looks-at-the-implications-of-artificial-intelligence-but-are-we-taking-9313474.html
~ World population living in extreme poverty, 1820-2015https://ourworldindata.org/a-history-of-global-living-conditions-in-5-charts
~ Life expectancy, 1771-2015https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy
~ Global child mortality, 1800-2017https://ourworldindata.org/a-history-of-global-living-conditions-in-5-charts
~ Literacy rate, 1820-2010https://ourworldindata.org/new-literacy-dataset
~ Gender ratios for mean years of schooling, 1870-2010https://ourworldindata.org/global-education
~ Numbers of autocracies and democracies, 1900-2018https://ourworldindata.org/democracy
~ The decline of war deathshttps://www.ft.com/content/e448f4ae-224e-11ea-92da-f0c92e957a96
~ Global number of smallpox caseshttps://ourworldindata.org/smallpox
~ Polio cases by world region, 1980-2016https://ourworldindata.org/eradication-of-diseases
~ Deaths from malaria, 1990-2017https://ourworldindata.org/malaria
~ Cato Institute - May 19, 2019Why Measles Making the News Is a Sign of Progresshttps://www.cato.org/blog/why-measles-making-news-sign-progress

Global Threats Need Global Solutions: One country alone can’t save us

NOTE:  The Joy of Saving the Human Race is now “The Human Survival Podcast.”  For a brief explanation listen to the episode on July 1, 2022, “The Name Of This Show Is Changing…”
This show is part of The Human Survival Project, a grassroots movement that encourages citizens around the world to push for transformation of the United Nations system.  We want humanity to have the tools to protect itself from global catastrophic threats, and solving global threats requires strong global systems.
** Connect and learn more at: https://www.thehumansurvivalproject.org/ **
--------------------------
The human race really is worth saving, you know.  And it will take some work – most importantly, making global systems that can deal with our global threats.  These include climate, environment, pandemics, migration, technology, the world economy, nuclear weapons and more.  No one country can solve these on its own.  We’re all in this together.  We need a stronger United Nations and other systems that help the world cooperate and coordinate on these important issues.
 
This show is also on YouTube.Watch this episode here: https://youtu.be/GdfywlV0oV4 
Please subscribe, and tell your friends about the show.
 
Resources:
United Nations budget, 2019https://unsceb.org/total-expenses
United States and World military spending, 2019Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Fact Sheet April 2020https://www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/2020-04/fs_2020_04_milex_0_0.pdf
CNN, 11/17/20The global economic bailout is running at $19.5 trillion. It will go higherhttps://www.cnn.com/2020/11/17/economy/global-economy-coronavirus-bailout-imf-annual-report/index.html