Oxford University philosopher Nick Bostrom offers a cautionary take on artificial intelligence in his new book, Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. In it, he imagines what could happen if computers were to ever become smarter than humans. He tells Steve Paulson that it could have catastrophic effects, unless we start thinking about it now.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Ed Boyden, a researcher at MIT, is at the forefront of a new science that aims to map and even heal the brain with light. It’s called optogenetics, and the journal Science has called it one of the great insights of the 21st century. It’s in its early days, but the goal is to one day be able to take a disease like depression, PTSD, or epilepsy and, using bursts of light, just turn it off -- the same way you’d fix a software glitch in a computer.
Julia Alvarez talks about her novel for young adults, and how it mirrors her own experience reconciling a native Dominican background with the culture of her adopted home: a small town in rural Vermont.
Neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor nearly died from a massive stroke at the age of 37. The experience taught her life lessons on how the mind perceives the world.
Can you learn to be more creative? You can if you go to Lynda Barry's workshop on "writing the unthinkable."
You can also listen to the EXTENDED interview, and read the extended transcript.
Richard Sennett makes the case that our definition of craft should be expanded to include any job a person commits to executing to the best of their abilities.
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