Anders Sandberg: Pampered Aristocrats, Brain Uploads, And Why You're Already Augmented

Anders Sandberg: Pampered Aristocrats, Brain Uploads, And Why You're Already Augmented

What if there were multiple versions of you… and all of them were real? In this episode, we Think On Paper with Anders Sandberg to explore where AI, brain emulation, and human augmentation are actually heading.  We start with a simple idea: you’re already augmented. Your phone, your notes, your habits, they’re all extensions of your mind. But as we push further, into digital minds and brain uploads, the questions get harder. If you copy your consciousness, are you still you? And what happens when those copies start living different lives? From there, we zoom out. AGI, global coordination, and the possibility that smarter systems might run the world better than we can… while quietly reducing our role in it.  And finally, space: who owns the moon, what happens when asteroid economies take off, and whether humanity can expand beyond Earth without bringing all its baggage with it. We had too much fun doing this interview, we hope you enjoy it as much. And if you do, please subscribe and share with your boss, sister, wife or best friend.  Cheers, Mark & Jeremy. 🎧 Listen to every podcast⁠ [https://www.thinkingonpaper.xyz/] 📺 Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/toptechpodcast/] 🏠 Follow us on ⁠X⁠ [https://x.com/thinkonpaperpod] 🏠 Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremygilbertson/] To suggest guests or sponsor the show, please email: hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz [hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz] -- Chapters (00:00) Augmentation and Human Potential (08:09) The Impact of Mobile Technology on Humanity (11:51) Accountability in AI Agents (18:25) The Role of Empathy in Human-AI Interaction (25:35) AGI vs. Alien Life: A Comparative Analysis (27:36) Consciousness and Brain Emulation (35:52) The Future of Uploaded Minds (40:33) Exploring Parallel Realities and Memory Merging (45:16) The Future of Human Collaboration and Organizations (46:24) AI's Role in Managing Global Systems (51:23) The Dual Economy: Human vs AI Management (57:43) The Complexities of Space Ownership and Governance (01:05:18) The Future of Space Exploration and Human Expansion (01:17:49) The Impact of Space Race on Human Progress (01:21:43) The Role of Nations and Corporations in Space Exploration (01:24:22) Experimenting with New Forms of Governance (01:26:18) NASA's Future in the Age of Innovation (01:28:41) The Potential for Breakaway Movements in Space (01:30:16) Trust and Coordination in Space Governance (01:34:18) The Future of Fusion Energy (01:42:15) The Value of Time and Life Extension (01:48:06) Reinventing Identity in Extended Lifespans (01:52:03) The Future of Humanity and Technology

Carissa Véliz - Prophecy: Why Sam Altman And Jensen Huang Are Selling You A Future

Carissa Véliz, Oxford philosopher and author of Prophecy, Thinks On Paper about why predictions are never facts, why tech CEOs predict a future they want you to buy, and how to take back ownership of your own life. When Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, and Jensen Huang tell us what AI will do to jobs, society, and the future, are they making predictions, or selling products? Carissa Véliz argues it's the latter.  In this conversation we dig into self-fulfilling prophecies, the illusion of safety that algorithms sell us, what Seinfeld teaches us about predictive algorithms, and why Epicurus might be a better guide to the AI age than the Stoics. We ask if Polymarket should be banned, is democracy at risk and wonder how books can save us.  Carissa Véliz is an Associate Professor at the Institute for Ethics in AI at the University of Oxford. Her new book Prophecy is out now. -- 📺 Watch On YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhm4Ojfn4mE&t=411s]: 🎧 Listen to every podcast⁠ [https://www.thinkingonpaper.xyz/] 📺 Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/toptechpodcast/] 🏠 Follow us on ⁠X⁠ [https://x.com/thinkonpaperpod] 🏠 Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremygilbertson/] To suggest guests or sponsor the show, please email: hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz [hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz] -- CHAPTERS   (00:00) Intro (01:00) What is the good life?  (02:00) Why knowing yourself matters more than strategy  (04:44) The analog world vs the digital world  (06:45) How prophecies exploit our need for security  (08:47) Why ancient Rome banned predicting the emperor's death  (10:11) The illusion of safety that AI sells us  (12:27) When predictions work, and when they don't  (15:00) Altman, Amodei, Huang: predictions or sales pitches?  (28:29) How to resist prophecies as a busy person  (29:53) Prediction markets, Polymarket, and democracy  (31:49) TikTok, algorithms, and the Molly Russell case  (36:08) "Engagement algorithms are cocaine in food"  (40:54) Self-fulfilling prophecies as the perfect crime  (43:44) Why comedy is the enemy of prophecy  (46:59) What Seinfeld teaches us about predictive algorithms  (52:16) Karikó and the Nobel Prize we almost missed  (53:40) Increase your serendipity  (56:13) Why Epicurus beats the Stoics

Iran AI: Trump, Lego, And The 2026 Information War

The AI meme war between the US and Iran is evolving. A few weeks ago, AI-generated Lego propaganda videos were a curiosity. Sometimes funny, often violent, always troublesome and never diplomatic, they quickly gained millions of views across social media. The White House Twitter (X) account was responsible for the US videos. An Iranian media company called Explosive Media, the Iranian.America - either put off by the global consensus that it was losing the war (if you want to see their earlier Lego, Grand Theft Auto, Wii Sports and Call of Duty efforts, watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R58dlaNaGIE&t=14s [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R58dlaNaGIE&t=14s]) - or bored, switched their AI models to tax season. Iran, losing the guns and missiles part of proceedings, would change tact. Explosive Media turned up the heat. And was duly banned from YouTube.Which could of unleashed the beast. Now Iranian embassies are posting them on Twitter (X) and US creators are using the same format to mock whatever's in the news cycle - and whatever is on their mind. And a new Lego-style AI propaganda video shows Pete Hegseth getting drunk as a pirate, for example. The Iranian embassy in South Africa posted an AI-generated clip of Trump as a French Europop keyboardist singing about blockading the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranian Embassy in Zimbabwe posted a video of Trump addressing a briefing room of US soldiers. When the soldiers leave, Trump takes off his mask revealing the face of Netanyahu. All fun and games. The AI gurus, especially those who have been telling anyone who will listen Hollywood is doomed, celebrate the democratization of the AI tools, not a bubble of irony in their LinkedIn posts... Because this is really the Fake news story with its own mask on. And where does this go when the French, US, German, Mexican, Argentinian or Italian general elections all hit over the next two years? What happens to AI tools and democracy when every North Korean and Russian bot farm is an army of highly trained, skilled and determined video prompters? And what happens when its not Lego figures, but hyper realistic videos of politicians doing and saying things they haven't done or said? -- 🎧 Listen to every podcast⁠ [https://www.thinkingonpaper.xyz/] 📺 Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/toptechpodcast/] 🏠 Follow us on ⁠X⁠ [https://x.com/thinkonpaperpod] 🏠 Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremygilbertson/] To suggest guests or sponsor the show, please email: hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz [hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz] -- -- TIMESTAMPS (00:00) Explosive Media (00:38) US Bowling Iran (01:52) Trump's Mask (03:20) Blockade, Blockade (06:28) Drunken Hegseth (08:00) Truth

Who Owns The Moon? (And Why 80% Of Space Investment Is Defence)

Thinking On Paper ask who owns the Moon, whether the Outer Space Treaty still holds, why 80% of space investment is defence, what the Wolf Amendment did to US-China relations in orbit, whether asteroid mining legislation was written by the companies who'd profit from it, and why the book Space to Grow ends on a warning about war, not wonder.   Watch On YouTube: https://youtu.be/MVBxjZCGfxY [https://youtu.be/MVBxjZCGfxY] -- The space race between the US and China has never been about exploration. 80% of current space investment is defence-related. In the final episode of the Thinking on Paper Book Club series on Space to Grow by Matthew Weinzierl and Brendan Rosseau, Mark and Jeremy trace the politics of space ownership, space law, and who owns the Moon. From the 1967 Outer Space Treaty through Planetary Resources and asteroid mining legislation, the Wolf Amendment that banned NASA from collaborating with China, China building its own space station in response, Trump designating space as a theater of war in 2018, and the Rumsfeld Commission warning of a "space Pearl Harbor."  The episode covers John Locke's labour theory of property and how it applies to mining asteroids worth 100,000 times global GDP, the prisoner's dilemma between the US and China, why there would be no space industry without national security, and Neil deGrasse Tyson on the absurdity of claiming ownership over atoms forged in dying stars. 59 active conflicts currently on Earth as of the 2025 Global Peace Index.  The book's final chapter asks whether humanity can reach space without turning it into another battlefield.  -- Chapters (00:00) Global Conflict and Space Resources (02:04) Human Nature and Space Exploration (03:28) The Economics of Asteroid Mining (05:53) Legal Frameworks for Space Mining (11:05) The Space Resource Exploration Act (13:01) International Reactions to Space Mining Legislation (17:19) Philosophical Perspectives on Space Ownership (20:14) The Role of National Security in Space (20:40) The Role of Government in Space Innovation (21:34) National Security and the Space Industry (23:10) Weaponization of Space: A New Era (24:47) The Prisoner's Dilemma in Space Cooperation (26:40) Humanity's Moral Compass in Space Exploration (27:03) The Future of Humanity in Space

The Top 10 Space Investments Of 2026 So Far: VAST, AXIOM And More

Space technology investment is surging into 2026. Confidence is high. The ten largest funding rounds total over $3.7 billion. And it's only April. Defence and national security contracts are driving much of the momentum, with companies like Stoke Space, Sierra Space and Cesium Astro attracting hundreds of millions on the strength of government partnerships. Infrastructure remains the dominant investment thesis — from encrypted GPS alternatives and space-based weather platforms to satellite communications and reusable launch vehicles — reflecting a market that is still building the foundational layer needed for commercial space to scale. The biggest surprise sits at the top of the list: Beijing-based iSpace China claimed the single largest raise at $729 million, confirming the US V China space race is very much happening.   Meanwhile, three companies have crossed the unicorn threshold — StarCloud, Tomorrow.io and Sierra Space, the latter commanding a confirmed $8 billion valuation.  Human spaceflight and space station ambition round out the upper tier, with Vast Space and Axiom Space collectively raising $850 million to build the commercial space stations and crew infrastructure that will replace the ISS when it retires later this decade. The Top 10 In Full iSpace China — $729M Sierra Space — $550M (Series C) Vast Space — $500M (Series A) Cesium Astro — $470M Axiom Space — $350M Stoke Space — $350M PLD Space — €210M (Series C) Tomorrow.io — $175M Xona Space — $170M (Series C) StarCloud — $170M -- 🎧 Listen to every podcast⁠ [https://www.thinkingonpaper.xyz/] 📺 Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/toptechpodcast/] 🏠 Follow us on ⁠X⁠ [https://x.com/thinkonpaperpod] 🏠 Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremygilbertson/] To suggest guests or sponsor the show, please email: hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz [hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz] Chapters (00:00) Starcloud (00:52) Xona Space (03:27) Tomorrow IO (06:01) PLD Space (08:00) Stoke Space (10:18) Axiom Space (12:29) Cesium Astro (14:50) VAST Space (19:02) Sierra Space (21:47) I-Space (Beijing Interstellar Glory Space Technology Ltd.)