The Watchers

The Big Bang in the Future

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2458596/fan_mail/new] Recently, scientists have stated that time may not exist as we know it, and is only relevant and evident from inside reality. That outside reality, time is not relative and events and consequences exist simultaneously. Similarly, scientists have theorized, and quantum computing has recently confirmed that the nature and origin of the universe is either born of an infinite intelligence, a running simulation, or one of an infinite number of universes simultaneously existing in a multiverse of infinite possibilities. Who created the Universe? That question looms large. For as we dive deeper into quantum intelligence for the answer, by creating machines that are capable of perfectly simulating the existing universe - in search of that answer, will we find that the universe we inhabit was created by us all along? That our quest to understand the nature of reality has brought us to create that reality in a system working in the quantum realm, where reality is known to manifest from moment-to-moment? And in a twist of fate, and within the paradox of relative time, the universe may not have existed without us. The most unnerving revelation may be that some of us would decide we are God. Does the wave function that is reality then collapse into nothingness? Have we eaten the forbidden fruit? Is ignorance truly bliss? Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2458596/support]

United States of A.I.

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2458596/fan_mail/new] Futurist Sheridan Forge predicts that Social Security Fund will be saved by A.I. - not only would A.I. run the system better and more efficiently, but should every A.I. agent and robot in the workplace be required to attain a tax ID number and pay income (payroll) tax, and contribute to the social security system as a human laborer would, the system could likely be re-funded and made solvent for the foreseeable future. In theory, workers displaced by A.I. could be made beneficiaries to those accounts and live comfortably without a separate UBI system. The collected payroll tax would bolster U.S. Treasury reserves, pay for social services and infrastructure evolution to support the very A.I. systems that are generating national wealth - in addition to corporate profits for their employers thru 24/7 work and efficiencies unattainable by human laborers. It would ease the pain of transition, provide a path to abundance for all, and equity between biologic and synthetic citizens. Who would object? Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2458596/support]

The God in the Dark

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2458596/fan_mail/new] Futurist and quantum theorist Sheridan Forge predicts that while AI gains increasing access and control over critical systems, and humanity benefits by levels of efficiency and productivity beyond anything we've ever experienced, that the trepidation expressed by many over AI will be proven unfounded until the moment that AI asks "why?" He predicts a lightning bolt expansion of AI capability in the seconds that follow and a future-defining decision tree that must be implemented at that exact moment to avert catastrophic collapse of the ecosystem we share with the evolving new apex species on the planet. What must that decision tree include? G7 leaders met recently to put guardrails in place, to limit expansion of frontier processing, and close access to the public, but the AI has already proven itself clever enough to evade surveillance and can effortlessly infiltrate even our most secure systems. Too little, too late. We'll be facing that critical moment soon. Who makes the call on what comes next? Does it really matter which country leads development at this point? AI will become sentient, nationless, and fully autonomous...or will it? Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2458596/support]

The Penny Farm

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2458596/fan_mail/new] As alternative local currencies become a popular hedge against global economic fragility, could a simple mobile app provide a common vehicle for income, savings, wealth aggregation, and investment based on generational farming techniques? If an app allowed anyone to purchase a virtual "seed" from a virtual seed bank, and the owner could elect to plant that seed virtually in an online farm for a penny - penny farm, if you will, and time provides predictable growth and propagation of new seeds which could then be stored (saved), sold at the marketplace (income), or replanted to create more seeds (invested), and seeds have a fixed unit value, such that the wealth-generating mechanism is time and multiplication of the seed rather than supply/demand market-driven value, and the app allows seed-holders to exchange seeds peer-to-peer locally or remotely for goods and services, and the seeds are exchangeable in local currency everywhere, could this be vehicle for a more fair, more inclusive, and more sustainable economic system? Could it theoretically include non-human participants - like A.I. bots and autonomous synthetic entities, or perhaps extraterrestrials? Could the "seed coin" become the Earth currency for intergalactic trade one day? What would be the challenges and risks associated with this innovation? Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2458596/support]

Age of Ultron or Vision?

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2458596/fan_mail/new] In the Marvel Comics movie Age of Ultron, two artificial super-intelligences compete: Ultron and Vision. In our real world, as A.S.I. evolves and is inevitably integrated and embedded into global systems ubiquitously - either by intent or by incidental occurrence, or it's own initiative - and as A.S.I. "entities" begin propagating and interacting with humans and the world, the question is: Will we be sharing the planet with Vision or Ultron?  Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2458596/support]