EPisode #111 - Futurist Byron Reese talks about the coming age of Artificial Intelligence!

The Wait What If Podcast

“The biggest problems of tomorrow will not be a lack of jobs but a shortage of humans to take advantage of all of the opportunities technology will offer.” – Byron Reese I opened the show with Freddie Mercury's intro to Hammer to Fall from back in 1986 at Live Aid. I used did this because AI (artificial intelligence) is beginning to dip its toes into art and it is doing a pretty good job at it. But I ask: can a non-human create art? Is art only an expression of the human experience? I would argue - maybe? There are already AIs out there writing, composing and creating original content. We know where this is going, just by looking at where it has gone. We started out a few years ago with bland computer animated cartoons and now take the Movie Moana (I have a little girl... so yes, I've watched Moana a few times)and simply look at the quality of the images in that movie. They are lifelike. You can't tell that it is an environment completely created from 1s and 0s. So if we can expect the exponential growth of tech to continue, where will be we in 50 years? 25 years? 10 years? Will the next Ansel Adams need to traverse dangerous terrain to capture a beautiful landscape or will AI simply create it? Is art simply how something makes you feel or is it the experience of the artist? Who knows, but these are the questions we'll have to ask ourselves very soon. Today's guest is Byron Reese - an entrepreneur, a futurist, a Ted Talks alum, and author of The 4th Age - a great book about the dawning of what Byron deems the 4th age of human development - one of the best that was sent to me and I get a lot of books from guests. SO I highly recommend checking it out. Byron is a rare optimist when it comes to advancements in AI and it was refreshing to hear his take on the coming age of our robot overlords! We chat about the meaning of consciousness, the Fermi paradox and the future of the human species. It was a deep and fun talk with a brilliant guest.