As 2019 comes to a close, What Next is checking back in on three stories we did this year. From a power struggle in Venezuela to a border wall dispute in Arizona and back to Washington for an impeachment update. Here’s what happened…next!
Guests: Ana Vanessa Herrero, reporter for the New York Times, Mayor of Nogales Arturo Garino, and Noah Feldman Harvard Law School professor and host of Deep Background, available on Luminary.
Podcast production by Mary Wilson, Jayson De Leon, Danielle Hewitt, and Mara Silvers.
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As 2019 draws to a close, we enlisted the help of two NPR science correspondents — Nell Greenfieldboye and Joe Palca — to look back on some of the biggest science stories of the past 10 years. Follow host Maddie Sofia on twitter @maddie_sofia. Email the show at shortwave@npr.org.
Jennifer Zeng grew up admiring the Communist Party of China and adhering to its stringent rules. But her life changed forever when she embraced religion and was swept up in a government crackdown on Falun Gong. Arrested four times as a young adult and held in as a prisoner in a labor camp, he quickly woke up to the horrors of living in a socialist state. After being subject to brutal torture, Zeng managed to escape China and now tells about the evils of socialism and communism.
At a time when more Americans are embracing Karl Marx’s teachings, Chris Wright has helped Zeng share her story as part of a network called the Anticommunism Action Team. They recently spoke to The Daily Signal along with Darian Diachok, who escaped from Soviet-era Ukraine as an infant and has helped former Soviet satellite states democratize and overcome their failed communist systems.
In their second annual New Year’s resolutions pod, Jon, Jon, and Tommy react to resolutions from some of your favorite 2020 candidates. Then they hold themselves accountable for the resolutions they made a year ago - and make new resolutions for the big year ahead in 2020.
Surveillance cameras were invented so Nazi scientists could observe rocket launches from a safe distance. They've come a long way since then, and are gathering more data about us than ever before. But in a world where millions happily carry smartphones in our pockets, how do we really feel about being watched?
The latest round of climate negotiations, COP25 have ended without agreement on many fundamental issues. We join researchers from Perdue University in the US who have developed a role playing game to encourage climate negotiators and others to take a long term view. Key to this research project is the concept of tipping points, where an environment changes irreversibly from one state to another. This is accompanied by the loss of ecosystems, for example the widespread melting of arctic sea ice, rainforest burning or coral bleaching.
The idea is that such tipping points provide a more meaning full focus for the implication of climate change than abstract concepts like temperature rise.
Two years ago reporter Anand Jagatia travelled up beyond the Arctic Circle to meet Norwegian researchers in order to answer a question from US listener Kira on why some people function best in the mornings whilst others only come alive at night. In this episode we revisit the topic with the help of science writer and Parentland podcast presenter Linda Geddes, author of Chasing the Sun, a book which explores the science behind the Sun’s effects on our bodies and our minds.
The morning sun helps to kick-start our day and our body’s biological cycle – so what happens when it barely rises above the horizon or we live for prolonged periods in artificial environments where the sun never shines? Research has suggested that some communities in northern latitudes are better protected against the mental and physical effects of reduced exposure to sunlight in the winter which might have implications for those suffering the winter blues.
(Image: Polar Bear in the Arctic Sea, Credit: Coldimages/Getty)
We talk about the age of some of the frontrunners in the Democrat nomination race and President Donald Trump and the health risks they face.
Also, More or Less listeners were surprised by a claim they read on the BBC website recently: ?Pets are estimated to be consuming up to 20 percent of all meat globally.? So we ? of course ? investigated and will explain all.
Melanie Mitchell is a professor of computer science at Portland State University and an external professor at Santa Fe Institute. She has worked on and written about artificial intelligence from fascinating perspectives including adaptive complex systems, genetic algorithms, and the Copycat cognitive architecture which places the process of analogy making at the core of human cognition. From her doctoral work with her advisors Douglas Hofstadter and John Holland to today, she has contributed a lot of important ideas to the field of AI, including her recent book, simply called Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans.
This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast. If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to https://lexfridman.com/ai or connect with @lexfridman on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Medium, or YouTube where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on Apple Podcasts, follow on Spotify, or support it on Patreon.
This episode is presented by Cash App. Download it (App Store, Google Play), use code “LexPodcast”.
Here’s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
00:00 – Introduction
02:33 – The term “artificial intelligence”
06:30 – Line between weak and strong AI
12:46 – Why have people dreamed of creating AI?
15:24 – Complex systems and intelligence
18:38 – Why are we bad at predicting the future with regard to AI?
22:05 – Are fundamental breakthroughs in AI needed?
25:13 – Different AI communities
31:28 – Copycat cognitive architecture
36:51 – Concepts and analogies
55:33 – Deep learning and the formation of concepts
1:09:07 – Autonomous vehicles
1:20:21 – Embodied AI and emotion
1:25:01 – Fear of superintelligent AI
1:36:14 – Good test for intelligence
1:38:09 – What is complexity?
1:43:09 – Santa Fe Institute
1:47:34 – Douglas Hofstadter
1:49:42 – Proudest moment
