The Escaped Sapiens Podcast

By: Shane Farnsworth
  • Summary

  • The Escaped Sapiens Podcast attempts to give an authentic and unedited voice to the researchers and explorers extending the boundaries of what is humanly possible.
    Copyright 2021 All rights reserved.
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Episodes
  • Drone Warfare in Ukraine and the Future Of Combat | Sam Bendett | Escaped Sapiens #79
    Feb 9 2025

    In this conversation I speak with Sam Bendett, one of the worlds leading experts on Russian weapons development and capabilities, drones, AI, and the war in Ukraine. Sam is an advisor for the Center for Naval Analyses and an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, an honorary “mad scientist” with the Mad Scientist Initiative of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, and a Russian military autonomy and artificial intelligence subject matter expert for the DOD’s Defense Systems Information Analysis Center.

    We discuss drone warfare in Ukraine as it stands today. We cover the range of systems being fielded, counter measures, AI capabilities, what life is like for drone operators and soldiers on the line of contact, drone production pipelines and supply, and more.

    ►Watch On YouTube: https://youtu.be/cvBQ715PShw

    ►Find out more about Sam's work here: https://www.cna.org/our-experts/bendett-samuel https://www.csis.org/people/samuel-bendett

    ►Follow Sam on Twitter & Bluesky: @sambendett, @sambendett.bsky.social

    These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The Andrea von Braun Foundation has provided me with full creative freedom with their support. As such, the views expressed in these episodes are my own and/or those of my guests.

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    51 mins
  • AI, Control, and the path to Dystopia | Pedro Domingos | Escaped Sapiens #78
    Jan 20 2025

    Will we ever have an AI for president? In this episode of the podcast I speak with Pedro Domingos about the impact of AI on society, industry, and politics. Pedro is professor emeritus of computer science and engineering at the University of Washington and co-founded the International Machine Learning Society. He is also the Author of `The Master Algorithm' and `2040: A Silicon Valley Satire'. This episode is not a paid advertisement for Pedro's books, but we use his book `2040' to set the context for the discussion.

    We discuss the hype and fear surrounding AI and the future of tech, and Pedro gives an insiders view into the realities of AI development and impact. In his view AI is a human made tool. It isn't going to take over the planet like the terminator, but it will be something that is used by humans to shift the balance of power in society, industry, and politics. A particularly interesting aspect of the discussion surrounds digital twins. Imagine a world in which dating apps are replaced with a digital platform in which your digital twin simulates dates, and even entire lives with the digital twins of potential partners. Users would then go on physical dates with the top performing selection. This same idea could be extended to predicting crime, presidential election outcomes, and more. All of a sudden the simulation hypothesis doesn't seem to crazy, when simulations are used to predict future outcomes in the real world.

    Another key topic in this conversation is that of `wokism'. Pedro discusses `wokism' as a new iteration of cultural marxism, an ideology that reinterprets the dynamics of class struggle through cultural and identity-based lenses. While the creation of wealth in a society is not inherently a zero-sum game—where one person’s gain is necessarily another’s loss— the division and redistribution of that wealth that has been created is a zero-sum conflict. Pedro suggests that `wokism' is an attempt to shift power and resources within society, but where the division between the oppressed and the privileged is identity based.

    ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/LjBZc-Zh4bc

    ►Find out more about Pedro's work here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Domingos https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KOrhfVMAAAAJ&hl=en https://homes.cs.washington.edu/~pedrod/

    ►Follow Pedro on Twitter: @pmddomingos

    These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The Andrea von Braun Foundation has provided me with full creative freedom with their support. As such, the views expressed in these episodes are my own and/or those of my guests.

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    2 hrs and 15 mins
  • From Destruction to Regeneration: The Future of Economics | Kate Raworth | Escaped Sapiens #77
    Jan 7 2025

    In this conversation I speak with renegade economist and creator of doughnut economics Kate Raworth. Kate is a Senior Associate at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute, where she teaches on the Masters in Environmental Change and Management. She is also Professor of Practice at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.

    We speak about economic transformation, and re-imagining economic possibilities for the 21st century. What should we design our economic system to do? Growth in GDP is a nice target to aim for because it is simple, but it doesn't do a very good job of capturing all of the economic externalities associated with market contracts, and in particular the impact of doing business on the environment and human well being. Our economies are beginning to run up against our planets boundaries, and it is becoming increasingly apparent that our planet is finite. So what should our target be if not for endless growth in GDP at the expense of our only known habitable planet?

    ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/edP8rgk6l3g

    ►Find out more about Kate's work here: https://www.kateraworth.com/about/

    ►Follow Kate on Twitter: @KateRaworth

    These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The Andrea von Braun Foundation has provided me with full creative freedom with their support. As such, the views expressed in these episodes are my own and/or those of my guests.

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    1 hr and 17 mins

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