Anticipating and managing exponential impact - hosts David Wood and Calum ChaceCalum Chace is a sought-after keynote speaker and best-selling writer on artifici...
AI agents: challenges ahead of mainstream adoption, with Tom Davenport
The most highly anticipated development in AI this year is probably the expected arrival of AI agents, also referred to as “agentic AI”. We are told that AI agents have the potential to reshape how individuals and organizations interact with technology.Our guest to help us explore this is Tom Davenport, Distinguished Professor in Information Technology and Management at Babson College, and a globally recognized thought leader in the areas of analytics, data science, and artificial intelligence. Tom has written, co-authored, or edited about twenty books, including "Competing on Analytics" and "The AI Advantage." He has worked extensively with leading organizations and has a unique perspective on the transformative impact of AI across industries. He has recently co-authored an article in the MIT Sloan Management Review, “Five Trends in AI and Data Science for 2025”, which included a section on AI agents – which is why we invited him to talk about the subject.Selected follow-ups:Tom Davenport - personal siteFive Trends in AI and Data Science for 2025 - MIT Sloan Management ReviewMichael Martin Hammer - WikipediaAI winter - WikipediaAI is coming for the OnlyFans chat industry - FortuneHow Gen AI and Analytical AI Differ — and When to Use Each - Harvard Business ReviewTruth Terminal - The AI Bot That Became a Crypto Millionaire - a16zJim Simons - WikipediaWhy The "Godfather of AI" Now Fears His Own Creation - Curt Jaimungal interviews Geoffrey HintonAttention Is All You Need - Google researchers Apple suspends error-strewn AI generated news alerts - BBC NewsGen AI cuts costs by 30% - London Futurists Podcast episode featuring David Wakeling, partner at A&O ShearmanThe path to agentic automation is UiPath - UiPathMicrosoft CEO Predicts: "AI Agents Will Replace ALL Software" - AI Insights ExplorerNVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang Keynote at CES 2025 - NvidiaPioneering Safe, Efficient AI - ConsciumA New Survey Of Generative AI Shows Lots Of Work To Do - October 2023 article by Tom DavenportGen AI: Too much spend, too little benefit? - Goldman SachsMusic: Spike Protein, by Koi Discovery, available under CC0 1.0 Public Domain Declaration
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Post-labour economics, with David Shapiro
In this episode, we return to a theme which is likely to become increasingly central to public discussion in the months and years ahead. To use a term coined by this podcast’s cohost Calum Chace, this theme is the Economic Singularity, namely the potential all-round displacement of humans from the workforce by ever more capable automation. That leads to the question: what are our options for managing the transition of society to increasing technological unemployment and technological underemployment.Our guest, who will be sharing his thinking on these questions, is the prolific writer and YouTuber David Shapiro. As well as keeping on top of fast-changing news about innovations in AI, David has been developing a set of ideas he calls post-labour economics – how an economy might continue to function even if humans can no longer gain financial rewards in direct return for their labour.Selected follow-ups:David Shapiro’s SubstackDavid Shapiro's channel on YouTubeJulia McCoy's channel on YouTubeNext stop: Miami - WaymoResource Based EconomyDebt: The First 5,000 Years - book by David GraeberBroken Money: Why Our Financial System is Failing Us and How We Can Make it Better - book by Lyn AldenThe Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking - book by Saifedean AmmousNormalcy bias - WikipediaWhy Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty - book by Daron Acemoğlu and James A. RobinsonPrinciples for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail - book by Ray DalioVulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts, and the Death of Freedom - book by Grace BlakeleyThe Economic Singularity: Artificial Intelligence and Fully Automated Luxury Capitalism - book by Calum ChaceMusic: Spike Protein, by Koi Discovery, available under CC0 1.0 Public Domain Declaration
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Longevity activism at 82, 86, and beyond, with Kenneth Scott and Helga Sands
Our guests in this episode have been described as the world’s two oldest scientifically astute longevity activists. They are Kenneth Scott, aged 82, who is based in Florida, and Helga Sands, aged 86, who lives in London.David has met both of them several times at a number of longevity events, and they always impress him, not only with their vitality and good health, but also with the level of knowledge and intelligence they apply to the question of which treatments are the best, for them personally and for others, to help keep people young and vibrant.Selected follow-ups:Waiting For God - 1990s BBC ComedyAdelle Davis, NutritionistRoger J. Williams, BiochemistThe Importance of Maintaining a Low Omega-6/Omega-3 RatioLife Extension MagazineCalifornia Age Management InstituteFibrinogen and agingProfessor Angus Dalgleish, Nuffield HealthAbout Aubrey de Grey speaking at the Royal InstitutionGeorge Church, GeneticistJames Kirkland, Mayo ClinicDaniel Munoz-Espin, CambridgeNobel Prize for John Gurdon and Shinya YamanakaVSELs and S.O.N.G. laserXtend Optimal HealthFollistatin gene therapy, MinicircleExosomes vs Stem CellsPrevent and Reverse Heart Disease - book by Caldwell Esselstyn Jr Dasatinib and Quercetin (senolytics)We reverse atherosclerosis - Repair BiotechnologiesBioreactor-Grown Mitochondria - MitrixNobel Winner Shinya Yamanaka: Cell Therapy Is ‘Very Promising’ For Cancer, Parkison's, MoreDeath of the world's oldest man, 25th Nov 2024Blueprint protocol - Bryan JohnsonMusic: Spike Protein, by Koi Discovery, available under CC0 1.0 Public Domain Declaration
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Models for society when humans have zero economic value, with Jeff LaPorte
Our guest in this episode is Jeff LaPorte, a software engineer, entrepreneur and investor based in Vancouver, who writes Road to Artificia, a newsletter about discovering the principles of post‑AI societies.Calum recently came across Jeff's article “Valuing Humans in the Age of Superintelligence: HumaneRank” and thought it had some good, original ideas, so we wanted to invite Jeff onto the podcast and explore them.Selected follow-ups:Jeff LaPorte personal business websiteRoad to Artificia: A newsletter about discovering the principles of societies post‑AIValuing Humans in the Age of Superintelligence: HumaneRankIdeas Lying Around - article by Cory Doctorow about a famous saying by Milton FriedmanPageRank - WikipediaNosedive (Black Mirror episode) - IMDbThe Economic Singularity - book by Calum ChaceWorld Chess Championship 2024 - WIkipediaWALL.E (2008 movie) - IMDbA day in the life of Asimov, 2045 - short story by David WoodWhy didn't electricity immediately change manufacturing? - by Tim Harford, BBCResponsible use of artificial intelligence in government - Government of CanadaBipartisan House Task Force Report on Artificial Intelligence - U.S. House of RepresentativesMusic: Spike Protein, by Koi Discovery, available under CC0 1.0 Public Domain Declaration
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From ineffective altruism to effective altruism? with Stefan Schubert
Our subject in this episode is altruism – our human desire and instinct to assist each other, making some personal sacrifices along the way. More precisely, our subject is the possible future of altruism – a future in which our philanthropic activities – our charitable donations, and how we spend our discretionary time – could have a considerably greater impact than at present. The issue is that many of our present activities, which are intended to help others, aren’t particularly effective.That’s the judgement reached by our guest today, Stefan Schubert. Stefan is a researcher in philosophy and psychology, currently based in Stockholm, Sweden, and has previously held roles at the LSE and the University of Oxford. Stefan is the co-author of the recently published book “Effective Altruism and the Human Mind”.Selected follow-ups:Stefan Schubert - Effective AltruismEffective Altruism and the Human Mind: The Clash Between Impact and Intuition - Oxford University Press (open access)Centre for Effective AltruismProfessor Nadira Faber - Uehiro Institute, OxfordWhat are the best charities to support in 2024? - Giving What We CanEffective Altruist Leaders Were Repeatedly Warned About Sam Bankman-Fried Years Before FTX Collapsed - TimeVirtues for Real-World Utilitarians - by Stefan Schubert & Lucius Caviola, UtilitarianismDeworming - Effective Altruism ForumWhat we know about Musk's cost-cutting mission - BBC article about DOGEWhat is your p(doom)? with Darren McKeeLongtermism - WikipediaMusic: Spike Protein, by Koi Discovery, available under CC0 1.0 Public Domain Declaration
Anticipating and managing exponential impact - hosts David Wood and Calum ChaceCalum Chace is a sought-after keynote speaker and best-selling writer on artificial intelligence. He focuses on the medium- and long-term impact of AI on all of us, our societies and our economies. He advises companies and governments on AI policy.His non-fiction books on AI are Surviving AI, about superintelligence, and The Economic Singularity, about the future of jobs. Both are now in their third editions.He also wrote Pandora's Brain and Pandora’s Oracle, a pair of techno-thrillers about the first superintelligence. He is a regular contributor to magazines, newspapers, and radio.In the last decade, Calum has given over 150 talks in 20 countries on six continents. Videos of his talks, and lots of other materials are available at https://calumchace.com/.He is co-founder of a think tank focused on the future of jobs, called the Economic Singularity Foundation. The Foundation has published Stories from 2045, a collection of short stories written by its members.Before becoming a full-time writer and speaker, Calum had a 30-year career in journalism and in business, as a marketer, a strategy consultant and a CEO. He studied philosophy, politics, and economics at Oxford University, which confirmed his suspicion that science fiction is actually philosophy in fancy dress.David Wood is Chair of London Futurists, and is the author or lead editor of twelve books about the future, including The Singularity Principles, Vital Foresight, The Abolition of Aging, Smartphones and Beyond, and Sustainable Superabundance.He is also principal of the independent futurist consultancy and publisher Delta Wisdom, executive director of the Longevity Escape Velocity (LEV) Foundation, Foresight Advisor at SingularityNET, and a board director at the IEET (Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies). He regularly gives keynote talks around the world on how to prepare for radical disruption. See https://deltawisdom.com/.As a pioneer of the mobile computing and smartphone industry, he co-founded Symbian in 1998. By 2012, software written by his teams had been included as the operating system on 500 million smartphones.From 2010 to 2013, he was Technology Planning Lead (CTO) of Accenture Mobility, where he also co-led Accenture’s Mobility Health business initiative.Has an MA in Mathematics from Cambridge, where he also undertook doctoral research in the Philosophy of Science, and a DSc from the University of Westminster.
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