This episode is the first of a shortcast format. A shortcast is a shorter episode exploring topics that I have been pondering.

Since the world is in an uproar about the gene editing / CRISPR baby thing I thought I would zoom out a bit and look at the experiment from a larger, more transhumanist lens. 

For those unfamiliar with the story here is an article from Wired

Those that would rather read can find a transcript of the episode here

Artwork by Bratislav Milenkovic

Recorded in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Sara Gael is the MAPS director of harm reduction. She coordinates psychedelic harm reduction services at festivals and events worldwide with the Zendo Project.

We cover safe use and best practices of psychedelic use; the difference between transformational festivals and mainstream events; MDMA and it’s therapeutic potential and the human yearning for a sense of purpose and meaning.

Sarah’s Work:
Zendo Project
MAPS

Harm Reduction Resources:
RollSafe
DanceSafe
TripSafe
Erowid
Bluelight

Post-Psychedelic Integration and Support:
Psychedelic Support
MAPS Integration
Aware Project
Psychedelic Program

An index of Transformation Festivals is here

For those interested in studying Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy:
Certificate of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research

Recorded in Tel Aviv, Israel and Christchurch, New Zealand

Libby Emmons is a writer and playwright that recently wrote a piece on Transhumanism for Quillette. 

We discuss whether transhumanism is synonymous with oppression; free speech; robot sex; utilitarianism and the ethics of a superintelligent AI govt; what a post human world might look like; free-range parenting; convenience vs human autonomy and the fragility of infastructure; transgenderism, trans rights and transhumanism; eco-anarchism, earthships and self-sustainability; artificial wombs and the future of reproduction; and what it might truly mean to be human. 

Libby's Work:

Quillette Article
Puss Collective
Libby's Blog
Libby on Twitter

Mentioned:

Herman Hesse - The Glass Bead Game
The Magicians
Airline Highway by Lisa D'Amour
Neuralink - Wait but Why
Hyper-Reality

Recorded in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Robin Hanson is an associate professor of economics at George Mason University and a research associate at the Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University. 

He runs the blog Overcoming Bias and is the co-author of recently released psychology book Elephant in the Brain.

We chat about The Elephant in the Brain; why Robin retweets negative criticism; what's compelling to humans about art and music; smartness signalling; intellectual norms and value signaling; Robin clears up the recent Twitter mobbing he endured; income inequality vs other types of inequality; modularity of mind and agency (free will) in humans; prediction markets, Augur, and potential assassination markets; the future of the blockchain; Robin's thoughts on what the Effective Altruism Movement may be missing; 3D printed guns + much more.

Robin's Work:

The Elephant in the Brain
The Age of Em
Overcoming Bias
Robin on Twitter

Related:
Kevin Simler's blog Melting Asphalt
Augur - Prediction Market Cryptocurrency
Effective Altruism Movement
Modularity of Mind

Recorded in Christchurch, New Zealand

I'm joined by Michael and James for our now more regular chat about anything and everything.

With all three of us running on 5 hours sleep and a few drams of whisky we chat:
nurtigenomics; ecofacism; mercantilism; The Expanse; Peter Thiel and Seastading; Trump's Space Force; Noopept amongst other themes.

...and we extend a very generous offer to analyse your dreams.  Send them in to cosmictortoisemusic@gmail.com 

A reminder that these episodes are more of a hangout format compared to the researched interviews and shouldn't be taken too seriously.

I'm joined next episode by economist and Elephant in the Brain co-author Robin Hanson. 

Discussed in the podcast:

Marks Daily Apple
Dr Rhonda Patrick / Nutrigenomic Analysis tool
Slavoj Zizek 
Mercantilism
Seasteading.org
Ted Talk  - Neuroscientist on experiencing a stroke
Noopept - nootropic

Recorded in Christchurch, New Zealand

This is the first of an experimental bi-weekly conversational podcast in which James, Michael and I have contemporaneous yarns about what's happening in the world, new things we've read/learned and just have a general hang. 

Nothing in this conversation should be taken too seriously.  Except Potassium. 

This episode is called the Summit Summit as it was recorded during the USA / North Korea peace summit in Singapore.

We chat about North Korea, Dennis Rodman, Google and it's political sway, Terrence Tao, the Brainwashed mini series, signal theory and education, the excellent sci fi novel the Three Body Problem, whether the SJW movement is being overblown, Raelism, the incel movement and a bunch more. 

We've also put together a quick survey to find out a little more about who you wonderful listeners are, where you're based, what you like/dislike about the podcast and what you'd like to see more of. For those that would like to partake, the link is below.  It shouldn't take more than 4 minutes. 

For those more interested in the (slightly) more slick and researched expert interviews, we have more of those coming, they just take some time so they will be interspersed with these conversational pieces. 

Partake in the CTP Survey here

Recorded in Christchurch, New Zealand

www.cosmictortoise.net

Andres Gomez Emilsson is a consciousness researcher and data science engineer with a Master's in computational psychology from Stanford University. 

He is a member of the Qualia Research Institute and runs the blog Qualia Computing. 

My friend James Ormrod joined me to chat with Andres about many different aspects of his work and passion: What qualia are and the goals of Qualia Computing; transhumanist philosophy and why philosophy is important; questions of spirituality, happiness and personal identity; the current state of consciousness research, the hard and important questions in the field and Andres' outlook for the future; theories of time and time perception; why boredom is interesting; psychedelics and inherent geometries found within altered states; Andres' thoughts on Ibogaine, opiates and lesser known psychedelics; non-drug consciousness technologies; the philosophy of David Pearce and why we should eliminate suffering via technology; and a few sneaky tangents as per usual.

Image from Andre's Twitter

Show notes and links here

Corrections:

From Andres:

" By the way, I realized I screwed up about the "real problem of consciousness". Here is a little correction:

- The ‘real problem‘ of consciousness is whether consciousness has crisp formal structure, or not;
- The ‘important problem‘ of consciousness is what makes some experiences feel better than others.

As you can see, 'important' is the one involving hedonic tone and taking care of ethics. 'Real', instead, is an allusion to the fact that formalizing the solvable problems of consciousness, a science of qualia will redefine our framework to talk about any "hard problem of consciousness". And this is not a way to dismiss the importance of consciousness. Rather, it is for the purpose of having a granular language to discuss it and establish value equivalences across other-wise unintelligible qualia varieties."

Andre's Work and Collaborations:

Qualia Computing
Qualia Research Institute
OpenTheory.net

Support Andres and Qualia Computing:

BTC: 3JikWQs9gVcRHLK6F89N9Q6hnKk2FzN7JJ
ETH: 0xd40287e1827e79E9eCA6e92E1c5E84cABB54393B

Recorded in Christchurch, New Zealand

Emily C Browning is a New Zealand musician. We talk about all that's happened in the year since we last chatted on the podcast and Emily performs two new songs. This podcast was recorded around a month ago (26 of March 2018).

Connect with Emily:
Facebook
Instagram
EmilyCB.com

Songs:

"Outgoing" @ 22:28
"Chasing You" @ 40:54

Recorded in Christchurch, New Zealand