The After On Podcast

I'm reposting my 2022 interview with Kevin Esvelt on the deranged USAID program "DEEP VZN," in conjunction with my latest appearance on Sam Harris's podcast, in which we discuss this terrifying topic

Might we unwittingly start sharing our world with a super AI? A monologue and (mostly) playful thought experiment.

Will the glittering dawn of the genai era be accompanied by a dark tsunami of pixel-perfect deep fakes? I discuss this prospect with Sam Harris, as well as the CEO of synthetic audio pioneer Resemble.ai.  

My thoughts on what's happening in the mad world of generative AI, announcing my new home online at robreid.substack.com, and more.

USAID's new "DEEP VZN" program aims to discover new pandemic-grade viruses, then broadcast their genomes to the world, according to MIT evolutionary engineer Kevin Esvelt. He estimates that 30,000 people in dozens of countries could then easily assemble them.

A wide-ranging discussion of cognition in octopuses & cuttlefish, plus many, many other topics with globally renowned sensory ecologist Roger Hanlon.

Harvard epidemiologist Megan Murray tells us all about the anti-tuberculosis vaccine "BCG," and the astonishing protection it may provide against Covid -- as well as looming future pandemics.

This is closely tied to a 4-hour collaboration between Sam Harris and me, which Sam is posting to his podcast's feed. I strongly recommend that episode too! But it's not "required" for you to get everything out of this fascinating conversation with Seth.

This "episode" is just a quick new announcement of a new season of the podcast (finally)! And also of something very cool that I'm working on with fellow podcaster Sam Harris.

Quantitative Psychologist Don Hoffman has a head-spinning take on the true nature of reality vs. what our senses report to us. This is a revisitation of our original interview, expanded with lots of new material recorded last week.