Playing God

Part Six. The final episode in this series looks forward into the future. If we are able to reach the point where we can create advanced AI ‘beings’, will we be able to live alongside them – especially if they are in some ways more intelligent than us, or hold our lives in their hands? Phil puts this question to Iyad Rahwan, a social psychologist formerly of MIT’s Media Lab, who is working on the ramifications of human-machine interactions. Thanks to Philip Ball for original music and www.Freesound.org for supplying sound effects under creative commons Attribution 3.0 license created by the following artists; Decembered The licence can be read here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Part Five. IBM is one of the world’s biggest makers of “thinking machines” – computers. So what better place to find out about the prospects for machine alternatives to the human brain? Would a cyborg be more successful, for example, than a being made entirely from human parts? Can a machine be considered to truly ‘think’? Phil speaks to David Cox of IBM, an expert in the intersection between machine intelligence and neuroscience, to find out what current and future artificial intelligence might achieve. Could it ever become more intelligent than us? Thanks to Philip Ball for original music and www.Freesound.org for supplying sound effects under creative commons Attribution 3.0 license created by the following artists; Decembered The licence can be read here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Part Four. Phil goes to Harvard University to speak to eminent psychologist Tomer Ullman about how humans think and to ask if (and how) we could teach an artificial mind to learn what it needs to become ‘sentient’ and behave like a human. Thanks to Philip Ball for original music and www.Freesound.org for supplying sound effects under creative commons Attribution 3.0 license created by the following artists; Decembered The licence can be read here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Part Three. The essence of humanity is often considered to lie in the human mind. If we could grow a brain to put into an artificial being, would that make it human? Will it have a mind at all? Phil talks to Alan Jasanoff of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) about the difficulties of understanding what the brain – and the mind – actually are. Thanks to Philip Ball for original music and www.Freesound.org for supplying sound effects under creative commons Attribution 3.0 license created by the following artists; Decembered, Inchadney, Cameronmusic, newlocknew The licence can be read here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Part Two. Stealing organs, as Victor Frankenstein did, is one way of going about things, but perhaps it’s safer and more legal to grow them instead… Phil’s quest takes him to speak to Robert Langer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) about the advances in human organ growth and asks him about the generation and regeneration of our body’s tissues and parts. Thanks to Philip Ball for original music and www.Freesound.org for supplying sound effects under creative commons Attribution 3.0  license created by the following artists; Decembered, visualasylum, VlatkoBlazek, Dnlburnett, inchadney, Benboncan, cameronmusic, Bennychico1, newlocknew, Marnenagel, Daveincamas, Dobroide The licence can be read here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Part One. So how to start building an artificial human? Maybe by thinking about what some regard as the instructions: the human genome. Phil goes to Harvard Medical School to track down George Church, an expert in genome editing, and finds out about how this technology could be opening up ways of creating not only humans but superhumans. Thanks to Philip Ball for original music and www.Freesound.org for supplying sound effects under creative commons Attribution 3.0 license created by the following artists; Dobroide, Daveincamas, Decembered, Dnlburnett The licence can be read here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.