Apocalypse Now? Pt. 1 - Airs Aug 31st

The Rise of the Machines from Open Source
It was a year of dread. A plague of degeneration, catastrophe, anger, fear, and killer robots was sweeping the globe. Well, not entirely -- but the panic about politics, economics, terrorism, and temperature is most certainly here. And there are indeed world-changing, life-threatening, real developments happening all around us. Hence, we are going to hear a 3 part series about the end of the world with futurists and scientists; beginning with a look into the future threat of AI and robotics.Christopher Lydon considers the rise and the meaning of intelligent machines -- from the deep-learning Alpha Go computer to autonomous cars. He asks guests Nicholson Baker, Elaine Scarry, Nick Bostrom, Anders Sandberg, Lord Martin Rees, Maria Bustillos, and Mark O’Connell the life-or-death question: Is the robot apocalypse already upon us?

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