The Case for Active Transhumanism
Interview with David Wood, futurist speaker, analyst, commentator, and writer.
David Wood is one of the pioneers of the smartphone industry. He is now a full-time futurist speaker, analyst, and writer.
David’s interests lie in the transformations in society that are enabled by technological disruption. In his most recent book, Vital Foresight, David argues that, as a society, we need to be better at imagining the future so that we can critique it. We need to anticipate future scenarios with much more powerful technology than today’s, so we can understand how to live alongside highly capable robots and AIs, work alongside them, and become skilled in designing and configuring them.
AI will very likely become more significant over time; this means profound opportunities but also existential risks. David highlights the necessity of looking at the ethical dilemmas around AI — the present concerns around machine learning will soon look small compared to future ones.
In our interview with David, we’ll be discussing how we can become better at predicting and shaping a technological future. We’ll also be diving into the strengths and weaknesses of transhumanism, whether we should allow technology to augment humanity.
Stay tuned!