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The sci-fi writer who predicted the future

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Manage episode 523556506 series 3564589
Content provided by The Washington Post. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by The Washington Post or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

Science fiction writer Neal Stephenson predicted the metaverse, wearable tech and artificial intelligence long before those technologies arrived. What does he think of it all now? Host Megan McArdle talks to Stephenson about the future of AI, education and social media — and how his fiction became a window into the culture of Silicon Valley.

Timecodes

0:00 Welcome to Reasonably Optimistic

0:33 Who is Neal Stephenson?

1:19 Living in the future

3:25 Neal's origin story

5:18 The disruptive effects of new technology

8:18 The premise of The Diamond Age

14:23 AI’s confident wrongness

17:43 What AI is good at

18:56 Is AI good for kids?

20:03 Fixing education in an AI world

23:14 Will AI make nerds less valuable?

26:44 AI is eliminating entry level jobs

29:45 How tech founders got political

34:37 Is Neal Stephenson’s work political?

36:50 Technology is easier to predict than culture

40:11 What is Neal Stephenson reasonably optimistic about?

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

  continue reading

114 episodes

Artwork
iconShare
 
Manage episode 523556506 series 3564589
Content provided by The Washington Post. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by The Washington Post or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

Science fiction writer Neal Stephenson predicted the metaverse, wearable tech and artificial intelligence long before those technologies arrived. What does he think of it all now? Host Megan McArdle talks to Stephenson about the future of AI, education and social media — and how his fiction became a window into the culture of Silicon Valley.

Timecodes

0:00 Welcome to Reasonably Optimistic

0:33 Who is Neal Stephenson?

1:19 Living in the future

3:25 Neal's origin story

5:18 The disruptive effects of new technology

8:18 The premise of The Diamond Age

14:23 AI’s confident wrongness

17:43 What AI is good at

18:56 Is AI good for kids?

20:03 Fixing education in an AI world

23:14 Will AI make nerds less valuable?

26:44 AI is eliminating entry level jobs

29:45 How tech founders got political

34:37 Is Neal Stephenson’s work political?

36:50 Technology is easier to predict than culture

40:11 What is Neal Stephenson reasonably optimistic about?

Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

  continue reading

114 episodes

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