Shows
Techs on TextsEpisode #21: George Dyson on The Black Cloud by Fred HoyleGeorge Dyson – historian, boat maker, and volunteer Staff Historian at Radiant Earth – returns to discuss Fred Hoyle's The Black Cloud. We discuss the cultural conflicts that arise between scientists and politicians, the limits of human language, human-incomprehensible modes of communication, the inevitable benefits of creating new observing instruments, alien consciousness, and the perils of simplified science.Show notes:The Black Cloud on WikipediaFred Hoyle on WikipediaGeorge's keynote at Radiant Earth's Expanding and Accelerating Global Climate Data Collaboration workshop on 14 October 2025Cause of Cambrian Explosion - Terrestrial or Cosmic? – as mentioned by George, the paper exploring extraterrestrial origin...
2025-10-3153 minTechs on TextsEpisode #20: Mark Chambers on Jurassic Park by Michael CrichtonMark Chambers – my friend from high school (and former Chief Sustainability Officer of DC and NYC among other things) – joins us to discuss Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park. We talk about the collision between money and science, the illusion of control, dignity, public service, how many humans there should be, why it may or may not be ok to grill, and positive visions for the future.Show notes:Jevons paradox – how technological efficiency can paradoxically increase resource consumptionWhat Michael Crichton Reveals About Big Tech and A.I. - Cal Newport's New Yorker piece about Jurassic ParkThe Weathering Podcas...
2025-10-011h 36Techs on TextsEpisode #14: George Dyson on Childhood's EndI had the pleasure of recording this on-site with George in his Bellingham workshop (a former tavern). I experimented with having Claude write shownotes for this episode, and it proposed this as a "key theme" of our discussion: "The parallels between Clarke's Overlords and modern artificial intelligence as agents of human transformation." This is a pretty remarkable guess given that I only told Claude that the episode was a conversation with George Dyson about Childhood's End. In any event, that is precisely what George and I talk about.We also talk about many other things, including AI...
2025-04-011h 25Techs on TextsEpisode #10: Mark Coatney on A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le GuinMark Coatney, long-suffering digital media pioneer (Time! Newsweek! Tumblr! Al Jazeera!), gets me to finally read a novel by Ursula K. Le Guin and I loved it. Topics include our changing world, what the world is for, preindustrial longing, why we should maybe recognize that media companies are ephemeral things, the pitfalls of power, lame AI, floating orbs of light, humans imitating machines, why humans like things, leaky boats as a metaphor for a lot of software, and the fact that any human power can be changed by human beings – including, possibly, the power contained within ourselves.Ma...
2024-11-261h 31Techs on TextsEpisode #9: Esther Dyson on Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro and Spike Jonze’s HerEsther Dyson, whose bio defies summarization (and who happens to be sister of previous guest George Dyson), discusses Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro and Spike Jonze's Her. We discuss the substance of life, bioethics, why our senses aren't always reliable, institutions and culture, predatory business models, child labor, mortality, building communities, and gardening versus carpentry.A few notes and links related to conversation:Wellville, the nonprofit Esther founded to to achieve long-term, equitable, community wellbeingTwo-phase commit protocolGoogle AI search tells users to glue pizza and eat rocksThe Gardener and the Carpenter by Alison GopnikBetween...
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