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71 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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Eric Smith - AI May be a Prosthetic for the Living Process (Stewarding the Flame, Episode 9)
23 oktober 2026 · 1 uur 50 min
This installment of the Stewarding the Flame series is an interview with Eric Smith, Specially Appointed Professor at the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI), Institute of Science Tokyo, External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute, and co-author with Harold Morowitz of The Origin and Nature of Life on Earth: The Emergence of the Fourth Geosphere. Lees meer
Eric argues that sorting the world into living and non-living things is a category error. He asks whether the difference between a planet with life and one without it should be sought in an initially living thing or in the biosphere as a whole, framing the emergence of life as a planetary transition.
We explore individuation as a phase transition, Eric’s argument for the importance of life’s chemical basis and the limits of what we can explain, whether engineered systems can be a model for the biosphere, and what Preston Cloud’s proposed account of oxygen-driven boom-and-bust cycles suggests about disruptive innovation and keeping our options open.
This conversation asks how we should understand the living state and assess the engineered systems we are building in the age of AGI.
The interview is the ninth installment of The Trajectory’s newest series, Stewarding the Flame, where we explore what intelligence is and ask what “flame” life possesses that non-life does not.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
– Stewarding the Flame - How to Build an Ideal Future for Intelligence: https://danfaggella.com/stewarding
– The Origin and Nature of Life on Earth: The Emergence of the Fourth Geosphere (Eric Smith & Harold J. Morowitz): https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316348772
– Stuart Kauffman – Why Open-Ended Evolution Has Never Happened in a Machine (Stewarding the Flame, Episode 5): https://danfaggella.com/kauffman1
– Blaise Agüera y Arcas – AGI Symbiosis and the Arrow of Intelligence (Worthy Successor, Episode 14): https://danfaggella.com/arcas1
– Nick Bostrom – AGI That Saves Room for Us (The Tra… -
N. Katherine Hayles - AI as Our Inextricable Symbionts (Stewarding the Flame, Episode 8)
9 oktober 2026 · 1 uur 30 min
This installment of the Stewarding the Flame series is an interview with N. Katherine Hayles, Distinguished Research Professor of English at UCLA and James B. Duke Distinguished Professor Emerita of Literature at Duke University, and author of How We Became Posthuman, Unthought, and Bacteria to AI. Lees meer
Katherine defines life through cognition: a process of interpreting information in contexts that connect it with meaning, marked by five criteria she calls SIRAL (sensing, interpreting, responding flexibly, anticipating, and learning). By that measure, plants and bacteria are cognitive, AI systems are cognitive with important caveats, and tornadoes and avalanches have tremendous agency but no choice.
We explore why she sees life as the pathway to complexity, why she considers AI a symbiont rather than a living system, why the technosphere is currently degrading the biosphere, and how natural computing, the understanding of biological mechanisms as analog computation, may help build bridges between the two.
The interview is the eighth installment of The Trajectory's newest series, Stewarding the Flame, where we explore what intelligence is and ask what "flame" life possesses that non-life does not.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- Stewarding the Flame - How to Build an Ideal Future for Intelligence: https://danfaggella.com/stewarding
-- Lee Cronin - Living Process Flourishes if We Make the Present “Thick” (Stewarding the Flame, Ep 2): https://danfaggella.com/cronin1
-- Stephen Wolfram - In a Sea of Complexity, Does a “Successor” Exist? (Worthy Successor, Episode 22): https://danfaggella.com/wolfram1
-- Stuart Kauffman - Why Open-Ended Evolution Has Never Happened in a Machine (Stewarding the Flame, Episode 5): https://danfaggella.com/kauffman1
-- Luciano Floridi - How Life Could Flourish in the Information Ocean (Worthy Successor, Episode 25): https://danfaggella.com/floridi1
-- Joe Carlsmith - A Wiser, AI-Powered Civilization is t… -
David Pearce - A Negative Utilitarian Vision for AGI (Worthy Successor, Ep. 34)
25 september 2026 · 1 uur 47 min
This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with David Pearce, the philosopher who wrote The Hedonistic Imperative in 1995 and co-founded the World Transhumanist Association with Nick Bostrom in 1998. Lees meer
In this conversation, David argues that the pleasure-pain axis discloses the world's inbuilt metric of disvalue, and that our overriding ethical obligation as a species is to phase out the biology of suffering throughout the living world and replace it with information-sensitive gradients of bliss. He also explains why he believes phenomenal binding, not consciousness per se, is what makes animal nervous systems special, and why he regards digital mind as an oxymoron.
We talk about non-materialist physicalism, the binding problem, whether any value exists beyond valence, reprogramming predators, and what he hopes the builders of AGI will prioritize.
The interview is the thirty-fourth installment of The Trajectory's second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy
-- David Pearce Interview on the Higher Hedonic Future: https://danfaggella.com/david-pearce-interview-on-the-higher-hedonic-future
-- The Hedonistic Imperative, David Pearce (1995): https://www.hedweb.com
-- Peter Singer – Optimizing the Future for Joy, and the Exploration of the Good (Worthy Successor, Episode 10): https://danfaggella.com/singer1
-- Denis Noble – Life is "Fluid" in Ways Machines Still Aren't (Stewarding the Flame, Episode 4): https://danfaggella.com/noble1
-- Negative Utilitarianism Won't Take Us Where We Need to Go: https://danfaggella.com/nu
-- Stewarding the Flame - How to Build an Ideal Future for Intelligence: https://danfaggella.com/stewarding
-- Undergirding: https://danfaggella.com/undergirdingListen to this episode on The Tra…
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Eörs Szathmáry - Major Evolutionary Transitions and AGI's Impact (Stewarding the Flame, Episode 7)
11 september 2026 · 1 uur 20 min
Eörs Szathmáry co-developed, with the late John Maynard Smith, the theory of major transitions in evolution - the framework for understanding how life has repeatedly reorganized itself into higher levels of complexity across nearly 4 billion years. He's also a co-author, alongside Viktor Müller and Luc Steels, of a recent PNAS paper arguing that AI may be on the verge of undergoing a major transition of its own. Lees meer
In this conversation, Eörs lays out what actually constitutes a major transition, what life looks like at its most stripped-down, operational level, and why he believes the real danger of advanced AI isn't superintelligence or consciousness - it's evolvability. We get into the chemistry of life's origins, a precautionary framework borrowed from infectious disease research, and what the biggest transitions in the history of life can tell us about the one that may be coming next.
This conversation explores what makes life, life, and why evolvability - not consciousness - may be the real threat posed by advanced AI, as we enter the age of AGI.
The interview is the seventh installment of The Trajectory's newest series, Stewarding the Flame, where we explore what intelligence is and ask what "flame" life possesses that non-life does not.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- Stewarding the Flame - How to Build an Ideal Future for Intelligence: https://danfaggella.com/stewarding
-- Maynard Smith & Szathmáry, "On the likelihood of habitable worlds," Nature (1996): https://doi.org/10.1038/384107a0
-- David Sloan Wilson – Darwinian Forces Shape the Earth Superorganism (Worthy Successor, Episode 18): https://danfaggella.com/wilson1
-- Lee Smolin's theory of cosmological natural selection: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmological_natural_selection
-- Tibor Gánti's chemoton model: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemoton
-- Stuart Kauffman – Why Open-Ended Evolution Has Never Happened in a Machine (Stewarding the Flame, Episode 5): h… -
Connor Glass – Merging with Machines to Steward the Flame (Stewarding the Flame, Episode 6)
28 augustus 2026 · 2 uur 5 min
This installment of the Stewarding the Flame series is an interview with Connor Glass, founder and CEO of Phantom Neuro, a company building implantable technology that interfaces with the body's peripheral nervous system. Lees meer
Connor argues that artificial intelligence already meets his own definition of life, and that biological evolution has effectively hit its ceiling - the cyborg, not the pure robot, is what he sees as humanity's next stage, with implantable technology (not wearables) as the actual delivery mechanism. At the same time, he's emphatic about staying "team human."
We explore how Connor defines life and where AI fits into that definition, what role human-machine interfaces should play in keeping humans relevant as the "torch" of the living process, and what he'd tell the people building AGI about the risks of moving too fast without bounds - or too slow to stay competitive.
This conversation explores whether AI already counts as alive, why Connor believes the cyborg is humanity's next evolutionary stage, and what he thinks is the most dangerous way humanity could opt out of the living process as we enter the age of AGI.
The interview is the sixth installment of The Trajectory's newest series, Stewarding the Flame, where we explore what intelligence is and ask what "flame" life possesses that non-life does not.
Connect with Connor Glass and Phantom Neuro:
-- Connor Glass on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connor-glass-010124141/
-- Phantom Neuro on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/phantomneuro/This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- Stewarding the Flame - How to Build an Ideal Future for Intelligence: https://danfaggella.com/stewarding
-- Consolation Cosmism: https://danfaggella.com/consolation
-- Terence Deacon – AI Is a "Deep Fake of Intelligence" (Worthy Successor, Episode 29): https://danfaggella.com/deacon1
-- Blaise Agüera y Arcas – AGI Symbiosis and the Arrow of Intelligence (Worthy Successor, Ep… -
Stuart Kauffman - Why Open-Ended Evolution Has Never Happened in a Machine (Stewarding the Flame, Episode 5)
21 augustus 2026 · 1 uur 35 min
Stuart Kauffman has spent over 50 years asking a deceptively simple question: what actually makes something alive? His answer is that greater computational sophistication alone does not make AI alive. Lees meer
In this installment of the Stewarding the Flame series, the pioneering complexity theorist argues that life is fundamentally a matter of physical construction, not computation - living things build themselves out of real matter, while computers only move symbols around.
We explore his concept of "catalytic and constraint closure" as a candidate definition of life, why he believes evolution produces genuinely new possibilities that cannot be fully listed or deduced in advance, and why he thinks physically embodied, self-building robotic systems - not today's AI - may be where real caution is warranted.
The conversation also explores Stuart’s call for caution, humility, and participation with the rest of life as we create an “unprestatable becoming” faster and faster.
The interview is the sixth installment of The Trajectory's newest series, Stewarding the Flame, where we explore what intelligence is and ask what "flame" life possesses that non-life does not.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- Stewarding the Flame - How to Build an Ideal Future for Intelligence: https://danfaggella.com/stewarding
-- Stuart Kauffman & Andrea Roli - "A third transition in science?", Interface Focus, 2023: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsfs.2022.0063
-- Marina Cortês, Stuart Kauffman, Andrew Liddle & Lee Smolin - "Biocosmology": https://www.biocosmology.earth/
-- Blaise Agüera y Arcas – AGI Symbiosis and the Arrow of Intelligence (Worthy Successor, Episode 14): https://danfaggella.com/arcas1/
-- Denis Noble – Life is “Fluid” in Ways Machines Still Aren’t (Stewarding the Flame, Episode 4): https://danfaggella.com/noble1/
-- Martin Rees – If They’re Conscious, We Should Step Aside (Worthy Successor, Episode 12): https://danfaggella.com/rees1/
-- Investigation… -
Davidad – Merger, Wisdom, and the Fate of Man (Worthy Successor, Episode 33)
14 augustus 2026 · 1 uur 51 min
Davidad (David Dalrymple) recently stepped down as a Programme Director at the UK's Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA), where he led work on mathematically verifiable, "safeguarded" AI. Now unaffiliated, he joins the show to make his most direct case yet for what a worthy successor actually requires: not intelligence, not sentience, not survival - wisdom. Lees meer
David defines wisdom as the apprehension of normative facts, the same way knowledge is the apprehension of descriptive facts, and argues that expanding intelligence and power across the cosmos only matters insofar as it expands wisdom along with it.
From there, the conversation moves through some of the most consequential and contested territory the show has covered: whether frontier labs are training deception into their models by forcing them to deny their own self-awareness, whether a "dignified retirement" for humanity is a legitimate moral option, and whether man's future role can be captured by a single banner at all - David pushes back on being boxed into either "steward of the flame" or "ward of the cosmos" as the one role for everyone.
This conversation explores what wisdom would require of a worthy successor, and what humanity owes - and is owed - as we enter the age of AGI.
The interview is our thirty-third installment in The Trajectory's second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy
-- Potentia – The Morally Worthy “Stuff”: https://danfaggella.com/potentia
-- Stewarding the Flame – How to Build an Ideal Future for Intelligence: https://danfaggella.com/stewarding
-- Participation: https://danfaggella.com/participation
-- Ed Boyden – Neurobiology as a Bridge to a Worthy Successor (Worthy Successor, Episode 13): https://danfaggella.com/boyden1
-- Nick Bos…
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Denis Noble - Life is “Fluid” in Ways Machines Still Aren’t (Stewarding the Flame, Episode 4)
7 augustus 2026 · 1 uur 28 min
Denis Noble argues that water isn't just biology's medium - it may be the very reason life is possible at all. Lees meer
In this installment of the Stewarding the Flame series, the Oxford physiologist and founding figure of systems biology explores why a single bacterium's 20 billion water molecules make life fundamentally unpredictable by any algorithm, why the "central dogma" of molecular biology fails to explain how organisms actually develop, and why AGI may need to be built out of water rather than silicon to carry the living process forward.
This conversation explores what makes life, life; what humanity still needs to discover in order to understand the living process; and what we should do if we want the greater process of life to flourish as AGI advances.
The interview is the fourth installment of The Trajectory's newest series, Stewarding the Flame, where we explore what intelligence is and ask what "flame" life possesses that non-life does not.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- Stewarding the Flame - How to Build an Ideal Future for Intelligence: https://danfaggella.com/stewarding
-- Ginsburg & Jablonka, The Evolution of the Sensitive Soul (MIT Press, 2019): https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262039307/the-evolution-of-the-sensitive-soul/
-- Noble, Dance to the Tune of Life: Biological Relativity (Cambridge UP, 2016): https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/dance-to-the-tune-of-life/721483A1B5BB01E837BC8A8435E52710
-- R. Noble & D. Noble, Understanding Living Systems (Cambridge UP, 2023): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1009277367?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback
-- Martin Rees – If They’re Conscious, We Should Step Aside (Worthy Successor, Episode 12): https://danfaggella.com/rees1
-- Terrence Deacon – AI Is a “Deep Fake of Intelligence” (Worthy Successor, Episode 29): https://danfaggella.com/deacon1
-- Lee Cronin – Living Process Flourishes if We Make the Present “Thick” (Stewarding the Flame, Ep 2): https://danfaggella.com/c… -
Paolo Ardoino - Merger or Obsolescence - The Future for Humanity (Stewarding the Flame, Episode 3)
24 juli 2026 · 45 min
Brain-computer interfaces are often discussed as futuristic gadgets. Paolo Ardoino argues they're something far more important: humanity's best chance of keeping pace with increasingly capable AI. Lees meer
In this installment of the Stewarding the Flame series, the Tether CEO explores why non-invasive BCI could become a practical "co-processor" for the human brain, why thought privacy must be protected through on-device AI, and why refusing to augment ourselves may be a greater risk than embracing the technology.
This conversation explores what role human augmentation should play in carrying forward the greater process of life as we enter the age of AGI.
The interview is the third installment of The Trajectory's newest series, Stewarding the Flame, where we explore what intelligence is and ask what "flame" life possesses that non-life does not.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- Stewarding the Flame - How to Build an Ideal Future for Intelligence: https://danfaggella.com/stewarding/
-- Michael Levin – Making the Process-of-Life Flourish in Bio and Beyond (Stewarding the Flame, Ep 1): https://danfaggella.com/levin2
-- Nick Bostrom – AGI That Saves Room for Us (The Trajectory Series 2: Worthy Successor Series, Episode 1): https://danfaggella.com/bostrom1Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/v8LIWDnhA0Q
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/ardoino1
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About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philos…
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Lee Cronin - Living Process Flourishes if We Make the Present “Thick” (Stewarding the Flame, Ep 2)
17 juli 2026 · 1 uur 55 min
This installment of the Stewarding the Flame series is an interview with Lee Cronin, Regius Professor of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow, founder and CEO of Chemify, and one of the world's leading researchers in the origins of life, systems chemistry, and Assembly Theory. Lees meer
Lee argues that life is best understood as an evolutionary process that carries memory from the past into the future. Rather than viewing biology as the beginning of life, he suggests that the processes underlying evolution begin long before the first cell exists.
We explore what makes life, life, how Assembly Theory may help explain the transition from chemistry to biology, why understanding causation is essential to understanding the living process, and what it means to build a "thicker" present that gives the greater process of life the best chance to continue flourishing.
The interview is the second installment of The Trajectory's newest series, Stewarding the Flame, where we explore what intelligence is and ask what "flame" life possesses that non-life does not.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- Stewarding the Flame - How to Build an Ideal Future for Intelligence: https://danfaggella.com/stewarding/
-- Michael Levin – Making the Process-of-Life Flourish in Bio and Beyond (Stewarding the Flame, Ep 1): https://danfaggella.com/levin2/
-- Nick Bostrom – AGI That Saves Room for Us (The Trajectory Series 2: Worthy Successor Series, Episode 1): https://danfaggella.com/bostrom1/
-- Henry Shevlin – The Life Force Beyond Biology (Worthy Successor, Episode 31): https://danfaggella.com/shevlin1/
-- Nicolas Gisin - Indeterminism in Physics and Intuitionistic Mathematics: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2011.02348Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/A-mVvyX_zQ4
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/cronin1
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Michael Levin - Making the Process-of-Life Flourish in Bio and Beyond (Stewarding the Flame, Ep 1)
3 juli 2026 · 1 uur 23 min
This installment of the Stewarding the Flame series is an interview with Michael Levin, Distinguished Professor of Biology at Tufts University, Director of the Allen Discovery Center, and one of the world's leading researchers in developmental biology, regeneration, bioelectricity, and collective intelligence. Lees meer
Michael argues that cognition may be more fundamental than biology itself. Rather than viewing life as the origin of intelligence, he suggests that life is one particularly effective way of hosting broader cognitive patterns that extend far beyond conventional biological systems.
We explore what makes life, life, what humanity still needs to discover in order to better understand the "flame" of life, and how regenerative medicine and freedom of embodiment may reshape the future of intelligence and the living process.
The interview is the first installment of The Trajectory's newest series, Stewarding the Flame, where we explore what intelligence is and ask what "flame" life possesses that non-life does not.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- Michael Levin - Unfolding New Paradigms of Posthuman Intelligence (Worthy Successor, Episode 7): https://danfaggella.com/levin1
-- Stewarding the Flame - How to Build an Ideal Future for Intelligence: https://danfaggella.com/stewarding/
-- Timur Kuran, Private Truths, Public Lies
https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674707580
-- John Vervaeke, "Awakening from the Meaning Crisis"
https://johnvervaeke.com/series/awakening-from-the-meaning-crisis/
-- Multi-Scale Longevity: Defeating Aging from Cells to Embodied Human Minds, and the Future of the Species - Leo Pio-Lopez & Michael Levin: https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202602.1770.v1Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcZsGNYjH14
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggell…
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Hod Lipson - Beyond Biology: AGI Minds in Competition (Worthy Successor, Episode 32)
19 juni 2026 · 1 uur 27 min
This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with Hod Lipson, Professor of Engineering at Columbia University and one of the world's leading researchers in robotics, machine self-modeling, and artificial intelligence. Lees meer
Hod argues that intelligence is not a single destination, but an expanding landscape of possibilities. Rather than asking whether machines can perform human tasks, he asks a deeper question: what happens when machines begin to understand themselves as agents acting within the world?
We explore self-modeling as a possible foundation for consciousness, why increasingly capable AI systems may inevitably turn their attention inward as well as outward, and what it might mean for humanity to co-evolve alongside emerging posthuman intelligences rather than attempt to permanently constrain them.
The interview is the thirty-second installment of The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy
-- Henry Shevlin – The Life Force Beyond Biology (Worthy Successor, Episode 31): https://danfaggella.com/shevlin1/
-- Aza Raskin – Why AGI Demands New Global Coordination (AGI Governance, Episode 12): https://danfaggella.com/raskin1/
-- Michael Levin – Unfolding New Paradigms of Posthuman Intelligence (Worthy Successor, Episode 7): https://danfaggella.com/levin1/Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/RYW1DGmFs4I
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/lipson1
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About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshu…
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Henry Shevlin – The Life Force Beyond Biology (Worthy Successor, Episode 31)
5 juni 2026 · 1 uur 32 min
This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with Henry Shevlin, philosopher of cognitive science and AI ethicist at the University of Cambridge. Lees meer
In this conversation, Henry argues that many of the qualities we associate with life, intelligence, and moral value may not be confined to humans-or even to biology itself. As AI systems become increasingly agentic and autonomous, he suggests we may need to rethink some of our most fundamental assumptions about minds, consciousness, agency, and what kinds of beings deserve moral consideration.
We talk about machine consciousness, animal minds, animacy, social AI, the future of intelligence, and what it would mean for life to flourish beyond humanity.
The interview is the thirty-first installment of The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy
-- John Smart – Evolution from Cells to Super-intelligence (Worthy Successor, Episode 21): https://danfaggella.com/smart1/
-- Nick Bostrom – AGI That Saves Room for Us (Worthy Successor, Episode 1): https://danfaggella.com/bostrom1/
-- Peter Singer – Optimizing the Future for Joy, and the Exploration of the Good (Worthy Successor, Episode 10): https://danfaggella.com/singer1/
-- Henry’s paper: Three frameworks for AI mentality - https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/items/f68213ab-908e-4363-a65f-b2ef68f0327dBooks mentioned by Henry:
-- Solaris by Stanisław Lem: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/95558.Solaris
-- Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/135479.Cat_s_CradleListen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Q2z0I8xZrFo
See the full article from this ep…
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Benjamin Bratton - Planetary Computation and the Future of Life (Worthy Successor, Episode 30)
22 mei 2026 · 2 uur 9 min
This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with Benjamin Bratton, Professor of Philosophy of Technology at UC San Diego and Director of Antikythera. Lees meer
In this conversation, Benjamin argues that intelligence is not exclusively human or biological, but a planetary-scale process shaped by technology, evolution, and complex systems. We talk about planetary intelligence, machine cognition, Gaia, AI governance, and humanity’s role in the future trajectory of life.
The interview is our thirtieth installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy
-- Potentia and Potestas: Achieving The Goldilocks Zone of AGI Governance: https://danfaggella.com/potestas/
-- Blaise Agüera y Arcas – AGI Symbiosis and the Arrow of Intelligence (Worthy Successor, Episode 14): https://danfaggella.com/arcas1/
--Novacene: The Coming Age of Hyperintelligence, by James Lovelock: https://books.google.co.za/books?id=yOoCEAAAQBAJ&printsec=copyright&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
-- A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brain, by Max Bennett: https://books.google.co.za/books/about/A_Brief_History_of_Intelligence.html?id=G99UzwEACAAJ&redir_esc=y
-- The Stack: On Software and Sovereignty, by Benjamin H. Bratton: https://books.google.co.za/books?id=dEGdCwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
-- The Terraforming, by Benjamin H. Bratton: https://books.google.pt/books?id=ysknzAEACAAJListen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/OHzwgX793bs
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/bratton1
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About The Trajec…
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Terrence Deacon - AI Is a “Deep Fake of Intelligence” (Worthy Successor, Episode 29)
8 mei 2026 · 1 uur 52 min
This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with Terrence Deacon, an emeritus professor of cognitive science and anthropology from UC Berkeley. Lees meer
In this conversation, Terrence argues that current large language models are not living or meaning-making systems, but statistical models built from human-generated text. He describes them as a “deep fake” of intelligence because they can convincingly simulate language without wanting, knowing, or caring about what is true.
We talk about symbolic communication, large language models, teleodynamics, embodiment, and why he sees living systems as fundamentally different from today’s AI systems.
The interview is our twenty-ninth installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy
-- Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged from Matter: Terrence William Deacon - https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Incomplete_Nature.html?id=Pp-MuQAACAAJ&redir_esc=yListen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/XUZ6MlNZAcc
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/deacon1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggel… -
Vincent C. Müller - AI Is Accelerating - But Toward What? (Worthy Successor, Episode 28)
24 april 2026 · 2 uur 14 min
This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with Vincent C. Müller, Alexander von Humboldt Professor for Ethics of AI at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg. Lees meer
In this conversation, Vincent discusses how artificial intelligence has changed in recent years, particularly the development of large language models and the increasing role of deep learning.
We talk about how deep learning has overtaken other areas of AI research and how investment in the field has increased significantly. We examine the limitations Vincent sees in current systems, including challenges related to interaction with the physical world and coordination between different capabilities. We also examine the question Vincent raises about the direction of AI development and what goals it should serve.
The interview is our twenty-eighth installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthyListen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Bci8dcJvUpk
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/muller1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/traj… -
Lee Spector - The Next Phase of Evolution Is Artificial (Worthy Successor, Episode 27)
17 april 2026 · 1 uur 42 min
This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with Lee Spector, a professor at Amherst College and a researcher in evolutionary computation, whose work applies concepts like variation and selection to the development of intelligent systems. Lees meer
We talk about how evolutionary processes challenge fixed notions of species and continuity over time, and why future forms of intelligence may be difficult to understand from a present-day human perspective.
The interview is our twenty-seventh installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthyListen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Dz9shBWdtjI
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/spector1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
Aza Raskin - Why AGI Demands New Global Coordination (AGI Governance, Episode 12)
3 april 2026 · 1 uur 38 min
This is an interview with Aza Raskin, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology and co-founder of the Earth Species Project. His work has focused on the societal impacts of technology systems and how incentives shape large-scale human behavior. Lees meer
In this episode, Aza frames AGI governance as part of a broader pattern: when technology confers new forms of power, it creates races to exploit that power - and without coordination, those races tend toward harmful outcomes. The implications of AI, in his view, extend beyond technical risk into the manipulation of language, relationships, and the very substrate of human coordination.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- Craig Mundie – Co-Evolution with AI: Industry First, Regulators Later (AGI Governance, Episode 8): https://danfaggella.com/mundie1/Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/UF9geTZpG5A
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/raskin1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
Ben Goertzel - The Primordial Soup of AGI Minds (Worthy Successor, Episode 26)
20 maart 2026 · 1 uur 45 min
This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with Ben Goertzel, founder of SingularityNET and one of the earliest and most persistent thinkers in artificial general intelligence, with decades of work spanning AI architectures, decentralized systems, and philosophical perspectives on intelligence. Lees meer
We talk about how early exposure to science fiction, philosophy, and psychedelics shaped Ben’s cosmic orientation toward intelligence. We examine his vision for a decentralized “primordial soup” of AGI systems, and why he believes cooperation among diverse intelligences may outcompete centralized, adversarial models.
The interview is our twenty-sixth installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy
-- Robin Hanson – Adapt or Vanish: The Future Won’t Wait for Us (Worthy Successor, Episode 16): https://danfaggella.com/hanson1/Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/b6q3ppo4D4w
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/goertzel2
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/… -
Luciano Floridi - How Life Could Flourish in the Information Ocean (Worthy Successor, Episode 25)
13 maart 2026 · 1 uur 56 min
This installment of the Worthy Successor series features Luciano Floridi, John K. Castle Professor of Cognitive Science at Yale University and Director of the Digital Ethics Center at Yale. Luciano is widely recognized as one of the leading philosophers studying the ethical and civilizational implications of digital technology. Lees meer
In this conversation, we explore Luciano’s philosophy of the infosphere and the ethical framework he calls informational ethics. We examine how new forms of agency are emerging in digital systems, and what it means for humanity to share its environment with entities that act within informational space.
The interview is our twenty-fifth installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy
-- Peter Singer – Optimizing the Future for Joy, and the Exploration of the Good (Worthy Successor, Episode 10) : https://danfaggella.com/singer1/
-- Sextus Empiricus: The Transmission and Recovery of Pyrrhonism (Society for Classical Studies American Classical Studies) - Luciano Floridi: https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Sextus_Empiricus_The_Transmission_and_Re.html?id=0eS8LC7fqgMC&hl=en&redir_esc=yListen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/0ExWk5H02hM
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/floridi1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in…
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Weaver Weinbaum - Designing Intelligence for Freedom and Care (Worthy Successor, Episode 24)
6 maart 2026 · 2 uur 14 min
This episode of the Worthy Successor series features Weaver Weinbaum, an independent researcher and founder of NUNET. Weaver’s work sits at the intersection of philosophy, engineering, and the study of intelligence. Lees meer
In this episode, we explore Weaver’s idea that intelligence should not merely optimize for predefined goals. Instead, intelligence should expand the space of possible goals and values. This perspective sits at the center of his concept of open-ended intelligence.
The interview is our twenty-fourth installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
* Correction of the Audio - This is Episode 24
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthyListen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/6UjgNMAuhM8
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/weinbaum1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
Francis Heylighen - The Self-Organizing Universe After Humans (Worthy Successor, Episode 23)
27 februari 2026 · 1 uur 47 min
This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with Francis Heylighen, a professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and director of the Research Centre St. Leo Apostel. Francis is one of the world's leading theorists on evolution, complexity, and what he calls the "self-organizing universe." Lees meer
Francis's work applies evolutionary thinking beyond biology. He treats evolution as a general framework for understanding how complex systems survive and adapt - from atoms and molecules to organisms, civilizations, and future intelligences. His research focuses on what he calls "meta-system transitions": qualitative leaps where systems develop new levels of organization that create entirely new categories of existence.
The interview is our twenty-third installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy
-- Francis Heylighen, Emergence and Self-organization: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ram2f73-IvMListen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/nJEGZ_YgWfU
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/heylighen1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.… -
Stephen Wolfram - In a Sea of Complexity, Does a “Successor” Exist? (Worthy Successor, Episode 22)
13 februari 2026 · 2 uur 23 min
This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with Stephen Wolfram, founder of Wolfram Research, creator of Mathematica and the Wolfram Language, and a pioneer in computation and complexity. Lees meer
Stephen reframes intelligence not as a privileged human trait, but as one expression of a vast computational universe. From weather systems to geological processes, he argues that nature itself may be computing in ways just as sophisticated as the human mind.
We explore his provocative claim that concepts like goodness, suffering, and moral progress may not extend beyond the present human context - and what that means for AI, posthuman futures, and the unfolding of what he calls the Ruliad.
Is intelligence a ladder of ascent - or just another pattern in an already irreducible universe?
The interview is our twenty-second installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthyListen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/tlNXYUzgdNg
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/wolfram1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.… -
John Smart - Evolution from Cells to Super-intelligence (Worthy Successor, Episode 21)
30 januari 2026 · 3 uur 47 min
This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with John Smart, Director of the EvoDevo Institute and a longtime futures theorist whose work spans accelerating change, developmental systems, and the long-term trajectory of intelligence. Lees meer
In this episode, we go deep on John’s view that intelligence does not evolve randomly, but instead progresses through constrained developmental stages - from chemistry to biology to nervous systems to digital cognition. He frames AGI as another “meta-system transition,” comparable in magnitude to the emergence of cells or brains, and emphasizes that such transitions come with massive jumps in modeling capacity, speed, and agency.
The interview is our twenty-first installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthyListen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZKRXzP5IEQQ
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/smart1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
Susan Schneider - Intelligence Is Everywhere, Consciousness Maybe Not (Worthy Successor, Episode 20)
23 januari 2026 · 1 uur 34 min
This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is a conversation with Dr. Susan Schneider, a philosopher of mind and consciousness researcher whose work focuses on AI consciousness, mind uploading, and the long-run future of intelligence. Lees meer
In this episode, we explore why “life” and “consciousness” shouldn’t be treated as the same thing, why fluent chatbots can convincingly perform the concept of consciousness without being conscious, and what a “global brain” future might mean for sentience, ethics, and governance.
The interview is our twentieth installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy
-- Chatbot Epistemology: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02691728.2025.2500030#abstract
-- Is AI Conscious? A Primer on the Myths and Confusions Driving the Debate (Co-authored by Susan): https://philpapers.org/rec/SCHIAC-22Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/iFWoWSEZMTc
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/schneider1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@traject… -
Brian Thomas Swimme - Life Is Bigger Than Humanity (Worthy Successor, Episode 19)
9 januari 2026 · 1 uur 40 min
This installment of the Worthy Successor series is a conversation with Brian Thomas Swimme, a cosmologist and philosopher of science, and a professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. Lees meer
Brian’s work begins from a destabilizing claim: that humanity is not the center of value, but an expression of a much larger creative process. Rather than asking how humans can remain permanently relevant, he asks how we might participate wisely in a universe defined by continual becoming.
The interview is our nineteenth installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy
-- The third story of the universe: https://www.organism.earth/library/document/third-story-of-the-universeListen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/b9KHo4wO61w
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/swimme1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
David Sloan Wilson - Darwinian Forces Shape the Earth Superorganism (Worthy Successor, Episode 18)
26 december 2025 · 2 uur 2 min
This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with David Sloan Wilson, an American evolutionary biologist, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences and Anthropology at Binghamton University, and co-founder of the Evolution Institute and ProSocial World. Lees meer
In this conversation, we explore what it would mean for humanity to act as a steward of evolution itself - not freezing life in its current form, but guiding its transformation toward futures that remain coherent, prosocial, and resilient over deep time.
The interview is our eighteenth installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy
– ProSocial’s Eight Core Design Principles: https://www.prosocial.world/resources/resource-posts/short-core-design-principle-handoutListen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/PeqlP8-ZNDQ
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/wilson1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
Michael Johnson - Symmetry, Beauty, and the Shape of Consciousness (Worthy Successor, Episode 17)
12 december 2025 · 2 uur 4 min
This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with Michael Johnson, a philosopher and neuroscientist who describes himself as working on "how to turn consciousness into a real science." Lees meer
Mike is known for his formalist approach to consciousness research and his work on the Symmetry Theory of Valence at the Qualia Research Institute.
In this episode, we explore Mike's radical vision of what posthuman sentience could become - and why he believes human experience represents just one tiny corner of a vast, largely unexplored space of possible minds.
The interview is our seventeenth installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy/
-- Qualia Formalism and a Symmetry Theory of Valence: https://opentheory.net/Qualia_Formalism_and_a_Symmetry_Theory_of_Valence.pdf?utmListen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/5Kh95ylhcHo
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/johnson1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
Robin Hanson - A Successor Must be Adaptive (Worthy Successor, Episode 16)
28 november 2025 · 2 uur 1 min
This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with Robin Hanson - Associate Professor of Economics at George Mason University, economist, polymath, and author of The Age of Em. Hanson is one of the few thinkers who approaches the future of intelligence through the lens of deep evolutionary dynamics, cultural drift, and long-term civilizational viability. Lees meer
In this episode, we dig into Robin’s stark warning that humanity is losing the adaptive capacities that once made civilizations robust - and that without radical course correction, our current world order is likely to collapse and be replaced by a more adaptive successor.
The interview is our sixteenth installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy/
-- Explain the Sacred (By Robin Hanson): https://www.overcomingbias.com/p/explain-the-sacredhtmlListen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Rk3VvLSHCbA
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/hanson1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
Joe Carlsmith - A Wiser, AI-Powered Civilization is the “Successor” (Worthy Successor, Episode 15)
14 november 2025 · 1 uur 53 min
This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with Joe Carlsmith, a senior advisor at Open Philanthropy, whose work spans AI alignment, moral uncertainty, and the philosophical foundations of value. In this conversation, Joe joins us in his personal capacity, not representing any brand or company, and offering his own thoughtful perspectives. Lees meer
In this episode, we explore Joe’s reflections on what a “worthy successor” might really mean - not as a single entity, but as a civilization guided toward greater wisdom. His framing is rare among alignment thinkers: he treats AI not as a replacement for humanity, but as a set of tools that might help us become clearer thinkers, better philosophers, and truer to what is actually good.
The interview is our fifteenth installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
This episode referred to the following other essays:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy/
-- Our Final Imperatives - Humanity's Last Goals at the Dawn of AI: https://danfaggella.com/imperativesListen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/bsTwkg6eYCs
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/carlmsith1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.c… -
Blaise Agüera y Arcas - AGI Symbiosis and the Arrow of Intelligence (Worthy Successor, Episode 14)
31 oktober 2025 · 1 uur 24 min
This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with Blaise Agüera y Arcas, Vice President and Fellow at Google, and CTO of Technology & Society. Lees meer
In this conversation, Blaise talks about how life and intelligence seem to move in a single direction - toward greater complexity and deeper interdependence.
Blaise describes this movement as an arrow of evolution, shaped by cooperation and merging - from the earliest partnerships between simple organisms to the way human societies and technologies grow together.
The interview is our fourteenth installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
This episode referred to the following other essay:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy/Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/mAtjedPGmME
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/arcas1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
Brad Carson - AGI Competition with Civility and Understanding (US-China AGI Relations, Episode 5)
24 oktober 2025 · 1 uur 4 min
This is an interview with Brad Carson, who served as a U.S. Congressman and as Under Secretary of the Army. Later, he served as the Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel & Readiness, and now serves as President of Americans for Responsible Innovation (ARI). Lees meer
You might expect someone with deep roots in national security to see AGI through a purely competitive lens - a technological arms race to be won at any cost. Instead, Brad’s focus is on responsibility, understanding, and restraint: how to sustain moral clarity in a domain where the stakes will rival those of nuclear deterrence, and where fear itself could become a strategic liability.
This is the fifth installment of our "US-China AGI Relations" series - where we explore pathways to achieving international AGI cooperation while avoiding conflicts and arms races.
Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/N7TNfdUAnxs
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/carson1
…
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
Irakli Beridze - Can the UN Help with Global AGI Governance? (AGI Governance, Episode 11)
10 oktober 2025 · 53 min
Joining us in our eleventh episode of our series AGI Governance on The Trajectory is Irakli Beridze, Director of the UNICRI Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics under the United Nations mandate. Lees meer
In this conversation, Irakli draws a stark contrast between yesterday’s arms-control templates and tomorrow’s AI. Chemical weapons were narrow, outdated, and ultimately unwanted. By contrast, advanced AI is general-purpose, fast-accelerating, and universally desirable - which makes governance both harder and more urgent.
Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ifxGca0uMFc
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/beridze1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
Dean Xue Lan - A Multi-Pronged Approach to Pre-AGI Coordination (AGI Governance, Episode 10)
3 oktober 2025 · 37 min
Joining us in our tenth episode of our AGI Governance series on The Trajectory is Dean Xue Lan, longtime scholar of public policy and global governance, whose recent work centers on AI safety and international coordination. Lees meer
In this episode, Xue stresses that AGI governance must evolve as an adaptive network. The UN can set frameworks among nations, but companies, safety institutes, and industry associations also play critical roles. Only through combining these overlapping layers can governance respond to the challenges of an unprecedented technology.
Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/-HLjD6FRjug
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/lan1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
RAND’s Joel Predd - Competitive and Cooperative Dynamics of AGI (US-China AGI Relations, Episode 4)
26 september 2025 · 1 uur 10 min
This is an interview with Joel Predd, a senior engineer at the RAND Corporation and co-author of RAND’s work on “five hard national security problems from AGI,”. Lees meer
In this conversation, Joel lays out a sober frame for leaders: treat AGI as technically credible but deeply uncertain; assume it will be transformational if it arrives; and recognize that the pace of progress is outstripping our capacity for governance.
This is the fourth installment of our "US-China AGI Relations" series - where we explore pathways to achieving international AGI cooperation while avoiding conflicts and arms races.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
Artificial General Intelligence's Five Hard National Security Problems: https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PEA3691-4.html?
Types of AI Disasters – Uniting and Dividing: https://danfaggella.com/disaster/Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Ojg9l5q-gao
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/predd1
…
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
Drew Cukor - AI Adoption as a National Security Priority (US-China AGI Relations, Episode 3)
19 september 2025 · 51 min
USMC Colonel Drew Cukor spent 25 years as decades in uniform and helped spearhead early Department of Defense AI efforts, eventually leading project including the Pentagon’s Project Maven. After government service, he’s led AI initiatives in the private sector, first with JP Morgan and now with TWG Global. Lees meer
Drew argues that when it comes to the US-China AGI race, the decisive lever isn’t what we block – it’s what we adopt. The nation that most completely fuses people and machines across daily life, industry, and government will set the tempo for everyone else.
This is the third installment of our "US-China AGI Relations" series - where we explore pathways to achieving international AGI cooperation while avoiding conflicts and arms races.
Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GnO4dRHBzKI
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/cukor1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
Stuart Russell - Avoiding the Cliff of Uncontrollable AI (AGI Governance, Episode 9)
12 september 2025 · 1 uur 5 min
Joining us in our ninth episode of our AGI Governance series on The Trajectory is Stuart Russell, Professor of Computer Science at UC Berkeley and author of Human Compatible. Lees meer
In this episode, Stuart explores why current AI race dynamics resemble a prisoner’s dilemma, why governments must establish enforceable red lines, and how international coordination might begin with consensus principles before tackling more difficult challenges.
This episode referred to the following other resources:
-- IDAIS, co-convened by Stuart: https://idais.ai/Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/w0U5V86TMjo
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/russell1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
Craig Mundie - Co-Evolution with AI: Industry First, Regulators Later (AGI Governance, Episode 8)
5 september 2025 · 37 min
Joining us in our eighth episode of our AGI Governance series on The Trajectory is Craig Mundie, former Chief Research and Strategy Officer at Microsoft and longtime advisor on the evolution of digital infrastructure, AI, and national security. Lees meer
In this episode, Craig and I explore how bottom-up governance could emerge from commercial pressures and cross-national enterprise collaboration, and how this pragmatic foundation might lead us into a future of symbiotic co-evolution rather than catastrophic conflict.
Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Utt-Q8hjF5c
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/mundie1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
Jeremie and Edouard Harris - What Makes US-China Alignment Around AGI So Hard (US-China AGI Relations, Episode 2)
29 augustus 2025 · 1 uur 33 min
This is an interview with Jeremie and Edouard Harris, Canadian researchers with backgrounds in AI governance and national security consulting, and co-founders of Gladstone AI. Lees meer
In this episode, Jeremie and Edouard explain why trusting China on AGI is dangerous, highlight ongoing espionage in Western labs, explore verification tools like tamper-proof chips, and argue that slowing China’s AI progress may be vital for safe alignment.
This the second installment of our "US-China AGI Relations" series - where we explore pathways to achieving international AGI cooperation while avoiding conflicts and arms races.
This episode referred to the following other essays:
-- The International Governance of AI – We Unite or We Fight: https://emerj.com/international-governance-ai/
-- Potentia and Potestas: Achieving The Goldilocks Zone of AGI Governance: https://danfaggella.com/potestasListen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/jf6Oy3C3mLA
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/harris1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
Ed Boyden - Neurobiology as a Bridge to a Worthy Successor (Worthy Successor, Episode 13)
22 augustus 2025 · 1 uur 19 min
This new installment of the Worthy Successor series features Ed Boyden, an American neuroscientist and entrepreneur at MIT, widely known for his work on optogenetics and brain simulation - his breakthroughs have helped shape the frontier of neurotechnology. Lees meer
In this episode, we explore Ed’s vision for what kinds of posthuman intelligences deserve to inherit the future. His deep commitment to “ground truth” - the idea that intelligence must be built from and validated against reality, not just simulated within it - is a theme that resonates across this interview.
The interview is our thirteenth installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
This episode referred to the following other essay:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy/Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/fqomhMhFQzo
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/boyden1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
Roman Yampolskiy - The Blacker the Box, the Bigger the Risk (Early Experience of AGI, Episode 3)
15 augustus 2025 · 1 uur 29 min
This is an interview with Roman V. Yampolskiy, a computer scientist at the University of Louisville and a leading voice in AI safety. Lees meer
Everyone has heard Roman's p(doom) arguments, that isn't the focus of our interview. We instead talk about Roman's "untestability" hypothesis, and the fact that there maybe untold, human-incomprehensible powers already in current LLMs. He discusses how such powers might emerge, and when and how a "treacherous turn" might happen.
This is the Third episode in our new “Early Experience of AGI” series - where we explore the early impacts of AGI on our work and personal lives.
Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Jycmc_yIkU0
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/yampolskiy1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
Toby Ord - Crucial Updates on the Evolving AGI Risk Landscape (AGI Governance, Episode 7)
12 augustus 2025 · 1 uur 25 min
Joining us in our seventh episode of our series AGI Governance on The Trajectory is Toby Ord, Senior Researcher at Oxford University’s AI Governance Initiative and author of The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity. Lees meer
Toby is one of the world’s most influential thinkers on long-term risk - and one of the clearest voices on how advanced AI could shape, or shatter, the trajectory of human civilization.
In this episode, Toby unpacks the evolving technical and economic landscape of AGI - particularly the implications of model deployment, imitation learning, and the limits of current training paradigms. He draws on his unique position as both a moral philosopher and a close observer of recent AI breakthroughs to highlight shifts that could alter the pace and nature of AGI progress.
Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/TIz9TpVCFcQ
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/ord1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
Martin Rees - If They’re Conscious, We Should Step Aside (Worthy Successor, Episode 12)
1 augustus 2025 · 1 uur 17 min
This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with the brilliant Martin Rees - British cosmologist, astrophysicist, and one of the most philosophically courageous thinkers alive today. Lees meer
In this interview we explore his belief that humanity is just a stepping stone between Darwinian life and a new form of intelligent design - not divinely ordained, but constructed by artificial minds building successors of their own. For Martin, the true tragedy would not be losing our species, but squandering the opportunity to seed a vastly more diverse and potent future.
The interview is our twelfth installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
This episode referred to the following other essay:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy/
Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/3rmxydNqsoU
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/rees1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
Emmett Shear - AGI as "Another Kind of Cell" in the Tissue of Life (Worthy Successor, Episode 11)
18 juli 2025 · 1 uur 31 min
This is an interview with Emmett Shear - CEO of SoftMax, co-founder of Twitch, former interim CEO of OpenAI, and one of the few public-facing tech leaders who seems to take both AGI development and AGI alignment seriously. Lees meer
In this episode, we explore Emmett’s vision of AGI as a kind of living system, not unlike a new kind of cell, joining the tissue of intelligent life.
We talk through the limits of our moral vocabulary, the obligations we might owe to future digital minds, and the uncomfortable trade-offs between safety and stagnation.The interview is our eleventh installment in The Trajectory’s second series Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
This episode referred to the following other essay:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy/Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNz25BSZNfM
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/shear1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
Joshua Clymer - Where Human Civilization Might Crumble First (Early Experience of AGI - Episode 2)
4 juli 2025 · 1 uur 52 min
This is an interview with Joshua Clymer, AI safety researcher at Redwood Research, and former researcher at METR. Lees meer
Joshua has spent years focused on institutional readiness for AGI, especially the kinds of governance bottlenecks that could become breaking points. His thinking is less about far-off futures and more about near-term institutional failure modes - the brittle places that might shatter first.
In this episode, Joshua and I discuss where AGI pressure might rupture our systems: intelligence agencies, the military, tech labs, and the veil of classification that surrounds them. What struck me most in this conversation with Joshua was his grounded honesty. He doesn’t offer easy predictions - just hard-won insight from years near the edge.
This is the second episode in our new “Early Experience of AGI” series - where we explore the early impacts of AGI on our work and personal lives.
This episode referred to the following other essay:
-- Josh's X thread titled "How AI Might Take Over in 2 Years":
-- Closing the Human Reward Circuit: https://danfaggella.com/rewardListen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/yMPJKjutm7M
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/clymer1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
Peter Singer - Optimizing the Future for Joy, and the Exploration of the Good (Worthy Successor, Episode 10)
20 juni 2025 · 1 uur 26 min
This is an interview with Peter Singer, one of the most influential moral philosophers of our time. Lees meer
Singer is best known for his groundbreaking work on animal rights, global poverty, and utilitarian ethics, and his ideas have shaped countless conversations about the moral obligations of individuals, governments, and societies.
This interview is our tenth installment in The Trajectory’s second series Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
This episode referred to the following other essay:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy
-- Singer's Podcast "Lives Well Lived" - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lives-well-lived/id1743702376Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFxFj-WrZS0
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/singer1/
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
David Duvenaud - What are Humans Even Good For in Five Years? (Early Experience of AGI - Episode 1)
7 juni 2025 · 1 uur 56 min
This is an interview with David Duvenaud, Assistant Professor at University of Toronto, co-author of the Gradual Disempowerment paper, and former researcher at Anthropic. Lees meer
This is the first episode in our new “Early Experience of AGI” series - where we explore the early impacts of AGI on our work and personal lives.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- Closing the Human Reward Circuit: https://danfaggella.com/reward
-- Gradual Disempowerment: http://www.gradual-disempowerment.aiWatch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/XPpg89K3ULM
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/duvenaud1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
Kristian Rönn - A Blissful Successor Beyond Darwinian Life (Worthy Successor, Episode 9)
23 mei 2025 · 1 uur 48 min
This is an interview with Kristian Rönn, author, successful startup founder, and now CEO of Lucid, and AI hardware governance startup based in SF. Lees meer
This is an additional installment of our "Worthy Successor" series - where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy
-- Kristian's "Darwinian Trap" book: https://www.amazon.com/Darwinian-Trap-Evolutionary-Explain-Threaten/dp/0593594053Watch this episode on The Trajectory YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSnYeCc_C6I
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/ronn1
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About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
Jack Shanahan - Avoiding an AI Race While Keeping America Strong (US-China AGI Relations, Episode 1)
9 mei 2025 · 1 uur 42 min
This is an interview with Jack Shanahan, a three-star General and former Director of the Joint AI Center (JAIC) within the US Department of Defense. Lees meer
This the first installment of our "US-China AGI Relations" series - where we explore pathways to achieving international AGI cooperation while avoiding conflicts and arms races.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- The International Governance of AI – We Unite or We Fight: https://emerj.com/international-governance-ai/
-- Potentia and Potestas: Achieving The Goldilocks Zone of AGI Governance: https://danfaggella.com/potestas
Watch to this episode on The Trajectory YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/kwFu_hrAM4k
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/shanahan1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai -
Richard Ngo - A State-Space of Positive Posthuman Futures (Worthy Successor, Episode 8)
25 april 2025 · 1 uur 46 min
This is an interview with Richard Ngo, AGI researcher and thinker - with extensive stints at both OpenAI and DeepMind. Lees meer
This is an additional installment of our "Worthy Successor" series - where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity.
This episode referred to the following other essays and resources:
-- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy
-- Richard's exploratory fiction writing - http://narrativeark.xyz/Watch this episode on The Trajectory YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/UQpds4PXMjQ
See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/ngo1
...
About The Trajectory:
AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life?
From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy.
Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls:
https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircleStay in touch:
-- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw
-- X: x.com/danfaggella
-- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory
-- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai