Kevin Kelly – AI, Virtual Reality, and The Inevitable
“If somebody else can do it, I am not going to do it.” – Kevin Kelly
Kevin Kelly (@kevin2kelly) is back again and, as I’ve said before, he might be the real-life “Most Interesting Man In The World.”
Kevin is Senior Maverick at Wired Magazine, which he co-founded in 1993. He also co-founded the All Species Foundation, a non-profit aimed at cataloging and identifying every living species on earth. In his spare time, he writes bestselling books, co-founded The Rosetta Project, which is building an archive of all documented human languages, and serves on the board of The Long Now Foundation. As part of the last, he’s investigating how to revive and restore endangered or extinct species, including the Wooly Mammoth.
Kevin’s most recent project is The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future. The praise for the book is incredible, with Marc Andreessen saying it’s, “an automatic must-read.”
In this conversation, we touch on all sorts of things, including:
Stories about Jeff Bezos and his email management approach
Tech literacy
Why there are no “VR experts”
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Network effects
GMOs
And much, much more
If you only have 5 minutes, check out the technology Kevin thinks you should be worried about.
Enjoy!
Listen to it on iTunes.
Stream by clicking here.
Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”
Want to hear my earlier conversations with Kevin Kelly, in which we discuss population implosions, The Long Now Foundation, organizational methods for learning, and much more? — Listen to them here (stream below or right-click to download part 1 | part 2 | part 3):
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QUESTION OF THE DAY: What questions or thoughts do you have about the future of virtual reality (VR) or artificial intelligence (AI)? Please let me know in the comments.
Scroll below for links and show notes…
Selected Links from the Episode
Connect with Kevin Kelly:
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Google+
The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future by Kevin Kelly
Kevin Kelly’s first appearance on The Tim Ferriss Show
Kevin Kelly’s second appearance on The Tim Ferriss Show
Wired Magazine
Learn more about the All Species Foundation
The Rosetta Project
The Long Now Foundation
CES
Fitbit
Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World by Kevin Kelly
Future Shock by Alvin Toffler
Regional Advantage: Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128 by AnnaLee Saxenian
What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry by John Markoff
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo
It’s All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff by Peter Walsh
Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities by Kevin Kelly
The Qur’an
The Essential Rumi
The Sound of One Hand Clapping: 281 Zen Koans with Answers by Yoel Hoffman
Neil Gaiman: Keynote Address 2012 (“Make good art.”)
Voices of VR Podcast
Google Cardboard (free and affordable VR)
Google Cloud Vision
Skynet
Hamilton
Magic Leap (mixed reality)
What’s Next in Computing? by Chris Dixon
The Void
Haptic technology
Teledildonics
Why Volumetric VR Is The Real Future Of Virtual Reality by Daniel Terdiman
Linden Lab (Second Life) Project Sansar
CRISPR creates a way out of regulation for GMO food by Sarah Buhr
Zero Days trailer
Machine learning
Amazon Echo
The History of Japan
Show Notes
Why does Kevin spend so much time in China? [09:31]
How does Kevin see China changing over the next couple of decades? [13:11]
Will Singapore be the next Silicon Valley? [17:18]
Why did Silicon Valley happen on the West Coast of the US instead of the East Coast (and what was its real innovation)? [21:30]
Why does Kevin travel so much (and feel it should be subsidized on a federal level)? [27:07]
How does Jeff Bezos deal with email? [29:22]
How is Kevin’s research librarian currently helping him try to predict the future? [32:38]
How does Kevin decide on his next project to tackle? [37:45]
Tips on decluttering, and why collections should be prominent. [41:09]
How Kevin feels about simplifying life in an increasingly complex world. [43:29]
Kevin draws inspiration from the wisdom of the ages. [47:47]
To what industries should we be paying attention — and what skills should we be picking up — over the next three to five years? [50:13]
Technological downsides that are underappreciated. [52:54]
Three important components to keeping a job (via Neil Gaiman). [56:27]
There are no VR or AI experts (but here’s how you might become one). [59:35]
What is Kevin most excited about right now? [1:04:20]
AI will be as disruptive to our future as the Industrial Revolution was to our past. [1:05:49]
How does Kevin feel about the doomsday prophecies of AI (a la Skynet)? [1:09:15]
Productivity is for robots. [1:10:33]
Science is inefficient. [1:11:19]
Kevin’s most profound VR experience. [1:12:02]
Mixed reality vs. virtual reality [1:14:29]
We’re moving from an Internet of information to an Internet of experiences. [1:18:40]
How far are we from VR sex? [1:20:09]
What technology are people worried about that Kevin thinks they shouldn’t be worried about? [1:24:31]
What technology should we be worried about? [1:25:24]
The three ingredients for AI. [1:31:34]
Kevin’s predictions for AI’s first big wins (and why they probably won’t be thought of as “AI”). [1:33:39]
Does Kevin keep a journal? [1:36:56]
How is Kevin improving himself? [1:38:12]
Why Kevin prefers conversations on Google+ over Facebook. [1:41:56]
People Mentioned
David Pogue
Ernest Cline
Marc Andreessen
Jeff Bezos
Pony Ma
Jack Ma
Alvin Toffler
Michael Jordan
Neil Gaiman
Kent Bye
Mickey Mouse
