Adam Alonzi Reads Death is Wrong by Gennady Stolyarov II

In this podcast I read Death is Wrong by Gennady Stolyarov II. A number of people have recommend or requested I record myself reading. Enjoy.   

From the book's Amazon page:

If you have ever asked, "Why do people have to die?" then this book is for you. The answer is that no, death is not necessary, inevitable, or good. In fact, death is wrong. Death is the enemy of us all, to be fought with medicine, science, and technology. This book introduces you to the greatest, most challenging, most revolutionary movement to radically extend human lifespans so that you might not have to die at all. You will learn about some amazingly long-lived plants and animals, recent scientific discoveries that point the way toward lengthening lifespans in humans, and simple, powerful arguments that can overcome the common excuses for death. If you have ever thought that death is unjust and should be defeated, you are not alone. Read this book, and become part of the most important quest in human history. This book was written by the philosopher and futurist Gennady Stolyarov II and illustrated by the artist Wendy Stolyarov. It is here to show you that, no matter who you are and what you can do, there is always a way for you to help in humanity’s struggle against death. "I thought the book was fun to read and important in what it tries to accomplish." - Zoltan Istvan, Psychology Today

About Gennady Stolyarov II:

Gennady Stolyarov II (G. Stolyarov II) is an actuary, science-fiction novelist, independent philosophical essayist, poet, amateur mathematician, composer, and Editor-in-Chief of The Rational Argumentator, a magazine championing the principles of reason, rights, and progress. Mr. Stolyarov regularly produces YouTube Videos discussing life extension, libertarianism, and related subjects.

In December 2013, Mr. Stolyarov published Death is Wrong, an ambitious children’s book on life extension, illustrated by his wife Wendy Stolyarov. Death is Wrong can be found on Amazon inpaperback and Kindle formats, and can also be freely downloaded in PDF in the English,Russian, and Spanish languages.

Mr. Stolyarov has contributed articles to the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET),The Wave Chronicle, Le Québécois Libre, Brighter Brains Institute, Immortal Life, Enter Stage Right,  Rebirth of Reason, The Liberal Institute, and the Ludwig von Mises Institute.

Mr. Stolyarov holds the professional insurance designations of Associate of the Society of Actuaries (ASA), Associate of the Casualty Actuarial Society (ACAS), Member of the American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA), Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Associate in Reinsurance (ARe), Associate in Regulation and Compliance (ARC), Associate in Personal Insurance (API), Associate in Insurance Services (AIS), Accredited Insurance Examiner (AIE), and Associate in Insurance Accounting and Finance (AIAF).

Mr. Stolyarov has written a science fiction novel, Eden against the Colossus, a philosophical treatise, A Rational Cosmology,  a play, Implied Consent, and a free self-help treatise, The Best Self-Help is Free.

In an effort to assist the spread of rational ideas, Mr. Stolyarov published his articles on Associated Content (subsequently the Yahoo! Contributor Network and Yahoo! Voices) from 2007 until Yahoo! closed this venue in 2014. Mr. Stolyarov held the highest Clout Level (10) possible on the Yahoo! Contributor Network and was one of its Page View Millionaires, with over 3,191,000 views. Mr. Stolyarov’s selected writings from that era have been preserved on this page.

 Mr. Stolyarov can be contacted at gennadystolyarovii@gmail.com.

A Model of Learning: A Talk with Barry Kort

A link to the model discussed in the podcast. 

Barry Kort's biography:

I am a (now retired) Visiting Scientist at the MIT Media Lab in the Affective Computing Research Group . My long-term field of research is the Role of Emotions in Learning . I am currently working on the role of StoryCraft as a traditional method of learning.

I am also a (now retired) volunteer science educator in the Discovery Spaces at the Boston Museum of Science .

My other affiliations include the Institute for Intelligent Systems at the University of Memphis and the School of Communication and Journalism at Utah State University where I assist in the curriculum in Online Journalism .

I was formerly a Visiting Scientist in the Educational Technology Research Group at BBN Systems and Technologies. Additional professional background information can be found here .

Some of my other research interests include puzzlecraft, building online communities, and the functional characteristics of rule-driven systems.

Curriculum Vita:

BSEE With High Distinction, University of Nebraska at Lincoln, 1968

MSEE Stanford University, 1969

Ph.D. Systems Theory, Stanford University, 1976

Distinguished Member of Technical Staff in the Network Planning Division of AT&T Bell Labs 1968-1987

Lead Scientist in the Network Center of MITRE, 1987-1990

Visiting Scientist in Educational Technology Research, BBN Systems and Technologies, 1990-1999

Visiting Scientist in the Affective Computing Research Group at the MIT Media Lab, 1999-2008

Volunteer Science Educator at Boston Museum of Science, 1987-2013

Retired, 2014-Present

Artificial Intuition: A Talk with Monica Anderson

Monica Anderson is CTO and co-founder of Sensai Corporation and founder of Syntience Inc. She has created Industrial grade Model Based (programmed) AI systems for decades but insists that the path to human-like Understanding Machines requires adopting "Model Free Methods" where ALL Models of the Problem Domain are created by the system itself (through learning) instead of relying on limited (and limiting) Models created by programmers. She explains her approach using terms like "Connectome Algorithms", "Artificial Intuition", "Understanding Machines" and "Epistemological AI". She worked for Cisco until 1994 and Google until 2006 and in other companies focused on Natural Language Processing, Document Classification, Web Search, Neural Networks, and Deep Learning. She organized the (SF) Bay Area AI MeetUp for 115 MeetUps over 5 years. Monica Anderson is CTO and co-founder of Sensai Corporation and founder of Syntience Inc. She has created Industrial grade Model Based (programmed) AI systems for decades but insists that the path to human-like Understanding Machines requires adopting "Model Free Methods" where ALL Models of the Problem Domain are created by the system itself (through learning) instead of relying on limited (and limiting) Models created by programmers. She explains her approach using terms like "Connectome Algorithms", "Artificial Intuition", "Understanding Machines" and "Epistemological AI". She worked for Cisco until 1994 and Google until 2006 and in other companies focused on Natural Language Processing, Document Classification, Web Search, Neural Networks, and Deep Learning. She organized the (SF) Bay Area AI MeetUp for 115 MeetUps over 5 years. 

The Foundations of Logic: Sigurd Vojnov and Matthew Craig

 Here I speak with the beloved father figure of the Foundations of Logic about paradoxes and his budding organization. From their website: 

Welcome to the Foundations of Logic!  In its present form, the Foundation is an umbrella over many Facebook groups dedicated to the idea that when you bring a large enough variety of diverse individuals together amazing things can happen!  The Foundation is a kind of loosely organized chaos and we want to keep it that way!  If you're new to the Foundation, we ask that you join the original Foundations of Logic Facebook group --the place where it all began.  The Foundation is alive and constantly changing, so make sure to check the site often for the latest developments.

Founded by Sigurd Vojnov and ran by volunteers, the Foundation is currently divided into groups for socializing and the free universiity which is ran and "taught" by its own students.  Coming soon, we have Siggish Games, collective text-based games and interactive story-telling scenarios like "The Nemo Scenario", "The Oracle of Delphi", and others.

On the "FOUNDATION GROUPS" page you'll find links and descriptions to all of the groups that are a part of the Foundation.  We value socializing, playfulness, learning, diverse opinions, fun, logical argumentation, sharing, and discussion.  Different groups have different rules and focuses, so please read the group's description on the site and on Facebook before posting to that group.  Although the groups' admins are generally very relaxed, unless otherwise stated in the description no groups allow advertising, spamming, hate speech, ad hominem attacks, or pornography.  The admins are in charge of their individual groups and moderate accordingly.