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A Heap of David Brin Links

March 30, 2014 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

If you wanted to hear or read more from David, the place to start is his blog Contrary Brin. Here also is a collection of articles, nicely categorized, which in turn links to this collection of interviews. A couple of the topics he touched on with us include the "disputation arenas" and self-righteousness as an addiction.  Continue Reading …

Episode 91: Transhumanism (Plus More on Brin)

March 29, 2014 by Mark Linsenmayer 50 Comments

Continuing discussion of David Brin's novel Existence (without him) and adding Nick Bostrom's essay "Why I Want to Be a Posthuman When I Grow Up" (2006). Are our present human capabilities sufficient for meeting the challenges our civilization will face? Should we devote our technology to artificially enhancing our abilities, or would that be a crime against nature, a  Continue Reading …

Episode 91: Transhumanism (Plus More on Brin)

March 29, 2014 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

Continuing discussion of David Brin's novel Existence (without him) and adding Nick Bostrom's essay "Why I Want to Be a Posthuman When I Grow Up" (2006). Are our present human capabilities sufficient for meeting the challenges our civilization will face? Should we devote our technology to artificially enhancing our abilities, or would that be a crime against nature, a  Continue Reading …

Conversation vs. Crossfire (Philosophy, Arrogance, and the David Brin Episode)

March 28, 2014 by Mark Linsenmayer 31 Comments

Some of the initial listener reaction to our David Brin episode harkens back to similar comments we got about our Pat Churchland episode, our first attempt at including a celebrity author in the discussion. As Seth commented right after the recording with David, there was little purchase on his edifice in which to plant a foothold in real time. I did my best to engage him in  Continue Reading …

Episode 90: Sci-Fi and Philosophy with Guest David Brin

March 26, 2014 by Mark Linsenmayer 54 Comments

Discussing David Brin's novel Existence (2012) with the author. What's the point of thinking? Brin sees the future as a pressing threat, and Existence speculates that the reason we don't see evidence of life on other planets is that no species survives its technological adolescence. The solution? We need to be smarter than our parents and work to give our kids the tools to  Continue Reading …

Episode 90: Sci-Fi and Philosophy with Guest David Brin

March 26, 2014 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

Discussing David Brin's novel Existence (2012) with the author. What's the point of thinking? Brin sees the future as a pressing threat, and Existence speculates that the reason we don't see evidence of life on other planets is that no species survives its technological adolescence. The solution? We need to be smarter than our parents and work to give our kids the tools to  Continue Reading …

Precognition of Ep. 90: Sci-Fi and Philosophy with David Brin

March 25, 2014 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

Mark Linsenmayer introduces our discussion with David Brin of his book Existence. Listen to the episode. Read more about the topic and get the book.  Continue Reading …

Precognition of Ep. 90: Sci-Fi and Philosophy with David Brin

March 24, 2014 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

Mark Linsenmayer introduces our discussion with David Brin of his book Existence. Listen to the episode. Read more about the topic and get the book.  Continue Reading …

Exclusive David Brin Text for Citizens and Topic for #91: Transhumanism Plus More on Brin’s “Existence” (Without Brin)

February 28, 2014 by Mark Linsenmayer 8 Comments

We had a very pleasant recording with David Brin this last Tuesday, and he gave us permission in the course of that to post for our Citizenry an exclusive draft of a philosophical work he's hashing out at present: "Sixteen Modern Questions About Humanity’s Relationship With its Creator in the Context of an Age of Science," a whopping 60+ page essay that considers such questions  Continue Reading …

Topic for #90: Science Fiction and Philosophy with Guest David Brin

February 24, 2014 by Mark Linsenmayer 6 Comments

Listen to Mark's Precognition framing our discussion now. We talked on the evening of Tuesday 2/25 with David Brin, one of our most philosophical science fiction authors, whose most recent novel Existence (2012) certainly has a philosophical sounding name. But no, it's not about ontology, about Being, or about existentialism, but about our continued existence as a species on  Continue Reading …

GeeksOn David Brin, Modern Intellectual (Philosopher?)

September 17, 2010 by Mark Linsenmayer 2 Comments

I just listened to a great conversation with author David Brin on one of the podcasts that inspired me to create ours: GeeksOn. The episode is here. Brin is a sci-fi author and technical consultant with a Ph.D. in astrophysics. For a fun bit of moral analysis of pop culture, see his 1999 Salon.com article re. why demi-god myths like Star Wars are evil. (Presumably Tolkien  Continue Reading …

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