EP 3: An Act of Nature

Would it be wise for humanity to clarify its ethics regarding the treatment of animals before artificial general intelligence (AGI) knocks humanity off the top of the pyramid?

In this episode, we cover the intellectual property of monkeys, Ireland, the Book of Genesis, slavery, dolphins, 3D printed food, and robots who program pain for themselves.

Also, Nick and Eddie call BS on themselves at least once and plan on a sequel episode with interviews of experts in the field of Animal Rights law. This is Robot F. Kennedy.

SHOW NOTES

• A monkey took a selfie, and the ownership of it was not…clear
• NPR: Monkey Can’t Own Copyright To His Selfie, Federal Judge Says
www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way…right-to-his-selfie

• Washington Post: “USDA abruptly purges animal welfare information from its website”
www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia….ff83c1684a32

• The History of Animal Protection in the United States
tah.oah.org/november-2015/the-h…-the-united-states/

• Animal may qualify for increased legal rights
• The Soul of an Octopus: How One of Earth’s Most Alien Creatures Illuminates the Wonders of Consciousness
www.brainpickings.org/2015/12/14/the…sy-montgomery/
• New Jersey Says Releasing Dolphin’s Autopsy Would Infringe Its Privacy
motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/…ge-its-privacy
• Chimpanzee Rights Get a Day in Court
www.wired.com/2015/05/chimpanzee…hts-get-day-court/

• Yuval Harari scares Nick.
• Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari
www.amazon.com/Homo-Deus-Brief-H…row/dp/0062464310

• Freakonomics Radio: “Waiter, There’s a Physicist In My Soup”
• Part 1, January 27, 2011:
freakonomics.com/podcast/freakono…-my-soup-part-i/
• Part 2, February 3, 2011:
freakonomics.com/podcast/freakono…y-soup-part-2-2/

• Northern spotted owl and arguing for biodiversity to conservatives.
• In 1994, the Clinton administration negotiated a truce between conservationists attempting to protect the northern spotted owl, and an Oregonian lumber company with logging rights in the bird species’ mating territory.
www.nytimes.com/2007/10/18/us/18owl.html

• The economic interest in exploiting animals will decrease over time.
• Beyond Meat, plant-based burgers apparently indistinguishable from ground beef
beyondmeat.com/
• Memphis Meats, lab grown meat from stem cells. As of 2016, it costs $18,000 per pound, but of course that will fall over time.
www.memphismeats.com/
• Engadget: Bloody, meatless Impossible Burger will soon be easier to find
www.engadget.com/2017/03/23/impos…-easier-to-find/

• Humans are the cheapest supercomputers. We run on an average of an average power of 97.2 watts. You are less energy expensive than a 100 watt light bulb.
sustainability.blogs.brynmawr.edu/2012/07/…-part-1/

EP 2: The Things That Get Measured

How do you measure the success or failure of a president? Maybe it’s the one practice from the business world that Donald Trump seems least likely to carry over.

In this episode, we look at KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators. We pick apart some of the KPIs that are commonly used to measure presidencies, and suggest some new and novel ones we might use.

Also featured in this episode: Martin O’Malley, obesity, aliens, the staggering decrease in worldwide combat deaths since WWII, Ronald Reagan, and sex. This is Robot F. Kennedy.

SHOW NOTES

Key Performance Indicator (KPI): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performance_indicator

Overweight and Obesity Statistics, National Institutes of Health (NIH): www.niddk.nih.gov/health-informati…-statistics.aspx

Nine Years of Apple’s iOS SDK generated $60 billion, 1.4 million jobs:
appleinsider.com/articles/17/03/0…-14-million-jobs

The Washington Post, Our infant mortality rate is a national embarrassment: www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/….90dd55afe414

Stock Market Performance by President, MacroTrends: www.macrotrends.net/2481/stock-mark…ce-by-president

The United States Office of Personnel Management, Total Government Employment Since 1962: www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversig…loyment-since-1962/

War Deaths Data: ourworldindata.org/war-and-peace/

EP 1: Teamsters v. Uber

Will automation destroy 3 million more jobs before the next presidential election in 2020? In this episode, we talk George Washington, AI, automated flour mills, Uber, autonomous semis, and the Teamsters. Inaugural episode (kind of).

SHOW NOTES

Oliver Evans designed the first automated flour mill in Delaware in the 1780s. He secured the third U.S. Patent in 1790. Evans’s mills eliminated 80-100% of the required labor force. The “Evans system” was adopted at Mount Vernon in 1791.

Summers: Yes, the Robots Are Coming to Take Our Jobs

In 1840, a Boston bootmaker (cordwainer) Jeremiah Horne broke ranks with the Boston Journeyman Bootmaker’s Society. He filed a complaint with the county attorney, and they arrested the union leaders on charges of criminal conspiracy. In 1842, the Massachusetts Supreme Court sided with the union, which effectively legalized labor unions.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) had approximately 1.3 million members in 2013, according to the US Department of Labor, Office of Labor-Management Standards.

Bill Gates, calling for taxing robots: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nccryZOcrUg

American Nations by Colin Woodard


Recorded: February 28, 2017
Released: March 14, 2017
Hosts: Eddie Quintana, Nick Dazé