Episode Two Hundred And Two – On Uranium: Twisting The Dragon’s Tail, Surveillance And Killer AI

Episode #202 of Token Skeptic – and as always, if you’d like to support the show and future episodes, check out the Patreon page at patreon.com/kyliesturgess – there’s lots of additional features and bonus content for those who help the podcast continue!

What’s the deal with uranium? Why are people so fascinated yet terrified by it?

A new three-part documentary series, Uranium: Twisting The Dragon’s Tail is airing now on PBS in the USA and set to screen on Australia’s SBS – and it will unpack exactly what the allure is. Uranium – Twisting the Dragon’s Tail will examine the story of uranium from its creation to its use in nuclear power and weapons.

With a blend of science, history and explosions, this series is more than just a typical science documentary. I spoke to series presenter Dr Derek Muller about Uranium: Twisting The Dragon’s Tail.

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Some years ago, journalist Bernard Keane wrote an e-book called War On The Internet – and, in retrospect, it was a work of extraordinary optimism. It’s about how corporate and government elites who felt so threatened by the internet would eventually give up on trying to police the public.

Since then he has created a novel that is out today – Surveillance. Surveillance explores the relationships and intrigues of modern Australia and the online world, through characters that are just as flawed as internet security efforts.

What would happen if someone invented a cyber-terrorist group just for the publicity? I chatted to Bernard Keane about Surveillance.

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The 24th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI), the leading conference on Artificial Intelligence is currently underway in Buenos Aries.

It’s significant because over a thousand leading experts in AI, many who are attending the event, have called for a ban on autonomous weapons – also known colloquially as “killer robots”.

The letter has also been signed by many technologists and experts, including SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, physicist Stephen Hawking, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak – and also Professor Toby Walsh, a professor in artificial intelligence at NICTA at the University of New South Wales, who I talked to for this interview today.

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Tremendous thanks to the radio station RTRFM, where these interviews have aired previously, especially producer Peter Barr and presenter Paul Van Lieshout.

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Theme songs “Cosgrove” by Pogo, from http://pogomix.net and “Leap Second” by Milton Mermikides, of www.miltonmermikides.com. 

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