Robots and microbiomes with David Ewing Duncan.

The Accutron Show

During Climate Week in New York City, our hosts David and Indrani had the chance to talk to award-winning journalist and best-selling author David Ewing Ducan to discuss the launch of his new book "The Voyage Of The Sorcerer II". Frequent contributor to Vanity Fair, Wired, MIT Technology Review, The New York Times, Atlantic, and others, David is a former commentator for NPR's Morning Edition, and a special correspondent and producer for ABC’s Nightline. In his new book, an epic science and adventure story of famed geneticist Craig Venter’s voyages from 2003-2018 in a 100-foot sailing and research vessel that collected microbes all over the world, David reflects on how we view this tiny, invisible world. Tune in!

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

13:38 The microbiomes of the oceans especially, we are drowning them in carbon right now. There is something called phytoplankton that lives on the surface of the ocean, they are bacteria, algae etc. They produce 60 to 80% of the oxygen that we breathe in the atmosphere. And we are drowning them in carbon and changing that balance.

20:42 Every discovery is kind of neutral until used. Take the discovery of fire, I am sure at that time there were pro-fire and anti-fire people; you could choose to cook and nourish your body or destroy. This is a key aspect to the evolution of our species.

28:31 Back in the 50s when they came up with the term 'artificial intelligence', AI - a lot of people saw it as 'augmented intelligence'. I prefer the idea of augmented intelligence. There are a lot of things that machines can do better than we will ever do, but there are also things humans do better than any machine.