Singularity Weblog
Nikola Danaylov interviews Ray Kurzweil, Michio Kaku, Noam Chomsky, Max More, Aubrey de Grey, Jeremy Rifkin & others...
A Better Future, Better You
Episodes
Julia Lampert on Becoming AI Native: How Individuals, Businesses and Nations Must Redesign Themselves
Technology is the How. It was never the Why or the What. Julia Lampert has written a practical manual for the How, and then spends her opening chapter arguing that the Why is the only thing that matters. We spent three hours on it. The Atopia Julia Lampert wrote her doctorate on utopias, dystopias, and […]
NOT Logic, BIOLogic: Why the AI Revolution Will Birth a Neo-Romanticism
Karl Marx knew the future. Not suspected it, not hoped for it: knew it. The proletarian revolution was absolutely inevitable. History had a direction, class struggle was its engine, and communism was its destination. You could slow the train down, but you could not stop it. Marx was a historical materialist, and his materialism came […]
The Singularity Is a Story, Not a Prison: My Philosophy Portal Interview with Cadell Last
After 300+ interviews on Singularity.FM, it still feels strange to sit on the other side of the microphone. But when Cadell Last invited me on Philosophy Portal, saying no was never an option. Cadell is one of the very few people who can push me on the deep questions and make me enjoy every minute […]
Futurists Don’t Have Crystal Balls. They Have Mirrors
In 1933, Franklin Roosevelt assembled what was then the most credentialed group of forecasters in the world. He called it the Brain Trust. He asked them to map out the next 25 years for the United States, through 1958. They missed transistors. They missed atomic energy. They missed antibiotics. They missed faster-than-sound travel. They missed […]
Technological Power and the Evolution of Interior Life: A reflection on artificial intelligence, human agency, and the future of progress
The Expansion of Technological Power Human civilization is entering a period in which the scale of technological capability is increasing faster than the frameworks used to guide it. Artificial intelligence, biotechnology, global data systems, and emerging neurotechnologies are expanding the range of actions available to individuals, institutions, and governments. This shift represents not merely an […]
The Futurist Red Flag: When Leadership Outsources Thinking About the Future
A CEO calls. The board wants a futurist on stage at the next strategy offsite. The brief is short. Tell us where the industry is going. Tell us what AI will do to our business. Tell us what to bet on next. It sounds like preparation. It looks like rigor. It is, in fact, the […]
The Hammer of AI: When Every Problem Looks Like a Nail
When you have a hammer, the world is full of nails. There is no clearer description of Silicon Valley’s view of AI. The result is what I call the Hammer of AI: a single tool wielded against every problem we face, regardless of whether the problem yields to computation at all. There is a now-familiar […]
There Is No Formula: Why AI Cannot Solve What Matters Most
There is no formula for predicting the future. No formula for dealing with change. No formula for living a good life, for success, for great art, for writing a great book, or for producing a great film. Every time we reach one of those, even when following a formula, we have to break the pattern […]
The Great Progression: Peter Leyden on AI, Trump and the Next 25 Years
Some people see a world coming apart. Peter Leyden sees an old world dying so a better one can be born. That, in essence, is The Great Progression, the thesis of Peter Leyden’s forthcoming HarperCollins book and the spine of our conversation. Peter is the OG Silicon Valley futurist who came to San Francisco at […]
The Why Is a Discipline: Why a Good Why Is Also Not Enough
A good why can still produce bad outcomes. Here is the case a reader made me wrestle with. *** After I published The AI Paradox: Cure or Poison? last week, a reader asked me a question I have been thinking about ever since. She did not ask whether AI could malfunction. She did not ask […]
The AI Paradox: Cure or Poison?
Technology promised simplicity. It delivered complexity. AI promised resolution. It is delivering acceleration. The paradox is not a bug. It is the feature. The question is what we choose to do about it. *** Every new technology arrives wearing the costume of liberation. It promises freedom. It promises options. It promises to save us time, […]
Steven Kotler on We Are As Gods: Godlike Power, Stone Age Minds
We have godlike technology. Do we have godlike responsibility to match? In this third conversation with Steven Kotler — our first in 14 years — we dig into his latest book, We Are As Gods: A Survival Guide for the Age of Abundance, co-written with Peter Diamandis. And while the book makes a powerful case […]
We Don’t Need More. We Need Better: Intelligence Scales. Wisdom Does Not.
We don’t need more AI. We need a better why for our AI. We are told the why is obvious — cure everything, fix everything, transcend everything. But “solve everything” is not a philosophy. It is an assumption. Even the most powerful intelligence cannot erase moral disagreement or competing visions of justice. Because without a […]
Dune Is Not What You Think: The Warning Frank Herbert Meant Us to Hear
With Dune: Part One and Dune: Part Two now behind us, the internet is full of takes about resilience, resistance, and righteous underdogs. Most of them miss the point entirely. Dune 3 — Dune Messiah — may finally set the record straight. If people are willing to listen. The Most Misread Science Fiction Epic of […]
The Skills That Will Matter When AI Can Do Almost Everything
People ask me this constantly. At conferences, after keynotes, in the Q&A, in the parking lot on the way out. The question takes many forms but always lands in the same place: What skills should my kids develop? What should I be learning? What’s going to matter when AI can do almost anything? Fair question. […]
Why I Cancelled ChatGPT and Switched to Claude, And Why You Should Too
A couple of days ago, I cancelled my ChatGPT paid subscription and switched to Claude. Not because of the technology. Because of their respective values, or the lack thereof. The Moment That Changed Everything On February 27, 2026, Anthropic, the company behind Claude, refused to give the Pentagon unrestricted access to its AI for mass […]
Ada Palmer on Inventing the Renaissance: How Golden and Dark Ages Are Constructed and Why They Matter
Was the Renaissance truly a Golden Age? Or was it something far more powerful — and far more revealing? In my third conversation with Ada Palmer, we dive into her new book, Inventing the Renaissance: Myths of a Golden Age, and dismantle one of the most enduring myths in Western history: that civilization moves cleanly […]
Graham Priest on Dialetheism, True Contradictions, the Liar Paradox & Why Classical Logic Isn’t Enough
What if some contradictions are not mistakes — but truths? For over 2,500 years, Western philosophy has treated contradiction as catastrophic. From Aristotle’s law of non-contradiction to modern formal systems, logic has operated under one sacred assumption: a statement cannot be both true and false. But what if that assumption is wrong? In this deep, […]
Facebook’s Quiet Confession: The Social Network Was a Lie
In an antitrust case brought by the Federal Trade Commission, Meta filed a brief in August 2025 containing an admission that should have been headline news. According to Meta’s own data, only 7% of time spent on Instagram and 17% of time spent on Facebook involves “socializing” with friends and family. The overwhelming majority of […]
How Our Machine Story Shaped Modernity and Why It Can’t Shape the Future
Our body is a machine. Our brain is a machine. Animals are machines. Soil is a machine. Our planet is a machine. Nature is a machine. The machine is everywhere and everything. This story has become so familiar that it now passes for common sense. We speak of hardwiring beliefs, rewiring habits, optimizing systems, debugging […]
Ignorance Is the Greatest Evil: Why Certainty Does More Harm Than Malice
More harm has been done to our world not by overtly malevolent people, but by ignorant ones, especially those ignorant of their own ignorance. They believe they are doing good. They are convinced they are right. And precisely because they don’t know that they don’t know, they act with a fatal certainty that turns good […]
Did Integral AI’s Jad Tarifi Just Announce AGI?
In my latest Singularity.FM conversation with Dr. Jad Tarifi, CEO of Integral AI, I heard something I don’t say lightly: a credible claim that AGI may have just arrived — or at least the foundation of it. I don’t often say “Wow” during interviews, but in this one I simply couldn’t stop. Tarifi describes a […]
Jacob Ward on The Loop, AI, and a World Without Real Choices
What happens to free will in a world where AI tells us what to watch, buy, believe, and even who to love? In this new episode of Singularity.FM, I sit down with Jacob Ward — veteran technology journalist and author of The Loop: How AI Is Creating a World Without Choices and How to Fight […]
Robot Souls & Junk Code: Dr. Eve Poole on Programming Humanity into AI
Are we building better versions of ourselves in AI – or a master race of very efficient psychopaths? In this new episode of Singularity.FM, I sit down with Dr. Eve Poole, theologian, leadership scholar, and author of Robot Souls: Programming in Humanity, to ask a simple yet brutal question: what makes us human, and what happens if we […]
Nikola Danaylov Keynote at VSIM 25: From Content to Context, STEM to STEAM
Nikola Danaylov (“Socrates”) – Futurist, Author, and Host of Singularity.FM – delivers a 20 min virtual keynote at VSIM 25:   From Content to Context, STEM to STEAM: Asking Why in the Age of AI.   In an era where AI generates infinite content at the click of a button, humanity faces a paradox: more […]
Petter Törnberg on Algorithmic Tyranny, the Rise of Digital Modernity and Seeing Like a Platform
What do Facebook, Google, and TikTok see when they look at us — and what do they miss? In this episode of Singularity.FM, I sit down with Petter Törnberg, Assistant Professor of Computational Social Science at the University of Amsterdam and co-author of Seeing Like a Platform: An Inquiry into the Condition of Digital Modernity. Törnberg […]
The World’s a Circus | Nikola Danaylov Keynote at St. John’s Circus Fest 2025
What if the world isn’t just a stage… but a circus? 🎪 In this opening keynote at St. John’s International Circus Fest 2025, futurist and philosopher Nikola Danaylov (aka Socrates) explores why context is more powerful than content — and why those who create context don’t just win attention, they shape the future. 👉 Themes […]
Adam Becker on More Everything Forever and Big Tech’s Future Myths
Adam Becker is a science journalist with a PhD in astrophysics and the author of the provocative new book More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley’s Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity. I reached out to Adam because I found his book sharp, timely, and necessary — a long-overdue reality check […]
Nikola Danaylov Keynote Speaker Reel: Why You Should Watch — and Why It Matters
What will you do when your toothbrush is smarter than you? That’s not just a clever line — it’s a serious question. And in a world of accelerating change, it’s also a metaphor for what’s at stake: our agency, our adaptability, and our ability to shape the future rather than be overwhelmed by it. Today, […]
John von Neumann and the Original Vision of the Technological Singularity
Before Kurzweil, before Vinge, and decades before ChatGPT or AGI debates hit the mainstream, John von Neumann quietly laid the conceptual groundwork for what we now call the Technological Singularity. A mathematician, physicist, polymath, and strategic thinker of legendary scope, von Neumann is a towering figure whose work underpins everything from game theory and quantum […]
Above the Law: Big Tech’s Bid to Block AI Oversight
In recent years, Big Tech leaders — including Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, Sundar Pichai, and Sam Altman — have made public pronouncements calling for the regulation of artificial intelligence. Some did it in glossy op-eds, while others performed moments of “humility” at congressional hearings. They spoke of responsibility. Of safety. Of the need for oversight. […]
Charles Babbage: The Forgotten Father of Computing and His Relevance to AI
When people think of computing pioneers, names like Alan Turing, John von Neumann, or even Steve Jobs come to mind. But if we zoom out and peer into the deep roots of technological evolution, one name stands as the unacknowledged giant whose ideas still echo through every processor, algorithm, and AI model we create today: […]
Edsger Dijkstra and the Paradox of Complexity
When we talk about pioneers of computer science, names like Turing, von Neumann, and Shannon often dominate the conversation. But Edsger W. Dijkstra — though far less publicly known — was one of the true intellectual giants who laid the foundation for modern computing. His work quietly shapes much of our digital world today. And […]
Did the Unabomber See the Singularity Coming? Ted Kaczynski and the Dark Side of Progress
When most people hear the name Ted Kaczynski, they immediately think of the Unabomber — the domestic terrorist who waged a deadly bombing campaign for nearly two decades. But Kaczynski’s story is more complicated, more disturbing, and, for those of us interested in the future of technology and the singularity, uncomfortably relevant. Was Ted Kaczynski […]
Arthur C. Clarke’s 3 Laws: When the Future Looks Like Magic
Sir Arthur C. Clarke wasn’t just a science fiction writer; he was a futurist whose predictions often read like prophecy. Best known for 2001: A Space Odyssey and for envisioning geostationary satellites before they existed, Clarke’s legacy continues to shape how we think about the future. Alongside Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein, he was one […]
Samuel Butler and the Technological Singularity
It was during the relatively low-tech mid-19th century that Samuel Butler wrote his startling essay, Darwin among the Machines. In it, Butler fused two emerging forces of his time: the rapid industrial transformation brought by machines, and Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. The result? A radical, unsettling vision: that machines were not merely […]
Angus Fletcher: Why AI Will Never Replace Human Storythinking or Primal Intelligence
In his second appearance on Singularity.FM, Professor Angus Fletcher returns to dive even deeper into the story of human intelligence. [See the first interview here.] Fletcher is no ordinary guest. A rare hybrid of neuroscientist and Shakespearean scholar, he has advised DARPA, Hollywood, and the U.S. Army, where his narrative-based research earned him the Commendation […]
A Kernel of Truth
An old story. Lived again. It begins with a kernel of truth. A real grievance. A true injustice. One small kernel, in a field of many. So they tend it: With distortions. To make it grow. To make it matter. To make it serve. And it grows. Outside the curve. Visible. Commanding. But it’s not […]
Staying Sane in an Insane World
How do I stay sane in this insane world? This is one question I’ve repeatedly asked myself over the past several years. I wish I had THE answer, but truthfully, I still struggle daily. Yet, I’ve discovered a few reliable practices that help me climb back onto the bandwagon of inner peace and equanimity whenever […]
IASEAI’25 vs. The AI Action Summit: Will AI Be Driven by Cooperation or Competition?
Last week in Paris, two back-to-back AI conferences painted starkly different visions of the future. The inaugural International Association for Safe and Ethical Artificial Intelligence (IASEAI’25) focused on AI safety, ethics, and global regulatory frameworks, bringing together a coalition of thinkers, policymakers, and Nobel Laureates. It was a call for restraint, cooperation, and the responsible […]
“Conversations with the Future” Epilogue: Events Can Create the Future
Now that some time has passed since our first post-pandemic Conversations with the Future live event, I’ve had the opportunity to step back, hear the comments, digest feedback, and distill some truths that I believe are fundamental from our time spent together on January 22nd in Toronto.. Events have always & will always have the […]
Donald J. Robertson on How to Think Like Socrates in the Age of AI
In this episode of Singularity.FM, I sit down with renowned author and philosopher Donald J. Robertson to explore his latest book, How to Think Like Socrates: Ancient Philosophy as a Way of Life in the Modern World. As we navigate the crossroads of ancient wisdom and modern challenges, Donald shares timeless insights from Socrates that […]
Dr. Jad Tarifi of Integral AI: “We Now Have All the Ingredients for AGI”
In this thought-provoking episode of Singularity.FM, I sit down with Dr. Jad Tarifi, CEO and co-founder of Integral AI, to explore the cutting-edge developments at the intersection of artificial intelligence and human potential. Dr. Tarifi shares insights into Integral AI’s mission to “Give Humankind A True Magic Wand” and the profound implications of achieving artificial […]
Jamelle Lindo on Emotional Intelligence in the Age of AI: Harness the Power of Emotion
In this episode of Singularity FM, I speak with emotional intelligence (EQ) expert, executive coach, and keynote speaker Jamelle Lindo about the evolving role of EQ in our age of rapidly advancing artificial intelligence. While much of today’s discourse around AI focuses on technical prowess, data-driven decision-making, and automation, Jamelle highlights why understanding our inner […]
HumAInity Is Genius, But Where’s the Wisdom?
It was human genius that took us to Mars and beyond. A lack of wisdom, however, might stop us from going further. For genius is not wisdom. In fact, talent often undermines character. Just look at the mess some of history’s most gifted business leaders, scientists, musicians, artists, and writers have made of their lives. […]
Everything Has Changed, Yet Nothing Has Changed: Don’t Panic
It is hard to overstate the impact of this American election; it will change everything, everywhere. From the functioning of democracy within the United States to its influence and perception abroad, the effects will be profound. People in Utah, Ukraine, Uruguay, and even Uganda will feel its repercussions. There is no place on the planet […]
Conversations with the Future Symposium
I am co-organizing an intimately small in-person event where we’ll dive into old-school, in-person, thought-provoking discussions about shaping our future. It will be held on January 22nd, 2025, in Toronto’s South Etobicoke area. Please join us for an evening that includes insightful talks, interactive Q&A with the speakers, delicious bites, and networking opportunities. This in-person […]
AI Matters. Character and Culture Matter More!
The Stoics believed that character is fate. If that is true for individuals, then for organizations, culture is destiny. While AI is undeniably a transformative force shaping our civilization, it is our character and culture that will ultimately define its impact. AI matters, but character and culture matter more. The Role of Character and Culture […]
Nikola Danaylov: Content is NOT King, Context Is!
This is a recording of a 4-minute mini-keynote I did last month on Content vs. Context. I hope you enjoy and find it useful 😉 Content is NOT King, Context Is! What does this mean? 👌 Here it means ok, good or fine. But if you are in Brazil, it means you’re an ass. […]
Transhumanist Manifestos and Dilemmas: A Decade and a Half of Reflection
Fifteen years ago, I penned the first versions of Hamlet’s Transhumanist Dilemma and A Transhumanist Manifesto. Much has changed since then, including my perspective. I began with a question inspired by Hamlet: Will technology replace biology? At the time, I believed this to be the modern iteration of Shakespeare’s existential query: to be or […]