Peter Thiel | Good Talk Network

Diginauts 0022 — Robot Muscle, Frog Orgies, Blockchaining Everything

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segment 1, Top of Mind — Blockchain: The Tokenization of Everything (0:00): Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been making headlines. Eric offers his theory that the underlying blockchain technology could revolutionize more than just money, but really much of human interaction.
segment 2, Three Headlines & a Lie — Frogs (11:55) : Deron plays liar’s poker with Eric about the latest scientific discoveries in the Ranidae family.
segment 3, Future File — Robot Muscle (25:08): Columbia engineers have created a low-power, 3D-printable muscle that represents a huge breakthrough in robot autonomy.
segment 4, Dig Some More (31:00): Trapping CO2 in liquid form under the oceans. A note of optimism in doom predictions for our odds of crossing 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial temperature averages. An Israeli-Chinese trade deal on artificial meat. Peter Thiel being considered for a top intelligence position by the White House. The FCC seeks to make America great again — by lowering the bar on what qualifies as “high-speed” internet.

Tweet to us at @digitalderon or @efader. Or you can leave a voice message at 323.686.8255.

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segment 1, Top of Mind — NSA Spy Tech (0:00): Palantir is a software company allegedly NOT linked to the oversteps of the NSA PRISM program about which Edward Snowden raised alarms, but nonetheless designed to help governments make use of massive amounts of data for spying purposes . One of its primary investors is Peter Thiel, now also a Trump adviser. Conflict of interest?
segment 2, Let’s Hash It Out — Exoplanets & Private Moon Trips (11:06): NASA has found a solar system with SEVEN Earth-sized planets, three of which might offer conditions to support life. SpaceX has accepted a deposit from private citizens for a recreational trip around the moon.
segment 3, Future File — Wireless Power (23:03): Disney Research says they’ve developed a way to safely deliver power to a roomful of devices… without cords.
segment 4, Let’s Dig Some More (32:55): Fracking fluid is leaking more often than twe thought. High levels of dangerous chemicals are showing up in cats. More on de-extincting animals, and an update from Facebook to minimize the infamous echo chamber effect.

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Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:07:32 — 94.2MB) | Embed

segment 1, Top of Mind–Politics & Y Combinator (0:00): Sam Altman’s Bay Area incubator gets money from a wealthy Drumpf supporter, and they’ll disavow Drumpf, but not the supporter. Gizmodo things Altman should have to step down. What do we think?
segment 2, Future File–Paging Dr. Chatbot (14:41): Increasingly, the medical industry will lean on technology to streamline the process of seeing your doctor. Kaiser Permanente is pushing further into virtual doctor visits, and China’s Baidu has created a medical chatbot.
segment 3, Juris Prudent–Warranted Overreach? (30:38): The government wants to do whatever it can to avoid a technology stand-off like the one it faced with Apple over the San Bernadino terrorist case. To that end, they’ve begun writing warrants that pre-suppose the ability to force you to unlock your phone with your finger prints.
segment 4, Total Recall–Climate Change All Fixed! (45:10 ): That global climate change world meeting we discussed last week? They reached an agreement! But, does it have teeth? Meanwhile, scientists have found a cheap and efficient way to remove CO2 from the air and turn it into fuel.
segment 5, What’s Your Take?–Rewriting The Genetic Code of Life(52:49): Scientists are now taking the genetic modification to the lowest biological building blocks, giving them the ability to manipulate… pretty much anything. Should we apply these capabilities to agriculture? To medicine? To how we reproduce?

Tweet @DigitalDeron or @efader with your opinions, or give us a call and leave a voice message at 323.686.8255.