September 8, 2016 9:01 pm

Get Smart Friday Night with Neil deGrasse Tyson and Ray Kurzweil

“Intelligence is the most powerful force in the universe – even stronger than gravity” – Ray Kurzweil

That’s just one of the things you’ll hear in Friday’s episode of StarTalk Radio, where Neil deGrasse Tyson is just sitting around talking with futurist and inventor Ray Kurzweil, who also appeared in our Season 7 premiere.

Of course, where they’re sitting around talking is on the stage at the 92^nd Street Y in New York City, as part of the “7 Days of Genius” series recorded earlier this year. The two of them talk about the revolutions in biotechnology, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence that are reshaping our world, our brains…and our very humanity.

Neil and Ray don’t agree on everything they discuss, starting with the desirability of connecting our minds to the cloud through nano-robots in our brains, which Ray predicts will be reality in the 2030s, functionally increasing our intelligence in a leap forward that will far surpass the original evolutionary development of our neocortexes 2 million years ago. Nor do they agree on the battle between privacy and security that technology is forcing us to face, although their opinions of Edward Snowden aren’t that far apart. And they certainly don’t see eye-to-eye on the impact of increased human longevity or even immortality when it comes to energy, water or even fitting everyone onto our crowded planet, or the dangers of artificial intelligence and its portrayal in fiction and popular culture.

But we can guarantee you that the conversation will be stimulating, educational, and a whole lot of fun.

Please join us Friday, September 9 at 7pm EDT right here on our website, or on iTunes Podcasts, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Stitcher and TuneIn.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!
– Jeffrey Simons