#112—W. Russell Neuman: AI's Role in Evolutionary Intelligence

Outthinkers

W. Russell Neuman is Professor of Media Technology at New York University, a founding faculty of the MIT Media Lab, he served as a Senior Policy Analyst in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

His books like The Digital Difference: Media Technology and the Theory of Communication Effects and his most recent book EVOLUTIONARY INTELLIGENCE: How Technology Will Make Us Smarter are rooted in the view that human intelligence and human communication are intertwined. Language and communication are intrinsically linked to the evolution of human intelligence since the dawn of humankind. As our technologies for communication have advanced over time, so too has the sophistication of our cognitive abilities. As you heard in the highlighted clip, this insight gives us a very interesting glimpse at how human intelligence may next evolve as AI comes into play.

• The definition of intelligence at its fundamental roots— and how human intelligence is similar to or differs from machine intelligence.
• How human intelligence has evolved as our forms of communication evolved and what this insight can tell us about the next stage of human intelligence in the era of Ai
• Why machines and AI aren't going to replace human intelligence, but rather converge with it and complement it--think, compensating for human cognitive biases and weaknesses, not taking over.
• The future of intelligence as we know it, and how we are already in what Russ calls the “Revolutionary Intelligence” era.

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Episode Timeline:

00:00—Highlight from today's episode
1:08—Introducing Russ Neuman+ the topic of today’s episode
3:32—If you really know me, you know that...
4:12—What's your definition of strategy?
5:04—What is your definition of intelligence?
8:08— Four leaps in human intelligence: language, land, leverage and literacy?
13:11—What is the name of our current revolution?
15:42—The regulation of AI
17:46—How machines can help with shortcomings of human cognition
19:41—How can a strategist Use AI as a compensatory tool?
20:52—How can AI tame our natural human biases?
22:17—What are the scenarios we should be worried about with AI?
25:31—How do you see human machine communication evolving?
27:28—Are we already digital beings?
30:14—How many foundational models will there be?
33:01—How can people follow you and continue learning from you?

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Additional Resources:

Book site: Evolutionary Intelligence How Technology Will Make Us Smarter
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/profwrussellneuman/
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