This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J discuss whether we are witnessing a decline in work, and if so, can that be a good thing?

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits Produced by Jake Burley Music by Jake Burley

This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J. speak with Stephen Marche, author of most recently The Next Civil War and Death of an Author. He has begun to write about his collaborative process using AI tools, comparing it to the advent of hip-hop and sampling.

https://www.stephenmarche.com/

Stephen Marche. “The Future of Writing Is a Lot Like Hip-Hop” The Atlantic May 9, 2023.

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits Produced by Jake Burley Music by Jake Burley

This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J wrestle with creativity in the age of generative AI. Are there aesthetic or moral reasons to avoid AI art? Can copyright law protect artists from being displaced by AI slop?

The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

AlphaEvolve: A Gemini-powered coding agent for designing advanced algorithms

ChatGPT’s viral Studio Ghibli-style images highlight AI copyright concerns

Trump fires top US copyright official

ChatGPT, DALL-E 2 and the collapse of the creative process

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits Produced by Jake Burley Music by Jake Burley

This week Nir and J discuss the hottest topic in fantasy ecoscience, the genetic resurrection of extinct species. In particular we are discussing the work of Colossal, a firm working on modern versions of the mammoth, dire wolf, thylacine and dodo.

The Direwolf is Back

Amazon in White House crosshairs over report of displaying tariff costs

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits Produced by Jake Burley Music by Jake Burley

This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J discuss the ethics of parents being able to choose the genetic characteristics of their children. Is “germinal choice” good for parents, children, society?

He Jiankui and Gene-Edited Babies

Sandel Michael J. 2007. The Case Against Perfection: Ethics in the Age of Genetic Engineering. Cambrige: Harvard University Press

De-extinction of Direwolves

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits Produced by Jake Burley Music by Jake Burley

This week on Prosthetic Gods Nir and J discuss the problem, and opportunity, of “cognitive off-loading,” our tendency to forget knowledge and skills once we have reliable digital tools. Is it possible to educate ourselves and our students to use these tools in ways that enrich and extend their cognitive skills and productivity? Along the way, we discuss Ted Chiang’s short story “The Truth of Fact The Truth of Feeling,” which compares the transition to literacy to the adoption of 24/7 lifelogging.

Gong & Yang 2024. “Google effects on memory: a meta-analytical review of the media effects of intensive Internet search behavior.”

Nosta 2025. “Cognitive offloading with AI boosts performance but may hinder deeper learning”

Ted Chiang “The Truth of Fact The Truth of Feeling”

“Emboldened by Trump, A.I. Companies Lobby for Fewer Rules” NYT

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits Produced by Jake Burley Music by Jake Burley

In this episode of Prosthetic Gods Nir and J. discuss Dario Amodei’s essay “Machines of Loving Grace,” which lays out the best case scenario for AI’s impact on health, economics and world peace.

Dario Amodei “Machines of Loving Grace: How AI Could Transform the World for the Better” October 2024

Richard Brautigan “All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace”

Marc Andreesen “The Techno-Optimist Manifesto”

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits Produced by Jake Burley Music by Jake Burley

This week on Prosthetic Gods Nir and J. are joined by Damien G. Walter, a writer and a storyteller who has written for The Guardian, the BBC, Wired, The Independent, Aeon, and others. He teaches The Rhetoric of Story and Writing the 21st-Century Myth to over 35,000 students worldwide, and is the host of the Science Fiction Podcast. We discuss the interaction between the “New Mythos” of science fiction and philosophy.

Find out more about Damien Walter through the links below:

• Website
• Youtube
• Substack

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits Produced by Jake Burley Music by Jake Burley