On this week’s Prosthetic Gods Nir and J. talk about J’s advocacy of “technoprogressivism.” What is it, and what is it supposed to accomplish? How is it different from techno-utopianism or other leftist ideologies?

“Outlines of an historical view of the progress of the human mind” Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas Caritat de Condorcet, 1796

“Technoprogressivism” Wikipedia

“The Technoprogressive Agenda After Fascism” J. Hughes, 2025

“EcoSocialism and the Technoprogressive Perspective” J. Hughes, 2021

“The Technoprogressive Declaration” 2014

“Beware the AI Experimentation Trap” Harvard Business Review

“Clanker” as an anti-robot slur

The GenAI Divide: State of AI in Business 2025

As always, listeners can contact us at prostheticgods@gmail.com with questions, comments, and suggestions for future topics.

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits Music & Production by Jake Burley

This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J. discuss the philosophical theory of longtermism, that we should take the interests of hypothetical future people as seriously as existing people.

Plus! Listeners can contact us at prostheticgods@gmail.com! Reach out with questions, topics you want to hear more about, or just to say hi. As Nir says, "All complaints go somewhere else." 😂

An Introduction to Longtermism

Are Children The Future?: Longtermism, Pronatalism, and Epistemic Discounting - J. Hughes

The toxic ideology of longtermism - Alice Crary

Longtermist Political Philosophy: An Agenda for Future Research - Jacob Barrett and Andreas T. Schmidt

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits Music & Production by Jake Burley

This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J. discuss the recent AI Action Plan released by the Trump administration, what it proposes, and whether it will be implemented.

Winning the Race: America’s AI Action Plan

The real winners from Trump’s ‘AI action plan’? Tech companies

The Trumpification of AI: What Could Go Wrong?

China calls for global AI cooperation days after Trump administration unveils low-regulation strategy

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

This week on Prosthetic Gods, J and Nir discuss how AI will impact the demand for higher education, the structure of higher education institutions, and the way we teach and learn.

J. Hughes “The Deskilling of Teaching and the Case for Intelligent Tutoring Systems” (2021) https://jeet.ieet.org/index.php/home/article/view/90

IEET White Paper - Emerging Technologies & Higher Education

Grok Rolls Out Pornographic Anime Companion, Lands Department of Defense Contract

Grok as ‘MechaHitler’ could be making content considered violent extremism AI study in Africa exploring LLMs’ potential in health diagnoses AI to crack ‘undruggable’ proteins, opening door to new treatments

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

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