Bob McDonald on the Singularity and AI: Follow Your Dreams!

Bob McDonald is the national science correspondent and popular host of CBC’s radio show Quirks and Quarks. If you are Canadian it is virtually impossible that you have not seen or heard him on TV or radio for the past 30+ years. If you are not, then, you will be treated to some of his endless curiosity and infectious passion for science. During my Singularity 1 on 1 interview with Bob we discuss a variety of topics such as: the story behind his love for and inspiration by science; how a university drop-out got to be the best-known science correspondent in Canada and earn 6 doctorate degrees; his powerful but simple recipe for success; his unique encounters with Carl Sagan; his take on science and religion; the Fermi paradox; the technological singularity, mind uploading and virtual reality… My favorite quote from Bob McDonald is: “We understand biology down to molecules and atoms down to quarks. It’s amazing what we’ve found. We’ve looked out to the very far, and down to the very small. And we are on the verge of putting it all together into one big theory that tries to describe the whole thing.” The only bad news is that Bob had already done 5 interviews on that day and had very limited time to spend with me. The good news, however, is that I plan to use this as an excuse to get McDonald for another interview, exclusively focused on the technological singularity…