PODCAST · society
Prosthetic Gods
by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits
Welcome to “Prosthetic Gods,” the podcast where bioethicist James Hughes and philosopher Nir Eisikovits engage in spirited debates on the ethics and politics of emerging technologies. Hughes, a pro-technology transhumanist, and Eisikovits, with his Luddite stance, explore topics from brain-computer interfaces to artificial intelligence. Tune in and explore the promise and perils of technological advancements with us!
Episodes
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Uploading Yourself to the Cloud
Episode 51 - Uploading Yourself to the Cloud This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J discuss the transhumanist concept of brain uploading, exploring everything from cutting-edge connectomics and artificial intelligence to ancient philosophical views on personal identity. We debate the metaphysics...
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Animal Testing
Episode 50 - Animal Testing This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J. dissect the rapid dismantling of the animal-testing paradigm. We explore the legal and political shifts sweeping the EU and the United States—including the surprising federal momentum under the current HHS framework. From the...
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War at Machine-Speed
Episode 49 - Targeting at Machine Speed This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J speak with Major Michael Brodka, a U.S. Army military intelligence officer and author of the July 2026 Military Review article “By Algorithm or Order.” Major Brodka argues that the U.S. Army's human-paced targeting...
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Black Mirror
Episode 48 - Black Mirror Nir and J discuss the show Black Mirror, the now archetypal tech dystopian cultural phenomenon. In almost every episode, technology is the villain. What rarely appears is a legislature, a regulator, or anyone organizing with anybody else. Technology simply arrives, and…
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Are Chatbots Conscious? A Conversation with Henry Shevlin
Episode 47 - Are Chatbots Conscious? A Conversation with Henry Shevlin Henry Shevlin, DeepMind's first in-house philosopher and associate director of Cambridge's Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, joins the show to sort through the hardest question in AI: are these systems…
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Killer Robots
Episode 46 - Killer Robots This week Nir and J discuss the evolving ethical, political, and strategic landscape of autonomous weapons systems, contrasting historical methods of remote warfare (such as landmines and guided missiles) with modern AI-driven autonomy. They debate the necessity of...
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Right to Try
Episode 45 - Right to Try This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J discuss patient autonomy and the "right to try". The debate surrounding medical autonomy is intensifying as desperate patients use federal "Right-to-Try" laws and amateur biohackers bypass traditional regulations to create and…
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Magnificent Humanity: A Conversation with Father Michael Baggot
Episode 44 - Magnificent Humanity This week, J and Nir talk to Father Michael Baggot about Pope Leo XIV’s recent encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, which outlines Catholic positions on AI and other emerging technologies. Father Michael Baggot is an Associate Professor of Bioethics at the Vatican’s...
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Brain-Computer Interfaces
Episode 43 - Brain-Computer Interfaces This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J discuss the ethics of brain-computer interfaces. What role do they play in the futurist imagination, and what is the reality of their current use? How quickly will they be available for consumer use, and what ethical...
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Live from Cambridge: Existential Risk
Live from Cambridge: Existential Risk In this special live episode, recorded before an audience at Long Now Boston, Nir and J dig into existential risk. J takes seriously the prospect of catastrophic AI outcomes even absent consciousness or agency in any rich sense, while Nir worries less about...
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Who Really Needs Ozempic Anyway?
Episode 42 - Who Really Needs Ozempic Anyway? This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J discuss the tradeoffs of GLP1 drugs. Their use has reversed the obesity epidemic and has proven to have myriad medical and psychological benefits. But they also come with risks, and are seen as a technofix...
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Disgust
Episode 41 - Disgust This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J discuss the role of disgust in morality. Neuroscience suggests that feelings of disgust underlie many moral judgments, especially in the treatment of sexuality. Conservatives have long defended disgust as a source of moral intuition,...
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Nicholas Christakis - Technology and Contagion
Episode 40 - Nicholas Christakis - Technology and Contagion Dr. Nicholas Christakis is the Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science at Yale University and the Director of the Human Nature Lab. His research sits at the intersection of the social, biological, and computational sciences,...
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Live from Portsmouth: Artificial Intelligence and Human Values
Live from Portsmouth: Artificial Intelligence and Human Values In this special live episode of Prosthetic Gods, we bring you a night of big ideas recorded on April 2nd at the Music Hall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Presented as part of the University of New Hampshire's Sidore Lecture Series,...
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Sven Nyholm on Ethics of AI
Episode 39 - Sven Nyholm on the Ethics of AI This week on Prosthetic Gods we are talking to Sven Nyholm about his new book The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. If our thinking relies on external media, where do we stop and the AIs start? What is the moral status of LLMs? Are they sentient? Are…
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Humanoid Robots
Episode 38 - Humanoid Robots This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J talk about the distinctive ethical issues raised by the humanoid robots coming to homes and workplaces. Their presence and human-like form elicit unique responses compared to those of non-embodied AI. The appearance of a robot…
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Anthropic's Conflict with the Pentagon: A Conversation with Alan Rozenshtein
Episode 37 - Anthropic's Conflict with the Pentagon: A Conversation with Alan Rozenshtein This week on Prosthetic Gods, J and Nir are talking to Alan Rozenshtein, professor of Law at the University of Minnesota, senior editor of Lawfare, fellow at Brookings, and former attorney at the Justice...
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Buddhism and the Self
Episode 36 - Buddhism and the Self This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir is interrogating an essay by J. on Buddhism, enhancement, and the self. They discuss the appeal of Buddhism for teenage Hughes, and how Buddhism reconciles a radical deconstruction of the self with moral commitment and…
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Pluribus
Episode 35 - Pluribus This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J are discussing the hit Apple TV show Pluribus. Created by Vince Gilligan, the show runner of Breaking Bad, the show explores a world taken over by a very nice hive mind that wants to give you anything you want. Would you take advantage...
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Simulations
Episode 35 - Simulations This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J. discuss the simulation hypothesis, the idea that we may actually be living in the Matrix. We discuss its religious and philosophical precedents, Bostrom’s classic argument, and the contemporary physics that some think supports the...
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Moral Enhancement
Episode 33 - Moral Enhancement This week on Prosthetic Gods, J and Nir discuss “moral enhancement,” the use of drugs and devices to promote moral sentiments, cognition, and behavior. Is it any different from drinking coffee instead of alcohol when you go to work? What might the unintended...
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Shoulda Put a Ring On It
Episode 32- Shoulda Put a Ring On It Should you be able to marry your chatbot? Should it be allowed to own property? In this episode of Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J discuss the proposed law in Ohio banning AI personhood. Listen before you make any rash decisions! Show Notes: Ohio House Bill 469…
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3I/Atlas, Aliens and Open Minds: A Chat with Avi Loeb
Episode 31 - 3I/Atlas, Aliens and Open Minds: A Chat with Avi Loeb This week on Prosthetic Gods Nir and J. chat with astronomer Avi Loeb about the mysteries of our interstellar visitor, 3I/Atlas. Is there a systemic bias in astronomy against the possibility of non-natural explanations for odd...
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Nuclear Nightmares
Episode 30 - Nuclear Nightmares This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J discuss the Netflix movie House of Dynamite, a nuclear war drama by Kathryn Bigelow. Show Notes: “The age of AI-powered cyberattacks is here” Meet Project Suncatcher, a research moonshot to scale machine learning compute in...
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Algorithms and Democracy with Jose Marichal
Episode 29 - Algorithms and Democracy with Jose Marichal This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J chat with Jose Marichal, professor of political science at California Lutheran University, and author of You Must Become an Algorithmic Problem. He is, according to a chatbot, a critical-democratic...
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Yuval Levin on Conservatism and Technology
Episode 28 - Yuval Levin on Conservatism and Technology This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J. speak with Yuval Levin, one of the most insightful and influential conservative thinkers in America today. As the Director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise...
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Mission: Mars
Episode 27 - Mars This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J. discuss the prospects for colonizing Mars and space in general. Why do people want to try? How feasible are space colonization schemes? Show Notes: SpaceX Mars Colonization “Plan” The second major European open-source LLM is OUT, and it…
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Technology and Religion
Episode 26 - Technology & Religion On this week’s Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J. discuss the role and history of technology in religious practice. Are emerging technologies just another means of interfacing with religion, or do they challenge the underpinnings of earnest engagement with religious...
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Technoprogressivism
Episode 25 - Technoprogressivism 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? Show Notes: “Outlines of an historical view of…
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Longtermism
Episode 24 - Longtermism 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 [email protected]! Reach out with questions,...
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Trump's AI Action Plan
Episode 23 - Trump's AI Action Plan 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. Show Notes Winning the Race: America’s AI Action Plan The real winners from Trump’s ‘AI action...
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AI and the Future of Higher Education
Episode 22 - AI and the Future of Higher Education 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. Show Notes J. Hughes “The Deskilling of Teaching and the Case for...
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The Future of Work & The Value of Leisure
Episode 21 - The Future of Work & The Value of Leisure 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? Credits: Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits Produced by Jake Burley Music by Jake Burley
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Is Writing Like Hip-Hop? Stephen Marche on Writing with AI
Episode 20 - Is Writing Like Hip-Hop? Stephen Marche on Writing with AI 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...
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Will AI Kill Creativity?
Episode 19 - Will AI Kill Creativity? 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? Show Notes: The Work of Art in the Age of...
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De-extinction
Episode 18 - De-extinction 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. Show Notes: The...
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Designer Babies
Episode 17 - Designer Babies 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? Show Notes: He Jiankui and Gene-Edited Babies Sandel Michael J. 2007.…
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Cognitive Offloading
Episode 16 - Cognitive Offloading 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…
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Machines of Loving Grace
Episode 15 - Machines of Loving Grace 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. Links: Dario Amodei “Machines of Loving Grace: How AI Could...
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Damien Walter on Science Fiction and Philosophy
Episode 14 - Damien Walter on Science Fiction and Philosophy 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...
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Griefbots
Episode 13 - Griefbots Griefbots (also called deathbots, AI ghosts, AI clones, death avatars, and postmortem avatars) are large language models built on available information about the deceased, such as social media, letters, photos, diaries, and videos. Nir and J debate whether they are just...
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Life-Hacking, or The Examined Life?
Episode 12 - Life-Hacking, or The Examined Life? This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J discuss the pros and cons of life-tracking or “self-quantification,” with tools like health watches, and the “life-hacking” that these tools encourage, from dieting and exercise to sleep and meditation. How…
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Do You Want to Live Forever?
Episode 11 - Death On this week’s Prosthetic Gods Nir and J. discuss the ethics of life extension and anti-aging therapies. Is there a benefit to involuntary death? Would getting very old necessarily be boring or depressing? How can we ensure that everyone benefits? Links: Zuckerberg removes...
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Can We Do Anything that Computers Can’t?
Episode 10 - Can We Do Anything that Computers Can’t? J and Nir talk to Tal Hassner, formerly of Amazon and Meta, about Deep Fakes, AGI, and whether there is such a thing as a tech-proof job. Links: Find out more about Tal here: https://talhassner.github.io/home/ Credits: Hosted by James Hughes…
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Facial Recognition
Episode 9 - Facial Recognition Nir and J. talk about facial recognition. Topics covered include considerations of bias, the role of privacy, and whether facial recognition is substantially different from other identification technologies. Links: “Halt the use of facial-recognition technology…
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Tech Policy Under Trump 2
Episode 8 - Tech Policy Under Trump 2 Nir and J. talk about the prospects for tech policy under Trump's second term. They discuss the new administration's attitudes toward content moderation, what the next four years mean for Artificial Intelligence, and Elon Musk's potential influence on tech...
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Supersoldiers
Episode 7 - Supersoldiers Nir and J. discuss ethical issues surrounding so-called super soldiers and human augmentation in warfare. Additional Resources: Human Augmentation - The Dawn of a New Paradigm Can A.I. Be Blamed for a Teen’s Suicide? Credits: Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits...
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Moral Machines
Episode 6 - Moral Machines In this episode, Nir and J. discuss whether machines can be moral. What does it take for something to be a moral patient or moral subject? Can morality be distilled down to a set of rules? Is the red-teaming and safety testing of large language models a way to teach...
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Artificial General Intelligence
Prosthetic Gods: Artificial General Intelligence In this episode of Prosthetic Gods, J. Hughes and Nir Eisikovits dive into artificial general intelligence (AGI), AI that has reached a human level of consciousness and common sense. Is AI currently a "philosophical zombie," mimicking human…
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AI Clones
AI Clones This week Drs. Nir and J. discuss the concept of AI clones with postdoctoral fellow Cody Turner, and in particular the short podcast series Shell Game from journalist Evan Ratliff. Will AI clones augment or disorient us? Our bonus round discusses J’s recent piece of “free IVF.” Links:...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Welcome to “Prosthetic Gods,” the podcast where bioethicist James Hughes and philosopher Nir Eisikovits engage in spirited debates on the ethics and politics of emerging technologies. Hughes, a pro-technology transhumanist, and Eisikovits, with his Luddite stance, explore topics from brain-computer interfaces to artificial intelligence. Tune in and explore the promise and perils of technological advancements with us!
HOSTED BY
James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits
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How many episodes does Prosthetic Gods have?
Prosthetic Gods currently has 53 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Prosthetic Gods about?
Welcome to “Prosthetic Gods,” the podcast where bioethicist James Hughes and philosopher Nir Eisikovits engage in spirited debates on the ethics and politics of emerging technologies. Hughes, a pro-technology transhumanist, and Eisikovits, with his Luddite stance, explore topics from brain-computer...
How often does Prosthetic Gods release new episodes?
Prosthetic Gods has 53 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
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You can listen to Prosthetic Gods on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Prosthetic Gods?
Prosthetic Gods is created and hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits.
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