PODCAST · science
The Great Filter
by Thomas Wright
The nature of existence is such that we will always find ourselves hurtling toward a string of sequential cataclysmic events. Unfortunately, humanity is lacking in the "proactive measures" department.Let's fucking talk about that. Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thegreatfilter/support
Episodes
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Up The Gravity Well
This is a reading of 'Up The Gravity Well', my entry for the Medium Writers Challenge. The entry can be found here: https://creationtribe.medium.com/up-the-gravity-well-7af2e35ac87a The stated corrections and Twitter conversation with planetary astronomer, Michael Busch, can be found here:...
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William Shatner's Post-Flight Thoughts (commentary)
Congratulations to William Shatner! "I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all...
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Escape To Mars: Moving Humanity Off Planet
Impact threats are the most certain of any extinction-level events. Yet, despite the warnings of hundreds of scientists - we continue to dawdle in both our search for alternative, extraterrestrial, homes and the development of technologies to get there. Let's take a really good look at this…
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Can't We Just Get Rid Of Money?
What are the common arguments for the necessity of money? Are there any logical counterarguments? What profession would you choose if money was not a factor? The Great Filter has a new website :) https://thegreatfilterpodcast.com/ Your feedback is appreciated and important to us. Comment, like,...
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The Education Catastrophe
Our children are the future, yet our willingness to invest in them dawdles and whimpers. With so much at stake - including our species' own survival - why have we chosen to ignore this problem? This episode takes a look at the motivations and bottlenecks surrounding this issue. "It is in playing...
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Global Suicide - Part V: Can Star Trek Save Us?
Science fiction often drives innovation. Star Trek, specifically, has inspired the computer and the cellular telephone among other modern miracles of science and technology. One aspect of Star Trek that has even had books written about it is the Star Trek economy. In this episode, we're talking...
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Global Suicide - Part IV: Disorder & Dead Presidents
Entropy is a two-edged sword. It is our life-force; but if it accelerates and begins to runaway with our energy, it can become a death sentence. Our society has within itself a variety of entropy amplifiers that increase our system's entropy by orders of magnitude - warming the planet and wasting...
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Global Suicide - Part III: Psychology of Self-Extinction
Understanding our own psychology and social behaviors are critical to avoiding self-extinction. This episode explores this in great depth. In the next episode, we'll see all of these moving pieces in action to paint a vivid picture of what we can expect if we don't shift our way of thinking. This...
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Global Suicide - Part II: Shotgun Serenade
What are the possible self-extinction scenarios and why is it important to understand this? In this episode we explore this; setting things up for part three where we walk this back to uncover the major causes and how to counter them. This episode's quote comes from VOD's (Vision of Disorder)…
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Global Suicide - Part I: Carrots & Sticks
"The first subcategory of suicide is of the more immediate sort; intentionally carried out by the conscious mind and typically focused on the cessation of pain. The second subcategory is of a more discrete and drawn-out sort; characterized by the misguided search for absolution, brought on by an...
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Stories of Greed, Debt & Corruption
The distraction and waste of resources that greed brings is a symptom of the very paradigm that very well may spell humanity's end. Special thanks goes to George Hodan at PublicDomainPictures.net for providing this episode's cover art:...
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The Alien Invasion
Could one of the many great filters actually be a ruthless, galactic, empire; ready to slaughter entire worlds that aren't willing to take a knee? Given David Fravor's recent reveal and the government's acknowedgement of UAPs (formerly known as UFOs), this is definitely something we should...
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Planned Obsolescence
What does planned obsolescence have to do with the great filter? Fucking everything ...
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Becoming Your Best Self In A Less-Than-Ideal World
It's time for a more upbeat episode, wouldn't you say? You've heard the phrase, "Be the change you want to see"? In the world we live in, with the changes we need if we're going to overcome our species' adolescence, being the change we want to see is exactly what needs to be done. Books by Kennon...
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Xà La'awran's Coin | An Allegorical Account
Xà La'awran's Coin is a story I wrote some time ago. I've always meant to put an animation to it (and I likely will at some point), but I just felt like I wanted to get it out there. I hope you enjoy the story :) Special thanks to Devanath on Pixnio for providing the coin image used in the cover...
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Survival Priority & Our Best Possible Selves
What are the bare-bone attributes that we would need if we were to increase our chances of surviving as many great filters as possible, so that we would have the opportunity to seed other worlds and ensure humanity's survival? Special thanks to Nghia Le on Unsplash for this episode's cover art...
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Survival of The Twitter-iest: Part II
Humanity's intelligence and socially cohesive dynamic have rocketed us to the top of the food-chain. However, David Graeber's book, "Debt, The First 5,000 Years" (despite the rather heated debate surrounding it) illuminates the weak points in both of these traits. Given their flaws, are these two...
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Survival of The Twitter-iest: Part I
What are the evolution-honed traits that allowed humanity to rocket to the top of the food-chain? Will they be enough when we're face-to-face with one of the many great filters? In this first part of our two-part episode, "Survival of The Shittiest", we'll explore the fundamental nature of…
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Existential Risk & Natural Disasters
What are the most dangerous natural disasters? Which one's can cause the total extinction of the human race and how likely are they? In this episode we take a look at asteroids/meteors, super volcanoes, and gamma-ray bursts. Special thanks to the National Science Foundation for the gamma-ray…
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Our Best Possible Scenario
What would we need if we were to create the perfect atmosphere for human survival? How much of a system change would we need to entertain to maximize our chances for being able to evade future events which may threaten extinction? The quote from this episode was taken from the Lex Fridman Podcast...
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At The Core Of Climate Change
It's odd that so many people are scrambling to fix climate change - yet so few have actually taken the time to point out the core source of all of the problems that have given rise to our current situation. "The Earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like...
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Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?
Why does anything exist at all? What is reality all about? I offer my best shot as to why there is something rather than nothing. Granted, this is a deep philosophical dive, but I try to keep as much logic and science as is possible when tackling such an impossible question. Just yesterday I...
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The Failure of Trust in Science
With science being a search for truth, how did we find ourselves in the contradictory situation where science itself is a source of distrust? The image for this episodes cover art was provided by Kindel Media from Pexels.
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How We Will All Die (aka: The Great Filter's Rubik's Cube)
What is The Drake Equation? What is Fermi's Paradox? What is The Great Filter? What is our probability of surviving this unknown danger ... if it exists? Thanks to Francesco Ungaro from Pexels for providing the 'space invaders' photo used in this episodes cover art.
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Is Ransomware Avoidable?
Ransomware is ravaging our world, attacking medical facilities and small businesses. What is really going on here? Can we actually stop this from happening?
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The Machine Uprising: Building AI Sociopaths
Having worked with AI for the past few years, I am troubled with a very specific issue which I have yet to hear anybody address. There is a near 100% probability that the singularity will birth sociopathic machines if we continue to do things as we are currently doing them.
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The nature of existence is such that we will always find ourselves hurtling toward a string of sequential cataclysmic events. Unfortunately, humanity is lacking in the "proactive measures" department.Let's fucking talk about that. Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thegreatfilter/support
HOSTED BY
Thomas Wright
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Great Filter have?
The Great Filter currently has 26 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Great Filter about?
The nature of existence is such that we will always find ourselves hurtling toward a string of sequential cataclysmic events. Unfortunately, humanity is lacking in the "proactive measures" department.Let's fucking talk about that. Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thegreatfilter/support
How often does The Great Filter release new episodes?
The Great Filter has 26 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The Great Filter?
You can listen to The Great Filter 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 The Great Filter?
The Great Filter is created and hosted by Thomas Wright.
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