StarTalk Radio

I've read The Selfish Gene.

West world story about the genesis of consciousness is scientifically inaccurate. So it's due to the psychologist Julian Jaynes back in the 70s. I remember when his book the origin of consciousness and the breakdown of the bicameral.

Yeah, it was a good one. Yeah. There's a big thick bottle that we thick books. There's a big thick book.

Yeah, so that's been discredited.

West world story about the genesis of consciousness is scientifically inaccurate

So it's due to the psychologist Julian Jaynes back in the 70s. I remember when his book the origin of consciousness and the breakdown of the bicameral.

Yeah, what a great title. I read that book.

Yeah, it was a good one.

There's a big thick bottle that we thick books. There's a big thick book.

Norman Lear's got a biography out, autobiography called Even This I Get to Experience.

Yeah, in his autobiography, Even This I Get to Experience, he talks all about how this happens.

And of course Norman Lear, his autobiography, Even This I Get to Experience.

Norman Lear's got a biography out, autobiography called Even This I Get to Experience.

Yeah, in his autobiography, Even This I Get to Experience, he talks all about how this happens.

And this is how he busted. And this guy didn't have the same kind of sophisticated program that this Michele Ferrari guy did.

And this is how he busted. And this guy didn't have the same kind of sophisticated program that this Michele Ferrari guy did.

And you've also become the biographer of Jennifer Doudna. Oh my gosh, in a new book called The Codebreaker.

Number one on the Times Best Seller.

But I think even more consequential will be this revolution where molecules have become the new microchips.

So to me, that's like the most consequential revolution of our time. And Jennifer Doudna was a perfect central character.

And it's the first time two women scientists alone have won a Nobel Prize like that.

And you've also become the biographer of Jennifer Doudna. Oh my gosh, in a new book called The Codebreaker.

Number one on the Times Best Seller.

I'm hoping maybe someday he and George Church win the Nobel Prize from Madison.

RNA is the star of my book, along with Jennifer Doudna.

You know, for seven or eight years, I've been gathering string on it because I've been wanting to write about the health sciences.

And most recently, you're author of The Big Picture.

You know, that takes some gonads, you know.

And it's subtitled, On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself.

Plus, the dude wrote a book called The Big Picture on the origins of life, meaning, and the universe itself.

Sean, it's been great to have you on the show. Your latest book, The Big Picture, with the audacious subtitle, On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself.

And most recently, you're author of The Big Picture.

You can buy it right now from your phone on Amazon. And it's subtitled, On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself.

Plus, the dude wrote a book called The Big Picture on the origins of life, meaning, and the universe itself.

There are no other books to be written after that book.

Sean, it's been great to have you on the show. Your latest book, The Big Picture, with the audacious subtitle, On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself.

Well there's an interesting fact that we've seen or at least a hypothesis, let me put it at that level, where if you have unbridled space to be creative it might actually interfere with your ability to be creative. And David Byrne actually wrote a book and the title was with How Music Works.

In there he elaborates on how the evolution of music has co-moved with the evolution of the spaces in which it has been performed and he gave the opposite example I mean the inverse example where you have a small club and do you bring in monks to sing Gregorian chants in a small club?

Well there's an interesting fact that we've seen or at least a hypothesis, let me put it at that level, where if you have unbridled space to be creative it might actually interfere with your ability to be creative. And David Byrne actually wrote a book and the title was with How Music Works. And here he explores constraints on creativity and how that can actually stimulate creativity itself.

In there he elaborates on how the evolution of music has co-moved with the evolution of the spaces in which it has been performed and he gave the opposite example I mean the inverse example where you have a small club and do you bring in monks to sing Gregorian chants in a small club?

And it was about the comedy store in LA and the...

And it's a sort of I want to say the late 70s but it's Leno and Letterman and one of the comedians in the books he believed he'd figured out the science of comedy and of course he had.

There's this really good book called I want to say I'm Dying Up Here. And it was about the comedy store in LA and the...

Yes. And it's a sort of I want to say the late 70s but it's Leno and Letterman and one of the comedians in the books he believed he'd figured out the science of comedy and of course he had.

my favorite my one of my favorite people on Sunday morning put the book about in defense liberal arts there is there assuming that it's a zero-sum game I'm saying when we we need to you know everything is going towards STEM but we don't forget the other things as well because we need to know things in context

my favorite my one of my favorite people on Sunday morning put the book about in defense liberal arts there is there assuming that it's a zero-sum game I'm saying when we we need to you know everything is going towards STEM but we don't forget the other things as well because we need to know things in context

Dan Brown, you know who wrote Angels and Demons and...

Well, the Jesus says a descendant, then she's running around.

Yeah, she's that one anyway, super best teller, well his, his most recent book, the premise is that there's an evil biologist at the Council on Foreign Relations who kidnaps the head of WHO and locks her into the basement of the Council on Foreign Relations and, and then carries out some grand scheme involving trying to genetically change all of humanity and I thought, oh my god, that is the ultimate conspiracy theory and now it's actually about me, except that of course in the book because they don't believe women do anything the bad guy had to be turned into a man.

Dan Brown you know who wrote Angels and Demons and well yes oh yeah what's the one about the conspiracy about the pope?

Well the Jesus says a descendant then she's running around.

Yeah she's that one anyway super best teller well his his most recent book the premise is that there's an evil biologist at the council on foreign relations who kidnaps the head of WHO and locks her into the basement of the council on foreign relations and and then carries out some grand scheme involving trying to genetically change all of humanity and I thought oh my god that is the ultimate conspiracy theory and now it's actually about me except that of course in the book because they don't believe women do anything the bad guy had to be turned into a man.

For example, I wrote this book Abundance and the covers wrapped in aluminum because in 1840s aluminum was more precious than gold and platinum.

For example, I wrote this book Abundance and the covers wrapped in aluminum because in 1840s aluminum was more precious than gold and platinum.

I'm a robot. I'm a robot. I'm a robot. I'm a robot. I'm a robot with the robot laws. Really? With the robot laws.

In it are Isaac Asimov's famous three laws of robotics. Nice. I will read them. Law one, robot may not injure a human being or through inaction allow a human being to come to harm.

Law two, a robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings except with such orders would conflict with the first law. As in kill another human being. Right.

You command it but then it would violate the first law. Yeah. So it can't do that. Third law, a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second law.

Well, it's sad to say that they're not being held already. Well because predators shoot. Yeah. Drones shoot missiles at strangers. Sorry to be the one to tell you. We have missile planes that kill our enemies. Okay so these laws are out and about.

In it are Isaac Asimov's famous three laws of robotics.

Law one, robot may not injure a human being or through inaction allow a human being to come to harm.

Every robot movie ever made violates that premise.

Law two, a robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings except with such orders would conflict with the first law.

Law three, a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second law.

It's hard for anyone today to imagine that Salt was so highly valued as it once was.

The whole science of geology grew up on Salt. Geology was basically the science of finding Salt.

The reason for this relationship is that very solid deposits of Salt, which are called Salt domes, are impenetrable.

Until the beginning of the 20th century and then a discovery was made that there was a relationship between Salt and oil.

Salt has often been regarded as strategic. In British government policy it tells you something about the British government. They were always more concerned with Salt as a strategic commodity than they were with it as a commercial commodity.

It's hard for anyone today to imagine that Salt was so highly valued as it once was.

The entire food trade depended on Salt... and in pre-industrial society that was a very large part of trade. So it's not an exaggeration to say that without Salt you couldn't have an international economy.

The chiefest most efficient way to make Salt if you live in a sunny climate is to just take seawater and dam it off into pounds and let it sit there in the sun and eventually all the water will evaporate.

The whole science of geology grew up on Salt. Geology was basically the science of finding Salt.

Salt has often been regarded as strategic... Queen Elizabeth I warned the English people of their dangerous dependency on French sea Salt.

Also The Physics of the Future and The Future of the Mind.

So, Michelle, the title of your book, The Future of Mind, the scientific quest to understand, enhance, and empower the mind. When will uploading our brain become a reality?

And I just, when I saw that title and I said, if it's impossible, how could it have physics that applies?

Well, that's the whole point, right? That's why you want to buy the book.

Now we're at the cutting edge of physics where I do my research. That includes wormholes, higher dimensional travel. This includes black holes and what happens at the center of a black hole, wormholes, time travel. These are class two impossibilities.

Class three is just darn impossible, period. Just plain old impossible.

And I just, when I saw that title and I said, if it's impossible, how could it have physics that applies?

Well, that's the whole point, right? That's why you want to buy the book.

Now we're at the cutting edge of physics where I do my research. That includes wormholes, higher dimensional travel. This includes black holes and what happens at the center of a black hole, wormholes, time travel. These are class two impossibilities.

Class three is just darn impossible, period. Just plain old impossible.

He's concerned that someone will consciously decide to create a bad AI and that his big concern, and this is actually my where my interest lies, is he understands he's developing neural lace right now, which originally came from Iain Banks' Culture series.

So he's actually making it so it's and I write about it in my next book It's a literal lace that lays between the membrane and your brain and it interconnects It creates a higher level of connectivity with the different parts of your brain

And I guess if you write a book called The Physics of NASCAR, that makes you pretty findable in our circles.

And that was in the genesis of your book.

It was. The Physics of NASCAR.

And guess what that book is called?

I'm going to go with The Physics of NASCAR.

Dr. Deandra Leslie Pellecki is the author of The Physics of NASCAR.

One of the reasons I'm happy I went with NASCAR for the book instead of Formula One is I can understand the NASCAR car.