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Great Minds with Michael Medved Podcast with In Depth Conversations about Timeless Topics
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Religious Robots and Free Americans | David Gelernter

Episode
11
With
Michael Medved
Guest
David Gelernter
Duration
00:21:21
Download
Audio File (19.6 mb)
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Of his many specialties, in this episode Michael inquires into David Gelernter’s professional preoccupation: artificial intelligence. Gelernter recalls the pioneering role of his father, warns of the perils of letting children be captive to flickering screens, and remarks on whether AI robots can be spiritual seekers. Gelernter also emphasizes the key role of the Judeo-Christian Western tradition in creating a free and idealistic context in which technology is primed to explode.

A Polymathic Mind

Yale computer scientist David Gelernter is truly a great mind whose interests and knowledge similarly know no bounds. He is a novelist, painter, political commentator, religious thinker, and much more. His books include Drawing Life: Surviving the Unabomber, 1939: The Lost World of the Fair, and Judaism: A Way of Being.

Video

Show Notes

  • 03:26 | Is the human mind a form of computer?
  • 04:38 | Is Ray Kurzweil’s prediction of a Singularity a likelihood?
  • 06:00 | What was Herbert Gelernter’s role in computer science?
  • 06:40 | What are some of the perils to children of unlimited access to computers?
  • 08:40 | What was the role of religion in your upbringing?
  • 09:55 | Are there any examples of AI seeking answers to religious questions?
  • 11:55 | Can AI be made to wonder like a child?
  • 12:50 | Why ought we look to texts from the Bronze Age for meaning?
  • 13:35 | Being a “rooted structure” rather than “tumbleweed”
  • 13:45 | The deep and dazzling richness of the Western and Judeo-Christian traditions
  • 14:35 | What do you mean by the term “Puritan Zionism”?
  • 16:15 | Why has America been the ground spring of so many technological breakthroughs?
  • 18:04 | A basic ideology of freedom, of “not butting in”

Resources

Discovery Institute