Full episode
450: So Crazy It Just Might Work

Prologue

Host Ira Glass talks with science writer Paul Hoffman about a mathematician named Frank Nelson Cole, who demonstrated a groundbreaking idea at a conference in 1903. Paul explains that in addition to their celebrated breakthroughs, many of the greatest thinkers in history have entertained some very crazy ideas. Paul is the author of many books including The Man Who Loved Only Numbers, and is director of the Liberty Science Center in New Jersey. (7 minutes)

By

Ira Glass

More in Technology

View all
832: That Other Guy
May 31, 2024

Act Two: I Wish I Knew How to Force Quit You

Writer Simon Rich grapples with an A.I. chatbot that threatens to make him obsolete. (21 minutes)Excerpts from the audiobook edition of I am Code, written by code-davinci-002, edited by Brent Katz, Josh Morgenthau, and Simon Rich; read by Werner Herzog, Brent Katz, Josh Morgenthau, and Simon Rich, used with permission from Hachette Audio.I am Code © 2023 by Brent Katz, Josh Morgenthau, and Simon Rich; ℗ 2023 by Hachette Audio.
803: Greetings, People Of Earth
June 23, 2023

Act One: First Contact

We’ve witnessed a revolution in A.I. since the public rollout of ChatGPT.  Our Senior Editor David Kestenbaum thinks that even though there’s been a ton of coverage, there’s one thing people haven’t talked much about: have these machines gotten to the point that they’re starting to have something like human intelligence? Where they actually understand language and concepts, and can reason? He talks with scientists at Microsoft who’ve been trying to figure that out.

More by Ira Glass

View all