Ars on your lunch break: Theaterwide biotoxic and chemical warfare

Enlarge / "Mr. McKittrick, after very careful consideration, sir, I've come to the conclusion that your new defense system sucks." (credit: MGM/UA)

Today we’re presenting the fourth and final installment of my conversation with the outspoken author, podcaster, philosopher, and recovering neuroscientist Sam Harris. Please check out parts one, two, and three if you missed them. Otherwise, you can press play on the embedded audio player or pull up the transcript, both of which are below.

We open today’s conversation by talking about bioterrorism. Because that’s not uplifting enough, we then move on the dangers a super AI could present in certain worst-case scenarios (which was the topic of a popular TED talk of Harris'). This conversation builds on yesterday’s cheerful discussion of nuclear terrorism.

The final part of the podcast is a conversation between me and podcasting superstar Tom Merritt. In it, Merritt and I discuss my interview with Harris—as well as a chunk of my novel After On. This section exists because I originally thought my podcast would be a limited set of just eight episodes connected that novel. But the podcast acquired a life of its own, and I’m about to publish episode #38 in the series of eight.