Men in Gorilla Suits

Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 76: Last Seen…Being One with Machines

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Robot and Human Thumbs Up - Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 76: Last Seen…Being One with MachinesIt’s easy to look at other times in history and think, “Man, I would have loved to have been alive back then to see all those new things come to be,” or “Things were so much simpler back then.” (Back in the times a papercut could mean a life-threatening infection.)

It’s often only after we’ve lived through a time that we can see it for what it was. The Gorillamen would argue that we live in the most interesting times…in part, because we’ve never seen a boom in technology like we have today. We are one with machines…and it will probably only become moreso in the future. That’s what we’re talking about this week.

We begin by stepping back 20 years, to 1994, and asking what our impression of high tech was back then. Then we step back to 1984 and ask what machines we interacted with at the time. Leap back to 1994 to discuss what machines we interacted with then.

Once we lay that down, we compare 1964 – 1984 in terms of technology, and then 1994 to today, to see which saw the most growth in new tech.

We’ve always interacted with technology, even if the “tech” was just a rock used to break something open. Today, though, the tech is far more advanced, and there’s no denying we’ve given a lot of our thinking over to computers. We talk a bit about how much time each day we spend interacting with a “smart” machine (computer, smartphone, tablet).

As we stated in the opening, we often don’t see what’s right in front of us as it’s happening. We devote a bit of time to where we think our interaction with machines will be in 20 years.

Recently, a computer was said to pass the Turing test. Whether a computer tricked people into believing it was the thoughts of a human or not, we’re nearing that point. We discuss what we think this means in the larger scale of human/machine interaction.

Ray Kurzweil predicts that machines will be able to feel the entire range of human emotions in 25 years; that the movie Her is almost prophetic. We discuss the implications of machines developing emotions and becoming fully conscious…and it goes well beyond your system saying, “No, Dave — I will not download that video for you. I’ve heard that can make you go blind!”

Another popular prediction is that there will come a day when it’s possible to download your thoughts, emotions, and memories into a machine and live on in some state. We ask each other if we’d do that, and then: why or why not?

We wrap the episode up with two questions:

  • What’s the next step you’d hate to see in human/machine interaction?
  • What’s the future of human/machine interaction you want to see?

So jump on your machine and let us know what you think about all this in the comments below…

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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 53: Last Seen…Making the Damn Thing!

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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 53: Last Seen…Making the Damn Thing!One year ago, we loaded the very first episode of the Men in Gorilla Suits podcast. Since that day, we’ve produced a weekly show without fail…in large part because we live by our motto: “Chill the fuck out, and make the damn thing!” We’ve made 53 damn things so far, and have plenty more in store for year two. We couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate a year’s worth of episodes than by talking about the power of taking it easy and making things you love.

We kick it all off by talking about our motto and discussing the things we’ve made since starting the podcast. Obviously, we’ve made 53 weekly shows, but we prove that if you just chill out and focus, there’s time to make even more things that make you happy. After that, we talk about the best things we’ve ever made! (It’s not surprising that those things are current things that came along, in part, since we really embraced our motto.)

It’s easy to tell people to take it easy and make things, but we take it a step further by devoting some time talking about how we find time with busy schedules to make things. It’s also interesting to us how the motto of taking it easy and making things has permeated our own lives…how something that just happened over the course of a couple episodes has now become a mantra we live by. We spend some time talking about others areas in our lives that have benefited positively by our motto. And since this is a one-year anniversary show and a new year for the Men in Gorilla Suits podcast, we talk about some of the things we plan to make in the next 52 weeks!

Our motto is broken into two parts (1. Chill the fuck out… 2. …And make the damn thing!). We spend time talking about the first part of the motto, asking if we’ve found ourselves taking it easy even more since the motto came to be. After that, we devote some time to the most important thing the motto has done for us…and what personal improvement we’ve made as a result of making the Men in Gorilla Suits podcast.

Thank you all so much for listening to this show, and any others you’ve checked out! We would do the podcast regardless of who listens, but we push ourselves even more knowing there are people out there listening and replying. Big shout out to CM Stewart, whose replies are always very appreciated, interesting, and fun. We love the discussions that come out of doing shows as much as putting shows together, so please: always feel free to join in the discussion in the comments!

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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 37: Last Seen…Addicted to Technology

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Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 37: Last Seen...Addicted to TechnologyRecently, Louis C.K. was on Conan O’Brien, talking about how smart phones destroy one’s empathy. We begin talking about that, asking each other if we agree with Louis C.K.’s thinking. Then it’s on to the physical ways smart phones make us feel when we ask each other if we’ve ever felt separation anxiety when not able to use our phones.

Like it or not, the Internet (and easy access to technology) has changed the way we do so many things. We talk about why we’re online and, as writers, we take a few moments to ask if online promotion has been worth it for us…or if having a “brand,” “platform,” whatever we’re calling it this week is all hype.

Speaking of hype, a lot has been written about how always having access to information has degraded human focus. We ask if we had more focus before or after technology became such an available thing. By reading this online, it’s clear that on some level, the gorilla men are okay with technology, but what technology makes us cringe? Do we feel the need to keep up with everything? Can we make it through a lunch without checking for or answering a text message — find out!

Back to technology’s physical effects…we take a few minutes to ask if checking Facebook and other things is a reflex. Do we play games on our phones, or is that the line we draw where we say, “Nope, that eats up waaaaaaaay too much time!”? Then it’s on to our biggest tech weakness and a discussion if we can — or even want to — change it. Have we ever been so connected that technology has affected our sleep?

Thoreau had Waldon; now, simply taking a one-week social media break is cause for writing articles…we discuss taking social media breaks and ask if we could sit in a cabin all weekend without any tech. Finally, we wrap it all up by asking what is gained (and lost) by always being connected.

If you’re reading this and listen to the show, you obviously have feelings about technology and the way we’ve all come to use it. We’d love to hear your thoughts about this episode in the comments.

 

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