Prosthetic Gods

Prosthetic Gods

Welcome to “Prosthetic Gods,” the podcast where bioethicist James Hughes and philosopher Nir Eisikovits engage in spirited debates on the ethics and politics of emerging technologies. Hughes, a pro-technology transhumanist, and Eisikovits, with his Luddite stance, explore topics from brain-computer interfaces to artificial intelligence. Tune in and explore the promise and perils of technological advancements with us!

Episodes

October 15, 2025 48 mins
Episode 27 - Mars

This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J. discuss the prospects for colonizing Mars and space in general. Why do people want to try? How feasible are space colonization schemes? 

Show Notes:

SpaceX Mars Colonization “Plan”

The second major European open-source LLM is OUT, and it has been announced as multilingual and fully compliant with the EU AI Act.

Meta launches AI-powered smart glasses

 

As always, listeners...

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Episode 26 - Technology & Religion

On this week’s Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J. discuss the role and history of technology in religious practice. Are emerging technologies just another means of interfacing with religion, or do they challenge the underpinnings of earnest engagement with religious belief? 

Show Notes:

Philosophy Prof. John Kaag Links AI with Famous Writers and Thinkers for 'Talking' E-Books

Pray.com's AI Bible

 

As...

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September 10, 2025 62 mins
Episode 25 - Technoprogressivism

On this week’s Prosthetic Gods Nir and J. talk about J’s advocacy of “technoprogressivism.” What is it, and what is it supposed to accomplish? How is it different from techno-utopianism or other leftist ideologies?

Show Notes:

“Outlines of an historical view of the progress of the human mind” Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas Caritat de Condorcet, 1796

“Technoprogressivism” Wikipedia

“The Technoprogressive...

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August 20, 2025 77 mins
Episode 24 - Longtermism

This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J. discuss the philosophical theory of longtermism, that we should take the interests of hypothetical future people as seriously as existing people.

Plus! Listeners can contact us at prostheticgods@gmail.com! Reach out with questions, topics you want to hear more about, or just to say hi. As Nir says, "All complaints go somewhere else." 😂

Show Notes:

An Introduction to...

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August 6, 2025 68 mins
Episode 23 - Trump's AI Action Plan

This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J. discuss the recent AI Action Plan released by the Trump administration, what it proposes, and whether it will be implemented. 

Show Notes

Winning the Race: America’s AI Action Plan

The real winners from Trump’s ‘AI action plan’? Tech companies

The Trumpification of AI: What Could Go Wrong?

China calls for global AI cooperation days after Trump administrati...

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July 23, 2025 75 mins
Episode 22 - AI and the Future of Higher Education

This week on Prosthetic Gods, J and Nir discuss how AI will impact the demand for higher education, the structure of higher education institutions, and the way we teach and learn.

Show Notes

J. Hughes “The Deskilling of Teaching and the Case for Intelligent Tutoring Systems” (2021)  https://jeet.ieet.org/index.php/home/article/view/90

IEET White Paper - Emerging Technologies & ...

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Episode 21 - The Future of Work & The Value of Leisure

This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J discuss whether we are witnessing a decline in work, and if so, can that be a good thing?

 

Credits:

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits Produced by Jake Burley Music by Jake Burley

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Episode 20 - Is Writing Like Hip-Hop? Stephen Marche on Writing with AI

This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J. speak with Stephen Marche, author of most recently The Next Civil War and Death of an Author. He has begun to write about his collaborative process using AI tools, comparing it to the advent of hip-hop and sampling.

Show Notes:

https://www.stephenmarche.com/ 

Stephen Marche. “The Future of Writing Is a Lot Like Hip-Hop”...

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May 20, 2025 51 mins
Episode 19 - Will AI Kill Creativity?

This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J wrestle with creativity in the age of generative AI. Are there aesthetic or moral reasons to avoid AI art? Can copyright law protect artists from being displaced by AI slop? 

Show Notes:

The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

AlphaEvolve: A Gemini-powered coding agent for designing advanced algorithms

ChatGPT’s viral Studio Ghibli-style im...

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May 5, 2025 52 mins
Episode 18 - De-extinction

This week Nir and J discuss the hottest topic in fantasy ecoscience, the genetic resurrection of extinct species. In particular we are discussing the work of Colossal, a firm working on modern versions of the mammoth, dire wolf, thylacine and dodo.

Show Notes:

The Direwolf is Back

Amazon in White House crosshairs over report of displaying tariff costs

Credits:

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits Pr...

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April 21, 2025 75 mins
Episode 17 - Designer Babies

This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J discuss the ethics of parents being able to choose the genetic characteristics of their children. Is “germinal choice” good for parents, children, society? 

Show Notes:

He Jiankui and Gene-Edited Babies

Sandel Michael J. 2007. The Case Against Perfection: Ethics in the Age of Genetic Engineering. Cambrige: Harvard University Press

De-extinction of Direwolves 

  C...

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March 31, 2025 66 mins
Episode 16 - Cognitive Offloading 

This week on Prosthetic Gods Nir and J discuss the problem, and opportunity, of “cognitive off-loading,” our tendency to forget knowledge and skills once we have reliable digital tools. Is it possible to educate ourselves and our students to use these tools in ways that enrich and extend their cognitive skills and productivity? Along the way, we discuss Ted Chiang’s short story “The Truth of Fact...

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March 17, 2025 57 mins
Episode 15 - Machines of Loving Grace 

In this episode of Prosthetic Gods Nir and J. discuss Dario Amodei’s essay “Machines of Loving Grace,” which lays out the best case scenario for AI’s impact on health, economics and world peace.

Links:

Dario Amodei “Machines of Loving Grace: How AI Could Transform the World for the Better” October 2024

Richard Brautigan “All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace” 

Marc Andreesen “The Techn...

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Episode 14 - Damien Walter on Science Fiction and Philosophy

This week on Prosthetic Gods Nir and J. are joined by Damien G. Walter, a writer and a storyteller who has written for The Guardian, the BBC, Wired, The Independent, Aeon, and others. He teaches The Rhetoric of Story and Writing the 21st-Century Myth to over 35,000 students worldwide, and is the host of the Science Fiction Podcast.  We discuss the interaction between the ...

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February 18, 2025 53 mins
Episode 13 - Griefbots

Griefbots (also called deathbots, AI ghosts, AI clones, death avatars, and postmortem avatars) are large language models built on available information about the  deceased, such as social media, letters, photos, diaries, and videos. Nir and J debate whether they are just another way to commemorate our loved ones or a violation of human dignity.

 

Links:

Dario Amodei, CEO Anthropic. Machines of Loving Grace: H...

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January 27, 2025 57 mins
Episode 12 - Life-Hacking, or The Examined Life?

This week on Prosthetic Gods, Nir and J discuss the pros and cons of life-tracking or “self-quantification,” with tools like health watches, and the “life-hacking” that these tools encourage, from dieting and exercise to sleep and meditation. How do we know when we are being distracted and made miserable by all this self-knowledge, and when it is helpful? Could AI life coaches, track...

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January 13, 2025 62 mins
Episode 11 - Death

On this week’s Prosthetic Gods Nir and J. discuss the ethics of life extension and anti-aging therapies. Is there a benefit to involuntary death? Would getting very old necessarily be boring or depressing? How can we ensure that everyone benefits? 

Links:

Zuckerberg removes fact-checking from Facebook

Bezos imposes ban on criticism of Trump/Musk at WashPo

Sam Altman moves up the timelines for AGI and ASI

Journal ...

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December 24, 2024 63 mins
Episode 10 - Can We Do Anything that Computers Can’t?

J and Nir talk to Tal Hassner, formerly of Amazon and Meta, about Deep Fakes, AGI, and whether there is such a thing as a tech-proof job.

Links:

Find out more about Tal here: https://talhassner.github.io/home/ 

Credits:

Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits Produced by Jake Burley Music by Jake Burley

 

 

 

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December 2, 2024 53 mins
Episode 9 - Facial Recognition

Nir and J. talk about facial recognition. Topics covered include considerations of bias, the role of privacy, and whether facial recognition is substantially different from other identification technologies. 

Links:

“Halt the use of facial-recognition technology until it is regulated" by Kate Crawford

On Liberty by John Stuart Mills 

The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution by C.P. Snow

Credits:...

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November 18, 2024 53 mins
Episode 8 - Tech Policy Under Trump 2

Nir and J. talk about the prospects for tech policy under Trump's second term. They discuss the new administration's attitudes toward content moderation, what the next four years mean for Artificial Intelligence, and Elon Musk's potential influence on tech policy moving forward. 

Credits: Hosted by James Hughes and Nir Eisikovits Produced by Jake Burley Music by Jake Burley

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