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The Trajectory

Daniel Faggella

What should be the trajectory of intelligence beyond humanity?

The Trajectory pull covers realpolitik on artificial general intelligence and the posthuman transition - by asking tech, policy, and AI research leaders the hard questions about what's after man, and how we should define and create a worthy successor (danfaggella.com/worthy). Hosted by Daniel Faggella.

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  • 24 episodes
  • fortnightly
  • Avg 1 hr 50 min
  • English

Episodes 24

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  • S2 · E21
    January 30 · 3 hr 46 min

    John Smart - Evolution from Cells to Super-intelligence (Worthy Successor, Episode 21)

    This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with John Smart, Director of the EvoDevo Institute and a longtime futures theorist whose work spans accelerating change, developmental systems, and the long-term trajectory of intelligence. In this episode, we go deep on John’s view that intelligence does not evolve randomly, but instead progresses through constrained developmental stages - from chemistry to biology to nervous systems to digital cognition. He frames AGI as another “meta-system transition,” comparable in magnitude to the emergence of cells or brains, and emphasizes that such transitions come with massive jumps in modeling capacity, speed, and agency. The interview is our twenty-first installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity. This episode referred to the following other essays and resources: -- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZKRXzP5IEQQ See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/smart1 ... About The Trajectory: AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life? From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy. Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls: https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircle Stay in touch: -- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw -- X: x.com/danfaggella -- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory -- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai

  • S2 · E20
    January 23 · 1 hr 34 min

    Susan Schneider - Intelligence Is Everywhere, Consciousness Maybe Not (Worthy Successor, Episode 20)

    This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is a conversation with Dr. Susan Schneider, a philosopher of mind and consciousness researcher whose work focuses on AI consciousness, mind uploading, and the long-run future of intelligence. In this episode, we explore why “life” and “consciousness” shouldn’t be treated as the same thing, why fluent chatbots can convincingly perform the concept of consciousness without being conscious, and what a “global brain” future might mean for sentience, ethics, and governance. The interview is our twentieth installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity. This episode referred to the following other essays and resources: -- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy -- Chatbot Epistemology: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02691728.2025.2500030#abstract -- Is AI Conscious? A Primer on the Myths and Confusions Driving the Debate (Co-authored by Susan): https://philpapers.org/rec/SCHIAC-22 Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/iFWoWSEZMTc See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/schneider1 ... About The Trajectory: AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life? From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy. Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls: https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircle Stay in touch: -- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw -- X: x.com/danfaggella -- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory -- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai

  • S2 · E19
    January 9 · 1 hr 39 min

    Brian Thomas Swimme - Life Is Bigger Than Humanity (Worthy Successor, Episode 19)

    This installment of the Worthy Successor series is a conversation with Brian Thomas Swimme, a cosmologist and philosopher of science, and a professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. Brian’s work begins from a destabilizing claim: that humanity is not the center of value, but an expression of a much larger creative process. Rather than asking how humans can remain permanently relevant, he asks how we might participate wisely in a universe defined by continual becoming. The interview is our nineteenth installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity. This episode referred to the following other essays and resources: -- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy -- The third story of the universe: https://www.organism.earth/library/document/third-story-of-the-universe Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/b9KHo4wO61w See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/swimme1 ... About The Trajectory: AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life? From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy. Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls: https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircle Stay in touch: -- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw -- X: x.com/danfaggella -- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory -- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai

  • S2 · E18
    Dec 26, 2025 · 2 hr 2 min

    David Sloan Wilson - Darwinian Forces Shape the Earth Superorganism (Worthy Successor, Episode 18)

    This new installment of the Worthy Successor series is an interview with David Sloan Wilson, an American evolutionary biologist, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences and Anthropology at Binghamton University, and co-founder of the Evolution Institute and ProSocial World. In this conversation, we explore what it would mean for humanity to act as a steward of evolution itself - not freezing life in its current form, but guiding its transformation toward futures that remain coherent, prosocial, and resilient over deep time. The interview is our eighteenth installment in The Trajectory’s second series, Worthy Successor, where we explore the kinds of posthuman intelligences that deserve to steer the future beyond humanity. This episode referred to the following other essays and resources: -- A Worthy Successor - The Purpose of AGI: https://danfaggella.com/worthy – ProSocial’s Eight Core Design Principles: https://www.prosocial.world/resources/resource-posts/short-core-design-principle-handout Listen to this episode on The Trajectory Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trajectory/id1739255954 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/PeqlP8-ZNDQ See the full article from this episode: https://danfaggella.com/wilson1 ... About The Trajectory: AGI and man-machine merger are going to radically expand the process of life beyond humanity -- so how can we ensure a good trajectory for future life? From Yoshua Bengio to Nick Bostrom, from Michael Levin to Peter Singer, we discuss how to positively influence the trajectory of posthuman life with the greatest minds in AI, biology, philosophy, and policy. Ask questions of our speakers in our live Philosophy Circle calls: https://bit.ly/PhilosophyCircle Stay in touch: -- Newsletter: bit.ly/TrajectoryTw -- X: x.com/danfaggella -- Blog: danfaggella.com/trajectory -- YouTube: youtube.com/@trajectoryai

Showing 21–24 of 24 episodes