With the release date for The Path to Singularity looming on November 19, November was VERY busy with podcasts and other publicity enterprises.
I talked to podcaster Peter Scott of AI and You at 11 AM on November 6 for about 40 minutes. The podcast should be released around the time of the book release. The mic was fine, but he caught me out on a couple of issues. He first asked about high reliability organizations, the only person to do so, so far. I think I handled that OK even though it was not fresh on my mind. He asked if I were still teaching, how would I use Generative AI? I'd given no thought to that hypothetical and bumbled my way through an answer. We talked a bit about whether homo sapiens would exist in the far (or near) future. He was interested in AI and mental telepathy, asking how to control telepathy. A huge and complex issue of course, and I said we need all the stakeholders involved. He asked whether research universities are the best vehicle for research/control of humans merging with machines? I said they should certainly be involved, and relevant courses taught, along with other stakeholders. He did not ask about the election, so I interpolated remarks on Biden policy and Trump's lack of policy. He didn't touch on issues of climate change or curing death. Toward the end, he asked about themes in the book, and I mentioned the nature and significance of exponential change as a challenge to society and how AI would be pervasive. He was impressed with the Tyson foreword. When we were done, he asked how many podcasts I had done and how many yet to do, with a hint that I could be sharper. I asked him for advice, and he suggested I be ready with more one-liner responses. I did have some in mind, but that is iffy for unexpected questions. I've now made a list of topics and responses. Another place I was a little caught out was the very end when Peter asked me "what do you want to say about the book?" as a wrap up statement. Everyone has or is going to ask something like that, and I did not have a concise answer. I'm a little more comfortable talking about the subjects of the book than in explicitly selling it (although I sold two copies to neighbors this afternoon). What I answered was that the book will be broadly available, that I was myself partial to patronizing independent bookstores. I said something about hoping to make people aware of the issues. I did not have a snappy sales pitch. My publicity team helped me compose a concise wrap up. Joanne McCall said, "It should be something you really want the audience to walk away with. Or you can use that moment to introduce something new and important that you have held back until then," and "Say the title rather than "the book." Chloe Hummel of Prometheus said, "it's important to say more than just Amazon."
I did a 45-minute video and podcast chat, The Saad Truth with Dr. Gad Saad, on Monday, November 11 at 1 PM. I'd made a point of listening to a podcast he had done earlier with British physicist David Deutsch. Gad veered into some personal issues and then back to the book, but it went smoothly, I think. This was the first time I did a Zoom interview intended to show on YouTube. It quickly became clear that looking at the camera at the top of the computer screen wouldn't work; the urge to look at the speaker on the split screen was too strong. But then I would occasionally look at my image on the right and then back to Gad's on the left, so my eyes would dance around. When we were done, I asked him about that, and he said people understand, and that I shouldn't worry about it. I think I should avoid the dancing and just look at the speaker.
On November 13, I did a pre-podcast interview with Don Murphy of The Journey Through Nature and Science Podcast at noon. We hit it off and had a great chat for 45 minutes, nearly as long as the podcast will be. He suggested he might want to have me on again to talk about astrophysics. We'll see. The real podcast is scheduled for Tuesday, December 3, at Noon, CST.
For this interview, I worked out a solution to the dancing eyes problem. If you click the middle, yellow, save button on the upper left of a Zoom screen, it shrinks the screen to a (large) postage stamp size, but with the image intact so you can see the person to whom you are talking. I then dragged that tiny image up to the top of my computer screen, so it was about an inch below the camera. That way I am looking very nearly at the camera while registering the facial and body language of the other person. I didn't tell Don what I was doing until the end. It turns out he is transitioning from doing pure audio recordings to videos that can be posted on YouTube, and he was grateful that I was concerned about the issue and had found a solution. He thought I was looking at him (the camera) through the whole chat. This also works when several people are on a Zoom chat. The shrunken image will show just one image, the speaker.
We are in talks to do a podcast KAJ Masterclass LIVE, with Khudania Ajay. This one is hosted in India, but broadcast to 80 countries, a big deal. They want a release signed. I was a little uncomfortable that they wanted my "work for hire" to be available to them to create unlimited derivatives (what, a Broadway musical?). I consulted attorney Michael Gross at the Authors Guild who gave me several good suggestions. I asked for at least consulting rights on the derivatives and also that my material not be used to train AI without my permission. That was on November 11. I have not heard back from them.
The week of November 11 I had to be several places at once at the same time!
Thursday through Sunday, I participated in the Steven Weinberg Memorial Symposium to celebrate the life and career of Steve Weinberg, Nobel Prize winner, one of the preeminent physicists of the last 50 years, author of The First Three Minutes, and many other popular and technical books. The room was packed with famous physicists. I felt like asking for autographs. Instead, I judiciously handed out copies of Rob's business card advertising "Path." On Friday, I attended the symposium, a memorial service for another less famous colleague, and a BBQ dinner with the physicists that featured a private show of western swing music with Ray Benson, lead of Asleep at the Wheel. Benson is only slightly less famous locally than Willie Nelson with whom he tours. Terrific show.
Things got a tad more complicated on the weekend. The Symposium continued, but there was also the Texas Book Festival started by Laura Bush when her husband was Governor of Texas. It draws hundreds of authors and thousands of people at the capitol grounds just a few blocks south of the campus. Chloé Hummel of Prometheus applied on my behalf, but we weren't picked up, surely in part because the release was not until after this year's festival. Next year! The festival is spread out over many blocks, so the logistics of attending are challenging even if that is the only thing one is trying to do. I tried to do both the symposium and the festival on Saturday, jumping back and forth and doing neither proper justice. On Sunday, I went to the physics symposium at 10 AM, then drove quickly down to the capitol to attend a presentation by British author Andrew Smith led by the CEO of Indeed, Chris Hyams. I handed both of them a "Path" card and gave a handful to nearby audience members. Before the talk began, I had a flash of insight and put several cards on a table at the rear of the room. They were all gone by the end of the session. People grabbing freebies.
I dashed back to the symposium for the wrap-up lunch, then back to the capitol for a presentation by locally famous historian and biographer H. W. Brands who taught Rob in school many years ago. He gave a great presentation on his latest book describing the clash between interventionist FDR and the isolationist Charles Lindberg. I gave Brands a card. My current project is a biography, and we agreed to get together at some point to talk about the art of biography writing.
Physics Today staff member Toni Feder, who it turns out lives in Austin, was covering the Weinberg Symposium. I gave her a "Path" card, but she informed me that Physics Today no longer does book reviews. Shoot.
I was stood up for a podcast with Donna Mitchell of Pivoting to Web3 the previous Wednesday, November 13, and by Bob Bain of Dark Matter AM on Tuesday November 18. Don't know what happened with either. Some failure of communication.
Next up, on Release Day, I have a podcast with Dave Edwards of Artificiality at 2 PM, a live Austin on Tap presentation at 7:30 that evening at a local brewery, and three more podcasts later in the week.
May book sales blossom!