64 | Ramez Naam on Renewable Energy and ...

At any given moment, an uncountable number of events are happening, but only some of them matter to us. What does it mean for something to matter, and more importantly, what does it mean for us to matter -- to ourselves as well as to others? The need to matter can be motivation t ... Show More

It's become increasingly clear that the Turing Test -- determining whether human interlocutors can tell whether a conversation is being carried out by a human or a machine -- is not a good way to think about consciousness. Modern LLMs can mimic human conversation with extraordina ... Show More

Time for the holiday message! Rounding off the year with a brief and casual reflection on some issue that doesn't quite rise to the level of a full solo podcast. And hopefully something uplifting.This year, I offer a short apologia for higher education in the liberal arts and sci ... Show More

<p>Billions of dollars are being spent by tech companies and investors on new technology to fight climate change. In the final episode of this series of Tech Tonic, Eric Toone, from Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund, tells FT columnist and host Pilita Clark why he bel ... Show More

<p>Nuclear fusion is the reaction that powers stars and scientists say replicating it on Earth could produce all the energy we’ll ever need without the CO2.&nbsp;But no one has yet made a fusion reactor that actually produces more energy than it uses. Fusion researchers say that’ ... Show More

<p>The excitement around ChatGPT and other large language models has put AI firmly in the spotlight in recent months. Public perception is that we’re entering a new age of AI; it is a brand-new technology that promises to change our lives. In the world of energy, though, AI is no ... Show More

Energy accounts for more than three-quarters of our greenhouse gas emissions globally each year. That’s not surprising, given the role of energy in almost every aspect of modern life. To stand any chance of hitting net zero climate targets, we need to accelerate the transition to ... Show More

<p>Humans are responsible for emitting over 40 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year – and we all know that we need to reduce that figure to prevent devastating climate change. Listener Saugat wonders whether smart technology and artificial intelligence ... Show More

<p>The clean tech sector is a critical part of making the energy transition possible. With more and more capital flooding from outside investors into cleantech than ever before, the sector is set to become one of the critical keys in aiding and accelerating the energy transition. ... Show More

<p>After 30 years of R&amp;D and commercial proof, hundreds of billions in institutional dollars are pouring into now-conventional tech like wind, solar and batteries.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>But there’s a whole class of technologies that are ready to scale. And investors who are incre ... Show More

Not so long ago, all batteries were single use. And solar power was an emerging and expensive technology. Now, thanks to rechargeable batteries, we have mobile phones, laptops, electronic toys, cordless power tools and other portable electronic devices. And solar power is reducin ... Show More

Bill Gates is one of those people for whom "needs no introduction" is actually true. The polymathic Microsoft founder now leads the world's largest and most important private foundation, and he's predicting that we're on the cusp of the energy breakthrough that's going to save th ... Show More

<p>The climate crisis threatens the future of the planet. But don’t worry, technology will save us. At least that’s the message from startups, innovators and investors. Are they right? In a new season of Tech Tonic FT columnist and climate journalist Pilita Clark discovers the te ... Show More