David Ewing Duncan

David Ewing Duncan wonders if humans need a Techno Love-Fear Meter, a proposed app that could help us gauge our love of any given piece of new tech versus our fear that said tech will go rogue and harm or kill us – or expose our darkest secrets to our Facebook “friends.” This talk delves deeply into our almost schizophrenic response to robots, AI and other new-tech as we devour dystopic sci-fi films and super-dark series like Westworld and Altered Carbon while simultaneously coveting the latest smart gadget, auto-driven car, or website that claims to make our lives easier. It’s a dichotomy of coolness and dread, of Star Trek vs. Black Mirror. Duncan calls out this huge contradiction in the attitudes of a species whose ascendency is based on its obsession with tools and technology, for better or for worse, an especially relevant topic as our technologies become more powerful than ever. Touching on budding AI systems being developed for politics, warfare, journalism, and healthcare, Duncan suggests that we should take our fears as well as our love of new technology seriously.

For over 15 years, David Ewing Duncan has been test-driving virtually every medical and health test available to collect data on everything from his DNA and the microbiome in his gut to his environmental toxins levels and the impact of his diet, exercise, and sleep. In the process, he has amassed over 50 terabytes of data that scientists have analyzed using the AI and machine learning that is revolutionizing medicine, health, and how we view ourselves as humans. Now, after reporting on his findings in his book Experimental Man, and in hundreds of articles and television and radio shows, Duncan has embarked on a brand new round of tests being offered by a new generation of companies and labs.

What is real and what is hype in this big data world Duncan calls “Radical Wellness,” and what will it mean for you and your loved ones? What is happening in the business of big health data – what is working, what is not, and why is so much money being wasted on failing business models? In this talk, Duncan shares what he has learned from his years of data collection, and what these new measurements could mean one day for you.

In 2018, Duncan also offered up his own genome (all of his DNA) to become the template for the first effort ever to create a synthetic human cell, and possibly to one day synthesize an entire human – a project will take years to complete. Perhaps more interesting – and controversial – is that the scientists are designing into his DNA doppelganger improvements that would also make cells in this “new” David Ewing Duncan better – in this case, resistant to viruses like HIV and the common cold. This same technology might allow people one day to be resistant to radiation in space, to be taller and stronger, or to survive in harsh and currently deadly environments – the possibilities may one day be limited only by our imagination.

In this talk, David Ewing Duncan explains the ground-breaking science that may one day allow humans to not only heal and repair ourselves, but also to push the current boundaries of a healthy lifespan by years or decades with technology like CRISPR, synthetic biology, bionics, and more. He also goes beyond the science to ask how these expanded lifespans will affect individuals and society.

In his latest book, Talking to Robots, David Ewing Duncan draws from interviews with fascinating, real-life thinkers: philosophers, engineers, futurists, to describe 24 robots and AI systems shaping the future– including Teddy Bot, Doc Bot, Warrior Bot, Facebook Bot, Politician Bot, Sex Bot, Synthetic Me Bot, Matrix Bot, Immortal Me Bot, and God Bot. In this talk, Duncan shares ten of these robots and imagines how they may shape society.