The Beyond Tomorrow Podcast with Julian Issa

What happens when the technology we build becomes smarter than the people who built it?

This episode is brought to you by AgelessRx, where aging becomes a puzzle that can be solved. The mission is to help you live longer and healthier by adding more life to your years through science-backed solutions and personalized care. Learn more at http://agelessrx.com/beyond-tomorrow

AI safety researcher Roman Yampolskiy argues the real danger isn't AI, it's building a superintelligence we can no longer control. His case: solve problems with narrow, powerful tools instead, and still get breakthroughs in medicine, science, and productivity, without that risk.

The conversation covers AGI, recursive self-improvement, the singularity, and the existential and "suffering" risks they raise, plus what mass automation could mean for work and purpose.

From international AI agreements to human longevity, one question runs through it all: can we get the benefits of advanced AI without losing control of it? Yampolskiy's answer: keep building tools, not our replacement.

Roman Yampolskiy is an AI safety researcher and professor who studies the risks and implications of artificial intelligence. His work focuses on the challenge of controlling increasingly capable AI systems and the potential consequences of superintelligence.

Roman’s book, AI: Unexplainable, Unpredictable, Uncontrollable, explores the various reasons why the field is so challenging.

⏱ Timestamps
00:00 Intro
00:43 Can We Build AI By Design to Avoid Catastrophe?
01:49 AI Superintelligence Is a Death Sentence
03:12 What Is AGI, Really?
04:26 OpenAI's Plan to Build an Internal AGI
04:59 Why Superintelligence Won't Care About Us
06:45 We're Going to Die Anyway... So What?
07:06 We Can't Control Something This Advanced
07:55 The Narrow Tools That Avoid AGI
09:34 The US vs China AI Race
10:47 Does China Actually Want to Stop AGI?
11:53 AGI Is a Spectrum, Not a Switch
12:22 Is Roman Selling the Doom Narrative?
14:13 How to Stop AGI From Escaping the Box
16:26 Building AI We Can't Control
18:05 Suffering Risks: The Worst-Case Scenario
20:09 The Two Types of Jobs
22:09 What Happens to the 90% Who Lose Their Jobs?
23:46 Nothing Makes AI Labs Stop
24:26 Building Something You Can't Control
26:06 Do You Believe in God?
29:28 Longevity Escape Velocity Without AGI
30:55 Is Suffering Necessary for the Human Story?
31:33 Are We Living in a Simulation?
32:12 You Can't Control Superintelligence
33:24 Is Our Life a Simulation?
35:05 Curing Aging With Narrow AI Tools
36:10 What Is an NPC?
36:37 Could Humans Cause Doom Before AI Does?
37:21 How to Break Out of a Simulation
39:14 Would You Live Forever in a Simulation?
40:01 Don't Build Superintelligence
41:50 Bostrom's Singleton Theory
43:17 "AI Is Massively Overhyped"
44:56 Would AI Doom Be Worse Than World War 3?
45:41 Who Should You Actually Be Listening To?
47:43 What Would a Perfect Simulation Look Like?
50:52 Solving Longevity Without AI
52:03 Our Limited Understanding of Human Biology
52:40 What Makes Roman Happy?
53:48 Signs Governments Are Waking Up
55:14 "Is AI Just a Con?"
56:53 Can Squirrels Control Humans?
58:27 Decide What to Do With Your Time
59:22 What About Ilya Sutskever?
01:00:13 The Responsible Use of Technology
01:00:46 If Tomorrow is Your Last Day...

Connect with Roman: 
Website: https://www.romanyampolskiy.com/ 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/roman.yampolskiy/ 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/romanyam/ 
X: https://x.com/romanyam 

Connect with Julian
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebeyondtomorrowpodcast/  
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliankissa/  
LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/julian-issa  
Website: www.beyondtomorrowpodcast.com 
Email: bookings@beyondtomorrowpodcast.com 

Get exciting updates from The Beyond Tomorrow Podcast here: https://dlogos.xyz/podcasts/the-beyond-tomorrow-podcast-with-julian-issa-7bf16e9d

Let's get into the rapidly evolving future of longevity, from the moment society finally believes aging is solvable to the possibility of humans routinely living far beyond today’s lifespan — even approaching 150 years. Matt Kaeberlein, Aubrey de Grey, and Gordan Lauc explore how breakthroughs in aging science could also extend the lives of companion animals, while exposing how bad science and misallocated resources continue to slow meaningful progress. It’s a grounded, forward-looking discussion on what true longevity innovation requires.

Watch the full episode here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Rmtl7sqoFOWolXWV6O22U?si=cd176f6a28404b4d

Could an AI actually run the country better than a person could?

This episode is brought to you by AgelessRx, where aging becomes a puzzle that can be solved. The mission is to help you live longer and healthier by adding more life to your years through science-backed solutions and personalized care. Learn more at http://agelessrx.com/beyond-tomorrow

David Eagleman doesn't shy away from the question. He lays out the case for an AI president, one that could crunch more data than any human cabinet, sidestep the ego and grudges that shape so many political decisions, and maybe even out-think our worst instincts.

Sounds great, until you ask the harder questions. Who writes the code that decides what "the greater good" means? Can a machine actually be moral, or just really good at faking it? And if an AI ever did hold real power, who's holding the leash?

We get into all of it: democracy, tribalism, consciousness, and how close we actually are to AGI. David doesn't pretend to have it all figured out but he makes a compelling case that the ground is shifting faster than most of us realize.

David Eagleman is a neuroscientist at Stanford University and an internationally bestselling author. He is co-founder of several neurotech companies, including Jojo, BrainCheck, and Neosensory, and he also directs the Center for Science and Law, a national non-profit institute. He is best known for his work on sensory substitution, time perception, brain plasticity, synesthesia, and neurolaw.

⏱ Timestamps
00:00 Intro
00:05 Are We in the Middle of AGI?
03:26 AI’s Greatest Advantage
04:25 The Case for a Utilitarian AI President
07:16 Who Defines AI’s Parameters?
09:06 The Danger of Politically Biased AI
11:49 Behind the Scenes
12:33 Are We Ready for an AI President?
14:41 What Should an AI Government Optimize For?
18:31 How Soon Could We Have an AI President?
22:24 The Trolley Problem and AI Morality
27:54 What Happens When Humans Have Too Much Free Time?
29:07 The Neuroscience of Tribalism
30:13 The Neural Basis of Empathy
31:24 Why We’re Wired for Us vs. Them
32:43 Can AI Become Conscious?
33:51 Could AI Eradicate Humanity?
35:51 Artificial Wisdom and AI Guardrails
38:57 AGI Is Already Happening
41:22 An AI President in Our Lifetime
43:26 The Biggest Fear About AI

Connect with David: 
Website: https://eagleman.com/ 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/David.M.Eagleman 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davideagleman/ 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davideagleman 
X: https://x.com/davideagleman 
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drdavideagleman
 
Connect with Julian
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebeyondtomorrowpodcast/  
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliankissa/  
LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/julian-issa  
Website: www.beyondtomorrowpodcast.com 
Email: bookings@beyondtomorrowpodcast.com 

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube for more stories from the edge of what is possible.

What if immortality didn’t arrive as a single breakthrough but quietly, step by step?In this clip, George Church explains the idea of “longevity escape velocity”: the point where medical progress extends life faster than we age. If each generation of therapies buys us more time to develop the next, the path to dramatically longer lives or even practical immortality may already have begun.Watch the full episode here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0c2x5fNYLSzvvfIil3c7WK?si=854bb724225e4136

What if the Singularity isn’t coming but already here?

This episode is brought to you by AgelessRx, where aging becomes a puzzle that can be solved. The mission is to help you live longer and healthier by adding more life to your years through science-backed solutions and personalized care. Learn more at http://agelessrx.com/beyond-tomorrow

AI is accelerating breakthroughs across science, medicine, and technology at a pace once considered impossible. Peter Diamandis believes the next 5–10 years could redefine what humanity can achieve.

Yet AI’s promise is competing with fear, disruption, and dystopian narratives. The challenge is not only building the future, but shaping how people imagine it.

For Peter Diamandis, the answer is actionable optimism: identify the risks, believe they can be solved, and pursue the biggest moonshots. Longevity, education, and space could become the foundations of a radically different future.

Peter Diamandis is an entrepreneur, physician, and founder of XPRIZE and Singularity University. He is a leading advocate for moonshot thinking and breakthrough technologies.

⏱ Timestamps
00:00 Intro
00:10 The Blinding Speed of Change
02:06 A Future Where Anything Is Possible
04:06 Why Is the West Afraid of AI?
08:39 Why Fear AI?
10:23 AGI Is Already Here
11:37 Blind Optimism vs. Actionable Optimism
13:01 The Next Great Moonshot
14:01 The Rise of an Alien-Looking Economy
15:10 Who Will Win the XPRIZE?
15:46 If Tomorrow Was Your Last Day...

Connect with Peter: 
Website: https://www.diamandis.com/ 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PeterDiamandis/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterdiamandis/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peterdiamandis
X: https://x.com/peterdiamandis
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@peterdiamandis 

Connect with Julian
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebeyondtomorrowpodcast/  
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliankissa/  
LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/julian-issa  
Website: www.beyondtomorrowpodcast.com 
Email: bookings@beyondtomorrowpodcast.com 

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube for more stories from the edge of what is possible.