The topics:

• We started the show talking about Christmas shopping. Phil's thankful to have gotten it done on time this year. Stephen did his shopping on Amazon this year.

• We did not one, but two "Tales of the Paranormal" segments.
  • Phil continues to amaze us with the convergence of his life with the planet Mars.

  • Phil recommends the Monster Spotters Guide to North America.

    Slight correction: "The Boggy Creek Monster" is not in Louisiana. It's home turf is, apparently, about 25 miles up the road from Stephen in south Arkansas.

• Stephen briefly mentioned the National Treasure sequel. Stephen recommends it if you're a fan of the original. It's not a darling of the critics, but Stephen had fun with it.

• We then got into our interview with Dr. Hughes:
  • Dr. Hughes is involved not only with the World Transhumanist Association, but also the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies.

  • Phil wanted to know about how "sexy" became a tag line for James Hughes own radio show, Change Surfer Radio.

  • We talked some about the disagreement that Hughes has had with Eliezer Yudkowsky. Hughes is less enthusiastic about friendly AI (Eliezer's primary interest) than human enhancement.

  • Why transhumanists should be pro-democracy.

  • How, in one sense, AI has been around for thousands of years. These ancient meta-intelligences might have something to say about how new AI's and transhumans develop.

  • How Dr. Hughes takes issue with "The Army of Davids" approach from Glenn Reynolds. He argues, in essence, that we have the Davids, but not the army.

  • How bio-conservatives on both the left and right are beginning to unite against transhumanism.

  • How transhumanism differs around the world.

  • What transhumanists may have in common with bio-conservatives.

  • How mere environmentalism is not going to fix global warming - we should fix what we broke.
    

• How cheap, clean electricity is going to change the world.

• Phil and Stephen admit that they've regifted at the holidays. If you're going to do it, here are the rules.

Our front bumper is a sample of Marginal Prophets' "The Difficult Song."

Our exit music this week is from The Alice Project. The song is "Regifting for the Holidays."

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