In this episode, Nick and Paul discuss the emergence of Artificial Intelligence and the critical question: What does it mean to be human in the age of AI?

Nick and Paul discuss:

• Intelligence and the Turing Test: Examining the definition of intelligence, the limitations of computational capacity, and the philosophical significance of the Turing Test.
• Emotions vs. Logic: Using the Voigt-Kampff test from Blade Runner (1982), they contrast human emotional responses with the strictly logical outputs of machines.
• The Loss of Vocation and Craft: Concern over AI displacing white-collar workers and the resulting alienation and loss of meaning derived from one's trade or craft.
• Arendt and the Human Condition: Discussing Hannah Arendt's work, The Human Condition, and the crucial connection between hand, brain, and work for human flourishing.
• The Educational Crisis: The impact of AI on learning, including the alarming rise of student reliance on AI to generate essays and the concept of hallucination in LLMs.
• Creativity and the Algorithm: Questioning if AI-generated music and poetry are genuine creativity or merely the highly sophisticated execution of algorithmic formulas.
• Historical Disruption: Comparing the AI revolution to past technological shifts, drawing on literary examples like Dickens's Hard Times and Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.
• The Problem of Consumerism: Reflecting on the "unnaturalness" of the cult of optimisation in late-stage capitalism and the loss of traditional rhythms like the Biblical Sabbath.
• The Poet's Perspective: Dr. Monk's personal decision not to use AI to augment his writing, as it lacks feeling and the poems would not be authentically his creation.
• Transhumanism and the Singularity: Considering the terrifying prospect of a transhuman reality where machine acceleration (the Singularity) may ultimately challenge the meaning of being an embodied intelligence.

Dr Paul Monk is a poet, polymath and highly regarded Australian public intellectual. He has written an extraordinary range of books, from Sonnets to a Promiscuous Beauty (which resides in former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s library), to reflective essays on the riches of Western civilisation in The West in a Nutshell, to a prescient 2005 treatise on the rise of China in Thunder from the Silent Zone: Rethinking China.

In this podcast, Nick Fabbri and Dr. Paul Monk discuss the fragility and instability of the global order following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and reflect on the nature of international relations and decision-making.

Key Discussion Points include:

• The Unipolar Moment and US Decline: Discussing Aaron Friedberg's 1988 book, The Weary Titan, which anticipated relative US decline just before the unipolar moment of the 1990s.
• Self-Inflicted Wounds: Examining the seismic shock of 9/11, the costly counterinsurgency wars that followed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008 as failures of foresight.
• The China Bet: Analysing the failure of the Western bet that China's admission to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2001 would lead to inevitable political reform and democratisation.
• The Problem of "Black Swans": Arguing that events like 9/11 and the GFC were not true black swan events but were foreseeable had there been better intelligence and regulatory oversight.
• States as Non-Unitary Actors: Challenging international relations theory by arguing that states are not unitary rational actors but are driven by interest groups, demagogues, and dictators.
• Grand Strategy and Empire: Examining the concept of grand strategy through historical cases like Imperial Britain, the Roman Empire, and the expansionist strategies of Russia and the Ming Dynasty in China.
• The Century of Humiliation: Discussing the Chinese Communist Party's strategic propagation of the Century of Humiliation narrative to justify its autocratic power and military build-up.
• Brownian Motion in Geopolitics: Introducing the concept of Brownian motion to describe the "turbulence or indeterminacy at the molecular level", referring to the micro forces that often cause major geopolitical surprises.
• The Deficit in Prediction: Citing Philip Tetlock's research, they note that political experts' long-term predictions are often no more accurate than "chimps throwing darts at a board".
• The Need for Scenarios and Nimbleness: Concluding that instead of making bold predictions, policymakers must use scenario analysis and focus on variables within the Brownian movement to improve strategic resilience and flexibility.

Dr Paul Monk is a poet, polymath and highly regarded Australian public intellectual. He has written an extraordinary range of books, from Sonnets to a Promiscuous Beauty (which resides in former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s library), to reflective essays on the riches of Western civilisation in The West in a Nutshell, to a prescient 2005 treatise on the rise of China in Thunder from the Silent Zone: Rethinking China.

In this episode, Dr. Paul Monk features a selection of poems from his recent anthology, Love on the Road of Life. This collection is dedicated to his lifelong companion, Claudia Alvarez, and celebrates their deep, 20-year relationship lived largely across continents. Paul credits Claudia with having been the catalyst for him embracing his identity as "a writer and a poet".

Key discussion points include:

• The Poetic Vocation: Monk shares the preface to his anthology, framing the work as a story of their relationship and a "thank-you note" to Claudia for convincing him to abandon being a businessman and step into his authentic self as a writer and a poet.
• Literary Context: The discussion opens with a quote from William Waters on the lyric address, setting the stage for poetry as "intimate conversation".
• The Frodo Moniker: Poems reflect on his childhood, shaped by Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, which led Claudia to affectionately dub him "Frodo Baggins".
• Childhood Influences: Early work recalls pivotal moments, including receiving a biography of Stalin on his 12th birthday and his "reckless" 1975 manifesto for self-actualisation upon dropping out of law school.
• Volcanic Texts and Mortality: Philosophical poems draw on the ruined library of Philodemus of Gadara beneath Vesuvius to question the endurance of his own work and contemplate mortality.
• The Alma Mahler Pitch: Reciting "Our Ringstrasse moment," Monk recounts Claudia's bold declaration that she is "Alma Mahler" and that he is destined for greatness, likening their struggle to a Mahler tragedy that finds its way to companionship.
• Existential Therapy: Poems like "Shrovetide" and "Finding the Clearing" are "tributes to what we've accomplished," reflecting the emotional and psychological difficulties of building intimacy and overcoming their "mutually tortured gaze".
• Geological Metaphor: Using travel as a catalyst for verse, poems employ complex metaphors, such as linking their distance and union to the tectonic collision of continents (Silurian) and the Panama Canal linking oceans.
• Victory of Love over Pain: The anthology includes poems written during his metastatic melanoma diagnosis, with "The Secret Key" suggesting his defiance of poor prognoses was due to Claudia's love.
• The Poetic End: The poem "Percy Bysshe Shelley" serves as a tribute and a declaration of his identity as a Romantic poet, celebrating the living of a "poetic life".

Dr Paul Monk is a poet, polymath and highly regarded Australian public intellectual. He has written an extraordinary range of books, from Sonnets to a Promiscuous Beauty (which resides in former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s library), to reflective essays on the riches of Western civilization in The West in a Nutshell, to a prescient 2005 treatise on the rise of China in Thunder from the Silent Zone: Rethinking China.