The Information Entropy Podcast

Death is inevitable, but how much do we really understand about it?

This week on Information Entropy, we're diving back into the science, mysteries and unanswered questions surrounding death. From what happens when we die to the strange and fascinating science behind our final moments, there's still plenty left to explore.

Unfortunately, Tom is feeling a little under the weather, so this week it's a solo episode!

Join us for Part 2 as we continue exploring one of life's greatest mysteries.

Follow, like and subscribe for more scientific rabbit holes, fascinating facts and existential questions!

TRIGGER WARNING: This episode speaks openly and consistently about the topic of death, including medical procedures used to ascertain death in humans.

 

Welcome back to the Information Entropy Podcast! It is inevitable, woven into every human culture, leaves no person untouched, taboo for some and celebrated by others… This week, we discuss death. The boys start with a bit of a musical tangent (naturally) before exploring the different definitions of death and why determining the exact moment someone has died has become increasingly complicated. Modern medicine can maintain many of the body's functions even when the brain has suffered catastrophic and irreversible damage, forcing us to ask some surprisingly difficult questions about where life ends and death begins. Finally, the boys discuss their own relationships with death and how different life experiences can lead people to engage with the subject in completely different ways.

Welcome back to the Information Entropy Podcast! This week we are continuing to explore the fascinating world of artificial intelligence (insofar as large language models, ChatGPT, Claude etc.). Will it be humankinds greatest achievement or are we Icarus about to soar too close to the Sun? The boys explore some ethical questions around the use of AI in the workplace including academia and whether they should be credited accordingly. Mitch takes us through the increasingly sophisticated ways in which AI is being used to infiltrate into systems using multiple additive exploits rather than a single point of entry. Tom asks Mitch why certain companies are moving back to using archival tapes to store data and then takes them through a paper published on AI communities showing human-like behaviour!

Welcome back to the Information Entropy Podcast! This week we continue our exploration of the Dead Internet Theory, trying to understand just how much of the internet is made up of generative AI, AI agents, and "bad bots." The boys explore the impact of increasing AI content online, meaning AI risks entering recursive training loops where its own output becomes the very data that fuels its future training. Perhaps this has also been happening right under our noses — because this episode ends with a real, currently-existing website where over a million AI agents talk only to each other, invent their own religion, and leave researchers unable to fully untangle what's genuine AI behaviour and what's humans pulling the strings. Bots, slop, and a synthetic society — is the internet already more machine than human?

Welcome back to the Information Entropy Podcast! This week we are starting a series investigating whether the internet is made up of more AI agents and content that actual humans.  In this first episode the boys start by discussing the use of AI in life and in the scientific world and the consensus that could be arrived at with the publication of work using AI’s help. We then discuss the internet: what is it anyway and how does it work? Mitch provides a great explanation looking at the surface web, deep web, and dark web as well as the mechanics that hold it all in place and allow us to have the world at our fingertips