Slovakia Today, English Language Current Affairs Programme from Slovak Radio

On this first Tuesday of the year, we look back at two of the top stories heard on this programme in 2021. First, Jonathan speaks with astrobiologist Tomáš Paulech, who manages the Astronomical and Geophysical observatory in Modra, about what scientists have expected to actually find in past investigations into the possibility of extraterrestrial life, how such expectations have changed over time, and where we are today in the search for life outside our own planet. In the second story we speak with artificial intelligence researcher Maria Bielikova on the fraught question of what sort of impacts the future development of AI could have on human society. Will it ultimately be a great gift to society that will benefit people’s lives, or a tool of the surveillance state and a predatory marketing device? The answer depends very much on how its development is being approached right now, and what sort of ethical principles are guiding this.