Three Mile Island, Women in Skateboarding, AI & Religion

Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant Shuts Down for Good Guest: Matthew Memmott, PhD, Assistant Professor of Nuclear Engineering, BYU The nuclear power plant at the Three Mile Island, infamous for a partial meltdown 40 years ago, shutdown for good over the weekend. The power company that operates the nuclear reactor there says it no longer makes financial sense to keep it running. So let’s take a look at what that means –and how the Three Mile Island meltdown in 1979 changed nuclear power. Female Skateboarders Prepare for Olympic Debut Guest: Nicole Hause, Member of the United States National Skateboarding Team When the Olympics arrive in Tokyo next summer, a bunch of skateboarders will be there. Nicole Hause hopes to be among them. She’s a member of the first-ever US National Skateboarding team that was just created in preparation for the first-time skateboarding will be an official Olympic sport. So legit for so an anti-establishment sport, right? What’s Artificial Intelligence’s Role in Religion? Guest: Ilia Delio, PhD, Franciscan Sister of Washington, DC, Josephine C. Connelly Endowed Chair in Theology at Villanova University.   Very smart computer programs can predict the weather, tell you the best driving route to your destination and recommend the next TV show you should stream. We’re pretty used to the idea of artificial intelligence influencing our consumer behavior. What about our spiritual lives? In Japan, you can hire a robot to conduct a Buddhist funeral for a lot less money than a human priest. A European engineer has designed a robot that offers comforting sayings from Catholic scripture. He intends it to offer spiritual succor to elderly people isolated from their faith communities. Would you seek spiritual counsel from an artificially intelligent machine? Why Jews Are So Funny, and When It’s Okay for Non-Jews to Laugh Guest: Bob Mankoff, Cartoonist, Former Cartoon Editor for The New Yorker, “Have I Got a Cartoon for You!” I planned to start this conversation listing off the most famous Jewi