Asking Good Questions with Edward Roske
In this podcast, we explore the CFO's office's past, present, and future, examining how technology and AI are transforming finance. Join Edward Roske and referents as they discuss innovative ways to enhance the role, optimize processes, and shape the future of financial leadership.
Designed for CFOs and finance leaders, each episode provides actionable insights into leveraging technology to drive growth, improve efficiency, and address challenges.
With an engaging tone, the podcast simplifies complex concepts, covering topics like automating tasks, real-time data analysis, and strategic planning.
Key themes include the shift from traditional finance methods to innovative, technology-driven processes and real-world examples like scenario modeling and automated reporting.
The podcast also highlights future trends, such as generative AI for forecasting and advanced analytics for decision-making, promising to shape financial management. Edward Roske inspires listeners with practical advice and tools to embrace technology confidently.
Tune in for strategies to thrive in the evolving financial landscape.
Asking Good Questions with Edward Roske
Who Owns the Inside of Your Head? | Gerardo Lebrón Laboy
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His case is that none of this is science fiction anymore. Neuralink already has paralyzed patients moving a cursor with their thoughts, and AI keeps getting faster at decoding the brain data wearables collect. (He also brought up a brain-scan study on a dead salmon, his reminder that reading a thought is still an educated guess.)
I asked what stops a company from putting ads inside your head, and he walked me through Marcelo Ienca's proposal for 4 new human rights: mental privacy, mental integrity, psychological continuity, and cognitive liberty. I tested the first one on myself. If I think "I'd really like to punch that guy," I don't think I'm breaking a single law, and if I yell it out the window, I am. So what happens when a headset hears the thinking part? The right covers unauthorized access, he said, and the terms of service nobody reads might be your authorization. (Edward, of every thought you could've volunteered as the brain-reading example, you went with assault?!?)
What he fears is something he calls the cyborg opt-in proposition. You can't really get a professional job today without a phone, and he can picture a day when saying no to a device in your body costs you the job too. I didn't find that far-fetched, because I'd flown from Toronto to San Juan earlier that day and got scanned at the airport like I was standing there naked. Picture a border agent saying "just briefly put this little headset on and tell me if you have any ill intent," and most of us saying "fine, that'll weed out the terrorists," without noticing we just handed over our cognitive liberty.
At the very end he told me that even if a machine could read our thoughts with 100% accuracy, "we should never permit it," because once that door opens, the right to stay silent is over. I told him I may not agree with what you think, but I'll defend to the death your right to think it, and I'll march at the front of the protest line if anybody tries. He said "Touché." (I'm counting that as a win against a lawyer.)
Gerardo is giving his own talk, "The Right to Stay Human," at the Caribbean AI Summit, October 9-10 in San Juan. He says he's there for the debates, so come find him and argue (politely, because he's a lawyer and he'll win). If you'd rather read than argue, his Substack is Golden Pebbles, and a recent post there makes the case for mental privacy as a brand new human right.
I'm Edward Roske, and this is Asking Good Questions. New conversations with the people figuring out the human side of AI. If one of these questions stuck with you, subscribe and send it to someone who'd take the other side.
LINKS
Caribbean AI Summit (Oct 9-10, San Juan): https://CaribbeanSummit.AI
Golden Pebbles, Gerardo's Substack: https://gerardolebron.substack.com
"The 'why' of neural rights, in a nutshell": https://gerardolebron.substack.com/p/the-why-of-neural-rights-in-a-nutshell
Gerardo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerardo-lebron-laboy-98724a327/
Gerardo on X: https://x.com/GLebronLaboy
BOOKS & RESEARCH MENTIONED
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, Shoshana Zuboff (2019)
Marcelo Ienca and Roberto Andorno's paper proposing 4 new neurorights (2017)
The dead salmon brain-scan study, Craig Bennett et al. (2009)
Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell (1949)
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley (1932)
I, Robot, Isaac Asimov (1950), including "Runaround" and "Evidence"
His Golden Pebbles post on the Munich Google AI Overviews ruling (2026)
This episode of Asking Good Questions is brought to you by Caprus.Ai.
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