Stephen Euin Cobb (author and futurist) is today's speaker. Topics: News and commentary concerning: The first implanted brain-computer interface which is wireless (it's from Brown University); The Human Brain Project intends to simulate an entire human brain; A new Exoplanet-Hunting Telescope which takes adaptive optics to a whole new level; A 3-D Printer which creates microscopic objects ; And the world’s smallest implant for monitoring blood chemistry can tell your smart phone when you’re abou...
Mar 27, 2013•28 min
Robert G. Kennedy and Kenneth I. Roy (engineers and researchers) are today's featured guests. Topic: Building Shell Worlds. Shell Worlds are a method of building comfortable biospheres over the entire surface of celestial bodies which are too small to retain an atmosphere by their natural gravitational attraction. Such objects include the moon, the planets Mercury and Mars, and the moons of Jupiter and other gas giant planets, perhaps even some asteroids. Sub-topics discussed include: the method...
Mar 20, 2013•56 min
Robert G. Kennedy , Dr. Gregory L. Matloff , Les Johnson , Dr. Ben Davis and Phillip R. Cox are today's featured guests. Topic: Building a Dyson Dot , which is a very small segment of a Dyson Sphere . A Dyson Sphere is an object Freeman Dyson suggested we look for if we wish to discover alien civilizations in our galaxy. It is a spherical device which completely surrounds a star, and collects all the radiant energy from the star so the energy can be used by the civilization which built it. Such ...
Mar 13, 2013•55 min
Dr. James K. Woosley (physicist and lecturer) is our featured guest. Topic: Areas within particle physics which still offer the promise of discoveries in the near and distant future. Some of these discoveries may yield new energy sources to power our growing civilization, or the propulsion methods needed for interstellar travel to become reality. Some may even allow us to engineer our way around the light barrier and build faster-than-light spacecraft. Sub-topics Dr. Woosley covers: Antimatter ,...
Mar 06, 2013•1 hr 6 min
Stephen Euin Cobb (author and futurist) is today's speaker. Topics include: An update on Google Glass ; Google's contest which will allow you to buy your own google glass for $1500 (your host has entered this contest); carbon nanotubes woven into conductive threads may replace copper for electrical wiring in aircraft and help wearable computers become woven into clothing; an impressive new antibacterial gel from IBM and the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology; and the first bionic eye...
Feb 27, 2013•29 min
Stephen Euin Cobb (author and futurist) is today's speaker. Topic: The Millennium Project . Its assessment of some of today's trends, and the likely changes to our future these trends may produce. Trends described include: robotics, surgery, medicine, computing, energy, education, automobiles, clothing, the Internet, smart phones, nanotechnology and nanorobotics, 3D printing and open source hardware, supercomputers, free online education, artificial intelligence, life extension, computational bi...
Feb 20, 2013•37 min
Stephen Euin Cobb (author and futurist) is today's speaker. Topics include: Entropia Universe --a huge online game somewhat like World of Warcraft but with an economy pegged to the US Dollar. (Players are allowed to put money into the game and to take money out. Apparently some people are making their real-world living by playing the game.) Also: A push to make more advanced robotic prosthetic arms for amputees; a pacemaker-like device which has been used to produce deep-brain stimulation which ...
Feb 13, 2013•36 min
Stuart Jaffe (author and co-host of The Eclectic Review ) is today's featured guest. Topics: Google putting together a convention this month for app developers to come and write apps for Google's new eyeglass computer; Google calling for the end of passwords and pushing for some method which might be more secure than passwords; Casual terrorists verses Dedicated terrorists; the new 4K and 8K TVs (which have four times and 16 times the resolution of HD TVs); David Brin's prediction of a future wi...
Feb 06, 2013•37 min
Stuart Jaffe (author and co-host of The Eclectic Review ) is today's featured guest. Topics: the future of traditional publishing after the ebook revolution is over, Stuart's own efforts and experiences in book promotion, his results in podcasting , his expectations of the future, his impression of 3D movies, and his impression of Vocaloid (the popular software used to create the singing voice of the also popular animated Japanese performer Hatsune Miku ). Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb , this is t...
Jan 30, 2013•32 min
Stuart Jaffe ( author and co-host of The Eclectic Review ) is today's featured guest. Topics: trends in movies, TV and book publishing. Stuart's love hate relationship with CGI ; will CGI ever completely replace actors?; and why George Lucas's long push for digital projectors in theaters still has yet to succeed. Also: Stuart's analysis of the ebook revolution based on his 20 years of personal experience in publishing. Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb , this is the January 23, 2013 episode of The Fut...
Jan 23, 2013•37 min
Stephen Euin Cobb (your host) is today's speaker. Topics: Human augmentation, autonomous vehicles (both ground vehicles and aircraft), 3D printing, cyberwarfare, battles over fresh water, and the rising power of cities (compared to the stagnating power of nations). This is part 2 of my discussion of Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds . Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb , this is the January 16, 2013 episode of The Future And You . [Running time: 35 minutes] News Items [1]: How impressively easy it...
Jan 16, 2013•35 min
Stephen Euin Cobb (your host) is today's speaker. Topic: Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds is a careful and thorough estimation of what the future holds for us all on a global scale. This document is created every four years and presented to the President of the United States of America in the weeks before he is sworn into office. Your host reads snippets from its pages and summarises some of its predictions. Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb , this is the January 9, 2013 episode of The Future An...
Jan 09, 2013•38 min
Stephen Euin Cobb (your host) is today's speaker. Topic: Autonomous Cars (also known as driverless cars and self-driving vehicles) . What they are; how they will change our lives; and especially the powerful forces which may accelerate their dominance of all roads and highways by mandating the elimination of human-driven cars. Google's work on autonomous cars, and their recent lobbying for laws making them legal in Nevada, Florida and California. It's beginning to look as though autonomous cars ...
Jan 02, 2013•33 min
Jacob Krogsgaard (atmospheric scientist and project manager) is today's featured guest. Topics: Possible ramifications of self-replicating 3-D printers, such as the RepRap Machine by Dr. Adrian Bowyer . Also: open-source designs, crowd-funding, the stock market micro-crash, the Augmented Reality glasses such as the Google Glass project , and computers wired directly into the human brain. As well as his observation that our current generation of technology seems to be super-empowering volunteer a...
Dec 26, 2012•29 min
Jacob Krogsgaard (atmospheric scientist and project manager) is today's featured guest. Topics: Driverless cars are legal in California and Nevada , why smartphones are not done changing the world, such as using a smartphone to give an EKG test , why high-frequency computerized stock trading is a problem, how journalism is being radically changed by the Internet, and police officers using tiny drones to take aerial photos of automotive traffic accidents. Also: examples of volunteer driven produc...
Dec 19, 2012•31 min
Jacob Krogsgaard (atmospheric scientist and project manager) is today's featured guest. Topics: adult stem cells harvested from human urine ; 3D printing of organs ; a new way of enriching uranium which may make it cheaper and easier , and therefore more common and more dangerous; solar cells which can split water into hydrogen and oxygen ; why photovoltaics are wonderful, but why photovoltaics wont be enough to solve the climate change problem; and specifically why climate change may be catastr...
Dec 12, 2012•30 min
Jacob Krogsgaard (atmospheric scientist and project manager) is today's featured guest. Topic: the engineering difficulties which must be overcome in order to build a magnetic mass driver capable of safely launching into earth orbit both cargo and people. Links for more info on things mentioned in this episode: Mass Driver , L5 Society , plasma window , and Mass Driver Up-Date By Henry Kolm From L5 News, September 1980 . Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb , this is the December 5, 2012 episode of The F...
Dec 05, 2012•35 min
Topic: Is America Still a Leader in Education? (Part 2 of 2) Dr. Ben Davis (nuclear physicist, programmer, and former professor), Terry W. Erwin II (educator of English and Science at the High School level, who is also a science fiction writer) and Jim Craig (speaker, lecturer, and planetarium director) are our featured guests. Stephen Euin Cobb moderated this panel: asking questions and keeping everyone on topic. Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the November 28, 2012 episode of The Future A...
Nov 28, 2012•35 min
Dr. Ben Davis (nuclear physicist, programmer, and former professor), Terry W. Erwin II (educator of English and Science at the High School level, who is also a science fiction writer) and Jim Craig (speaker, lecturer, and planetarium director) are our featured guests. Stephen Euin Cobb moderated this panel: asking questions and keeping everyone on topic. Topic: Is America Still a Leader in Education? (Part 1 of 2) Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the November 21, 2012 episode of The Future A...
Nov 19, 2012•30 min
Ramez Naam (author, futurist and IT professional) is our featured guest. Topic: Global Climate Change is just one of the many topics he covers in his book The Infinite Resource: The Power of Innovation on a Finite Planet . Looking beyond the arguments and hyperbole, in this interview we discuss what we know scientifically and what we don't know. We explore the problems and inconveniences which global warming will likely produce, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of some possible engineerin...
Nov 14, 2012•40 min
Ramez Naam (author, futurist and IT professional) is today's featured guest. Topics: good trends such as: poverty and hunger are down world-wide, while health and longevity are up; but also mixed trends such as in: education and the jobs of the future, the rising shortage of fresh water, how desalinization works and why it is increasingly important, the good and bad truth about fracking and natural gas, limits on agriculture--just how much food can we produce? the good and bad news about china, ...
Nov 07, 2012•41 min
Ramez Naam (author, futurist and IT professional) is today's featured guest. Topics: Internet Search Algorithms (what they are and how they do what they do); what and why he teaches at Singularity University ; why he joined Humanity Plus and the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies ; why he believes (as does your host) that all human beings are transhumanists by their fundamental nature; why he dislikes the term " Transhumanist " even though he is one. We also discuss his article in Sc...
Oct 31, 2012•37 min
Jim Craig , Micki (of the Charlotte Geeks ) and Stephen Euin Cobb are today's speakers. Topic: Inventions which were Inspired by Science Fiction movies, books or TV. Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb , this is the October 24, 2012 episode of The Future And You . [Running time: 66 minutes] This panel discussion was recorded before a live audience on June 2, 2012 in Charlotte, North Carolina at the Science Fiction and Fantasy convention ConCarolinas . News Items: [1] Japan's biggest mobile operator will...
Oct 24, 2012•1 hr 6 min
John G. Hartness is today's featured guest. Topic: An even deeper penetration into the secrets of self-publishing electronically. As well as some frank advice about writing erotica; how Michael Stackpole made many traditionally-published authors angry ; Books on the Knob ; what NOT to do when designing ebook covers, and some insider tips on how to publish and promote using Kindle Direct Publishing which is amazon's website for all those who self-publish electronically . Hosted by Stephen Euin Co...
Oct 17, 2012•1 hr 1 min
Sarah Hoyt , Daniel Hoyt , John G. Hartness , Charlotte Babb , Tamera Lowery and Dan Hollifield are today's featured speakers. Topic: Self-Publishing as a Viable Career Option. How you can participate in the upheaval going on in the publishing industry by publishing your books, your short stories, and even your nonfiction articles for sale to the general public all by yourself. Mostly this means ebooks which have been outselling physical books for over a year, and which provide the author with a...
Oct 10, 2012•53 min
Stephen Euin Cobb is today's featured speaker. Topics: Your host reads from, and comments on, an MIT report entitled The Future of the Electric Grid . Also: cybersecurity; wind energy; why electric cars may become a huge burden on the electric grid; and how the power industry's push-back against solar cells in Hawaii has now spread to California . Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the October 3, 2012 episode of The Future And You . [Running time: 42 minutes] Stephen Euin Cobb is an author, fu...
Oct 03, 2012•41 min
Jim Minz , Lee Martindale , Chris Morris , Janet Morris , Dan Hollifield , Holly McClure and Walt Boyes are today's featured guests. Topic: ePublishing as viewed principally by various publishers and editors who have successfully transitioned into it without abandoning their traditional paper-based publishing business models. Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb , this is the September 26, 2012 episode of The Future And You . [Running time: 52 minutes] This panel was recorded on July 21, 2012 before a li...
Sep 26, 2012•51 min
Stephen Euin Cobb is today's featured speaker. A Variety of Topics Which Include: 11 Health Habits That Will Help You Live to 100 ; An exhaustive Longevity Quiz I took recently; Forks Over Knives ( a documentary about how foods affect our health); The first ever smart phone with a Geiger counter built into it; Deaf gerbils hear again after stem cell cure ; Woolly Mammoth fragments from Siberia raise cloning hopes ; Google News and Google Alerts (what they are and why they can be valuable to you)...
Sep 19, 2012•49 min
Michael Z. Williamson , Philip R. Cox and Janet Morris are today's featured speakers. Topic: (Second Half of discussion on) Future Weapons, including Post-Projectile weapons and "non-lethal" or "Less-than-lethal" weapons. Michael Z. Williamson is retired from the United States military after 25 years and is both a science fiction and military fiction author. He is also associate editor at SurvivalBlog where he does reviews of disaster preparedness products. He has consulted on military matters, ...
Sep 12, 2012•27 min
Michael Z. Williamson , Philip R. Cox and Janet Morris are today's featured speakers. Topic: Future Weapons, including Post-Projectile weapons and "non-lethal" or "Less-than-lethal" weapons. (First of two parts.) Michael Z. Williamson is retired from the United States military after 25 years and is both a science fiction and military fiction author. He is also associate editor at SurvivalBlog where he does reviews of disaster preparedness products. He has consulted on military matters, weapons a...
Sep 05, 2012•31 min
