Episode description

Robert Hooker (an Information Technology professional living in London) is today's featured guest.

Topics: why Islamic fundamentalists feel threatened by the dominance of the Internet today, just as Christian fundamentalists felt threatened by the dominance of TV in the 1960s; now that online dating is a highly profitable business, how dating sites may try to change cultural ideas and habits about dating to stretch those dating years into a lifelong lifestyle to maximize their profits; why Internet technology may have more to do with fashion than with the 'needs' people have (or think they have); how technology is helping people to come together on a global basis and become more of a world community; also: cell phones, global warming and Second Life.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the July 22, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 36 minutes]

Robert Hooker has a Bachelors degree in Cognitive Sciences from the University of Chicago, and a Masters degree in Sociology from the Open University in Britain. For most of the 1990s Robert worked first as a researcher in Artificial Intelligence at Northwestern University Institute for Learning Sciences (ILS) and then as Web Developer and Entrepreneur. While at the Institute for Learning Sciences he worked with Virtual Reality, web based video delivery, Internet learning and content indexing. Current he works for Fujitsu Services in the United Kingdom. He has lived in London for the last 10 years.