Topic: Intelligence: What is it, and where is my smart pill? Speakers: Julie Cochrane (author), John Harp (bacterial scientist), Bill Thomasson (scientist), Cathe Smith (insect genetics scientist), and Dr. Robert E. Hampson (neuroscientist, writer, and public speaker). Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the August 5, 2015 episode of The Future And You . [Running time: 51 minutes] This panel was recorded in front of an audience at the science fiction and fantasy convention LibertyCon in Chattan...
Aug 05, 2015•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Topic: The Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop is a group of scientists, engineers, space advocates, and space enthusiasts who are all pulling together to promote the eventual exploration of planets beyond our solar system. Les Johnson has described it this way: "The Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop is an opportunity for relaxed sharing of ideas in directions that will stimulate and encourage Interstellar exploration including propulsion, communications, and research. The 'Workshop' the...
Jul 29, 2015•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Secret Life of the Human Brain. How Modafinil and Ritalin are being used by college students to improve their mental functioning ; efforts to simulate the human brain in software ; new imaging devices that are improving our view deep inside the brain; neural prosthesis to replace a damaged section of the brain; how does the brain encode information?; how will living in space effect the human brain?; how changes in federal funding have effected research; and what exactly is consciousness? Dr....
Jul 22, 2015•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast Many uncomfortable secrets of publishing are revealed. Such as: just how little fact-checking is done by newspapers and magazines; an explanation of "white papers" along with who writes them, who pays for them, and a sneak peek into their darker side; how science is altered by the process of publishing it in peer-reviewed journals; how budgets at universities, government agencies, and nonprofits, grow or shrink because of the effectiveness of their press releases. Speakers include: Jim Beall (nu...
Jul 15, 2015•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast "Nuclear Follies" a presentation by Jim Beall (nuclear engineer). There was a time in which the astounding power of nuclear reactions was expected to solve a wide variety of humanity's problems. So thousands of research projects were launched by businesses, governments, and universities to find all the ways it was surely going to be useful. Most all proved to be dead ends, and were abandoned. Today, many of them look ridiculous. The lesson of this presentation is the swiftness with which humanit...
Jul 08, 2015•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast Les Johnson on space exploration and development: where we are exploring now, and where we will explore in the next few years. Also, plans for a future satellite-based Internet provider which will not only lower the cost of high-speed Internet and make it available everywhere on Earth, but also make it very difficult for governments to censor. Also: the increasing need for leap-seconds to keep our clocks accurate, since the earth's rotation rate is less stable than we previously believed; NASA's...
Jul 01, 2015•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Raising Scientifically-Minded Children (Part 2 of 2). Speakers: Catherine Asaro (physicist, Nebula Award winning author, and SIGMA consultant); Terry W. Ervin II (author, and professional educator); James Maxey (author) ; Stephen Euin Cobb (your host); and the moderator is Jim Craig (planetarium director). Books mentioned by the panelists include: Raptor Red , One Second After , and The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark . Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the June 24, 2015 ...
Jun 24, 2015•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast Raising Scientifically-Minded Children (Part 1 of 2). Speakers: Catherine Asaro (physicist, Nebula Award winning author, and SIGMA consultant); Terry W. Ervin II (author, and professional educator); James Maxey (author) ; Stephen Euin Cobb (your host); and the moderator is Jim Craig (planetarium director). Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the June 17, 2015 episode of The Future And You . [Running time: 32 minutes] This is the first half of a discussion panel recorded in front of an audience ...
Jun 17, 2015•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast "The Year in Science" Discussion Panel (Part 2 of 2). Topics: the appropriateness of de-extinction of extinct species from woolly mammoths to Neanderthals ; Harvard University's swarm of 1,000 self-organizing robots ; a fire extinguisher that puts out fires with sound ; Microsoft's augmented reality goggle-style computer, named HoloLens ; the fastest known star ; a surprisingly effective ancient herbal medicine ; the first in-space test of a light sail ; the Yellowstone supervolcano ; and many o...
Jun 10, 2015•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast "The Year in Science" Discussion Panel (Part 1 of 2). Topics: mind-uploading of a round worm which then successfully operated a Lego-robot ; the world's first warm-blooded fish ; a noninvasive treatment for Alzheimer's using ultrasound ; the dangers of e-cigarettes; the Pluto flyby New Horizons Mission ; landing a space probe on a comet (the Rosetta spacecraft and Philae lander ); an earth-sized exoplanet located in a habitable zone ; cryovulcanism on the moon Io; the dino-chicken ; and many oth...
Jun 03, 2015•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast Topics: Green bullets (environmentally friendly death); The Internet of Things seems to be taking it's own sweet time; The European Union's Galileo (Global Navigation Satellite System, GNSS) which will compete directly with the GPS created by the US Military . Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the May 27, 2015 episode of The Future And You . [Running time: 26 minutes] This monologue was recorded on May 25, 2015. Stephen Euin Cobb has interviewed over 350 people for his work as an author, futu...
May 27, 2015•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Topics: Robocraft , a game which makes learning basic engineering both fun and exciting; a prototype of an octopus-inspired robotic surgical arm ; laparoscopic surgery; minimally invasive surgery ; The Da Vinci Surgical System ; TransEnterix work in developing the SurgiBot™ System ; and photonic computers which manipulate data in the form of light waves . Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the May 20, 2015 episode of The Future And You . [Running time: 33 minutes] This monologue was recorded o...
May 20, 2015•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Topics: New Study Results Could Lead to Reversal of Aging Process ; Scientists have created some of the most powerful artificial muscles in existence ; why 4D printing is even better than 3D printing ; two methods for the de-extinction of extinct species ; youtube videos by the Crazy Russian Hacker ; and videos of levitating water droplets using sound waves at Smarter Every Day . Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the May 6, 2015 episode of The Future And You . [Running time: 29 minutes] This ...
May 13, 2015•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast Topics: predictions 100 years into the future, which were made in 1931 ; Koko: the gorilla who communicates using sign language , and a critique of her paintings ; how the extreme safety of self driving cars might become a major problem for the organ transplant industry; The Proceedings of the Old Bailey is a free, searchable, online database of criminal court proceedings that covers more than two centuries ; Trove is a project run by The National Library of Australia to digitise and make availa...
May 06, 2015•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Robert J. Sawyer --Part 3. Topics: Microsoft's new HoloLens eyeglass computer which beats Google glass by providing a head up display over your entire field-of-view; the latest DARPA Robot Challenge showed us that robots are still amazingly slow, clumsy and bumbling; why the future popularity of sex robots is perfectly reasonable; making the case for human augmentation; why human augmentation will probably, over time, alter an individual's personality; benefits of the new laser-based carbon-diox...
Apr 29, 2015•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Robert J. Sawyer --Part 2. Topics: indicators we might see if the Internet were to wake up and become conscious as an artificial intelligence; clever things such a web-mind might do to make the world a better place; why Artificial Intelligence or Artificial Super Intelligence is not likely to be dangerous; why it is likely that we will develop artificial intelligence; the future of 3-D printers of ordinary stuff, and of organs for transplant; features of a post-scarcity world; epigenetics; the a...
Apr 22, 2015•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Robert J. Sawyer (the award-winning author and science enthusiast) discusses: radical life extension; how mind uploading might be misused in horrific ways; his critique of the methods used by the SETI project in their search for extraterrestrial civilizations; the most reasonable answers to the the Fermi Paradox; and his expectations concerning quantum computers, and why the NSA is buying them. Robert J. Sawyer is one of only eight writers in history — and the only Canadian — to win all three of...
Apr 15, 2015•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Nancy Kress--part 3. Topics: Cameras in intersections that photograph people violating traffic laws and then mail them a ticket, and the retro-reflecting plastic sheet that motorists can buy and mount on their license plate to make photographing it with a flash camera impossible. How laws are always one step behind technological innovations, such as custody laws for the baby with three genetic parents. Cameras in a pill that you can swallow, which may someday replace colonoscopies. 3D printing o...
Apr 08, 2015•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Nancy Kress --part 2. Topics: Weaponized drones in the hands of terrorists; hobbyist drones flying near commercial airports; DARPA's project to mount tiny cameras on cockroaches; the future of controlled nuclear fusion; 3D Printing; some of the potential downsides of everyone in the world living forever; streaming TV shows and movies; her efforts to put up her backlist of books as ebooks; the new virtual-reality HoloLens from Microsoft. Nancy Kress is the author of thirty-two books , including t...
Apr 01, 2015•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Nancy Kress (award-winning author and science enthusiast) shares her ideas concerning: human genetic engineering; DARPA's latest human-like robot "Challenge;" genetic engineering of crops (GMO's); human level AI; self-driving vehicles; and the think-tank SIGMA. NEWS ITEM: This is the 400th episode of The Future and You. Nancy Kress is the author of thirty-two books , including twenty-five novels, four collections of short stories, and three books on how to write better. Her work has won five Neb...
Mar 25, 2015•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Topic: Artificial Super Intelligence --Part 2. Why it may pose a catastrophic threat to your life and all of human civilization. This is the second half of my interview with James Barrat, author of Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era . James Barrat has been a writer and producer of television documentaries for more than 20 years. His clients include National Geographic, Discovery, and PBS. Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the March 18, 2015 episode of Th...
Mar 18, 2015•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Topic: Artificial Super Intelligence : why it may pose a catastrophic threat to your life and all of human civilization. This is an interview with James Barrat, author of Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era . James Barrat has been a writer and producer of television documentaries for more than 20 years. His clients include National Geographic, Discovery, and PBS. Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the March 11, 2015 episode of The Future And You . [Running...
Mar 11, 2015•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Topics: A laser-based method for "scrubbing" air for astronauts and scuba divers; the problems of making active armor for individual soldiers; firing a gun underwater in a swimming pool and the strange things the expelled gas does ; how armor-piercing shells work against tanks; robots are in a boom-time of development but the major media finds this too boring to report; the rapid-fire bootlegging of TV shows & movies on Youtube; and 3D printing with metals . James Daniel Ross is the author of th...
Mar 04, 2015•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Topics: How space elevator 's work, how they can fail, and why the Europeans will never allow one to be built; a police drone that carries & fires a shotgun ; free roaming surgical robots ; someone in the audience asks about NASA's experiments with "anti-gravity"; focused plasma fusion ; and lightning bolts produce gamma rays and anti-matter . Speakers: James Daniel Ross and me. James Daniel Ross is the author of the SF series of novels: The Radiation Angels. He shares a Dream Realm Award with t...
Feb 25, 2015•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Topics; the multiple impracticalities of the flying cars which have so far been invented and prototyped, a 3D printed 1911 service pistol (45 calibre) tested by firing 5,000 rounds, 3D printers which make their own parts , women's equality in India, the absorbing and spreading of culture, tempered steel automobiles verses what we drive now, and examples of methanol engines used in motor vehicles. Speakers: James Daniel Ross and me. James Daniel Ross is the author of the SF series of novels: The ...
Feb 18, 2015•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Three Topics: [1] General Electric has greatly increased the resolution and speed of a CT scanner . Their new machine will likely save thousands of lives; improve the outcomes of hundreds of thousands of hospital patients; and, I suspect, become a valuable tool for additional research into human life-extension. [2] A channel of free documentaries on YouTube --such as "Can we live forever?" hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson . [3] BIG stands for Basic Income Guarantee. Under a BIG all citizens receive...
Feb 11, 2015•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Topics: Life-extension related research from Stanford University ; Microsoft's new HoloLens eyeglass computer which is an improvement on Google Glass in that it's a full headup display instead of just a little image in the corner of your field of vision; and the differences between normal cells and cancer cells . I also talk about the movie Guardians of the Galaxy , and the TV shows Agents of Shield and How the States got their shape . Life-extension oriented past episodes of The Future And You ...
Feb 04, 2015•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast Topic: Information that was formerly unavailable in digital form, or was prohibitively expensive, is now being made available thought the Internet by the US Federal and State Governments for free--provided you live in the right state. (Technically it's not really free. Taxes are paying for it.) This information includes the full text (THE FULL TEXT) of scientific papers from peer-reviewed journals, industrial and business reports which typically cost several thousand dollars each, US Government ...
Jan 28, 2015•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Topic: Recovering from a Computer Crash. Backups don't always have your back. Subtopics: Research on the life-expectancy of consumer hard drives ; how to download a free (and completely legal) copy of the Windows 7 operating system; why the recovery disk you were told to make when you bought your computer is approximately worthless; awesome videos on youtube by computer experts such as Carey Holzman and Eli the Computer Guy ; the value of bootable CDs and USB flash drives; free operating systems...
Jan 21, 2015•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is not a normal episode of the show. My computer suffered a catastrophic crash on Sunday (Jan 11, 2015) when the hard drive which contains the operating system became unreadable. This little five minutes worth of audio simply provides an explanation and some clarity. I have backups, but nothing to restore them into at the moment. Next week, or at worst, the week after, the show should be back to normal. I hope.
Jan 14, 2015•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast