This week on The Gralien Report, as the results of the Iowa caucus are rolling in, we turn our attention to news pertaining to the Zika virus outbreak in South America, as well as possible discovery of a real “Planet X” much further out beyond our Solar System. Then the very controversial subject of gene editing raises its head, as British scientists are being given the green light to be able to conduct such studies on human embryos.

The discussion continues in the vein of concerns about such controversial technologies as these, as we examine new technologies that could allow speech for those otherwise unable to do so, with the help of electrodes implanted directly into the brain. However, what happens when you pair this with such things as wi-fi? We take things one step further with an examination of one scientist’s belief that by the end of this century, many people will be able to exist indefinitely thanks to digital technologies. This leads us to the discussion of transhumanism, described as, “an international and intellectual movement that aims to transform the human condition by developing and creating widely available sophisticated technologies to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities.” What will such technologies mean for humans of the future, and will we really be able to call such hypothetical trans-humans “human” at all?

On the heels of this story, during hour two we are joined by a panel of researchers that includes blogger Red Pill Junkie, writer Joshua Cutchin, and podcaster Seriah Azkath as we continue to weigh the pros and cons of far-out “transhuman” future technologies. Then, as we consider the varieties of human experience of the future, and the kinds of modes through which we may eventually coexist with intelligences other than our own, we examine the controversial claims of a researcher named R. M. Santilli, who claims to have used a special telescope of his own design to uncover evidence of a new kind of presence in Earth’s skies. Can this “discovery” be confirmed independently, or is it purely the stuff of pseudoscience? Or, could this somehow fall someplace in between, in that Santilli’s pseudoscience may lead to an actual discovery of some legitimacy?

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This holiday season, in the tradition of old European readings of ghost stories the night before Christmas, Gralien X subscribers were treated to a reading of M.R. James’ classic eerie tale of witchcraft and the otherworldly, The Ash Tree, marking our 22nd edition of this special series exclusive to Gralien X subscribers. Sign up today and get access to the entire back catalogue of Gralien Enigmas, in addition to weekly installments of the “additional edition”, the Gralien X Podcast.