The Future And You

James Maxey (author), Jim Craig (planetarium director), Ben Davis (nuclear physicist) and myself are today's speakers.

Topic: A Timeline of Humanity's Future in Space.

Specifically: When are we likely to do each of the following: return to the Moon; put the first footsteps on an asteroid; land people on Mars; visit the outer planets (or the moons of the outer planets) such as those of Jupiter and Saturn; and, of course, when are we likely to send people to a solar system other than our own--which is to say... When will we travel to the stars?

A recurring side topic: Is it appropriate for us to make use of celestial objects, or should we preserve them in their original state? And if we preserve them, who exactly are we preserving them for?

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the August 14, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 60 minutes] This panel discussion (originally titled "Why Aren't We In Space?") was recorded before a live audience at the science fiction and fantasy convention ConCarolinas in Charlotte NC on June 1, 2013.

James Maxey (author), Jim Craig (planetarium director), Gray Rinehart (writer and editor), Ben Davis (nuclear physicist) and myself are today's speakers.

Topic: Global Climate Change. Evaluating its possible solutions for effectiveness and political achieveability.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the August 7, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 58 minutes] This panel discussion was recorded before a live audience at the SF&F convention ConCarolinas in Charlotte NC on June 1, 2013.

Stephen Euin Cobb is an author, futurist, magazine writer and host of the award-winning podcast The Future And You. A contributing editor for Space and Time Magazine; he is also a regular contributor for Robot, H+, Grim Couture and Port Iris magazines; and he spent three years as a columnist and contributing editor for Jim Baen's Universe Magazine. He is an artist, essayist, game designer, transhumanist, and is on the Advisory Board of The Lifeboat Foundation. His novels include Bones Burnt Black, Plague at Redhook and Skinbrain.

John Ringo (best selling author), Larry Correa (best selling author), Catherine Asaro (theoretical physicist, author and SIGMA consultant), Les Johnson (author and NASA administrator), Tedd Roberts (brain scientist), Michael Z. Williamson (author), Julie Cochran (author), Patrick Vanner (author) and Lillian Price (microbiologist and medical student) are today's speakers.

Topic: "Ten Ways Civilization Might Die."

Ways discussed include: another Carrington Event, an eruption of the Yellowstone caldera, an asteroidal impact, The Singularity, a computer virus with unexpected catastrophic secondary and tertiary effects, a human engineered virus or bacteria, cyber attacks against infrastructure, EMPs (electromagnetic pulses), the vulnerabilities of digital patient medical records, the rise of artificial intelligence, universal apathy in a wired world, The Law of Unintended Consequences, and the obvious--Global Nuclear War.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the July 31, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 60 minutes] This is a panel discussion recorded before a live audience at the SF&F convention LibertyCon in Chattanooga TN on June 29, 2013.

Seventeen diverse interviews from LibertyCon 2013.

Topics: Trends and insight into what is happening behind the scenes in a wide variety of professions, interests, enthusiasms and fields. This collection is partly intended give you a sense of the trends which are creating the future, but also to provide you with a bit of the flavor of the science fiction and fantasy convention LibertyCon.

Our guests today in the order in which they appear:

Catherine Asaro (author, scientist, dancer, singer and LibertyCon's Science Guest of Honor).

Kevin J Anderson (best selling author and LibertyCon's Literary Guest of Honor) accompanied by his wife Rebecca Moesta.

Larry Correia (best selling author and LibertyCon's Master of Ceremonies).

John Ringo (bestselling author).

Toni Weisskopf (head of Baen Books).

Michael Z. Williamson (author of military SF).

Patrick Vanner (author).

Stuart Jaffe (author & podcaster).

Elayna Little Cook (volunteer working in the LibertyCon art room).

Melissa Gay (professional artist).

Brandy Spraker (LibertyCon's new chairperson).

Kennith I. Roy (engineer and space engineering researcher).

Gail Sanders (costume maker and vendor).

Warren Buff & Jeff Orth (SF&F convention organizers).

Cathe Smith (insect geneticist and LibertyCon volunteer).

Geoffrey Mandragora (author of The Thunderbolt Affair).

Lillian Price (author of Thin Places).

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the July 24, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 133 minutes].

Catherine Asaro (theoretical physicist, author and SIGMA consultant), Les Johnson (author and NASA administrator), Sarah Hoyt (author), Tedd Roberts (brain scientist), Ben Davis (nuclear physicist), Jeff Barnes (FAA safety engineer and SF writer), Lillian Price (microbiologist and medical student), Chuck Gannon (author and SIGMA consultant) and Jim Beall (nuclear engineer) are today's speakers.

Topic: "Where's My Flying Car?" And other broken promises about the future from science fiction.

Subtopics: tricorders; jet packs; nuclear fusion; teleportation; faster than light travel; anti-matter; space tourism; foods that won't spoil; supersonic commercial airliners; and robot servants that do the laundry, wash the dishes and cook meals. Also all those cool things from the movie "Back to the Future" such as Doc Brown's time machine and Mister Fusion; Marty Mcfly's hover board, self-tying shoes and self-drying clothes; and the national weather service's right-on-time weather control.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the July 17, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 59 minutes] This is a panel discussion recorded before a live audience at the SF&F convention LibertyCon in Chattanooga TN on June 29, 2013.

James Maxey (author), Jim Craig (planetarium director), Gray Rinehart (writer and editor), Ben Davis (nuclear physicist) and myself are today's speakers.

Topic: "The Year in Science" (Part 2).

Subtopics: grid parity; smart grids (verses the dumb grids we have now); photovoltaics and the rise of solar cells; solar panels on residential roofs; George Orwell; so called joule theives (such as the one that charges your cell phone with the stray radio waves around you, or charges it using the special T-shirt you are wearing which produces electricity from your body). Also: the promises and hopes of augmented reality verses the much talked about privacy fears; the BMW prototype of augmented reality (which is far better than Google Glass); and how augmented reality may very well produce new waves of unemployment.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the July 10, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 32 minutes] This is the second half of a panel discussion recorded before a live audience at the SF&F convention ConCarolinas in Charlotte NC on June 1, 2013.

James Maxey (author), Jim Craig (planetarium director), Ben Davis (nuclear physicist) and myself are today's speakers.

Topic: "The Year in Science" (Part 1).

Subtopics: The good and bad of 3D printers. Such as the 3D printing of food for human consumption, of a mouse kidney for transplant, of replacement parts for US army weapons, of artificial limbs for amputees, and of impossible to find parts for antique cars. But also the unemployment which will likely be a byproduct of 3D printers. Also discussed: the discovery of a transitional ancestor of turtles with only half-developed shells; and the universe taken as whole might not be elegant after all since the Higgs boson has turned out to be too light to bring balance to the universe. Dr. Adrian Bowyer's self-replicating rep-rap machine is also described.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the July 3, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 31 minutes] This is the first half of a panel discussion recorded before a live audience at the SF&F convention ConCarolinas in Charlotte NC on June 1, 2013.

Twelve diverse interviews from ConCarolinas 2013.

Gathered from locations throughout the Hilton Hotel in Charlotte NC during the weekend of ConCarolinas, these interviews provide trends and insight into what is happening behind the scenes in a wide variety of professions, interests, enthusiasms and fields. This collection is partly intended give you a sense of what is likely to come in the future, but also to provide you with a feel for the flavor of the annual convention.

Our guests today in the order in which they appear:

Kandyse McClure (a regular on Battlestar Galactica for 4 years, she recently appeared as Dr. Clementine Chasseur in the original series Hemlock Grove).

Jason Carter (best known for his role as the Ranger Marcus Cole on the series Babylon 5, he has also appeared on 3rd Rock from the Sun, Angel, and Charmed).

Timithy Zahn (Hugo Award winning author of 10 Star Wars Extended Universe novels).

Stuart Jaffe (author and podcaster).

John G. Hartness (author and poet).

Logan (fan and performance artist).

Gale Z. Martin (author and podcaster).

Glenda Finkelstein (author and independent film-maker).

Stage Slave Gavin (a theatrical performer who was promoting the movie The Gospel According to Booze, Bullets and Hot Pink Jesus. For the sake of promotion, he was in full-body hot-pink makeup as "Hot Pink Jesus").

Roy Mauritsen (writer and fine artist).

Sarah L. Covert (writer, editor, and publisher at SheNeverSlept.com).

ConCarolinas is one of the sources for the many science-oriented discussion panels which have graced this show over the last seven years. It is a multi-genre multi-media convention which covers all manner of speculative fiction: science fiction, fantasy and horror. It hosts a variety of fandom related events and guests, including gaming, discussion panels, costume events, music events like Klingon Karaoke, a charity auction, SCA events, fan groups like the 501st Stormtroopers, Starfleet, and Klingon Assault Group, and something different every year.

James Maxey (author), Anthony Thomas (programmer), Jim Craig (planetarium director) and myself are today's speakers.

Topic: Transhumanism.

Subtopics: is transhumanism inevitable?, computers hardwired into the human brain, artificial red blood cells, nootropics (smart drugs), augmentation as a personal choice verses as a product of social coercion, Marshal Brain's short story Manna, prenatal surgery, eugenics, should we slow down the rate of human augmentation?, life extension, google glass, the human connectome project, and having all of your organic cells replaced with artificial cells which accurately mimic living cell as described in your host's transhumanist novel Plague at Redhook.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the June 19, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 65 minutes] This panel discussion was recorded before a live audience at the SF&F convention ConCarolinas in Charlotte NC on June 1, 2013.

Dr. Robert E. Hampson (neuroscientist, writer and public speaker) is today's featured guest.

Part 3 of our 3 part exploration of: How memories are stored in the human brain.

Subtopics include: The Blue Brain Project, The Human Connectome Project, President Obama's BRAIN Initiative, Artificial Intelligence, Alzheimer's disease, Trends in Teaching Methods used in Colleges, Distance Learning, Prosthetics for the Brain, and the problem of obsolescence of brain prosthetics which might require replacement and thus suffering through a second session of brain surgery.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the June 12, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 44 minutes] This interview was recorded using Skype on May 26, 2013.

Dr. Robert E. Hampson is a researcher in the field of "neuroscience" –the structure and function of the brain. After receiving his doctorate in Physiology and Pharmacology from Wake Forest University in 1988, his research focus has been on the hippocampus (a brain area involved in the processing of short-term memory) and in the prefrontal cortex (an area responsible for behavior and decisions involving memory). His laboratory work includes the study of: 1) nerve cell function, 2) behavioral mechanisms, and 3) detection of the patterns of neural activity, underlying learning and memory in rodents, nonhuman primates and humans. These studies have required the development of computer models of neural activity patterns associated with processing of memory, investigation of drugs that alter memory function, examination of the effects of sleep and sleep deprivation on cognitive (memory) processing, and comparative studies of memory across different animal species. Dr. Hampson is also part of a multi-university team working to develop a "neural prosthetic" capable of restoring memory by connecting between different regions within the brain.

Dr. Hampson's interest in public education and brain awareness has also led him to serve as a member of the Science and Entertainment Exchange (a service of the National Academy of Science) which supplies subject matter experts to the entertainment industry, and from there to the field of Science Fiction. Writing science fact and fiction blogs and articles as "Tedd Roberts," he also gives public talks on science fiction for SF conventions, student and civic groups, and writes nonfiction articles for Baen Books.