The Future And You

Gail Z. Martin, Emillie P. Bush, Jim S. Bernheimer and Theresa Bane are our featured guests.

Topic: Writing for the Web is radically different from writing for print. This episode explores the down and dirty facts of those differences. For example: its immediacy (and the dangers of that immediacy); how it is used, miss-used, tweaked and manipulated; how it can be promoted and cross promoted; how what is written stays available for years; examples of people who have mastered its power to the benefit of their careers; as well as how to get started and how to get large numbers of people to read what you have written.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the July 6, 2011 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 38 minutes]. This is the second half of a discussion panel recorded before a live audience on June 4, 2011 in Charlotte North Carolina at the SF&F convention ConCarolinas. (The first half was presented last week.)

News and Commentary: According to a Pew Poll, ownership of ebook reading devices has doubled in the last six months. (from November 2010 to May 2011) Pew reports that twelve percent of all adults in the USA now say they own a Kindle or other eReader. Your host emphasizes that the transition to ebooks is in full swing but will take from two to three years to play out. He discusses how this will hurt publishers, editors, bookstores, literary agents, and that it will add to our current unemployment. Authors and readers however will benefit massively.

Listener Email: Tim Proffitt wrote: "Hey stephen. Love your show! This week google released its answer to Facebook with Google+." (Tim described his expectations of Google+ verses other social media, as well as the future of the Internet as a whole.)

Announcement: Skinbrain (Cerebrodermus Fantastica), your host's new novel is also selling well in the UK, where it has begun to generate additional sales of Stephen's previous novel Bones Burnt Black.

Bonus: A qoute from Skinbrain: "Einstein did not replace Newton. His was a new level of understanding that overlaid the existing model. So too, this model will not replace those of Einstein or Newton. Instead, it will explain the mystery we all pretend does not exist. The mystery of why Newton and Einstein are correct." That quote was spoken by an alien physicist who was being tortured to reveal the secrets of advanced physics which he'd recently learned from a far more advance alien civilization known only as The Cold People. Little known and rarely seen, The Cold People are human-like in shape but may have evolved on a world with rivers and oceans of methane.

Gail Z. Martin, Emillie P. Bush, Jim S. Bernheimer and Theresa Bane are our featured guests.

Topic: Writing for the Web is radically different from writing for print. This episode explores the down and dirty facts of those differences. For example: its immediacy (and the dangers of that immediacy); how it is used, misused, tweaked and manipulated; how it can be promoted and cross promoted; how what is written stays available for years; examples of people who have mastered its power to the benefit of their careers; as well as how to get started and how to get large numbers of people to read what you have written.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the June 29, 2011 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 35 minutes]. This is the first half of a discussion panel recorded before a live audience on June 4, 2011 in Charlotte North Carolina at the SF&F convention ConCarolinas. (The second half will be presented next week.)

News item: Skinbrain (Cerebrodermus Fantastica), your host's new novel, is selling very well and has received its first review. Joseph S. gave it five stars and titled his review: "Great Book." His review reads: "With outstanding attention to detail, Mr. Cobb puts you right in the middle of the action from the beginning. If you're looking to escape into the future for a few hours, and enjoy a great SF read, this book is for you."

Nancy Kress (award winning science fiction author) is our featured guest.

Topics: how the great ebook stampede going on now within the publishing industry is affecting her and her novels (she is working to get her earlier books up on the Kindle); the anti-vaccination movement; the growing political struggles over fresh water; extending our healthy years; TV cameras in public places and intersections which are leading to a loss of privacy; the future of robots; stem cell research; gene sequencing and synthesis; Small Pox and other plagues; extreme life extension; The Singularity; human augmentation for IQ and for memory recall; the possibility of a new space race because of the Chinese going to the moon; as well as her advice to all young people.

Nancy Kress is a science fiction author who tends to write technically realistic stories set in a fairly near future. Her fiction often involves genetic engineering, and, to a lesser degree, artificial intelligence. She has written more than 20 books and several hundred short stories. Her work has won four Nebula awards and two Hugos. She participated in the 2006 annual meeting of the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency in San Diego. And she has appeared on TV shows on Fox and the Discovery Channel concerning the future of the human race.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the June 22, 2011 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 41 minutes].

News item: Ten days ago your host's new novel Skinbrain (Cerebrodermus Fantastica) was released on the Amazon Kindle. Here is a one sentence description of its story: A runaway teenage girl suffers many dangers as she: falls in love with a criminal, becomes part of a murderous gang, makes an enemy of a psychopath, travels to alien worlds, meets aliens of many different types, makes first contact with an unknown alien race, and tries to save one alien from torture and death.

Michael A. Stackpole (New York Times best selling author) is today's featured guest.

Topics: Artificial intelligence verses artificial crazy; the rise of robots and how we will develop relationships and affections for them including romance and love; the possibility that marrying a robot will go through the same controversies we have today concerning gay marriage; extreme human longevity; human augmentation for life extension verses augmentation for improved senses or IQ; authors he knows who write by speaking into voice recognition software instead of tapping on a keyboard; the spreading loss of privacy with video cameras in intersections and public places; the value of taking a vacation from being connected to phones and the Internet; connecting the Internet directly into the human brain; as well as the BBC, Mensa, and the sceptical community. He also mentioned that he does weekly chats with authors inside the virtual world of Second Life.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the June 15, 2011 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 35 minutes]. This is part two of a two hour interview recorded using Skype on May 17, 2011.

Michael A. Stackpole is a science fiction and fantasy author best known for his Star Wars and Battletech books. Begining in 1977, he worked as a designer of role-playing games for various gaming companies. In the 1980s he began designing computer games for Coleco and Interplay Productions, such as Bard's Tale III, Wasteland, Star Trek: 25th Anniversary and Star Trek: Judgment Rites. He also created the role-playing game Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes, which provided the game mechanics for Wasteland. In 1987 he began writing novels set in the BattleTech universe, and became one of the most popular authors in that genre. He was then selected to write a number of novels in the Star Wars universe. He is also a popular podcaster, essayist, speaker and has an asteroid named after him.

News Item: This week my latest novel was released on the Amazon Kindle. Skinbrain (Cerebrodermus Fantastica) is a hard science fiction story which incorporates most of the topics we have discussed on The Future And You during the last five years.

You need not have a Kindle to read Skinbrain. A free app is offered for nearly every type of smart phone which allows that phone to mimic a Kindle. Likewise a free downloadable program allows any computer to mimic a Kindle. Additionally, the Kindle allows the first thousand words or so of every novel to be read for free. So, if you would, please take a look at the opening scene of Skinbrain. Thank you.

Nine diverse interviews from ConCarolinas 2011.

Gathered from locations scattered 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 (with their topics) in the order in which they appear:

David H. Lawrence XVII (of the TV show Heroes) decribes trends in acting and voice acting based on his personal expereinces. He also mentions two online services where voice actors can get jobs and those who need voice actors can hire them (voice123 and voices.com).

Addy Miller (an eleven year old actress) played the young Dakota Fanning in the movie The Secret Life of Bees;and the "Little Girl Zombie" on the new TV series The Walking Dead; and a murdered pageant girl who returns to haunt the paranormal investigators in the TV show Ghost Trek. She describes behind the scenes aspects of her work.

Nigel Sade (a professional fine artist) talks about trends in fine art, art collecting, artistic training and in the art profession.

Culio Defavio, Johannes Presley and John Martin (who were at the ConCarolinas Scavenger Hunt table) talk about trends in fandom, conventions, comicbooks and popular culture.

Scott Messer (of Empire Games) talks about trends in his industry--card games, board games and role playing games.

Jason "Spanky" Davis (a former radio audio engineer) talks about trends in commercial radio and TV.

Djinn the Nytechylde (a beautiful costumer dressed as a drow--a dark elf--in bikini armor) describes trends in steampunk, vampires, and her work in Purgatory for Single Cell Productions.

Warren Buff and Yair Goldberg (two con organizers promoting their two cons: Illogicon and StellarCon) cover trends in fandom, webcomics, cons, filk and popular culture.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the June 7, 2011 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 96 minutes].

ConCarolinas 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.

Nancy Kress (award winning science fiction author) is our featured guest.

Topics: how genetic engineering is used as a fake issue to manipulate international trade and promote French isolationism; why she disagrees with Greenpeace on genetic engineering; and the massive life-saving achieved by producing insulin far more cheaply through genetic engineering than was possible using the former method of extraction from the pancreas of slaughtered animals. Also: her involvement in Sigma (the science fiction think tank); her years at an advertising agency; and her secret identity (and why she has one).

Nancy Kress is a science fiction author who tends to write technically realistic stories set in a fairly near future. Her fiction often involves genetic engineering, and, to a lesser degree, artificial intelligence. She has written more than 20 books and several hundred short stories. Her work has won four Nebula awards and two Hugos. She participated in the 2006 annual meeting of the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency in San Diego. And she has appeared on TV shows on Fox and the Discovery Channel concerning the future of the human race.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the June 1, 2011 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 43 minutes].

This is the 200th episode of The Future And You.

Over a hundred never-before-heard predictions about the future from dozens of past guests, a few possible future guests, several listeners and an assortment of people actively building the future we are all going to live in.

Predictions and Congratulations from: Larry Niven, Joe Haldeman, Frederik Pohl, Catherine Asaro, Harry Turtledove, Gregory Benford, John Varley, Extropia DaSilva, CJ Cherryh, CJ Henderson, David Orban, Dave Freer, Giulio Prisco, Mike Resnick, Michael Anissimov, David Brin, Barry Hayworth, Paul Fischer, Cathe Smith, Michael D'Ambrosio, Tim Bolgeo (AKA: Uncle Timmy), Bryan Bishop, James Maxey, Robert Hooker, David Drake, Charlie Stross, Nancy Kress, Hildy Silverman, Michael Vassar, Randal L. Schwartz, David B. Coe, R.U. Sirius, Kevin J. Anderson, Amara D. Angelica, Gail Z. Martin, Philippe Van Nedervelde, Dale Baker, Vernor Vinge, Wayne Rooney, Larry Bowman, Joseph Sullivan, Charlie Kam, Dr. Anders Sandberg, Davey Beauchamp, Timothy Zahn, Sarah A. Hoyt, and Podcasting's Rich Sigfrit.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the May 25, 2011 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 90 minutes].

Michael A. Stackpole (New York Times best selling author) is today's featured guest.

Topics: why print publishing is now in a severe crisis; how some literary agents have taken on a conflict of interest in their attempt to help their clients benefit from electronic rights; how the big book publishers will no longer publish any physical book if they can't get the far more lucrative electronic rights; when it is to an author's advantage to skip having physical books made at all, and just go with the more profitable ebooks; how much his agent gets from his ebooks; and his warning for writers about ridiculously bad ebook deals. He also gives book cover tips, and describes the Zapptek Legend Maker.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the May 18, 2011 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 33 minutes].

Michael A. Stackpole is a science fiction and fantasy author best known for his Star Wars and Battletech books. Begining in 1977, he worked as a designer of role-playing games for various gaming companies. In the 1980s he began designing computer games for Coleco and Interplay Productions, such as Bard's Tale III, Wasteland, Star Trek: 25th Anniversary and Star Trek: Judgment Rites. He also created the role-playing game Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes, which provided the game mechanics for Wasteland. In 1987 he began writing novels set in the BattleTech universe, and became one of the most popular authors in that genre. He was then selected to write a number of novels in the Star Wars universe. He is also a popular pocaster, essayist, speaker and has an asteroid named after him.

Special Announcement: The 200th episode of The Future And You is only one week away. To commemorate this milestone I (your host) am asking every listener who will, to sit down and email me something I can read into the 200th episode.

You can also email to me (as an attachment) an audio file. This will be less work for me since I can just drop it into the show, and it will let everyone hear you speaking in your own voice. If you do send an audio file as an attachment, please keep it short--no more than two minutes.

Please send me: your prediction of what is to come in the future; or a trend you have observed which you think others have missed; or your assessment of what is good or bad about this show; or your notion of who was the best interview I've ever recorded and why. Or send me something I wouldn't even think to ask for, but you are certain everyone would like to know.

Send it soon, because I start production of each episode several days before it goes public. If you send it later than May 21, 2011 it might not be included. Send all these emails to: [email protected] Or you can message me through my facebook account.

Nathan P. Butler (a professional educator with eight years of teaching experience) is today's featured guest.

Topics: Practical verses theoretical matters in the classroom based on his years of experience as a teacher in public schools. Also: anecdotes from the early days of Internet radio, as well as some behind the scenes stuff from StarWarsFanworks and ChronoRadio.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the May 11, 2011 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 37 minutes].

Nathan P. Butler holds a 'Masters in Education with a Specialization in Integrating Technology in the Classroom.' He is also a groundbreaking podcaster, having been a podcaster years before podcasting had a name or a standardized means of distribution. He is also a mover and shaker in Star Wars Fandom through his work in with ChronoRadio and StarWarsFanworks, and for having written an exhaustive thousand-page-long chronology of the Star Wars universe which is titled 'Star Wars Timeline Gold.'

Special Announcement: The 200th episode of The Future And You is only two weeks away. To commemorate this milestone I (your host) am asking every listener who will, to sit down and email me something I can read into the 200th episode.

You can also email to me (as an attachment) an audio file. This will be less work for me since I can just drop it into the show, and it will let everyone hear you speaking in your own voice. If you do send an audio file as an attachment, please keep it short--no more than two minutes.

Please send me: your prediction of what is to come in the future; or a trend you have observed which you think others have missed; or your assessment of what is good or bad about this show; or your notion of who was the best interview I've ever recorded and why. Or send me something I wouldn't even think to ask for, but you are certain everyone would like to know.

Send it soon, because I start production of each episode several days before it goes public. If you send it later than May 20, 2011 it might not be included.

Send all these emails to: [email protected]

Stephen Euin Cobb (author, futurist, magazine writer--and your host) is today's featured guest.

Topics: Progressive Auto Insurance Company now offers lower rates--if they can place a device in your car to spy on you; a new robotic seagull developed for aerial spying; a new system which can test 10,000 chemicals for toxicity in a single move; the rapidly growing number of universities in the US which offer degrees in robotics; an artificial pancreas for controlling blood sugar for type 1 diabetics has completed its first successful tests in human patients (great news for The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, chaired by Mary Tyler Moore, which has been pushing this project for years); and a new treatment for high blood pressure requires only a one-time dose of radio waves delivered by catheter, for some patients it can completely eliminate prescription medicines.

Also: why investing in diamonds is catastrophically threatened by our ability to manufacture ever larger, ever cheaper, and ever more flawless artificial diamonds; why De Beers and the entire natural diamond industry is so scared of this that it is pouring huge quantities of money into the invention of detectors which can identify the synthetic from the natural stones; and research that these synthetic diamond detectors don't actually work.

Note: Diamonds made in the earth and diamonds made by humans are both exactly the same chemical substance; just as water made in the lab and water that falls from clouds is the same chemical substance. Only the origin is different. (Granted, natural diamonds often have pretty colors due to impurities from nature which is a naturally impure system, but if desired we can always add a little dirt in the lab, instead of trying to make them as perfect as possible.)

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the May 4, 2011 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 28 minutes].

Stephen Euin Cobb is an author, futurist and host of the award-winning podcast The Future and You. He was a columnist and contributing editor for Jim Baen's Universe Magazine for three years; and has written for Robot Magazine, H+ Magazine, Grim Couture Magazine, and Space and Time Magazine. He is also a game designer, artist, essayist, transhumanist, and is on the Advisory Board of The Lifeboat Foundation.