The Future And You

Doctor Gregory L. Matloff, C Bangs and Keith Comito are today's featured guests.

Doctor Gregory L. Matloff is an astronomer, author and professor; C Bangs is a professional artist and author; and Keith Comito is a mathematician, programmer and founder of OmegaSoft which produces games and apps for the iPhone.

Topics: The future in general but also, extending human longevity, artificial intelligence, the Singularity, augmenting the human body and mind, the Fermi paradox, iPhone apps (such as Orbus which mimics an AI), and Michelle Phan who has become a celebrity on YouTube for her makeup tutorials.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the November 25, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 26 minutes] (These interviews were recorded on October 3 and 4, 2009 at the Singularity Summit in New York City.)

Michelle Phan (BTW) has also posted helpful and clever tutorial videos on things that have nothing to do with makeup, such as how to use a black tee shirt to become a ninja in only 30 seconds, and how to stretch shoes that are too tight by placing Ziploc bags in them that are half-filled with water and putting them in the freezer overnight. Brilliant stuff.

Peter Nygard (the internationally famous fashion designer) is today's featured guest.

Topics: how technology has transformed the fashion industry; and the pivotal role he played in the beginning and final negotiation of NAFTA. Also, as I interviewed him, my assistant Peggy Gregory noticed that his leather jacket bore the seal of the president of the United States of America. Asking about this, he explained that President Bush Senior--while visiting him on his island--took it off and gave it to him in return for one of his designer T-Shirts.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the November 18, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 26 minutes] (This interview was recorded on October 4, 2009 at the Singularity Summit in New York City.)

Peter Nygard is a fashion designer who's clothing, accessories, and home fashions can be found in Sears, Dillard's and countless other well known stores around the world. Enjoying a long and prosperous career, he owns a private island in the Bahamas called Nygard Key where he built a resort style mansion with a staff of 20, and owns a 133 feet long 727 as his private jet. He is friend to presidents, prime ministers, and celebrities of every media--TV, movies, music and print.

This episode is dedicated with special thanks to Greta Blackburn (an actress who appeared in many TV shows in the 80s and 90s such as Three's Company and Dynasty, and several movies such as 48 Hrs and Yellowbeard, as well as the original version of the mini-series V). While I was busy interviewing futurists, Greta introduced my assistant Peggy to several noteworthy people we would have otherwise missed. One was Noel Patton of T.A. Sciences and another was today's guest, her friend, Peter Nygard. Greta was so modest that (though I kept thinking she looked familiar) I had no idea of her fame until I got home and looked her up online. If I had realized I would have asked her for an interview too.

Ari Kiirikki, Vice President of Knome Inc. (the world's leading provider of personal DNA sequencing) is today's featured guest.

Topics: how you can have your entire DNA sequenced; the rate at which this expensive procedure is growing in popularity; how soon it will drop below $1000 (and may even reach $100); the new diagnostic powers general practitioners will gain using personalized DNA sequencing; cases in which the accidental discovery of extreme human genotypes have produced new drug therapies; why this technology will make the discovery of these extreme human genotypes far more common by making them far less random; speculation on ways widespread personal DNA sequencing might change online dating services; and how Knome Inc. is working to make personal DNA sequencing increasingly affordable and yet keep this data in the hands of the person whose DNA it is, and not in any database anywhere.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the November 11, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 20 minutes] (This interview was recorded on October 4, 2009 at the Singularity Summit in New York City.)

Noel Patton (founder of T.A. Sciences) is today's featured guest.

Topic: A product available today which may extend human lives well beyond traditional limits. Specifically what this product is, how it functions within living cells, and some of the scientific and medical research verifying its effectiveness.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the November 4, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 23 minutes] (This interview was recorded on October 4, 2009 at the Singularity Summit in New York City.)

The product is called TA-65™ and is an enzyme (a single molecule) that activates telomerase. Discovered in 2001 by the California bio-tech company Geron, in 2002 it was licensed by T.A. Sciences. Telemerase reverses the normal loss of telemeres which occurs each time cells divide throughout a human life and which sets a limit (called the Hayflick limit) on the number of times human body cells can divide, and consequently how long a human can live.

Eliezer Yudkowsky (co-founder and research fellow of the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence) is today's featured guest.

Topics: the Singularity and the creation of Friendly AI; his estimate of the probability of success in making a Friendly AI; and why achieving AI using evolutionary software might be monumentally dangerous. He also talks about human rationality, such as: the percentage of humans today who can be considered rational; his own efforts to increase that number; how the listener can seek the path to greater rationality in his or her own thinking; the benefits of greater rationality; and the amount of success that can be expected in this pursuit.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the October 28, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 30 minutes] (This interview was recorded on October 4, 2009 at the Singularity Summit in New York City.)

Eliezer Yudkowsky is an artificial intelligence researcher concerned with the Singularity, and an advocate of Friendly Artificial Intelligence. He is the author of The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence publications Creating Friendly AI (2001) and Levels of Organization in General Intelligence (2002). His most recent academic contributions include two chapters in Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom's edited volume Global Catastrophic Risks.

Aside from research, he is also notable for his explanations of technical subjects in non-academic language, particularly on rationality, such as his article An Intuitive Explanation of Bayesian Reasoning. Also, along with Robin Hanson, he was one of the principal contributors to the blog Overcoming Bias sponsored by the Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University. In early 2009, he helped to found LessWrong.com, a community blog devoted to refining the art of human rationality.

Michael Vassar and Michael Anissimov are today's featured guests. (Both are interviewed in their capacity as organizers of the Singularity Summit 2009 held earlier this month in New York City.)

Topics: the Singularity and artificial intelligence in general, and this year's Singularity Summit conference in particular. Also: the limits of human reasoning, public resistance to the Singularity, and trends within the transhumanist community.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the October 21, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 27 minutes]

Michael Vassar is President of the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence and is responsible for the organization of the Singularity Summit. He has held positions with the Peace Corps and with the National Institute of Standards and Technology. He writes and speaks on topics relating to the safe development of disruptive technologies. His papers include the Lifeboat Foundation analysis of the risks of advanced molecular manufacturing (which he co-authored with Robert Freitas) and Corporate Cornucopia, which he authored for the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology Task Force. He holds an M.B.A. from Drexel University and a B.S. in biochemistry from Penn State.

Michael Anissimov was the featured guest in The Future And You episode for the week of March 5, 2008. That episode (like all past episodes) is still available for your listening pleasure.

Gregory Benford and Aubrey de Grey (who both spoke at the Singularity Summit held earlier this month in New York City) are interviewed, as well as two attendees of this singular event which is so intently focused on the future.

Topics: the Singularity and artificial intelligence in general, and this year's Singularity Summit conference in particular. (The goal of this episode, in addition to being informative, is to provide a little of the convention's feel and mood--and if possible--it's energy.) Other related topics include life extension and mind uploading.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the October 14, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 25 minutes]

Doctor Gregory Benford is a Nebula award winning science fiction author. He has a doctorate in astrophysics, and is on the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California.

Doctor Aubrey de Grey is a medical doctor known for his work in promoting human life extension. He is an author and theoretician in the field of gerontology, and the Chief Science Officer of the Methuselah Foundation. He has been interviewed by 60 Minutes, the BBC, the New York Times, Fortune Magazine, the Washington Post, TED, Popular Science--even by Stephen Colbert for his comedy show The Colbert Report.

News Items include my activities at the Singularity Summit, such as people I met, talked with, ate with, and had ice cream with. The short version is that I had a lot of fun and met a lot of cool and exciting people, the long version contains considerably more detail.

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

Topics: Why teachers are encouraged to give kids about five hours of homework everyday. Ways in which kids are different today thanks to the technologies they've grown up with, and how those same technologies are changing the teaching methods used in the classroom. Ways in which atheism is encouraged in children by public schools since teaching it openly is not allowed. The balancing act of just how much religion must be avoided when teaching human history.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the October 7, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 42 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.'

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

Topics: trends in teaching in public schools; how one problem student can prevent an entire class from learning; whether or not smarter kids are being ignored to help slower kids; as well as trends in teacher's unions, merit pay, voucher systems and No Child Left Behind.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the September 30, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 43 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.'

Three Biotech Researchers (two geneticists and one agronomist) are today's featured guests.

Topics: problems involved in engineering a virus to kill a specific race or sex of human beings; genetics involved in regrowing human limbs for amputees; how we've made corn fields increase their yield ten-fold since the 1940s; exactly why US Stimulus Package money is so slow at get into research; why the Malthusian theory, in which exponential population growth produces mass starvation, has lost its validity; why some of our crops have become clones without a natural genetic diversity; how some crops have become dependant on us for survival; and how the Monsanto corporation has grown to dominate American agriculture.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the September 23, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 44 minutes] (This discussion panel was recorded in front of a live audience on July 11, 2009 at LiberyCon in Chattanooga Tennessee.)

Dr. Diane Mucci, formerly with the National Institute of Health (NIH), is currently a full time professor of biotechnology, and has a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics, Biochemistry, and Microbiology. Cathy Smith is an insect molecular geneticist with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). And Gary Shelton is an agronomist with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).