The Future And You

John Ringo (New York Times best selling novelist with over two million books in print) is today's featured guest.

Topics: Smart missiles smaller than insects; military tanks becoming robots; personal headup displays for soldiers; experiments with brain implants for soldiers; war going open-source; Chinese experiments with warfare in low earth orbit; the never-ending utility of bayonets; the bizarre fact that there is no such thing as a Chinese journalist; and the possibility that we will develop faster than light travel. He also describes his worry that a future teenager huddled in his mother's basement may write a biological virus which will wipe out all of humanity.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the April 22, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 35 minutes]

Translated into seven languages, John Ringo's novels range from science fiction to a mix of military and political thrillers. Always outspoken, never dull and sometimes controversial, he has been an op-ed writer for the New York Post and a guest commentator on TV for Fox News. An avid essayist, his website contains many essays he has written on a wide variety of topics. By the time he graduated high school, John Ringo had lived in, or visited, 23 countries and attended 14 schools. A former paratrooper in the army airborne, he has enjoyed cave diving, rock climbing, repelling, hunting, and spear fishing.

News: Your host has been granted official press credentials for World Future 2009 in Chicago (July 17 to 19, 2009). This is the annual convention of the World Futurist Society (of which I'm a member). Hundreds of professional futurists are expected to attend and dozens are scheduled to speak. Press credentials will allow me to gather live interviews and collect business cards for phone interviews which can be done later.

John Ringo (New York Times best selling novelist with over two million books in print) is today's featured guest.

Topics: Specific examples of the tens of thousands of robots in use in war right now and how they are transforming the methods and nature of fighting for the individual soldiers on the ground; how this transformation will change the wars of the future; and the longstanding psychology in the US military that is driving this robotic transformation. Also, anecdotes about the years he went to grade school in Iran; the summer camp he went to in Switzerland; and some of his other travels around the world as a child and teenager.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the April 15, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 36 minutes]

Translated into seven languages, John Ringo's novels range from science fiction to a mix of military and political thrillers. Always outspoken and sometimes controversial, he has been an op-ed writer for the New York Post and a guest commentator on TV for Fox News. An avid essayist, his website contains many essays he has written on a wide variety of topics. By the time he graduated high school, John Ringo had lived in, or visited, 23 countries and attended 14 schools. A former paratrooper in the army airborne, he has enjoyed cave diving, rock climbing, repelling, hunting and spear fishing.

John Ringo (New York Times best selling novelist with over two million books in print) is today's featured guest.

Topics: Anecdotes about his appearances on TV for Fox News in the years following The 9/11 Attacks; how it is that he is the only person to use the term Euro-Wiener on national TV; the terrible affect the economic crisis has had on the publishing industry; rumors that three of his novels are in the works to become major motion pictures, and one is in talks to become a first-person-shooter style game; and the changes he would make to the US Income Tax code.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the April 8, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 36 minutes]

Translated into seven languages, John Ringo's novels range from science fiction to a mix of military and political thrillers. Always outspoken and sometimes controversial, he has been an op-ed writer for the New York Post and a guest commentator on TV for Fox News. An avid essayist, his website contains many essays he has written on a wide variety of topics. By the time he graduated high school, John Ringo had lived in, or visited, 23 countries and attended 14 schools. A former paratrooper in the army airborne, he has enjoyed cave diving, rock climbing, repelling, hunting, and spear fishing.

News: The Kepler Mission to find earth-like planets orbiting other stars, was launched on March 6, 2009 and will begin its search a few weeks from now in early May. Estimates of the number of earth-like planets it will discover during it's 3-1/2 year mission vary from zero to over 400. What's less talked about is the number of NOT earth-like planets it will discover. My own personal guess is that it will discover NOT earth-like planets at a rate of better than one per hour--maybe a lot better. If you would, email your estimates to me (steve [ at ] thefutureandyou . com)

Shaun Farrell (writer, actor, and award-winning podcaster) is today's featured guest.

Topics: online publishing verses paper publishing; the rise in small presses; the number of new readers is increasing; fiction sales are increasing; trends in podcasting and narrow-casting; the economy and personal debt; Connor his new baby; and the closing of Realms of Fantasy Magazine.

BTW: A few days after this interview was recorded, the situation at Realms of Fantasy Magazine turned around. Hearing the magazine was going to close, Tir Na Nog Press made an offer to buy it. The offer was accepted, so the magazine will be reopened this summer.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the April 1, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 42 minutes]

Shaun Farrell has has interviewed more than 100 speculative fiction authors and actors; most of these interviews can be heard on his podcast: Adventures in Scifi Publishing, which (like this show) has won a Parsec Award.

Based in Southern California, Shaun owns Singularity Audio, which provides podcast consultation, creates book promos, edits audio and develops new podcasts. He is also a contributing writer for Gateworld podcast; producer and content manager for The New England Fights! podcast; and an actor in the feature film Death Dress, where he plays a serial killer. Magazines he has written for include Strange Horizons, Clarkesworld and Raygun Revival.

Shaun Farrell (writer, actor, and award-winning podcaster) is today's featured guest.

Topics: Shaun's interview with Ray Bradbury, and others, such as the actors from Stargate Atlantis: Joe Flanigan, David Hewlett and Jewel Staite (who also played the ship's mechanic on the TV show Firefly and in the movie Serenity). Trends in publishing: both print and electronic (such as involving the Amazon Kindle). Trends in acting, and why your look matters far more to a talent agent than your ability to act.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the March 25, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 46 minutes]

Shaun Farrell has interviewed more than 100 speculative fiction authors and actors; most of these interviews can be heard on his podcast: Adventures in Scifi Publishing, which (like this show) has won a Parsec Award.

Based in Southern California, Shaun owns Singularity Audio, which provides podcast consultation, creates book promos, edits audio, and develops new podcasts. He is also a contributing writer for Gateworld podcast; producer and content manager for The New England Fights! podcast; and an actor in the feature film Death Dress, where he plays a serial killer. Magazines Shaun has written for include Strange Horizons, Clarkesworld and Raygun Revival.

News in this episode: H+ Magazine has redesigned its website. In addition to articles written specifically for the magazine, it now offers late breaking news and videos.

David Drake (author of over 60 novels of science fiction and fantasy) is today's featured guest.

Topics include: his opinion of the Amazon Kindle; his improving opinion of the future of electronic publishing; the collapse of the Borders Books Store chain, which occurred before the economic down turn; and why he urged Jim Baen into ask Eric Flint to be the first Editor-in-Chief of what has become the widely popular online magazine called Jim Baen's Universe.

Working with Newt Gingrich is also topic. Specifically how it came about that David Drake and Jim Baen helped Newt Gingrich write a World War Two thriller-type novel named 1945; why the political climate during the book's release prompted the media to universally pan the book; and how this storm of negative reviews nearly put Baen Books out of business.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the March 18, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 38 minutes]

David Drake is an author of science fiction and fantasy, and is widely considered one of the premier authors of the military science fiction sub-genre. He has written over 60 books some of which are in his Hammer's Slammers series of military science fiction, his Lord of the Isles series of fantasy novels, and his newer Republic of Cinnabar Navy series.

David graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Iowa, majoring in history and Latin. His studies at Duke University School of Law were interrupted for two years by the U.S. Army, where he served as an enlisted interrogator with the 11th Armored Cavalry in Vietnam and Cambodia. After finishing law school, he spent eight years as Assistant Town Attorney of Chapel Hill, NC. In 1980 he resigned and drove a city bus part-time for a year while doing more writing. Since 1981 he's been a full time writer. Some of his novels are available for free download in the Baen Free Library.

For relaxation David translates ancient books from the Roman Empire from their original Latin into English, many of which can be read on his website.

News in this episode: CNN's sad and somewhat pathetic confusion over which way the Earth rotates and the direction satellites orbit the Earth, as depicted in the animated graphic for their March 13, 2009 report on the orbiting space junk which temporarily endangered the International Space Station. A confusion which may result from their layoff, three months earlier, of their entire Science and Technology reporting team, including their Senior Science Reporter, Miles O'Brian.

David Drake (author of over 60 novels of science fiction and fantasy) is today's featured guest.

Topics include: How blatantly morality and ethics must be depicted in fiction, and which self-appointed thought-police will jump on you if you do not toe-the-line. The unknown risks of the experiment now known as the Baen Free Library, and Jim Baen's other efforts to innovate within the publishing industry. David Drake also talks about: Rudyard Kipling; Project Gutenberg; Samuel Johnson, and his biographer James Boswell; as well as the power and value of online Search.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the March 11, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 41 minutes]

David Drake is an author of science fiction and fantasy, and is widely considered one of the premier authors of the military science fiction sub-genre. He has written over 60 books some of which are in his Hammer's Slammers series of military science fiction, his Lord of the Isles series of fantasy novels, and his newer Republic of Cinnabar Navy series.

David graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Iowa, majoring in history and Latin. His studies at Duke University School of Law were interrupted for two years by the U.S. Army, where he served as an enlisted interrogator with the 11th Armored Cavalry in Vietnam and Cambodia. After finishing law school, he spent eight years as Assistant Town Attorney of Chapel Hill, NC. In 1980 he resigned and drove a city bus part-time for a year while doing more writing. Since 1981 he's been a full time writer. Some of his novels are available for free download in the Baen Free Library.

For relaxation David Drake translates ancient books from the Roman Empire from their original Latin into English, many of which can be read on his website.

News in this episode: The Spring 2009 issue of H+ Magazine is available. H+ magazine is dedicated to an intelligent and informed exploration of the future, especially as relates to transhumanism and the singularity. This issue contains more than two dozen articles about the future, one entitled Singularity 101 which is an interview with Vernor Vinge (the mathematician who first suggested the idea of the Singularity in 1993, and who has been a guest on the April 8, 2006 and May 1, 2006 episodes of The Future And You).

Stefano Vaj (Author, futurist and transhumanism activist) is today's featured guest. (This is the second half of his interview.)

Topics include: The state and health of Transhumanism worldwide; his worry that some people are watering down transhumanism to gain acceptance from mainstream culture or to make it more Politically Correct; his expectations about the future of human longevity, and the political forces needed to bring it to fruition. And he describes some of the powerful political and religious forces that are trying to prevent transhumanist goals, such as Life Extension.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the March 4, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 39 minutes]

Stefano Vaj is author of the book Biopolitics of the New Paradigm which covers the biotechnological areas of transhumanism. He is also: a public speaker fluent in several languages; on the Board of Directors of the Italian Transhumanist Association; an Italian lawyer with offices in Milan, Italy and Brussels, Belgium; an Architect of the Order of Cosmic Engineers; and an active contributor to the Hplus2, Extropy and World Transhumanist Association discussion boards. (Though fluent in several languages, his own blog and his books are written in Italian and not yet available in English.)

Stefano Vaj (Author, futurist and transhumanism activist) is today's featured guest. (This is the first half of his interview.)

Topics include: Why transhumanism is taken seriously by the Italian public and the Italian press (as opposed to the American public and American press which often view transhumanism as a delusional fantasy). Why Europeans do not share the American view that Intellectuals are outside the loop in their ivory towers and are therefore unimportant. The influence of the Catholic Church in public and political life in Italy, and as the main opponent to transhumanism. How politicians in Europe use fear of transhumanist ideas as a tool to get more votes. What Stefano does as a transhumanism activist, and what listeners can do in their own lives and in their own ways if they wish to help this cause too. He also talks about the new Singularity University, and the new transhumanist periodical, H+ Magazine.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the February 25, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 44 minutes]

Stefano Vaj is author of the book Biopolitics of the New Paradigm which covers the biotechnological areas of transhumanism. He is also: a public speaker fluent in several languages; on the Board of Directors of the Italian Transhumanist Association; an Italian lawyer with offices in Milan, Italy and Brussels, Belgium; an Architect of the Order of Cosmic Engineers; and an active contributor to the Hplus2, Extropy and World Transhumanist Association discussion boards. (Though fluent in several languages, his own blog and his books are written in Italian and not yet available in English.)

News in this episode: [1] Google's new Latitude lets you see the location of your friends on Google maps using the GPS in their phone, and lets you immediately contact them with IM, SMS or a phone call. [2] Google has made one million public domain books freely available for reading on iPhones.