The Future And You

SF authors David Brin and Joe Haldeman are among the guests, along with: the head of a nanotech org, a marketing consultant, a cryonic insurance provider, and the actress Robin Curtis, who played a Vulcan Starfleet officer in two Star Trek movies.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the February 11, 2006 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 79 minutes]

Topics include:

[1] David Brin (bestselling author and scientist) warns that Righteous Indignation is an addictive high chemically similar to heroin, and also describes our civilization's unfounded Crisis of Confidence.

[2] Predicting the risks and potential misuse of nanotechnology's vast and marvelous future is the mission of CRN: the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology. CRN's Executive Director, Mike Treder, provides a heads-up.

[3] Another installment in our serialization of the novel Bones Burnt Black.

[4] More powerful than propaganda, social marketing has been used to engineer changes in the beliefs and behaviours of entire populations, and has suceeded with surgical precision. David Pascal, a marketing consultant who specializes in social marketing, explains this power; as well as how it is used--and misused--in today's american politics.

[5] Technological Immortality: will we develop it in the next few decades? The award winning author Joe Haldeman shares a few thoughts on the subject.

[6] A few more thoughts on technological immortality; this time from Rudi Hoffman, the world's leading cryonics insurance provider.

[7] A listener's comments on the host's use of the word dead when referring to the cryopreserved.

[8] She worked with Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner and the rest of the cast of Star Trek. A celebrity interview with the actress Robin Curtis, who played the Vulcan Starfleet officer Lieutenant Saavik in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock as well as (the host's favorite of the Star Trek movies) Star Trek IV: The Journey Home.

SF authors Nancy Kress and Joe Haldeman are among the guests, as are: an astronomer, a recording label executive, a transhumanist, a cryonics insurance provider, two teenaged girls, and Pugsley and Wednesday from the beloved TV show The Addams Family.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the January 28, 2006 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 79 minutes]

Topics include:

[1] As the internet slowly kills the old traditional recording labels, Magnatune (a new kind of label) is growing like a weed. John Buckman (Magnatune's founder and CEO) explains his company's strange motto: 'We are not evil.'

[2] The award winning science fiction author Nancy Kress talks about future medical advances, including the promise of, and the ongoing controversy over, stem cell research.

[3] An essay by your host on the probability that any extraterrestrial civilization we encounter will be near our scientific or technological level.

[4] The award winning science fiction author Joe Haldeman talks about faster than light travel (FTL), the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) and mentions that some of his students at MIT have discovered exoplanets.

[5] Doctor Greg Matloff (astronomer, author and professor) also discusses the SETI program, as well as the problems that SETI scientists have when interpreting what appear to be genuine (but very brief) signals from intelligent aliens.

[6] The fourth installment in our serialization of the novel Bones Burnt Black.

[7] Rudi Hoffman (the world's leading cryonics insurance provider) grapples with cryonics' thorniest theological problem: 'If human beings actually do have souls, will cryopreserved people be impossible to re-animate?'

[8] Noted transhumanist, Lionel Vogt, explains why he believes that when AI (artificial intelligence) is finally a reality it will produce an explosion of technological advancement that is impossible for us to imagine today.

[9] A listener disagrees with the host's essay on cryonics from the previous episode.

[10] Halo Parties, fuzzy shoes, and the insistence that 'Final Fantasy will never die.' Two teenaged girls (Aliese, age 15; and Amber, 14) describe the strange trends and rising fads within their youthful universe.

[11] Was that Lurches real voice? And whose hand was it that played Thing? A double celebrity interview with Ken Weatherwax and Lisa Loring: Pugsley and Wednesday from the beloved old TV show The Addams Family.

SF authors Joe Haldeman and Nancy Kress, a transhumanist, a physicist, and Jason's mother from Friday The 13th are amoung the guests.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the January 15, 2006 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 79 minutes]

Topics include:

[1] Nanotechnological invisibility is being developed at MIT and is described by the award winning science fiction author Joe Haldeman, along with his personal feelings about cryonics, and his vision that, once they are developed, computers wired directly into the human brain may sweep the developed world as quickly as cell phones since those without them will be at a competative disadvantage.

[2] A new device which will allow planets orbiting other stars to be seen and studied by blotting out the light of the star which they orbit. Professor Grover Swartzlander of the University of Arizona in Tucson explains his invention.

[3] Another installment in our serialization of the novel Bones Burnt Black.

[4] Award winning science fiction author Nancy Kress explains the growing controvercy over the genetic engineering of crops, or as they call them in europe FrankenFoods.

[5] Trends within the movie theater industry; revenues are down, but popcorn sales are up.

[6] A personal essay in which the show's host describes his mixed feelings about cryonics, entitled: 'Why I may not want cryonics afterall.'

[7] Transhumanist, Lionel Vogt, describes aspects of day-to-day life in the deep future such as the fear of living forever.

[8] A celebrity interview with Betsy Palmer who played Jason's mother (the axe-murdering, Mrs. Voorhees) in the original movie Friday The 13th.

SF author Nancy Kress, a cryonic insurance provider, an astronomer, and an actor from Star Trek and Sliders are amoung the guests.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the January 1, 2006 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 68 minutes]

Topics include:

[1] The genetic engineering of human beings (an interview with the award winning science fiction author Nancy Kress).

[2] Cryonics: how to leave your money (even your big life insurance death benefit) to your frozen dead body (an interview with Rudi Hoffman--the Worlds Leading Cryonics Insurance Provider).

[3] The second chapter in our serialization of the novel Bones Burnt Black.

[4] Trends within the movie industry (an interview with a theater manager).

[5] How soon are we likely to build faster than light space craft? (an interview with Doctor Greg Matloff: astronomer, author, professor and a consultant for NASA's Marshall Spaceflight Center).

[6] A celebrity interview with the actor Jerry Rector who has performed on Star Trek, NYPD Blue and Sliders.

This is a brief Promo for the podcast The Future And You. If you have your own podcast, and you would like to help promote The Future And You, please place it in your show.

Thank you.

Steve

SF author M.M.Buckner, an astronomer, a cryonic insurance provider, an actor from StarGate SG-1, and a dealer in antiques and fine art are amoung the guests.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the December 15, 2005 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 118 minutes]

Topics include:

[1] Predictability: an essay on what is and what is not predictable.

[2] How long until we find a second earth? Doctor Greg Matloff (astronomer, author and professor) talks about the more than 160 exoplanets found so far.

[3] The power of eBay. (An interview with a dealer in antiques and fine art; and another with a dealer in collectables.)

[4] How you can buy cryonic insurance. (An interview with Rudi Hoffman, the world's leading cryonics insurance provider.)

[5] Global warming: is it real or just part of the normal interglacial? (An interview with M.M.Buckner, author of the science fiction novels Hyperthought, Neurolink and WarSurf)

[6] Illegal copying and bootlegging of movies: the methods, problems, and one theater chain's corporate response. (An interview with a theater manager.)

[7] The first installment in our serialization of the novel Bones Burnt Black.

[8] A celebrity interview with actor Gary Jones of Stargate SG-1.