What The If?

They’re tracking what you’re buying, in the GROCERY STORE! We’re back to our regular scheduled programming this week with fellow podcaster and Science Fiction author, Tom Merritt as our guest!

His latest novel, Trigor, the second book in the Pilot X universe is out now on Amazon!

Tom brings a wild and FANTASTICAL IF to us this week, based loosely on the latest experiment by the eye of AMAZ-AURON, the Amazon Go stores.

WTiF You never had to go to the cashier again? You could just WALK OUT with all your toilet paper and Frosted Flakes!

But WTiF this idea expanded to the entire WORLD?! You could just walk into a DMV and get your drivers license without talking to a single LIVING PERSON! Maybe it’d get rid of those crazy wait times!

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Tom is an award-winning independent tech podcaster, author, and host of regular tech news and information shows. Tom hosts Sword and Laser, a science fiction and fantasy podcast, and book club with Veronica Belmont. He also co-hosts Daily Tech News Show, covering the most important tech issues of the day with the smartest minds in technology. He’s written such books as Pavaria, Citadel 32, Lot Beta and the Pilot X series.

Visit his website at: http://www.tommerritt.com

Check out Trigor, the second book in the Pilot X universe on Amazon

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Special thanks to Kyle Crichton, Howard Zheng and Illia Zheng for their help with the show.

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Like the show? Share your love for the IF by dropping a review on Apple Podcasts! itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?mt=2&ls=1

Have you subscribed? Grab one (always free!) at pod.link/1250517051 and never miss an episode!

Keep On IFFin',

Philip & Matt,

WhatTheIF.com

We hope you're saying safe, practicing good social distancing and hopefully not hoarding all the toilet paper!

This week, we've got another Coronavirus-related WHAT THE IF for some self isolation edutainment: What The IF… We could go inside a VIRUS?!

GABY PANICCIA, a graduate student in Molecular Virology at the world famous Rockefeller University, uses her imagination to shrink us all down to nanometer scale and she takes us on a FANTASIC VOYAGE! We swim into cells to see how a coronavirus works, up front and all too personal! How big are those spikes really?

So put on your innerspace suits, and get ready for a ride of a lifetime!

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Special thanks to Kyle Crichton, Howard Zheng and Illia Zheng for their help with the show.

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Like the show? Share your love for the IF by dropping a review on Apple Podcasts! itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?mt=2&ls=1

Have you subscribed? Grab one (always free!) at pod.link/1250517051 and never miss an episode!

Keep On IFFin',

Philip & Matt,

WhatTheIF.com

We hope this episode finds you and your loved ones well, no matter where in the world you are. Here in New York, we recorded this new episode just as they shut down our city. First they came for the sports arenas, then they came for the bars and pubs, and then the coffee shops… but we will persevere.

PEOPLE OF EARTH, WE SALUTE YOU. And since we’re all stuck at home, we figured it was no reason to stop educating and entertaining and imagining a utopian world where fashion never dies!

This week, we present a special WHAT THE IF for these very strange times: What The IF... we were ISOLATED all of the time! Can you imagine a world where nobody could be with anybody? Just the grammar of that thought alone is terrifying.

So put on your sexiest N-95 mask and your hazmat suit made of out the finest Corinthian mat… and let’s do this!

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Special thanks to Kyle Crichton, Howard Zheng and Illia Zheng for their help with the show.

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Like the show? Share your love for the IF by dropping a review on Apple Podcasts! itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?mt=2&ls=1

Have you subscribed? Grab one (always free!) at pod.link/1250517051 and never miss an episode!

Keep On IFFin',

Philip & Matt,

WhatTheIF.com

Our awesome audience member, and newest SUPER IFFER, Micah Frier of New York City asks:

What The IF… TIME ran backwards?

Well it turns out that YOU and me, and Matt and Micah... and all our atoms... and all our other important ingredients... would also be running BACKWARDS.

Would you notice? What does eating at the dinner table look like? The horror!

Strap on your intellectual seat belts (or unstrap them?) because it’s gonna be (already was?) a THGIN YPMUB!

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Special thanks to Kyle Crichton, Howard Zheng and Illia Zheng for their help with the show.

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Like the show? Share your love for the IF by dropping a review on Apple Podcasts! itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?mt=2&ls=1

Have you subscribed? Grab one (always free!) at pod.link/1250517051 and never miss an episode!

Keep On IFFin',

Philip & Matt,

WhatTheIF.com

What the if ROBOTS were hosting their very own PODCAST? They are replacing our jobs! WE WELCOME OUR ROBOT OVERLORDS!

Our listener Rod in Edinburg, Scotland wrote in and asked: “Could AI's do a PODCAST?”We had a little bit of shade thrown at us, testing our podcasting skills with a little bit of our own kind of TURING TEST! Are we losing the ability to distinguish between a NATURAL being and an ARTIFICIAL one? Tune in and find out!

Special thanks to Kyle Crichton, Howard Zheng and Illia Zheng for their help with the show.

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Like the show? Share your love for the IF by dropping a review on Apple Podcasts! itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?mt=2&ls=1

Have you subscribed? Grab one (always free!) at pod.link/1250517051 and never miss an episode!

Keep On IFFin',

Philip & Matt,

WhatTheIF.com

CalTech Seismologist Celeste Labedz asks: WTiF we could get our pet CATS to create a global EARLY EARTHQUAKE WARNING system? We have lots of fun... for science!

CELESTE LABEDZ is a grad student in geophysics at CalTech. Her research explores environmental processes using seismological observations. In particular, investigating subglacial hydrologic conditions using continuous seismic tremor data collected on and around the glacier. in order to improve observations and understanding of glacier dynamics as a whole. She's also interested in geoscience communication and public outreach.

Follow Celeste at Twitter.com/celestelabedz or Instagram.com/celestelabez

And listen to ALIE WARD’s wonderful interview with Celeste on the fabulous podcast series, OLOGIES! https://omny.fm/shows/ologies-with-alie-ward/cryoseismology-icequakes-with-celeste-labedz

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Like the show? Share your love for the IF by dropping a review on Apple Podcasts! itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?mt=2&ls=1

Have you subscribed? Grab one (always free!) at pod.link/1250517051 and never miss an episode!

Keep On IFFin',

Philip & Matt,

WhatTheIF.com

A scientist and an artist are trapped in an elevator. Can they learn to understand each other?

JANCY McPHEE, Founder and Exec. Director of the SciArt Exchange joins us to explore the vastly different ways scientists and non-scientists think about the world, and to look for ways to find common ground... even if it is fifty floors up in the air!

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Visit the SciArt Exchange at SciArtEx.net for more about all their amazing programs!

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JANCY McPHEE wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to be when she grew up. She loved science and exploring, but all her hobbies were related to music and theater and reading about how other humans think, feel, create and move. Hoping to combine her interests, she became a neuroscientist, a person who examines the science behind these human capabilities. Formally, Dr. McPhee has a B.A. in Neurobiology and Behavior from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in Biophysics from Brandeis University. She was a cellular and molecular neuroscience researcher in academia for 17 years before joining the National Space Biomedical Research Association and later the Universities Space Research Association to manage various aspects of NASA’s domestic and international space life sciences research programs. Since 2010, she has been implementing motivating and novel ways to enhance space education and science and technology innovation and to promote global collaboration in human space exploration. She created the international Humans in Space Art Program and has been working to establish SciArt Exchange.

Based on the success of the initial Youth Art Competition, Dr. McPhee created the multi-project, international Humans in Space Art Program to encourage people of all ages (youth, young adult, and professionals), cultures, and backgrounds to think about and creatively communicate their visions of the future of human space exploration through visual, literary, musical, and video art. So far, the Program has engaged 1000’s of artists as participants, and 100,000’s have viewed multi-media artwork displays and performances online, locally on Earth, and in space. Dr. McPhee has received two awards for her creation of the Humans in Space Art Program, The NASA Johnson Space Center Director's Innovation Award (2011) and the STEAMSpace Education Permission to Dream Award (2017). She believes the recognition truly belongs to everyone who has participated and supported the Program. In addition, SciArt Exchange received the 2017 TMT (Technology, Media, Telecoms) Entertainment Award for Best Science Engagement Initiative  - USA, the 2017 UK Corporate Excellence Award for Best International Science & Art Education Initiative, the 2018 AI ((Acquisition International) Award for Best Scientific Education Development & Promotion Initiative – USA and the 2018 CV Magazine UK Best in Business Awards - Leading Authority on Science & Art Collaborations. 

In order to expand the Humans in Space Art Program and initiate other global science-integrated- with- art activities, Dr. McPhee established the nonprofit SciArt Exchange. The nonprofit aims to inspire the world about space, science, and technology and promote public understanding about and contribution to science and technology issues. Nonprofit activities include contests, events, consulting and instructing on topics such as science communication, creativity, and teamwork. Dr. McPhee envisions a world where each individual is trained to use their whole brain and to work respectfully and collaboratively with many different kinds of people to solve the greatest global science and technology challenges. SciArt Exchange and its partners worldwide hope to help realize this vision.

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Like the show? Share your love for the IF by dropping a review on Apple Podcasts! itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?mt=2&ls=1

Have you subscribed? Grab one (always free!) at pod.link/1250517051 and never miss an episode!

Keep On IFFin',

Philip & Matt,

WhatTheIF.com

Dateline WASHINGTON DC: The Planetary Society's DAY OF ACTION is coming up! In honor of this incredible opportunity for citizens to meet with their legislators to talk about NASA funding, we present this encore of our very popular episode with the Planetary Society's Casey Dreier. Listen and dream, then sign up and join:

https://www.planetary.org/get-involved/be-a-space-advocate/take-action/2020-day-of-action.html (Registration ENDS on Monday Feb 3, sign up now!)

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"No BUCKS, no Buck Rogers," says astronaut Gus Grissom in "The Right Stuff." So we ask, what the if... NASA got hundreds of billions more, or even TRILLIONS of dollars more in funding? Imagine it happened today! Can we build a SPACE UTOPIA worthy of the most optimistic science fiction... or are there some things money can't buy? Will we sing "Can't buy me love," or "Fly ME to the Moon"?

Our guide on this joyous spending spree is CASEY DREIER, the Chief Advocate & Senior Space Policy Adviser of The PLANETARY SOCIETY and an expert in how NASA gets funded by the US Congress, and how citizens can play a role. Casey reveals to us that our current TECHNOLOGY enables us to do incredible things... if we have the WILL and can pay the BILL.

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Learn more about The PLANETARY SOCIETY at planetary.org -- and how you can join them on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC for their annual DAY OF ACTION at planetary.org/dayofaction

Visit Casey Dreier on Twitter: @CaseyDreier

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This episode is sponsored by ASTRONOMY Magazine's "Space And Beyond Box," an awesome subscription where you'll automatically receive boxes and boxes of super educational and super fun stuff from Astronomy's editors. Visit the website -- SpaceAndBeyondBox.com/Giveaway -- to learn more, and get a chance to WIN a free annual subscription!

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Like the show? Share your love for the IF by dropping a review on Apple Podcasts! itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?mt=2&ls=1

Have you subscribed? Grab one (always free!) at pod.link/1250517051 and never miss an episode!

Keep On IFFin',

Philip & Matt,

WhatTheIF.com

We answered the ringing telephone in The Matrix and on the line was the great filmmaker, game designer, and composer Robyn Miller with a sizzling good IF! Robyn asks "If you were an evil robot overlord and you wanted to use people as your power source... how'd ya do it? Can people be used as batteries?" Let's find out! Take the correct colored pill and we'll see you on the other side... of the IF!

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Share your love for the IF by dropping a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts!

Have you subscribed? Grab one (always free!) and never miss an episode!

Keep On IFFin',

Philip & Matt

SCIENCE JOURNALIST and SCIENCE FICTION AUTHOR Matt Williams joins us and asks: What’s the absolute biggest thing you could build… in the entire Universe! Have Aliens beaten us to it? How big does our civilization need to be to outgrow even MEGASTRUCTURES and build even bigger? Can we build GIGASTRUCTURES? What about PETASTRUCTURES? How about a GOOGLESTRUCTURE. We’re gonna need THOR’S HAMMER for this project, and his screwdriver and rivet maker, too! Let’s get to work and make some IF!

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MATT WILLIAMS has written many short stories and two full-length novels, all which take place within the same fictional universe. In addition, he’s written over one thousand articles on subjects of science, technology, astronomy, history, literature, pop culture, and general knowledge. His first published novels, The Cronian Incident and its sequel The Jovian Manifesto (published by Castrum Press) can be purchased on Amazon.com, or Castrum Press, or click here to read an excerpt of the books. They are also available as audiobooks through Audible.com.

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Share your love for the IF by dropping a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts!

Have you subscribed? Grab one (always free!) and never miss an episode!

Keep On IFFin',

Philip & Matt