What The If?

We're joined by Chris Carberry, the distinguished CEO of EXPLORE MARS and author of the awesome new book, ALCOHOL IN SPACE... Join us for a fun and fabulous Happy Hour on What The IF!

* * *

CHRIS CARBERRY is the CEO and co-founder of Explore Mars, Inc. a nonprofit space advocacy organization that was created to advance the goal of sending humans to Mars within the next two decades. Carberry is a well-respected expert and influential director of strategic alliances in the space community and has been responsible for growing many partnerships, grants and sponsorships for leading industry organizations. Currently, as CEO of Explore Mars, he acts as the main liaison for efforts and project ventures.

Prior to joining Explore Mars, Carberry served as Executive Director to The Mars Society. In his early career, he acted as a member of the Steering Committee where he organized congressional outreach efforts around the country. He also played a leadership role in congressional outreach events such as the 2007-2017 Space Exploration Alliance Legislative Blitz and has coordinated numerous briefing panels and other events on Capitol Hill over the past two decades.

In more recent years, he has organized and led successful international conferences including the ISS and Mars Conference in Washington, D.C. and Strasbourg, France, and the Women and Mars Conference in Washington, D.C. In 2012, he represented Explore Mars as a delegate to the Mars500 Symposium in Moscow, Russia, and in 2013, he spearheaded the annual Humans to Mars Summit in Washington, DC that has become the largest annual conference in the world focused on sending humans to Mars. Carberry also helped to launch the Get Curious Campaign in 2012 and the Humans to Mars Report starting in 2015. Carberry is also a co-founder and co-chair of the Mars Achievability and Sustainability workshop series, and he recently launched the 1st AR/VR and Space workshop series. In 2018, under Carberry’s leadership, Explore Mars will also launch programs in Europe and the United Arab Emirates.

Carberry has presented both oral and written testimony to Congress and has contributed positioning work dealing with space exploration for the Republican Party’s National Platform in 2000. He is the author of scores of articles and Op-Ed pieces that have appeared in such publications as USA Today, US News and World Report, Huffington Post, The Washington Post, San Jose Mercury Times, Foxnews.com, Houston Chronicle, The Hill, The Telegram (UK), The Boston Herald and many other publications. He has been featured on national and international television and radio programs such as NBC Nightly News, Fox News, CNN, BBC World, and NPR and is frequently asked for commentary from print news outlets around the world.

* * *

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

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all our listeners around the WORLD! We’re celebrating with an encore presentation of one of our most popular episodes ever, with one of the greatest Science Fiction authors of all time, ALASTAIR REYNOLDS as our guest!

PRE-ORDER his exciting upcoming novel, BONE SILENCE at your local bookstore or on Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0819W4456/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i10

Al brings a whopper of an IF, loosely inspired by one of his newest stories, "Different Seas" which he wrote for the new prophetic anthology, "TWELVE TOMORROWS" from MIT Press.

WTiF Elon Musk sent a bunch of dummy bots to the red planet into whose bodies we could transport ourselves, via telepresence, and explore from the comfort of our own home? It's just like being there!

But WTiF there's other bots being run around the planet, too, by people who's minds may be filled with the itch to cause mischief... or murder??? Watch your back, you n00b!

---

ALASTAIR REYNOLDS is a science fiction writer based in Wales. A former space scientist, he turned from studying pulsars and binary stars to fiction. He's now the author of sixteen novels and more than seventy short stories. His work has been shortlisted for the Hugo, Arthur C Clarke and Sturgeon awards, and he's won the Seiun, Sidewise, European Science Fiction Society and Locus awards. His stories have been adapted for stage and television.

VISIT his website: alastairreynolds.com

Check out the TWELVE TOMORROWS anthology: mitpress.mit.edu/books/twelve-tomorrows

--------

REVIEW the show: itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?mt=2&ls=1

SUBSCRIBE for free: pod.link/1250517051

Thanks & Keep On IFFin'!-- Philip & Matt

Our listener MIGUEL from South Africa wrote in and asked us, “What The IF… we replaced our HANDS with LIGHTSABERS?”

This idea was so insane it sat on our list for a year and a half… as we SEARCHED OUR FEELINGS… waiting for the just the right moment to begin this wicked thought experiment..

We celebrate the conclusion of the Star Wars saga by diving into this great space-operatic question.

Happy Holidays to ALL our listeners AROUND THE WORLD, you folks are incredible! Keep the cards and letters coming’, it’s great to get to know ya.

Enjoy your new LIGHTSABERS, listen now and find out how they’re gonna change the galaxy!!!

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU

ALWAYS

* * *

Share your love for the IF by dropping a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?ls=1&mt=2

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

Keep On IFFin',

Philip & Matt

What the if EVOLUTION were very DIFFERENT? Strap on your pith helmet, and lock the doors! OUR LISTENER Jon from Sweden wrote us and asked: What if Charlie “Eye of the Tiger” DARWIN was wrong and “Hoist Up The” Jean-B. LAMARCK was right? These two scholars had very different ideas about the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees, and especially about YOU and me’s!

* * *

Share your love for the IF by dropping a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?ls=1&mt=2

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

Keep On IFFin',

Philip & Matt

Is there a DOOMSDAY PLANET named Nibiru heading our way? Nope!

But what the IF there was? We challenge astronomer & astrophotographer Bob King to play out the RAM-ifications of this Earth SHATTERING scenario, from which we learn a WHOPPING amount of real science!

BOB KING is the author of URBAN LEGENDS FROM SPACE: The Biggest Myths About Space Demystified, where he cuts through the fog of myth to bring the truth behind 51 celestial legends and exposes the scientific truth at their core. Emily Lakdawalla of The Planetary Society recommended it as one of the best books for kids of 2019. Buy it at your local bookstore or one of the many online sellers listed here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43263575-urban-legends-from-space

Bob has enjoyed the night sky and astronomy since childhood and loves to share his passion through public observing, speaking and writing. He is the photo editor at the Duluth News Tribune, and when the sun goes down you'll often find him photographing the northern lights or fireflies. He writes a frequently updated astronomy blog called Astro Bob and teaches community education astronomy at his local planetarium.

He has also written for Sky & Telescope and Universe Today.

* * *

Share your love for the IF by dropping a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?ls=1&mt=2

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

Keep On IFFin',

Philip & Matt

Do Electrons dream of having feet? WTIF you were an ELECTRON jogging through the hot circuits of a CLASSICAL COMPUTER and all of a sudden you lept into a QUANTUM COMPUTER? What does it look like inside the bizarre new machine? Why is it so COLD in here? What’s with all the signs posted everywhere saying “DON’T LOOK!”

The astounding final chapter of our journey through the EVOLUTION of COMPUTERS! Fear not if you haven’t heard the previous episodes, each one stands on it’s own!

* * *

Share your love for the IF by dropping a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?ls=1&mt=2

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

Keep On IFFin',

Philip & Matt

Science Fiction FILMMAKERS Carylanna Taylor & Jacob Okada bring us the IF of their new film, ANYA, a contemporary sci-fi love story about a couple whose determination to have a child leads them to a cutting-edge geneticist, an ancient outlier community hiding in plain sight in New York City, and ultimately, a life-changing question: are they willing to have a gene-edited baby, no matter the cost?

ANYA is now available on demand, DVD, and hosted screenings: https://www.anyamovie.com/watchnow

ANYA is the first narrative feature by anthropologist Carylanna Taylor, PhD (writer/producer), and documentary filmmaker Jacob Akira Okada (writer/director). Under their First Encounter Productions banner, Taylor and Okada have also produced the feature documentary PAINTING THE WAY TO THE MOON (available on Vimeo). For ANYA, they collaborated with Harvard Medical School's Wu Lab, the Personal Genetics Education Project, and Carnegie Mellon's Pfenning Lab where they filmed the lab scenes.

ANYA is now available on demand, DVD, and hosted screenings. Watch it here: https://www.anyamovie.com/watchnow

Visit anyamovie.com for the latest screenings, articles, and educational materials.

Contact [email protected] to host a screening of ANYA or Painting the Way to the Moon in your community.

Subscribe to First Encounter Productions YouTube channel to see newly posted shorts, behind the scenes videos, and longer interviews. Follow and tag at:

IG: @anya.movie

Twitter/FB: @anyamovie

Twitter: @carylannataylor

More info about the filmmakers and their research at:

https://anyamovie.com

https://firstencounterproductions.com

https://paintingthewaytothemoon.com

https://youtube.com/channel/UCF8Xrnq-_di9aYfUBxRfkyg

https://transvection.org

https://pged.org

https://pfenninglab.org

* * *

Share your love for the IF by dropping a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?ls=1&mt=2

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

Keep On IFFin',

Philip & Matt

GOOGLE just announced that its' researchers have built a QUANTUM COMPUTER that has achieved... Quantum Supremacy. ACK!!! Do you feel like standing and cheering, or fleeing for your life? It's essential that we all learn how a quantum computer works, but...

Most of us don't even understand how a regular computer works! What's really going on inside that humming typewriter on your desk? What about the one that's heating up your lap? Or the one that's in your hand? WTiF you could go INSIDE your thinking machines and see WTF is going on? Strap on a rubber suit so you don't get electrocuted... and let's go WALTZING into our CLASSICAL COMPUTERS.

It's Part TWO of our FANTASTIC VOYAGE into the evolving COMPUTER! What the IF you could go spelunking into the very circuits themselves... what would you find? Step into your anti-static hazmat suit and let's find out!

* * *

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

GOOGLE just announced that its' researchers have built a QUANTUM COMPUTER that has achieved... Quantum Supremacy. ACK!!! Do you feel like standing and cheering, or fleeing for your life? It's essential that we all learn how a quantum computer works, but...

Most of us don't even understand how a regular computer works! What's really going on inside that humming typewriter on your desk? What about the one that's heating up your lap? Or the one that's in your hand? WTiF you could go INSIDE your thinking machines and see WTF is going on? Strap on a rubber suit so you don't get electrocuted... and let's go WALTZING into our CLASSICAL COMPUTERS.

Here in PART ONE of this fantastic voyage: we enter the warm, cozy computer built out of VACUUM TUBES called a "Von Neumann Machine," where super smart, hard working ladies are in charge! Grab a patch cable, plug it in and let's find out what's going on inside this GIANT machine they call a UNIVERSAL COMPUTER.

* * *

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

Ancient Science Secrets! DR. ROBIN GEORGE ANDREWS returns with an incredible story of how modern day SEISMOLOGISTS are hunting through ancient AZTEC inscriptions, and the records of indigenous peoples around the world, to uncover a nearly FORGOTTEN HISTORY of the vibrating and violent EARTH!

* * *

ROBIN ANDREWS is a doctor of experimental volcanology, a full-time freelance science journalist, a part-time photographer, a scientific consultant, an occasional lecturer, public speaker and explain-how-volcanoes-work TV guest, as well as a pending author of a rather curious book. He can tell you exactly how powerful the Death Star is, how cryovolcanoes on alien worlds work, why a supervolcano probably isn’t what you think it is, and why the Moon is shrinking. His work has appeared in THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE ATLANTIC, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, EARTHER, GIZMODO, FORBES, THE VERGE, ATLAS OBSCURA, DISCOVER MAGAZINE, WIRED and elsewhere.

VISIT his website: robingeorgeandrews.com

* * *

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