Stephen Euin Cobb's Blog, page 25
February 29, 2012
The Future And You -- February 29, 2012
George Dvorsky (futurist and ethicist) is our featured guest.
Topics: Is it wise to use our emotions (especially repugnance) as a guide to truth? Giving protective rights to intelligent animals (apes, whales, dolphins, and elephants), and eventually (when the time is right) to artificially intelligent software; augmenting animals to raise their IQ (animal uplifting); the new movie Planet of the Apes; the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey; better ways to conduct the search for extraterrestrials (SETI); Dyson Spheres; the Fermi Paradox; why your host hopes we will forever move to universes of ever increasing dimensionality; as well as artificially created universes and simulated universes.
Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the February 29, 2012 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 61 minutes]. This is the second third of an interview recorded using Skype on February 17, 2012.
George Dvorsky is a Canadian futurist and ethicist. He has written and spoken extensively about the impacts of cutting-edge science and technology—particularly as they pertain to the improvement of human performance and experience. He is the Chairman of the Board at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies and is the program director for the Rights of Non-Human Persons program.
February 21, 2012
The Future And You -- February 22, 2012
George Dvorsky (futurist and ethicist) is our featured guest.
Topics: the importance of studying history in order to extrapolate the future; how democratic transhumanism differs from other flavours of transhumanism; why he is a technogaian environmentalist and how that relates to Bright Green Environmentalism; the abolition of suffering in all species; political problems of putting a thermostat on the earth; as well as the good and bad of living an engineered blissful existence permanently.
Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the February 22, 2012 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 62 minutes]. This is the first third of an interview recorded using Skype on February 17, 2012.
George Dvorsky is a Canadian futurist and ethicist. He has written and spoken extensively about the impacts of cutting-edge science and technology—particularly as they pertain to the improvement of human performance and experience. He is the Chairman of the Board at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies and is the program director for the Rights of Non-Human Persons program.
News Item: Your host's most transhumanist novel is now available for purchase through Amazon's Kindle program. All the main characters in Plague at Redhook have augmentations which transhumanists look forward to possessing. Computers implanted in their bodies and hardwired into their brains, for example, such that they can share with one another their verbal thoughts, as well as images of what they are currently looking at, or what they remember seeing in the past. These augmentations are not new to them, this is how they live their normal lives. The plot is an action-adventure story combined with a medical-mystery story combined with an exploring-an-alien-world story.
And remember: you don't need a Kindle to purchase and read Kindle books. There is a free app that turns most smart phones into a Kindle reader. And there is a free downloadable program which will turn a PC or a Mac into a Kindle reader as well. So if you have $3.99 to burn, and want to see what your host thinks the future might be like in story form, consider buying a copy of Plague at Redhook.
February 14, 2012
The Future And You -- February 15, 2012
Wendy S. Delmater(editor, author and safety engineer), Joe Naff(author), and Myself (your host) are our featured guests.
Topic: Future disasters, and what you can do now to prepare for them. (Part 3)
The future will contain many bad events as well as many good. Your individual journey through your personal future will be less painful if you are prepared. Here are dozens of ways to greatly reduce your future suffering.
Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the February 15, 2012 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 39 minutes]. This is the third and final part of a panel recorded before a live audience on June 4, 2011 in Charlotte NC at the SF&F convention ConCarolinas.
Wendy S. Delmater runs the critically acclaimed zine: Abyss & Apex Magazine of Speculative Fiction, and has a new non-fiction book coming out on Valentines Day, 2012 entitled Better Dating Through Engineering: A system For Finding Lasting Love After 45
Joe Naff is the author of the supernatural thriller: The Gospel of the Font, and the young-adult high-fantasy series: The Chronicles of Shyra.
News Item: A new and very brief update on my TA-65 Evaluation Project.
February 7, 2012
The Future And You -- February 8, 2012
Jonathan Mugan (author of The Curiosity Cycle, and computer science researcher) is our featured guest.
Topics: Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, online games, learning styles and methods, arguing to agree, errors in our thinking process, and many topics covered in his book The Curiosity Cycle: Preparing Your Child for the Ongoing Technological Explosion. (Part 2)
Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the February 8, 2012 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 39 minutes]. This is the second half of an interview recorded on January 21, 2012 using a Skype-to-Skype connection.
Jonathan Mugan is a computer science researcher specializing in machine learning and Artificial Intelligence. He completed a postdoc at Carnegie Mellon University, and received a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin. His book The Curiosity Cycle: Preparing Your Child for the Ongoing Technological Explosion is available in paperback and Kindle eBook editions.
January 31, 2012
The Future And You -- February 1, 2012
Jonathan Mugan (author of The Curiosity Cycle, and computer science researcher) is our featured guest.
Topics: Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, cyber-security, human intelligence, human learning, errors in our thinking process, and many topics covered in his book The Curiosity Cycle: Preparing Your Child for the Ongoing Technological Explosion.
Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the February 1, 2012 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 41 minutes]. This is the first half of an interview recorded on January 21, 2012 using a Skype-to-Skype connection.
Jonathan Mugan is a computer science researcher specializing in machine learning and Artificial Intelligence. He completed a postdoc at Carnegie Mellon University, and received a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin. His book The Curiosity Cycle: Preparing Your Child for the Ongoing Technological Explosion is available in paperback and Kindle eBook editions.
January 24, 2012
The Future And You -- January 25, 2012
Wendy S. Delmater(editor, author and safety engineer), Joe Naff(author), and Myself (your host) are our featured guests.
Topic: Future disasters, and what you can do now to prepare for them. (Part 2)
The future will contain many bad events as well as many good. Your individual journey through your personal future will be less painful if you are prepared. Here are dozens of ways to greatly reduce your future suffering.
Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the January 25, 2012 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 43 minutes]. This is the second part of a panel recorded before a live audience on June 4, 2011 in Charlotte NC at the SF&F convention ConCarolinas.
Wendy S. Delmater runs the critically acclaimed zine: Abyss & Apex Magazine of Speculative Fiction, and has a new non-fiction book coming out on Valentines Day, 2012 entitled Better Dating Through Engineering: A system For Finding Lasting Love After 45
Joe Naff is the author of the supernatural thriller: The Gospel of the Font, and the young-adult high-fantasy series: The Chronicles of Shyra.
News Item: A thorough update on the health benefits observed so far in my TA-65 Evaluation Project. (My mother and I are now 4-1/2 months into our six month evaluation.)
January 17, 2012
The Future And You -- January 18, 2012
Wendy S. Delmater (editor, author and safety engineer), Joe Naff (author), and Myself (your host) are our featured guests.
Topic: Future disasters, and what you can do now to prepare for them.
The future will contain many bad events as well as many good. Your individual journey through your personal future will be less painful if you are prepared. Here are dozens of ways to greatly reduce your future suffering.
Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the January 18, 2012 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 40 minutes]. This panel was recorded before a live audience on June 4, 2011 in Charlotte NC at the SF&F convention ConCarolinas.
Wendy S. Delmater runs the critically acclaimed zine: Abyss & Apex Magazine of Speculative Fiction, and has a new non-fiction book coming out on Valentines Day, 2012 entitled Better Dating Through Engineering: A system For Finding Lasting Love After 45
Joe Naff is the author of the supernatural thriller: The Gospel of the Font, and the young-adult high-fantasy series: The Chronicles of Shyra.
January 10, 2012
The Future And You -- January 11, 2012
Rebecca Ledford (manager and editor-in-chief of Phase 5 Publishing), Ken Gentile (Author), and the husband and wife team behind the pseudonym Brandy Wayne are our featured guests.
Topics: Trends churning within the publishing industry, including how the publishing industry is still being turned upside down by the rise of eBooks.
Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the January 11, 2012 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 32 minutes]. This is the complete interview recorded on June 4, 2011 in Charlotte NC at the SF&F convention ConCarolinas.
Rebecca Ledford is manager and editor-in-chief of Phase 5 Publishing. Ken Gentile wrote The Tale-Seller's Night and Lil Red & The Baron. The husband and wife team behind the pseudonym Brandy Wayne are the authors of Sheleasoun, Book 1 of the Beneath the Echoes of Memory series.
January 3, 2012
The Future And You -- January 4, 2012
Jim Craig (planetarium director), James Maxey(author), Chris Berman(author), Justin Chung(artist), Emlee Vassilos(actress), Terry W. Erwin II(author), and me: Stephen Euin Cobb (author, futurist and your host) are our featured guests.
Topic: When Did Science Become a Bad Word? (Part 2)
Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the January 4, 2012 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 31 minutes]. This is the second halfof a panel recorded on June 4, 2011 in Charlotte NC at the SF&F conventionConCarolinas.
Jim Craig is the director of the James H. Lynn Planetarium at the Schiele Museum in Gastonia NC. He is a lifelong science fiction fan and has given presentations on the history of science fiction. He is an outspoken activist for science education, critical thinking, skepticism and free thought. In 2006 he was allowed to name a crater on Mars.
James Maxey is the author of the superhero novel Nobody Gets the Girl as well as the Dragon Age fantasy series which includes the novels Bitterwood,Dragonforge, and Dragonseed. Set a thousand years in the future, after the fall of our modern civilization, in a world dominated by the intelligent dragons we created through genetic engineering. Humans are reduced to slaves, and the remnants of long forgotten nanotechnology make the world a wondrous place of magic.
Chris Berman is the author of Red Moon and Star Pirates.
Justin Chung is an artist, illustrator, and creative consultant. He was Artsit Guest of Honor for 2011 at ConCarolinas.
Emlee Vassilos is an actress who is co-staring (as Lily) in the soon to be released zombie horror movie A Few Brains More, which is the sequel to Fist Full of Brains. She has also performed in Destiny Road, Renee, and the TV movie Trinity Goodheart.
Terry W. Erwin II writes novels, short stories and articles. His novels include: Blood Swordand Flank Hawk.
Stephen Euin Cobb is an author, futurist, magazine writer and host of the award-winning podcast The Future And You. He is also an artist, essayist, game designer, transhumanist, and is on the Advisory Board of the Lifeboat Foundation. Three years a columnist and contributing editor for Jim Baen's Universe Magazine; he is a Contributing Editor at Space and Time Magazine; has become a regular contributor at Robot Magazine and H+ Magazine; and has written for Digit, Grim Couture and Port Iris magazines. His novels include: Bones Burnt Black, Plague at Redhook andSkinbrain.
News Items:
[1] PhysOrg.com reports that transistors made from cotton fibers are being explored at the Textiles Nanotechnology Laboratory at Cornell University for use as clothing to collect, monitor and relay information.
[2] Your host, Stephen Euin Cobb, has been promoted to Contributing Editor at Space and Time Magazine. During the last two years Stephen has contributed feature articles to Space and Time in which he interviewed Harry Turtledove, Ben Bova, Peter S. Beagle, and Frederik Pohl. This month he will turn in a feature interview with Kevin J. Anderson, which will appear in an upcoming issue. Hildy Silverman, editor-in-chief of Space and Time Magazine, was especially pleased Stephen got this interview because--back in 1982, long before he became a best selling author with an international fan base--Kevin J. Anderson made his very first professional sale to Space and Time Magazine.
December 27, 2011
The Future And You -- December 28, 2011
Natasha Vita-More (life extension and transhumanism pioneer, designer, spokesperson, writer and activist) is our featured guest.
Topics: Life Extension and Human Augmentation--Part 3.
Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the December 28, 2011 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 38 minutes]. This is the final third of a three part interview recorded by Skype on December 10, 2011.
Natasha Vita-More is a Ph.D. researcher at the Centre for Media, Art and Design at the University of Plymouth. She is Chair ofHumanity+, and may be best known for designingPrimo Posthuman a future human prototype. She is the co-editor of the 2012 bookThe Transhumanist Reader: Classical and Contemporary Essays on the Science, Technology and Philosophy of the Human Future. She has appeared in more than twenty-four televised documentaries on culture and the future; been featured on NPR Radio; and in Flaunt, LA Weekly, Village Voice, Marie Claire, Harper's Bazaar, U.S. News & World Report, and Teleopolis. She is currently producing and hosting Minds Matter a discussion and debate series.The New York Times called her "the first female philosopher of transhumanism" in 2008, and Wired featured her as the "spokesperson for superlongevity" in 2000.
