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13 Vol 3 Num 1 June 2008
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June 2008
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Hugged by Catherine Asaro (the scientist, author and former SFWA President); met and interviewed the best selling author Katharine Kurtz; brokered personal appearances inside Second Life for David Brin and Robert J. Sawyer; given the entire eighth floor of the Central Nexus building, the tallest skyscraper in the futuristic city-state of Extropia (also within Second Life); and granted citizenship of Extropia.
If you’ve been listening to the show, you know the last two months have been filled with many wonderful surprises. More details on some of these can be found farther below. But first, here is a summary of recent topics discussed on the show (March 12 to May 7) followed by a list of recent guests.
Recent Topics
Google's announced desire to offer wireless high-speed internet access to everyone in America for Free. (*On March 21, 2008 Google submitted a six-page letter to the FCC outlining processes and tests to avoid interference if they are granted use of a portion of the radio frequencies which will become available in 2009 when television ceases to broadcast analog transmissions.)
An earth-grazing asteroid which will be taking two pot-shots at humanity during the next two decades.
Why Japanese users are getting 25 times faster high-speed internet than American high-speed users.
How passports with RFID chips can be hacked wirelessly as you walk through an airport.
Pacemakers with wireless “wi-fi” internet connections can be hacked remotely through the internet, according to a New York Times report. They can then forced to stop working or even give the patient electric shocks strong enough to kill.
How technology will change future battlefields.
How Russia seems to be heading back into the cold war.
How the TV show “24” encourages and justifies the use of torture.
The notion that terrorists may have become an exaggerated enemy.
How ethanol is raising food prices world-wide.
Why English has become the world language.
Google’s research into AI: why Google is interested in AI, and if Google plans to someday have its search page speak and converse with users.
Will machines someday think as well as humans? Will they think in the same way we do? Will they plan, be creative, invent things that are new and innovative? Will they feel emotions as we do? Will they feel compassion, fear, fondness, attachments based on familiarity?
If the IQ curve of AI rises long enough for their IQ to match our own, why would that curve stop rising? Won't their IQ continue increasing until they are ten times smarter than us, and then a hundred, and then a thousand? At what point might this stop? Is there a limit? Should we fear superhuman AI? Should anyone?
New estimates of the Tunguska impact of 1908.
How Netflix.com is scrambling to keep Hulu.com from outpacing them.
Greg Bear’s TV appearance on The Daily Show with John Stewart.
NASA’s Remote Agent and Mars Exploration Rovers, and what role AI played in them.
How our lives are being changed by cell phones, IM, high speed internet and online catalogs.
Sir Arthur C. Clarke's many contributions to civilization, as well as recollections by several authors of their conversations with the late Sir Arthur C. Clarke, including the very first time Greg Bear met Sir Arthur back in 1968 when Greg was only 16 years old.
e-books and Amazon's Kindle.
Physics and String Theory.
The seduction of the internet as a time-vampire.
LED light bulbs: the next big wave in energy savings.
What would people do differently if we all knew we were going to live for 300 years? How would this change civilization? Just how far can human longevity become stretched?
The world-wide annual celebration of Yuri Gagarin's first human flight into space, which your host celebrated inside Second Life.
How different is it to do a speaking engagement inside Second Life compared to one in the physical world? (David Brin and Robert J. Sawyer found out.)
Space: where the big money will be made in space; space-based solutions to our energy problems on earth today; the inflatable space habitats and hotels that Robert Bigalow has started building; practical methods of asteroid mining and diverting; the likelihood of a new international space race; ion drives and solar sails; exoplanets in general but especially the new developing possibility of earth-like planets orbiting the nearest star, Alpha Centauri.
Beyond Protocol, the new massively multiplayer online real-time strategy game which is currently in beta test.
How frustrating it is that there are lots of exoplanets but we can't go look at them. The idea that people are losing interest in space exploration because our ability to travel has not extended to the stars and is limited to our own solar system.
Life on extrasolar planets, including the surprisingly numerous super-hot planets which often orbit their stars in a matter of days.
A clever music video now on youTube entitled: I am the Very Model of a Singularitarian, sung to the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan's I am the Very Model of a Modern Major General from the popular musical play The Pirates of Penzance.
WikiPatents.com is a free community for reviewing, rating, and discussing US patents and pending patent applications. It also offers advanced patent searching and free downloads, as well as the option to vote on the marketability and technical merits of patents and patent applications.
The annoyance of popup ads and junk-mail, and the prediction that physical mail (as opposed to email) will someday become rare.
Geek Cruises and the Scientific American Cruises.
As well as nanotechnology, biotechnology, transhumanism, the singularity, Wikipedia, and many more topics.
Recent Guests
Greg Bear, the award-winning author of more than thirty books of science fiction and fantasy including Quantico, Darwin’s Radio and Blood Music.
Robert J. Sawyer the award-winning and bestselling author.
David Brin, the best selling science fiction author, scientist and public speaker who has won multiple Hugo and Nebula awards and is the author of the novel Kiln People and The Life Eaters as well as six novels within his Uplift Series.
Kim Stanley Robinson, the best selling and award-winning science fiction author, best known to some for his Mars trilogy: Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars.
Katherine Kurtz, the best selling author of many fantasy novels including those in her Deryni Series.
C.J. Henderson the award-winning author of fifty novels including the Teddy London supernatural detective series.
Peter Norvig, Director of Research at Google, who has written more than fifty publications in the computer sciences and is co-author of Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, the leading textbook in the field of AI.
Randal L. Schwartz, the widely known computer programmer and programming consultant.
Dr. Gregory L. Matloff, astronomer and author of six popular books on astronomy and astronautics, including Living off the Land in Space, which was co-authored with NASA’s Les Johnson and Brooklyn artist C Bangs.
Thomas “cmdln” Gideon, the digital media activist and host of The Command Line podcast.
Allen Wold, author of nine novels and five nonfiction books.
Michael Ventrella, one of the founders of Animato Magazine and of the LARP NERO.
The Wombat, RavenCon's 2007 Fan Guest of Honor.
Bill Mann, Tera Fulbright and many others including one of the inside experts on a new massively multiplayer online real-time strategy game called Beyond Protocol which is currently in beta test.
People who provided comment, feedback or received an honorable mention include: Shaun Farrell, Rich Sigfrit, Mur Lafferty, Tee Morris, the presidential candidates (John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton) and of course Sir Arthur C. Clarke because of his recent passing.
And from Second Life, digital people who provided comment, feedback or received an honorable mention include: Khannea Suntzu, the avatar artists Zeroe Auer and Zada Zenovka, Extropia DaSilva for her blog post entitled Snowcrashing into the Diamond age, and Sophrosyne Stenvaag, host of Sophrosyne's Saturday Salon which is held every week in Extropia.
You can learn more about exactly who said what about what at the show's page.
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Recent News
David Brin’s
Personal Appearance in Second Life
For nearly two hours David Brin spoke to an overflow crowd in the grand meeting hall in the Central Nexus Building inside the city-state of Extropia inside Second Life. He was interviewed by Sophrosyne Stenvaag in an expanded version of her Sophrosyne's Saturday Salon which is held every week.
Easily recognizable, the award-winning and best-selling author wore a photorealistic body specially crafted for this event by the skilled avatar artists Zeroe Auer and Zada Zenovka. David spoke about the strengths and weaknesses of virtual worlds as places to discuss ideas--and did so while experiencing those very strengths and weaknesses as he discussed ideas. His appearance was part of the world wide celebration of Yuri's Night which took place on April 12, 2008.
The city-state of Extropia has become a popular meeting area within Second Life for those who are curious about the future because it features weekly events to discuss various futuristic topics. The organization SL-Transhumanists, for example, hosts lectures and discussions about the many aspects of transhumanism such as nanotech, genotech, AI and the Singularity.
During the all-day festivities in Extropia your host: met two NASA representatives as well as some Russians, drove a moon buggy; sat inside a life-sized model of Yuri Gagarin's space capsule, danced with a wide variety of beautiful women, admired Vidal Tripsa's space suit (possibly the sexiest space suit ever), watched David Brin pack the house for his open forum discussion, and took over 300 photos of the day's events. Many of which can be viewed on Flickr.
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Robert J. Sawyer’s
Two Personal Appearances in Second Life
Robert J. Sawyer, the award-winning author, made two personal appearances inside Second Life on Sunday, April 6, 2008. First he was the featured speaker at Sophrosyne's Saturday Salon in which he discussed the future of AI, robotics, life extension, SETI, and much more. For his second appearance he joined the Extropia Book Club for their discussion of his latest novel, Rollback, which is now a finalist for the Hugo Award.
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Your Host's Personal Appearance Schedule
As in previous years, I will be a guest author at a number of conventions this year. This allows me to participate on panels alongside very famous and, in some cases, best selling authors and generally get a really exaggerated notion of myself. Those of you who feel that you can stomach me in such a state, and live within reasonable travel distance, may see and visit with me in person at the following SF&F conventions: (Each of which has its own website.)
ConCarolinas (in Charlotte NC -- May 30-June 1)
LibertyCon (in Chattanooga TN -- July 11 to 13
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Your Host's Virtual Appearance Schedule
Those of you who wish to visit with me inside the virtual world called Second Life can do either of two things: Send my avatar—Boc Cryotank—an instant message, or attend Sophrosyne's Saturday Salon.
The Salon is a weekly gathering of transhumanists, extropians, and other future-minded people hosted by Sophrosyne Stenvaag ("Soph") each Saturday afternoon. Located on the island of Extropia Core, it's open to the public and newcomers are always welcome. The format is usually a lecture followed by an enthusiastic discussion with many questions and comments.
Often I linger after the Salon is over to chat with locals and visitors, so this is an easy time to catch me. Now that I’ve been granted citizenship within Extropia, and am setting up my office and studio on the eighth floor of the Central Nexus Building, I have even more reason to frequent Extropia.
If you would like to join me inside, you can go to secondlife.com and sign up. A standard account costs nothing, but I should warn you: Second Life is a strange and fascinating world. If you have a powerful curiosity, it can be powerfully seductive. Sometimes it's hard to let go of it and come back out.
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Learn More
You can learn more about The Future And You here, or here or even here.
Or learn more about its host here or here.
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Thanks for visiting.
We hope you enjoyed the story or article. We need to remind you though that JBU pays professional rates for these stories, and in order to do that, we sell subscriptions and memberships in the Universe Club. If you liked the story, please- Toss us a few bux-- Pay what you think it is worth via the paypal link, or
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Stephen Euin Cobb is a Hard SF author, futurist and the host of the award-winning podcast "The Future And You." He is also an artist, essayist and transhumanist.
As host of "The Future And You," a two hour long p......
(To read the rest of this bio, and see other stories in Jim Baen's Universe visit Stephen Euin Cobb's author page.)
