The Future And You
Ideas and opinion about the future based on verifiable facts of today.
 

Stephen Euin Cobb (author and futurist) is today's speaker.

Topics: Future trends as depicted on the TV show Continuum; grid parity of photovoltaics across America as depicted on a Solar Equivalency Interactive Map; my intentions to Invest in Photovoltaics over the next two to four years; a warning that the price of stock in solar companies will likely suffer from a series bubbles of ever increasing size over the next few years, each one followed by a crash; a clever invention called Gravity Light; Oculus Rift (a Virtual Reality display device which will be available this summer) and its use by Jimmy Fallon; and a little robot with big gooey feet.

Also: a brief prediction from Jose Cordeiro (founder of the World Future Society's Venezuela Chapter, chair of The Millennium Project Venezuela Node, and faculty member of Singularity University).

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the May 22, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 30 minutes]

Stephen Euin Cobb is an author, futurist, magazine writer and host of the award-winning podcast The Future And You. A contributing editor for Space and Time Magazine; he is also a regular contributor for Robot, H+, Grim Couture and Port Iris magazines; and he spent three years as a columnist and contributing editor for Jim Baen's Universe Magazine. He is an artist, essayist, game designer, transhumanist, and is on the Advisory Board of The Lifeboat Foundation. His novels include Bones Burnt BlackPlague at Redhook and Skinbrain.

Direct download: TFAY_2013_5_22.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 5:15 AM

Stephen Euin Cobb (author and futurist) is today's speaker.

Topic: Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies. Their rise; utility; strength; weakness; easy and difficult ways of aquiring them; their short and long term trends; and the scammers who cheat those who sell them on eBay.

Cryptocurrencies include: Bitcoin (BTC)Litecoin (LTC), PPCoin (PPC), Namecoin (NMC), FeatherCoin (FTC), NovaCoin (NVC), Devcoin (DEV), Freicoin (FRC), ChnCoin (CNC), Terracoin (TRC), Liquidcoin (LQC), IxCoin (IXC), I0coin (I0C), Tonal Bitcoin (TBC), and many others.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the May 15, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 38 minutes]

Stephen Euin Cobb is an author, futurist, magazine writer and host of the award-winning podcast The Future And You. A contributing editor for Space and Time Magazine; he is also a regular contributor for Robot, H+, Grim Couture and Port Iris magazines; and he spent three years as a columnist and contributing editor for Jim Baen's Universe Magazine. He is an artist, essayist, game designer, transhumanist, and is on the Advisory Board of The Lifeboat Foundation. His novels include Bones Burnt BlackPlague at Redhook and Skinbrain.

Direct download: TFAY_2013_5_15.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 5:12 AM

Les Johnson (author, speaker and NASA administrator) is today's featured guest.

Topic: Sky Alert: When Satellites Fail (Les Johnson's latest nonfiction book). Les describes how much we depend on our fragile network of satellites orbiting the earth, how vulnerable they are to various dangers, and how our day-to-day lives would suffer if they were destroyed.

Les Johnson serves as the Deputy Manager for the Advanced Concepts Office at the NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. He was the technical consultant for the movie Lost in Space. And In his spare time he writes popular science books and articles--for example. In collaboration with C Bangs (an artist) and Greg Matloff (a professor of astronomy) he wrote:Paradise Regained: The Regreening of Earth (2009); Living Off the Land in Space (2007); and with Greg Matloff and Giovanni Vulpetti he wrote Solar Sails: A Novel Approach to Interplanetary Travel (2008). And with Jack McDevitt Going Interstellar (2012).

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the May 8, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 52 minutes] This interview was recorded using Skype on April 30, 2013.

Direct download: TFAY_2013_5_8.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 7:58 AM

Stephen Euin Cobb (author and futurist) is today's speaker.

News and commentary on a variety of topics, including: Google glass are not welcome in Brighton shop; Old age is the killer app for Google Glass; Regulation changes the US Post office have made recently in the hope of massively increasing the junk mail you receive; Nanosponges soak up toxins released by bacterial infections and venom; and An IT industry assessment of how many Google Glass are likely to sell between 2013 and 2016.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the May 1, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 30 minutes]

Stephen Euin Cobb is an author, futurist, magazine writer and host of the award-winning podcast The Future And You. A contributing editor for Space and Time Magazine; he is also a regular contributor for Robot, H+, Grim Couture and Port Iris magazines; and he spent three years as a columnist and contributing editor for Jim Baen's Universe Magazine. He is an artist, essayist, game designer, transhumanist, and is on the Advisory Board of The Lifeboat Foundation. His novels include Bones Burnt BlackPlague at Redhook and Skinbrain.

And a prediction from Brandy Spraker (the new Chairperson of LibertyCon) which was just a few hours too late to be included in last week's big prediction fest.

Direct download: TFAY_2013_5_1.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 5:22 AM

This is the 300th episode of The Future And You.

A hundred new predictions about the future from dozens of past guests, a few possible future guests, several listeners and an assortment of people actively building the future we are all going to live in.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the April 24, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 48 minutes].

And If you enjoy the many predictions in this episode you may also enjoy the 200th episode (May 25, 2011) which also contains over 100 predictions from past guests.

Direct download: TFAY_2013_4_24.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 6:05 AM

Stephen Euin Cobb (author and futurist) is today's speaker.

Topic: Google Glass. News, commentary and predictions of how Google Glass and other augmented reality glasses will alter our future.

Links: How Google Glass will Change Porn, 5 ways medics could use Google Glass, Google Glass for cops: How Taser plans to bring wearable, real-time tech to the police frontline, BMW “Augmented Reality” Glasses Show Mechanics How to Fix A Car, Anti-Google Glass Group Galvanize Masses Against Cyborgs, Most consumers won't pay $1,500 for a Google Glass, Watch the Google Glass SXSW Presentation.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the April 17, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 45 minutes] 

Stephen Euin Cobb is an author, futurist, magazine writer and host of the award-winning podcast The Future And You. A contributing editor for Space and Time Magazine; he is also a regular contributor for Robot, H+, Grim Couture and Port Iris magazines; and he spent three years as a columnist and contributing editor for Jim Baen's Universe Magazine. He is an artist, essayist, game designer, transhumanist, and is on the Advisory Board of The Lifeboat Foundation. His novels include Bones Burnt BlackPlague at Redhook and Skinbrain.

Announcement: Next week (April 24) will be the 300th episode of The Future And You. To celebrate I will read many predictions by past guests--as well as some future guests. If you have a prediction that you would like for me to read into the 300th episode, please email it to me@stevecobb.com. Please keep it brief. I expect a lot of predictions, so I need to be able to read yours in under thirty seconds. And, If you would, please send in your prediction sometime this week. I'll be recording them on Friday night (April 19, 2013) and Saturday afternoon (April 20, 2013). If they arrive too late, I may still read them into the show, but not into the 300th episode. Thanks.

Direct download: TFAY_2013_4_17.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 4:23 AM

Stephen Euin Cobb (author and futurist) is today's speaker.

Topics: Life Extension and The Technological Singularity. (Stephen asks himself some of the many questions about the future he generally asks his guests.)

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the April 10, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 38 minutes] 

Stephen Euin Cobb is an author, futurist, magazine writer and host of the award-winning podcast The Future And You. A contributing editor for Space and Time Magazine; he is also a regular contributor for Robot, H+, Grim Couture and Port Iris magazines; and he spent three years as a columnist and contributing editor for Jim Baen's Universe Magazine. He is an artist, essayist, game designer, transhumanist, and is on the Advisory Board of The Lifeboat Foundation. His novels include Bones Burnt BlackPlague at Redhook and Skinbrain.

Direct download: TFAY_2013_4_10.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 6:41 AM

Stephen Euin Cobb (author and futurist) is today's speaker.

Various Nanotechnology Topics: Nanotechnology in Furniture; Nano-particles are shown to kill the HIV virus using bee venom; assembling and dissembling nano-structures composed of DNA using a "programmable assembly" method has been demonstrated by nano-encrypting Morse code messages; gold nano-rods split water into hydrogen and oxygen when exposed to sunlight.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the April 3, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 19 minutes] 

Stephen Euin Cobb is an author, futurist, magazine writer and host of the award-winning podcast The Future And You. A contributing editor for Space and Time Magazine; he is also a regular contributor for Robot, H+, Grim Couture and Port Iris magazines; and he spent three years as a columnist and contributing editor for Jim Baen's Universe Magazine. He is an artist, essayist, game designer, transhumanist, and is on the Advisory Board of The Lifeboat Foundation. His novels include Bones Burnt BlackPlague at Redhook and Skinbrain.

Direct download: TFAY_2013_4_3.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 3:21 AM

Stephen Euin Cobb (author and futurist) is today's speaker.

Topics: News and commentary concerning: The first implanted brain-computer interface which is wireless (it's from Brown University); The Human Brain Project intends to simulate an entire human brain; A new Exoplanet-Hunting Telescope which takes adaptive optics to a whole new level; A 3-D Printer which creates microscopic objects; And the world’s smallest implant for monitoring blood chemistry can tell your smart phone when you’re about to have a heart attack. 

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the March 27, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 28 minutes] 

NOTE: In today's commentary about 3-D printers, the professor I mentioned interviewing some years ago was Dr. Adrian Bowyer (inventor of the RepRap Machine, an open-source 3-D printer any hobbyist can make). If you'd like to learn about Dr. Bowyer's pioneering work in open-source 3-D printers check out the September 17, 2008 episode. That episode is 83 minutes long because we went onto a lot of detail.

Stephen Euin Cobb is an author, futurist, magazine writer and host of the award-winning podcast The Future And You. A contributing editor for Space and Time Magazine; he is also a regular contributor for Robot, H+, Grim Couture and Port Iris magazines; and he spent three years as a columnist and contributing editor for Jim Baen's Universe Magazine. He is an artist, essayist, game designer, transhumanist, and is on the Advisory Board of The Lifeboat Foundation. His novels include Bones Burnt BlackPlague at Redhook and Skinbrain.

Direct download: TFAY_2013_3_27.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 4:27 AM

Robert G. Kennedy and Kenneth I. Roy (engineers and researchers) are today's featured guests.

Topic: Building Shell Worlds. Shell Worlds are a method of building comfortable biospheres over the entire surface of celestial bodies which are too small to retain an atmosphere by their natural gravitational attraction. Such objects include the moon, the planets Mercury and Mars, and the moons of Jupiter and other gas giant planets, perhaps even some asteroids. Sub-topics discussed include: the methods, benefits, difficulties and vast natural resources this would make available.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the March 20, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 57 minutes] This panel was recorded on July 21, 2012 in Chattanooga Tenn, at the science fiction and fantasy convention LibertyCon.

Robert G. Kennedy is an author, speaker, and engineer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory; and Kenneth I. Roy is an author, speaker, and engineer with the US Department of Energy. (Neither is speaking for their respective agency in this discussion.)

Direct download: TFAY_2013_3_20.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 5:08 AM