The Future And You
Ideas and opinion about the future based on verifiable facts of today.
 
August 26, 2009 Episode

Dr. Ben Bova (author of more than 115 books about science and science fiction) is today's featured guest.

Topics: extreme human longevity, which Dr. Bova expects and endorses; why lasers are the ultimate weapon of defense against incoming missiles, and why the U.S. won't be defended by them until after the Obama Administration is out of office.

He also describes his participation in the Vanguard Rocket program just before and just after the Russians shocked the United States out of complacency by placing humanity's first satellite into earth orbit; his work popularizing science and science fiction while at Omni and Analog Magazines, as well as in his Grand Tour series of novels about human civilization spreading out from earth and colonizing our solar system; and some of the now-famous authors he discovered in the slush pile while they were yet unpublished, such as Orson Scott Card and Spider Robinson.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the August 26, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 40 minutes] (This interview was recorded on July 12, 2009 at LiberyCon in Chattanooga Tennessee where Dr. Bova was the convention's Literary Guest of Honor.)

Ben Bova is an award-winning author of more than 115 books of fiction and nonfiction. He has been involved in science and technology since the birth if the space age, and has worked with film makers and television producers such as Woody Allen, George Lucas, and Gene Roddenberry. He is President Emeritus of the National Space Society and a past president of the Science Fiction Writers of America. He was editor of Analog Science Fiction magazine for seven years.  After leaving Analog, he went on to edit Omni Magazine. He has been the science analyst on CBS Morning News, and has appeared frequently on Good Morning America and the Today show.

 

Direct download: TFAY_2009_8_26.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 12:01am EDT

August 19, 2009 Episode

José Cordeiro (author, researcher, professor, futurist, consultant and world traveler) is today's guest.

Topics: José Cordeiro's lectures at World Future 2009; The Singularity University (his involvement, its goals, and plans for its future expansion); his idea that 'Transhumanists are the futurists among the futurists'; the struggle schools all around the world are having trying to keep up with the ongoing information revolution and the success Finland's school system is seeing with a version of Life Long Learning. He also talks about: extreme human longevity, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence and other revolutionary technologies we will likely see.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the August 19, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 40 minutes] (This interview was recorded on July 18, 2009 at the Chicago Hilton during the World Future Society's annual convention where he was giving several presentations.)

José Luis Cordeiro is former director of the World Transhumanist Association, and of the Extropy Institute, and of the Venezuela Chapter of the Club of Rome. He is founder and president of the Venezuela Chapter of the World Future Society, co-founder of the Venezuelan Transhumanist Association, chair of the Venezuelan Node of the Millennium Project of the American Council of the United Nations University (UNU), advisor to the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology, and a member of the Academic Committee of the Center for the Dissemination of Economic Knowledge (CEDICE).

Born in Caracas, Venezuela of European parents, José Cordeiro has studied, visited and worked in over 130 countries on five continents. His Bachelors and Masters degrees are in Mechanical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He has worked extensively in Africa, Europe and the Americas, and currently lives in Asia.

 

Direct download: TFAY_2009_8_19.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 12:01am EDT

August 12, 2009 Episode

Young-sook Park 박영숙 (South Korean diplomat, author, and futurist) is today's guest.

Dr. Young-sook Park is Chair of the United Nation's Millennium Project in Korea, Chair of the Korean Chapter of the World Future Society, President of the Korean Foster Care Association, Senior Advisor for the Australian Embassy in Seoul, and a member of the World Transhumanist Association. She has been a teacher, a lecturer, a freelance journalist, a diplomat, and is the author of more than 22 books.

Topics: the massive chaos the South Korean government is expecting and preparing for when Kim Jong-il 김정일(North Korea's dictator) finally dies; how South Korea's prosperity is threatened by its ongoing population decline--which is greater than that of any other nation on earth today; why so many South Korean young people are attending college in the U.S. and Europe and after graduation are not returning to the land of their birth; as well as many other social political and technological trends involving the two Koreas, China, and the United States.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the August 12, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 42 minutes]

This interview was recorded on July 18, 2009 at the Chicago Hilton during the World Future Society's annual convention where Dr. Park was speaking.

Direct download: TFAY_2009_8_12.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 12:01am EDT

August 5, 2009 Episode

Timothy C. Mack (President of the World Future Society) is today's guest.

The World Future Society is a nonprofit, nonpartisan scientific and educational association of people interested in how social and technological developments are shaping the future. The society works as a neutral clearinghouse for ideas about the future. These ideas include forecasts, recommendations, and alternative scenarios concerning the next 5, 10, or more years. Founded in 1966, the society is chartered as a nonprofit educational and scientific organization in Washington, D.C.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the August 5, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 44 minutes]

Timothy C. Mack is an attorney (a member of the New York and the District of Columbia bars). He has served as general counsel, consultant, and lobbyist for corporations, associations, non-profit organizations, and governmental groups struggling with cultural, technological and market issues worldwide. He has held research positions at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and the US National Academy of Sciences.

He has also served on the Budget Policy Task Force at the US General Accounting Office and on the Board of the MIT Enterprise Forum, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based non-profit group offering marketing, financial and technology services to new and innovative companies. As a change consultant, he has assisted the US General Services Agency and the US Department of Defense in developing strategic planning and change management strategies for innovation enhancement, privatization of public services, superfund clean up and transportation planning.

Since 1985, Timothy C. Mack has edited Futures Research Quarterly, the oldest and most respected professional journal in the foresight area. He has published numerous books and articles on trend analysis, and is currently writing a book on the social and economic impacts of the Internet on modern society and the global economy.

 

Direct download: TFAY_2009_8_5.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 12:01am EDT