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

Direct download: TFAY_2011_12_28.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 10:44pm EDT

The Future And You -- December 21, 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 2.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the December 21, 2011 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 39 minutes]. This is the second third of an 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.

Direct download: TFAY_2011_12_21.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 11:13pm EDT

The Future And You -- December 14, 2011

Natasha Vita-More (life extension and transhumanism pioneer, designer, spokesperson, writer and activist) is our featured guest. 

Topics: Life Extension and Human Augmentation.

Natasha Vita-More is a Ph.D. researcher at the Centre for Media, Art and Design at the University of Plymouth. She is Chair of Humanity+, and may be best known for designing Primo Posthuman a future human prototype. She is the co-editor of the 2012 book The 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. 

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the December 14, 2011 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 45 minutes]. This is the first third of an interview recorded by Skype on December 10, 2011. 

News Item: 

This is the six year anniversary episode of The Future And You.  Six years ago (on December 15, 2005) the very first episode of The Future And You became globally available for public enjoyment. Back then it was in a magazine format with many guests which made the show very long. Too long some listeners said, which is why I changed it to the current shorter format. Sound quality back then was also less than it is today, since I was doing phone interviews through a traditional land line telephone instead of Skype or Google Talk. 

Despite their age, I am pleased to say that my decision to keep all past episodes up and available indefinitely has proven to be a good one. All the past episodes, even the very earliest ones, continue to be downloaded at a rate that I find both surprising and pleasing. I'm also pleased at the global nature of the show's popularity. While the USA makes up about 60 percent of the audience, I have listeners in over 130 nations around the world. China tops the foreign countries, followed by all the English speaking nations (in order of population), then the developed countries in Europe and Asia and the Americas, followed finally by what seem to be all the nations that have access to the Internet. 

One nice thing about doing this show is that it gets my name in front of people I could never reach otherwise. For example: The largest English-Language Technology magazine in the nation of India emailed me unexpectedly and asked me to write a feature article for their tenth anniversary issue. Digit Magazine is a slick glossy technology monthly with a circulation of 250,000.  Yeah, a quarter of a million people read this magazine. The June 2011 issue contains my article entitled "When Diamonds are no longer Precious." The editors were kind enough to include (on the same page as the article) a three inch tall color photo of me. That was nice of them.

Another example: This year I was asked to contribute one of my articles to a college text book. The text book called About Philosophy (eleventh edition) by Robert Paul Wolff has just come out and contains my article "Real Discrimination against Digital People." The article could be classified as investigative journalism since I interviewed a dozen or more people to find incidents of discrimination inside virtual worlds such as Second Life and World of Warcraft. The article was originally published in H+ Magazine and can still be read online.

I'd like to thank everyone who has helped to make this show a success: both those who listen and those who have let me interview them. The desire to hear and the desire to share ideas and opinion about the future is what keeps this show going. Thank you all, I appreciate your help.

Direct download: TFAY_2011_12_14.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 12:46am EDT

The Future And You -- December 7, 2011

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? 

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the December 7, 2011 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 37 minutes]. This is the first half of a panel recorded on June 4, 2011 in Charlotte NC at the SF&F convention ConCarolinas.

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 RoadRenee, and the TV movie Trinity Goodheart.

Terry W. Erwin II writes novels, short stories and articles. His novels include: Blood Sword and 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 a 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 has also become a regular contributor at Robot MagazineH+ Magazine, Space and Time Magazine: and has written for Digit, Grim Couture and Port Irismagazines. His novels include: Bones Burnt Black, Plague at Redhook andSkinbrain.

Special Announcement: Today, December 7th (aside from being "A date which will live in infamy," thanks to the bombing of Pearl Harbour) is my mother's 76th birthday. Happy Birthday mom!

News Item: The World Future Society has issued a call for inventions and innovations from breakthrough startups, who will compete in the second annual Futurists:BetaLaunch expo in Toronto next July. Futurists:BetaLaunch serves as a technology expo where engineers, designers, and others can present their inventions to the 1,000 futurists expected to gather for the Society’s annual conference. Also in attendance will be venture capitalists such as Moon Express founder Naveen Jain and Lightspeed Venture Partners. All inventors selected to present their inventions at F:BL will receive a complimentary registration to the WorldFuture 2012 conference ($750 value). Deadline for entry is March 15, 2012.

Direct download: TFAY_2011_12_7.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 12:26am EDT