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

David Orban (futurist, speaker and business executive) is today's featured guest.

The Internet is big and still growing. How it grows and where it grows changes with time. During the next few years one of its massive growth spurts will be into devices that are not physically connected to the net. This transition has already begun. It is moving into the billions of cell phones. But next will come other simpler objects, like shoes and clothes and toys and toasters.

Spimes, some people call them. What are spimes? What are the benefits and dangers of this new Internet expansion? What will be the uses and misuses? How will spimes impact people's lives? How will portions of the Internet migrate to this Spimey Network. David Orban covers all these topics as well as the backlash Walmart and Darman each received over their use of RFID chips in their products.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the October 29, 2008 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 49 minutes]

David Orban is the founder of WideTag, Inc. which is working to place CO2 sensors into cell phones so that the CO2 concentrations within a nation or continent can be mapped with unheard of precision.  He is also Founder and Director of Singularity Institute Europe; an Advisory Board Member of the Lifeboat Foundation; Founder and CEO of Questar; Founder of Vulcano; and a Founding Member of Lunarez.

Direct download: TFAY_2008_10_29.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 12:01am EDT

Chris Phoenix (nanotechnology scientist, author and researcher) is today's featured guest. (This is the second half of the interview we started last week.)

Chris Phoenix is the co-founder and Director of Research for CRN (the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology). He is also a Scientific Advisor for The Nanotechnology Group, Inc., on the Scientific Advisory Board for Nanorex, Inc. and a Senior Associate at the  Foresight Nanotech Institute.

Topics discussed include: his ideas about the Singularity; why molecular manufacturing may prove to be impossible to regulate; his theory concerning the Cambrian Explosion; his programming work with Doctor Aubrey de Grey concerning human life extension; his several talks at the BIL conference (which is held the same week as the more famous TED conference); and a cure for dyslexia.

He also suggests the possibility that an artificial intelligence of superhuman intellect might use our increasingly Byzantine system of laws to manipulate civilization since it will understand them and we won't; and the possibility that by coming as a series of many small changes the big changes of the next few decades may quietly sneak up on most people without their awareness.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the October 22, 2008 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 55 minutes]

Chris Phoenix has worked in the field of advanced nanotechnology for over 15 years. He has a Bachelor of Science in Symbolic Systems and a Master's in Computer Science, both from Stanford University.

He has written many articles, essays and research papers about various areas of nanotechnology including medical applications and molecular manufacturing, such as his peer-reviewed paper, Design of a Primitive Nanofactory, as well as his comprehensive outline of Thirty Essential Nanotechnology Studies

Direct download: TFAY_2008_10_22.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 12:01am EDT

Chris Phoenix (nanotechnology scientist, author and researcher) is today's featured guest.

Chris Phoenix is the co-founder and Director of Research for CRN (the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology). He is also a Scientific Advisor for The Nanotechnology Group, Inc., on the Scientific Advisory Board for Nanorex, Inc. and a Senior Associate at the  Foresight Nanotech Institute.

Topics discussed include: an anecdote about the nanotechnology class he took from Eric Drexler; the state of nanotechnology--and especially molecular assemblers; his four different speaking topics at this year's BIL conference; and the work being done by Zyvex.

He also explains the ideas he presented when he spoke at Doctor Aubrey de Grey's Third SENS Conference on the topic Getting Ahead of Aging; as well as some of the ways nanotech might help in life extension, the potential benefits of nanotech as a replacement for human blood, how soon he expects human longevity to become indefinite, and what methods he thinks are the most promising.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the October 15, 2008 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 52 minutes]

Chris Phoenix has worked in the field of advanced nanotechnology for over 15 years. He has a Bachelor of Science in Symbolic Systems and a Master's in Computer Science, both from Stanford University.

He has written many articles, essays and research papers about various areas of nanotechnology including medical applications and molecular manufacturing, such as his peer-reviewed paper, Design of a Primitive Nanofactory, as well as his comprehensive outline of Thirty Essential Nanotechnology Studies

Direct download: TFAY_2008_10_15.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 12:01am EDT

Julie Grimaldi, president of Police Futurists International, is today's featured guest.

The mission of Police Futurists International is to foster excellence in policing by promoting and applying the discipline of Futures Research.

Topics discussed include: ways CSI and other TV shows deviate from the reality of police work; inflammatory video clips of police misconduct posted onto youtube; flash cameras at intersections which produce automated traffic ticket; how high gas prices affect police departments; Tasers and other less-than-lethal weapons; how dashboard video cameras mounted in police cars can be used as evidence; the Internet and cyber-crime; international crime; and other trends which will affect the future of law enforcement.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the October 8, 2008 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 53 minutes]

In addition to being president of Police Futurists International, Julie Grimaldi is a member of the International Association of Law Enforcement Planners (IALEP).

Julie Grimaldi has worked as a researcher, project manager, analyst and advisor to the Ontario Provincial Police senior and executive command staff on strategic issues and initiatives relevant to policing since 1990. Prior her work for the OPP she conducted research as a consultant to the Ontario Board of Parole. She holds an honours bachelor’s degree from York University (double major Law & Society/Philosophy), and a master’s degree in criminology from the University of Toronto.

Direct download: TFAY_2008_10_8.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 12:01am EDT

Rudi Hoffman, the world's leading cryonics insurance provider, is today's featured guest.

You can too take it with you!  How combining cryonics and insurance can let you leave your million dollar insurance death benefit to yourself. It may allow you to wake up a century or two in the future, not just healthy but also wealthy. Cryonics is not just for today's rich. Ordinary people with moderate incomes can afford cryonic suspension by funding it with insurance.

Rudi also describes one of the principal enemies of the fledgling cryonics services: the powerful funeral industry. This is a David and Goliath story of a nationwide big-money operation trying to stamp out two tiny business facilities. One industry financed by millions of customers per year; the other by dozens. Hardly a fair fight.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the October 1, 2008 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 85 minutes]

Writing cryonic insurance since 1994, and with more than 80% of the world's market share, Rudi Hoffman is the world's leading cryonic insurance provider. He has been an insurance agent and professional financial planner since 1980. He is on the Board of Advisers for the Lifeboat Foundation, and is a Senior Associate with the Foresight Institute.

Direct download: TFAY_2008_10_1.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 12:01am EDT