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


Stephen Euin Cobb is today's featured guest. (This is an experimental episode in which the questions normally posed to others, I direct at myself.)

Topics: My opinion that the earth needs a thermostat. That the days in which the temperature of the earth can be left to nature need to come to a close. And that if the fear of global warming gets people motivated enough to pay for an engineering project large enough to regulate the earths temperature on a day-to-day basis then that fear will have served humanity well.

Also described are: scenarios which might produce the fall of civilization; how the singularity might go well or go badly; and why I believe I have a 50 percent chance of living for hundreds of years, although not in my current physical form or with my current personality.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the April 29, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 36 minutes]

Stephen Euin Cobb is an author, futurist and the host of the award-winning podcast The Future and You. He is also a columnist and contributing editor for Jim Baen's Universe Magazine, the online magazine from Baen Books. His articles have appeared in Space and Time Magazine, H+ Magazine and >[gRiM]<>[cOuTuRe]< magazine. Within Second Life (as Boc Cryotank) he is a photographer and photojournalist. He has invented several games, the most popular being Death Stacks for which there is an annual tournament held each summer in Charlotte NC. He is also an artist, essayist, transhumanist, and is on the Advisory Board of The Lifeboat Foundation.
Direct download: TFAY_2009_4_29.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 12:01am EDT

John Ringo (New York Times best selling novelist with over two million books in print) is today's featured guest.

Topics: Smart missiles smaller than insects; military tanks becoming robots; personal headup displays for soldiers; experiments with brain implants for soldiers; war going open-source; Chinese experiments with warfare in low earth orbit; the never-ending utility of bayonets; the bizarre fact that there is no such thing as a Chinese journalist; and the possibility that we will develop faster than light travel. He also describes his worry that a future teenager huddled in his mother's basement may write a biological virus which will wipe out all of humanity. 

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the April 22, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 35 minutes]

Translated into seven languages, John Ringo's novels range from science fiction to a mix of military and political thrillers. Always outspoken, never dull and sometimes controversial, he has been an op-ed writer for the New York Post and a guest commentator on TV for Fox News. An avid essayist, his website contains many essays he has written on a wide variety of topics. By the time he graduated high school, John Ringo had lived in, or visited, 23 countries and attended 14 schools. A former paratrooper in the army airborne, he has enjoyed cave diving, rock climbing, repelling, hunting, and spear fishing.

News: Your host has been granted official press credentials for World Future 2009 in Chicago (July 17 to 19, 2009). This is the annual convention of the World Futurist Society (of which I'm a member). Hundreds of professional futurists are expected to attend and dozens are scheduled to speak. Press credentials will allow me to gather live interviews and collect business cards for phone interviews which can be done later.

 

Direct download: TFAY_2009_4_22.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 12:01am EDT

John Ringo (New York Times best selling novelist with over two million books in print) is today's featured guest.

Topics: Specific examples of the tens of thousands of robots in use in war right now and how they are transforming the methods and nature of fighting for the individual soldiers on the ground; how this transformation will change the wars of the future; and the longstanding psychology in the US military that is driving this robotic transformation. Also, anecdotes about the years he went to grade school in Iran; the summer camp he went to in Switzerland; and some of his other travels around the world as a child and teenager.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the April 15, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 36 minutes]

Translated into seven languages, John Ringo's novels range from science fiction to a mix of military and political thrillers. Always outspoken and sometimes controversial, he has been an op-ed writer for the New York Post and a guest commentator on TV for Fox News. An avid essayist, his website contains many essays he has written on a wide variety of topics. By the time he graduated high school, John Ringo had lived in, or visited, 23 countries and attended 14 schools. A former paratrooper in the army airborne, he has enjoyed cave diving, rock climbing, repelling, hunting and spear fishing.

 

Direct download: TFAY_2009_4_15.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 12:01am EDT

John Ringo (New York Times best selling novelist with over two million books in print) is today's featured guest.

Topics: Anecdotes about his appearances on TV for Fox News in the years following The 9/11 Attacks; how it is that he is the only person to use the term Euro-Wiener on national TV; the terrible affect the economic crisis has had on the publishing industry; rumors that three of his novels are in the works to become major motion pictures, and one is in talks to become a first-person-shooter style game; and the changes he would make to the US Income Tax code.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the April 8, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 36 minutes]

Translated into seven languages, John Ringo's novels range from science fiction to a mix of military and political thrillers. Always outspoken and sometimes controversial, he has been an op-ed writer for the New York Post and a guest commentator on TV for Fox News. An avid essayist, his website contains many essays he has written on a wide variety of topics. By the time he graduated high school, John Ringo had lived in, or visited, 23 countries and attended 14 schools. A former paratrooper in the army airborne, he has enjoyed cave diving, rock climbing, repelling, hunting, and spear fishing.

News: The Kepler Mission to find earth-like planets orbiting other stars, was launched on March 6, 2009 and will begin its search a few weeks from now in early May.  Estimates of the number of earth-like planets it will discover during it's 3-1/2 year mission vary from zero to over 400. What's less talked about is the number of NOT earth-like planets it will discover. My own personal guess is that it will discover NOT earth-like planets at a rate of better than one per hour--maybe a lot better. If you would, email your estimates to me (steve [ at ] thefutureandyou . com)

 

Direct download: TFAY_2009_4_8.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 12:01am EDT

Shaun Farrell (writer, actor, and award-winning podcaster) is today's featured guest.

Topics: online publishing verses paper publishing; the rise in small presses; the number of new readers is increasing; fiction sales are increasing; trends in podcasting and narrow-casting; the economy and personal debt; Connor his new baby; and the closing of Realms of Fantasy Magazine.

BTW: A few days after this interview was recorded, the situation at Realms of Fantasy Magazine turned around. Hearing the magazine was going to close, Tir Na Nog Press made an offer to buy it. The offer was accepted, so the magazine will be reopened this summer.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the April 1, 2009 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 42 minutes]

Shaun Farrell has has interviewed more than 100 speculative fiction authors and actors; most of these interviews can be heard on his podcast: Adventures in Scifi Publishing, which (like this show) has won a Parsec Award.

Based in Southern California, Shaun owns Singularity Audio, which provides podcast consultation, creates book promos, edits audio and develops new podcasts. He is also a contributing writer for Gateworld podcast; producer and content manager for The New England Fights! podcast; and an actor in the feature film Death Dress, where he plays a serial killer. Magazines he has written for include Strange Horizons, Clarkesworld and Raygun Revival.


Direct download: TFAY_2009_4_1.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 12:01am EDT