John Ringo (best selling author), Larry Correa (best selling author), Catherine Asaro (theoretical physicist, author and SIGMA consultant), Les Johnson (author and NASA administrator), Tedd Roberts (brain scientist), Michael Z. Williamson (author), Julie Cochran (author), Patrick Vanner (author) and Lillian Price (microbiologist and medical student) are today's speakers.

Topic: "Ten Ways Civilization Might Die."

Ways discussed include: another Carrington Event, an eruption of the Yellowstone caldera, an asteroidal impact, The Singularity, a computer virus with unexpected catastrophic secondary and tertiary effects, a human engineered virus or bacteria, cyber attacks against infrastructure, EMPs (electromagnetic pulses), the vulnerabilities of digital patient medical records, the rise of artificial intelligence, universal apathy in a wired world, The Law of Unintended Consequences, and the obvious--Global Nuclear War.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the July 31, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 60 minutes] This is a panel discussion recorded before a live audience at the SF&F convention LibertyCon in Chattanooga TN on June 29, 2013.

Seventeen diverse interviews from LibertyCon 2013.

Topics: Trends and insight into what is happening behind the scenes in a wide variety of professions, interests, enthusiasms and fields. This collection is partly intended give you a sense of the trends which are creating the future, but also to provide you with a bit of the flavor of the science fiction and fantasy convention LibertyCon.

Our guests today in the order in which they appear:

Catherine Asaro (author, scientist, dancer, singer and LibertyCon's Science Guest of Honor).

Kevin J Anderson (best selling author and LibertyCon's Literary Guest of Honor) accompanied by his wife Rebecca Moesta.

Larry Correia (best selling author and LibertyCon's Master of Ceremonies).

John Ringo (bestselling author).

Toni Weisskopf (head of Baen Books).

Michael Z. Williamson (author of military SF).

Patrick Vanner (author).

Stuart Jaffe (author & podcaster).

Elayna Little Cook (volunteer working in the LibertyCon art room).

Melissa Gay (professional artist).

Brandy Spraker (LibertyCon's new chairperson).

Kennith I. Roy (engineer and space engineering researcher).

Gail Sanders (costume maker and vendor).

Warren Buff & Jeff Orth (SF&F convention organizers).

Cathe Smith (insect geneticist and LibertyCon volunteer).

Geoffrey Mandragora (author of The Thunderbolt Affair).

Lillian Price (author of Thin Places).

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the July 24, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 133 minutes].

Catherine Asaro (theoretical physicist, author and SIGMA consultant), Les Johnson (author and NASA administrator), Sarah Hoyt (author), Tedd Roberts (brain scientist), Ben Davis (nuclear physicist), Jeff Barnes (FAA safety engineer and SF writer), Lillian Price (microbiologist and medical student), Chuck Gannon (author and SIGMA consultant) and Jim Beall (nuclear engineer) are today's speakers.

Topic: "Where's My Flying Car?"  And other broken promises about the future from science fiction.

Subtopics: tricorders; jet packs; nuclear fusion; teleportation; faster than light travel; anti-matter; space tourism; foods that won't spoil; supersonic commercial airliners; and robot servants that do the laundry, wash the dishes and cook meals. Also all those cool things from the movie "Back to the Future" such as Doc Brown's time machine and Mister Fusion; Marty Mcfly's hover board, self-tying shoes and self-drying clothes; and the national weather service's right-on-time weather control.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the July 17, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 59 minutes] This is a panel discussion recorded before a live audience at the SF&F convention LibertyCon in Chattanooga TN on June 29, 2013.

James Maxey (author), Jim Craig (planetarium director), Gray Rinehart (writer and editor), Ben Davis (nuclear physicist) and myself are today's speakers.

Topic: "The Year in Science" (Part 2).

Subtopics: grid parity; smart grids (verses the dumb grids we have now); photovoltaics and the rise of solar cells; solar panels on residential roofs; George Orwell; so called joule theives (such as the one that charges your cell phone with the stray radio waves around you, or charges it using the special T-shirt you are wearing which produces electricity from your body). Also: the promises and hopes of augmented reality verses the much talked about privacy fears; the BMW prototype of augmented reality (which is far better than Google Glass); and how augmented reality may very well produce new waves of unemployment.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the July 10, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 32 minutes] This is the second half of a panel discussion recorded before a live audience at the SF&F convention ConCarolinas in Charlotte NC on June 1, 2013.

James Maxey (author), Jim Craig (planetarium director), Ben Davis (nuclear physicist) and myself are today's speakers.

Topic: "The Year in Science" (Part 1).

Subtopics: The good and bad of 3D printers. Such as the 3D printing of food for human consumption, of a mouse kidney for transplant, of replacement parts for US army weapons, of artificial limbs for amputees, and of impossible to find parts for antique cars. But also the unemployment which will likely be a byproduct of 3D printers.  Also discussed: the discovery of a transitional ancestor of turtles with only half-developed shells; and the universe taken as whole might not be elegant after all since the Higgs boson has turned out to be too light to bring balance to the universe. Dr. Adrian Bowyer's self-replicating rep-rap machine is also described. 

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the July 3, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 31 minutes] This is the first half of a panel discussion recorded before a live audience at the SF&F convention ConCarolinas in Charlotte NC on June 1, 2013.