August 1, 2007 Episode

Authors Catherine Asaro, Hildy Silverman, Randal L. Schwartz and Stoney Compton are joined by editor Paula Goodlett from Jim Baen's Universe Magazine. Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the August 1, 2007 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 114 minutes] ---

Topics include:

[1] News and Listener Feedback (a) Fred Saberhagen (author of the Berserker Series) has passed away.

[2] Will future ballet dancers augment their bodies for greater strength and range of motion? And will we develop faster than light travel (FTL) in the same way we developed quanta mechanics and the relativistic equations? Author and scientist, Catherine Asaro covers both questions with authority because her career has included both. Concurrent with earning her doctorate in chemical physics from Harvard, she started and ran the Harvard University Ballet dance company, which still performs.

[3] Stoney Compton (author of the alternate history novel Russian Amerika) provides summaries and short readings from Jim Baen's Universe, the online magazine of science fiction and fantasy.

[4] How soon will e-books be as cheap as candy bars? As a child, Paula Goodlett, more than once, lived in towns without a library; where there was little available for her to read. Today she's the Managing Editor of Jim Baen's Universe Magazine and of The Grantville Gazette, both of which were created by Eric Flint and the late Jim Baen to experimentally test the waters of electronic publishing. Paula describes how these two experiments developed and what has been learned from them so far. She also provides hints of what changes are yet to be tried.

[5] Another installment in our serialization of the novel Bones Burnt Black; this time the second half of chapter 16.

[6] Infertility in America is increasing. This trend has lasted for decades, has been verified through statistics, and shows no sign of slowing. But while infertility is growing a new openness in talking about the subject is allowing its stigma to fade. Achieving Families Magazine is the "only magazine dedicated to providing real-life informative stories and articles to guide you through the challenges of infertility.? Hildy Silverman is more than just one of its editors; she's a living example of how science and technology are bringing the joy of childbearing to those who would otherwise be left out. Her daughter was conceived through technological intervention. Hildy describes new methods of conception, and the thorny legal problems they've created.

[7] With its twitchy and crash-prone reputation, do you really want Microsoft Windows running the anesthesia and life support software during your next surgical procedure? And in the future, when nanorobots are ready to be injected into your bloodstream to protect you from heart attack, stroke and cancer, should you trust their AI software not to crash. Or more importantly, should you trust them not to get a bug that identifies, as a cancerous tumor which must be sliced up and removed, your heart or eyes or brain? Randal L. Schwartz is a programmer familiar with the weakness and frequent glitches of software.