March 25, 2006 Episode

SF authors Greg Bear, Spider Robinson and Nancy Kress are among the guests; as are experts in robotics, demographics and nanotechnology; along with the actor Michael Berryman, who may be best known as the star of Wes Craven's original version of the motion picture: The Hills Have Eyes.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the March 25, 2006 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 77 minutes]

Topics include:

[1] Technological Immortality: when nearly everyone in the world is really, really old what kind of civilization will we have? The bestselling author, Greg Bear, paints a strange picture of the future. He also speaks about his movie deals, his involvement with The Science Fiction Museum in Seattle and his books, one of which, it turns out, is in publishing limbo.

[2] Computers implanted in the human body and wired into the human brain. Nancy Kress, the award winning author, points out that we already have a little of this but that far more is on the way.

[3] Non-lethal warfare and Non-violent religions: pointed comments from the bestselling author, Spider Robinson.

[4] Another installment in our serialization of the novel Bones Burnt Black.

[5] How will nanotechnology change our wars? From battlefield nanotech that protects and augments the individual soldier, to nanotech manufacturing which may destabilize the global economy and lead to future wars: this, from Mike Treder, the Executive Director of the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology.

[6] A veteran of the televised Battle-bot competitions, Lionel Vogt (noted futurist and transhumanist) tells about some of the robots he has built.

[7] An essay by your host entitled: Why you will get two completely different answers if you ask a biologist or an evolutionist the simple question: 'Why is water clear?'

[8] The coming Latino dominance of the USA. Within sixty years the USA will be a Latino nation in the same sense that Brazil and Argentina are now. Based on current demographic trends, this does not seem a possibility but an inevitability. David Pascal, a marketing consultant, describes the statistics.

[9] Two thousand people singing happy birthday to, and then a brief celebrity interview with, the actor Michael Berryman who may be best known as the star of Wes Craven's original version of the motion picture: The Hills Have Eyes.