The Future And You -- November 16, 2011

Stephen Euin Cobb (your host) gives his opinion on a variety of future topics.

Topics: how popular science fiction movies effect decision making within our civilization; immortality through nanotechnology; movies such as: Blade Runner, Terminator, Minority Report, and Gattica; virtual realities (such as Second Life and World of Warcraft); why human augmentation may be inevitable; the widespread resistance to human augmentation which exists already; the creation of human organs using 3D printers which print with living cells; the de Vinchi surgical machine; the novel Rollback (by Robert J. Sawyer); Life Extension and Age Reversing; measurable loss of function in the various organs of the body; the likely availability of life extension technologies, and the effect they may have on the future of civilization.

This is the November 16, 2011 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 42 minutes]. This interview of Stephen Euin Cobb was recorded using Skype on October 15, 2011, and was conducted by Richard Buxton (a screenwriter and film student in London) as part of Richard's research for his thesis, which concerns the cumulative effect science fiction movies have on civilization.

Richard Buxton studied Fine Art at Central St Martins in London, and completed an MA in Production Design for Film & TV at Kingston University. Currently he is working toward a Film Making Degree at SAE Institute London with an emphasis in screenwriting. Part of that work will be his thesis which concerns the effect which science fiction films have had on society. He writes for Tracksounds (a website dedicated to film scores) and has appeared on SoundCast (a podcast of interviews and commentary about film scores).

Stephen Euin Cobb is an author, futurist, magazine writer and host of the award-winning podcast The Future And You. He is also a artist, essayist, game designer, transhumanist, and is on the Advisory Board of the Lifeboat Foundation. Three years a columnist and contributing editor for Jim Baen's Universe Magazine, he has also become a regular contributor at Robot Magazine, H+ Magazine, Space and Time Magazine: and has written for Digit, Grim Couture and Port Iris magazines. His novels include: Bones Burnt Black, Plague at Redhook and Skinbrain.

News Item: CBS News reports that Ridding body of old "zombie" cells slows aging process, study shows. Mayo Clinic scientists may have hit upon a way to slow the aging process. The key, they report in a tantalizing new study, is purging the body of senescent cells - old "zombie" cells that no longer work as they should.