FastForward Radio -- The Essentials Revisited
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In honor of the prognosticating rodent, Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon give their own thoughts on when Spring will arrive, along with other upcoming positive developments.
Continue reading "FastForward Radio -- Groundhog Day 2010" »
Continue reading "FastForward Radio -- How Real Is the Real World?" »
| As a frequent guest and occasional co-host -- not to mention our official Hollywood correspondent -- PJ Manney brings a unique perspective to FastForward Radio. She is a writer and futurist, and a leading voice in the Humanity+ movement. She has written extensively on H+ topics, having previously been involved in motion picture development (Hook, It Could Happen to You, Universal Soldier) and writing for television (Hercules: the Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess). | ![]() |
| J. Storrs Hall is a scientist, visionary, entrepreneur, and the president of the Foresight Institute. |
| Robin Hanson is an associate professor of economics at George Mason University, a research associate at the Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University, and chief scientist at Consensus Point. Robin is a pioneer in the field of prediction markets, also known as information markets or idea futures. He was a principal architect of the first internal corporate markets, as well as the Foresight Exchange beginning in 1994, and of DARPA's Policy Analysis Market, from 2001 to 2003. Robin has diverse research interests everything from health incentive contracts, to Bayesian classification, agreeing to disagree, self-deception in disagreement, to growth given machine intelligence, and interstellar colonization. He blogs at Overcoming Bias. |
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| Brian Wang is a futurist who blogs about all things future-related at NextBigFuture. He is the Director of Research for the Lifeboat Foundation and a member of the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology Task Force. | ![]() |
| Michael Anissimov is a
science/technology writer and consultant. He is the creative force
behind one of the leading futurist blogs, Accelerating
Future. He is a co-founder of the Immortality
Institute and the Media Director for the Singularity Institute for Artificial
Intelligence. |
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| Ralph Merkle received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1979 where he co-invented public key cryptography. He joined Xerox PARC in 1988, where he pursued research in security and computational nanotechnology until 1999. He was a Nanotechnology Theorist at Zyvex until 2003, when he joined the Georgia Institute of Technology as a Professor of Computing until 2006. He is a Director of Alcor, on the faculty at Singularity University, a co-founder of the Nanofactory Collaboration and a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing. He was co-recipient of the 1998 Feynman Prize for Nanotechnology for theory, the ACM's Kanellakis Award for Theory and Practice, the IEEE Kobayashi Award and the 2000 RSA Award in Mathematics. Dr. Merkle has fourteen patents, has published extensively and has given hundreds of talks. His home page is at www.merkle.com. |
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Continue reading "FastForward Radio -- Countdown to Foresight 2010 (Part 1)" »
Continue reading "FastForward Radio -- Nanotechnology in Three (or More) Easy Steps! Part 2" »
Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon begin a two-part series on nanotechnology. In Part 1, they explore the origin of the concept of nanotechnology and work through the basic concepts as outlined in K. Eric Drexler's Engines of Creation.
The entire book Engines of Creation is available online for free here:
Nanotechnology promises to change our world in ways that are difficult to predict, or even imagine.
Are you ready for...
...Star Trek style replicators that would allow you to make anything, ANYTHING, you wanted?
...artificial robotic blood cells that will turn an Average Joe into a world-class athlete, or allow you to hold your breath under water for an hour at a time?
...programmable "smart" matter than can take whatever form you want? It's a suitcase. No, a bicycle! No, a TV! No, a puppy!
Nanotechnology promises all of this plus a lot more.
In order to take advantage of that promise, we need to understand and prepare
for this coming revolution in how we interact with the material world.
Continue reading "FastForward Radio -- Nanotechnology in Three (or More) Easy Steps!" »
Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon continue their discussion about the future of human and machine evolution:
1. What are the challenges faced in trying to develop a human-level artificial intelligence?
2. When do humans stop being human?
3. What will be the relationship between humanity and post-human artificial intelligence?

I jumped the gun on announcing FastForward Radio's temporary return to Sunday evenings. Our next show will be on Tuesday, November 24 at the regular time. Then the following two weeks the show will air on Sunday. So once again the upcoming shows are:
Hope you can join us!
Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon discuss the future of human and machine evolution:
1. What are the challenges faced in trying to develop a human-level artificial intelligence?
2. When do humans stop being human?
3. What will be the relationship between humanity and post-human artificial intelligence?




Continue reading "FastForward Radio -- More About the Future of Energy" »

| Brian Wang is a futurist who blogs about all things future-related at NextBigFuture. He is the Director of Research for the Lifeboat Foundation and a member of the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology Task Force. | ![]() |
On a special Wednesday edition of FastForward Radio, futurists Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon explore various issues related to the future, including the future of human evolution. Recently at the Speculist we've been talking about whether humanity is evolving away from negative traits such as racism, but we're also forced to confront the issue of whether we're evolving towards negative traits such as obsessive media-driven attention-seeking.
Recent studies show that human beings are becoming more fertile. Is there a chance that increased fecundity will lead to a dumbing down of humanity as depicted in the movie Idiocracy? Taking a longer view, are we living in a mysterious dream time that comes before the true beginning of human history, and making (perhaps unfortunate) choices that will impact trillions of lives for many billions of years to come?
Tune in and discuss.

Continue reading "FastForward Radio -- Living in the Dream Time" »
Stephen Gordon welcomes guest-host PJ Manney and guest George Dvorsky back to fastForward Radio to talk about where technology is leading us and to continue the discussion about whether we are alone in the universe.
| Canadian futurist, consultant and award winning blogger, George Dvorsky has written and spoken extensively about the impacts of cutting-edge science and technology -- particularly as they pertain to the improvement of human performance and experience. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies and Humanity+. | ![]() |
| As a frequent guest and occasional co-host -- not to mention our official Hollywood correspondent -- PJ Manney brings a unique perspective to FastForward Radio. She is a writer and futurist, and a leading voice in the Humanity+ movement. She has written extensively on H+ topics, having previously been involved in motion picture development (Hook, It Could Happen to You, Universal Soldier) and writing for television (Hercules: the Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess). | ![]() |
Continue reading "FastForward Radio with George Dvorsky and PJ Manney" »

Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon welcome futurist George Dvorsky back to FastForward Radio to discuss the future of human enhancement.
This is the first of a two-part interview. George will be back with us onOctober 6 as we explore the mystery of
whether there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.

| Canadian futurist, consultant and award winning blogger, George Dvorsky has written and spoken extensively about the impacts of cutting-edge science and technology -- particularly as they pertain to the improvement of human performance and experience. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies and Humanity+ | ![]() |
Futurists Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon look ahead to the future of energy, the economy, and how we as a species solve problems and relentlessly improve our world.
Topics
Who was the best Star Trek director?
If politics is warfare by other means, is technological and other forms of innovation politics by other means?
Breakthroughs on the energy front: Bussard fusion and printable solar panels.
Speaking of making things printable, on the road to printable sandwiches, when do we get to printable chili?
Aptera: car or motorcycle?
About our guest:
| John Smart is a futures scholar and systems theorist who studies science and technological culture with an emphasis on accelerating change, evolutionary development, computational autonomy (human-independent machine learning) and the technological singularity. He is the founder and president of the Acceleration Studies Foundation. | ![]() |
| Ray Kurzweil has been described as "the restless genius" by the Wall Street Journal, and "the ultimate thinking machine" by Forbes magazine. Inc. magazine ranked him #8 among entrepreneurs in the United States, calling him the "rightful heir to Thomas Edison." He is a man who wears many hats -- businessman, inventor, artist, visionary, and bestselling author. With his book The Singularity Is Near he has probably done more than anyone else to alert the the public as to the amazing period of transformation in which we now live. | ![]() |
The World Transformed, Part 8
What would life be like in a world without poverty? How about a world in
which everyone is, essentially, rich? The answer may be just around the corner.

Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon welcome a panel of futurists to discuss
how the end of scarcity will revolutionize society, the economy, and life
as we know it.
| Paul Fernhout writes essays about future-oriented themes (including Post-Scarcity Princeton and The Lion and the Butterfly), does free and open source software development, and shares homeschooling duties with his wife, Cynthia Kurtz. | ![]() |
| Joseph Jackson is a philosopher
and social entrepreneur. A graduate of Harvard College AB (Government
2004) and the London School of Economics Msc (Philosophy of Science 2005),
he leads the Network for Open Scientific Innovation, a 501(c)3 organization
seeking to promote the emergence of Open Source models in the life sciences.
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| Sally Morem writes essays on science,
science fiction, political philosophy, and the future of technology, including
The
Problems with Linear Projections of the Future, Yes,
the World is Round, Nanotechnology
Explained, and The
Magic Universe of George Lucas. |
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| Dr. Bruce Katz is a leading thinker and researcher in the field of artificial intelligence. He is the Chief AI Scientist at ColdLight Solutions and the author of Neuroengineering the Future: Virtual Minds and the Creation of Immortality. | |
| Michael Anissimov is a
science/technology writer and consultant. He is the creative force
behind one of the leading futurist blogs, Accelerating
Future. He is a co-founder of the Immortality
Institute, the Media Director for the Singularity Institute for Artificial
Intelligence, and the Fundraising Director for North America for
the Lifeboat Foundation. |
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| Greg Campbell is an Intel alumnus and veteran of several Internet startups. He is an information technology consultant, virtual worlds researcher, and contributing editor to h+ Magazine, where he writes under the name Surfdaddy Orca. Recent articles related to the show's topic include Brain on a Chip and Games that Design Themselves. |
The World Transformed, Part 6
Not all transformations are necessarily good. What risks do we face in a coming
age of massive change?
Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon welcome journalist and futurist Sonia Arrison, and the Lifeboat Foundation's
Philippe Van Nedervelde to talk about the risks that accompany massive technological
change. We face risks to our privacy, our safety, and our very survival. How
do we take advantages of the wonderful opportunities new technologies present
in the face of such risks?
| Sonia Arrison is an author and policy analyst who has studied the impact of new technologies on society for more than a decade. She is a Senior Fellow at the California-based Pacific Research Institute, and she is on the Board of Directors of Humanity +. | ![]() |
| Philippe Van Nedervelde is the Executive Director of the Foresight Institute in Europe. He is also the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of E-spaces, and he is the Director of the Informational Transparency Division of the Lifeboat Foundation, where he also serves on the board of directors. | ![]() |
Are
the robots going to take over?
The Matrix
and Terminator movies present a nightmare world in which
artificially intelligent machines pit themselves against humanity with
devastating consequences. Could something like that really
happen? Do we face a future in which machines that are smarter
and potentially much more powerful than human beings view us in a
hostile manner? Or will these machine be indifferent to us?
Or will
they be our friends?
| Eliezer Yudkowsky is the world's foremost researcher on Friendly AI and recursive self-improvement. He is a research fellow with the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence. |
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| James Hughes is the Executive Director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, and he is the producer and host of the weekly syndicated public affairs talk show Changesurfer Radio |
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| Ben Goertzel is the chief science officer and acting CEO of Novamente. He is the Director of Research for the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence. |
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The World Transformed, Part 4
It's humanity...enhanced.
Human evolution is well on its way to becoming a do-it-yourself
project. Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon welcome a panel of
futurists who discuss how and why people are going to be making major
enhancements to themselves, and soon.
We're all familiar with enhancements intended to make us stronger or to
look younger or more beautiful, but those hardly scratch the
surface. Are you ready for technologies that can make us truly
younger, stronger, smarter?

| PJ Manney is a writer and futurist and a leading voice in the H+ movement. She has written extensively on H+ topics, having previously been involved in motion picture development and writing for television |
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| Brian Wang is a futurist who blogs about all things future-related at NextBigFuture. He is the Director of Research for the Lifeboat Foundation and a member of the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology Task Force. |
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| RU Sirius is the man who
shows us where cyberculture and
counterculture meet. He is a writer, talk show host, musician, and the
editor of H+ magazine. |
Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon welcome a panel of nanotechnology experts -- J. Storrs Hall, Mike Treder, and Christine Peterson -- to discuss how this coming technology promises to change our world in ways that are difficult to predict, or even imagine.
Are you ready for...
...Star Trek style replicators that would allow you to make anything, ANYTHING, you wanted?
...artificial robotic blood cells that will turn an Average Joe into a world-class athlete, or allow you to hold your breath under water for an hour at a time?
...programmable "smart" matter than can take whatever form you want? It's a suitcase. No, a bicycle! No, a TV! No, a puppy!
Nanotechnology promises all of this plus a lot more. Josh Hall reminds us of the famous quote from Arthur C. Clarke:
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
...and predicts that a truly "magical" world is closer than we realize. Tune in to find out whether nanotechnology has enough magic to make us into sexy immortal billionaires with superpowers. (Hint: it does.)
In addition to settling that vital question, the panel talks about both the benefits and risks of nanotechnology as it relates to medicine, the environment, energy, defense, and the economy. And Christine Peterson gives us a sneak preview of the Open Source Sensing Initiative, which provides all of us the opportunity to be a part of how our nanotechnology-driven future is shaped.
About our guests:
| J. Storrs Hall is a scientist, visionary, entrepreneur, and the president of the Foresight Institute. | |
| Mike Treder is the Executive Director of Center for Responsible Nanotechnology, and one of the most popular and well-received professional speakers on nanotechnology. | |
| Christine Peterson writes, lectures, and briefs the media on coming powerful technologies, especially nanotechnology. She is the co- founder and Vice President of the Foresight Institute. | ![]() |
The World Transformed, Part 2
"How long have I got, Doc?"
"Oh, about 1000 years..."
Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon welcome visionary aging researchers and best-selling authors Aubrey de Grey (Ending Aging) and Terry Grossman (The Baby-Boomer's Guide to Living Forever, Transcend: Nine Steps to Living Well Forever) to explain how indefinite healthy extension of human lifespan is not only possible, but may well soon be within our grasp.
Towards the end of part 1 of the show, we ask Dr. Grossman if there are three things that people can do right now to start "living forever," what would they be? He says the top three would be:
1. Stop eating sugar.
2. Get exercise.
3. Reduce stress in your life.
We didn't ask, but I'm guessing this list assumes that you don't smoke or drink heavily. With the exception of the first item, which is probably a little more extreme than the advice doctors would typically give -- generally they'll tell you to "cut down" on sugar, not go cold turkey -- these sound like some good general tips for how to live a healthier life.
Of course, that should come as no big surprise. If you want to live longer, getting healthy is a great way to start.
Archived recording available here:
About our guests:
| Aubrey de Grey Ph.D. is a
biogerontologist, creator of the Methuselah Mouse prize, and Chief
Science Officer of the SENS Foundation. |
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| Terry Grossman, MD is a leading expert on anti-aging and life extension therapies, and the founder and medical director of Frontier Medical Institute in Denver, Colorado. | ![]() |
The World Transformed, Part 1
The World Transformed begins its landmark 10-week run on FastForward Radio with a discussion about the role that education, both formal and otherwise, has to play in preparing us for the astounding transformations to come.
Is your thinking future-ready?
Find out as futurists Reichart Von Wolfsheild, Natasha Vita-More and Alvis Brigis join hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon for a lively and eye-opening discussion about the vital first step we have to take in preparing for life in a world transformed: changing the way we think.
Archived recording available here:
About our guests:
Reichart Von Wolfsheild is the Chief Software Architect, CTO, Co-Founder of Qtask, which provides a comprehensive and secure web-based project management and collaboration environment for business. Reichart has more than 25 years of software and hardware design, and he specializes in complex platform software architecture, including cross-platform development, lossless compression technology, encryption, gambling systems, and multi-point real-time communication systems. He played a key role in the conception and creation of a wide array of entertainment titles including Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Die Hard, and Hot Wheels Crash. Reichart designed and created the award winning Walt Disney Animation Studio, and the multi-million dollar original video game franchise Return Fire. He has also developed ground breaking training software used by law enforcement, the Olympics, the military, and the aerospace industry, including the Boeing RARO system, and co-developed the world's first consumer CD-ROM set-top box (CDTV).
Alvis Brigis is a media producer, futurist and entrepreneur with a specialty in evolving communications. His diverse background includes roles on projects such as the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Search (NBC), MotorMouth (VH1), Virtual Laguna Beach, TheseTunes.com and The Metaverse Roadmap. He is Co-Founder of MemeBox.com, where he writes about intelligence amplification spurred by accelerating technology, communication and information domains.Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon continued the countdown to the breakthrough 10-part series, "The World Transformed." (details below)

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Continue reading "FastForward Radio -- Countdown to The World Transformed" »
This week Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon discuss various topics related to the future, including
The Privatization of Space Development
Countdown to our special summer series: The World Transformed

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Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon examined coming social and technological changes that promise to empower individuals. The past century has seen human beings empowered in ways that were previously unimaginable, but that might be just the beginning. Are we on the verge of the true Age of Empowerment?

This discussion was inspired by a throwdown from blogger HappyCrow, who writes:
I'm writing this in the explicit hope that I can get the folks over at Speculist to pick this up and run with it, but my theory is the REAL change brought on by all this singularity stuff will happen when there's enough bandwidth and storage for the average person to understand how everything around him or her works.
An intriguing notion. Is understanding of technology the key to personal empowerment? And what other factors might come into play? Tune in and find out.
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Continue reading "FastForward Radio -- The Empowered Individual" »
In light of the success of the new Star Trek movie, Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon discuss the role that Star Trek has played in shaping our ideas about the future. Will humanity's future involve warp drive, a galactic federation, alien enemies & friends, replicators, tricorders, and other awesome Trek-geeky goodness? Tune in and find out. (Some background reading here.)

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Shatner didn't make it.
Sunday night Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon talked about the future of the Internet, the future of human aging, and the future of FastForward Radio.

Topics included:
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Continue reading "FastForward Radio: Wolfram Alpha, Hard Choices, and Summer Preview" »
Sunday night Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon welcomed J. Storrs Hall back to FastForward Radio.
Recently named president of the Foresight Institute, Dr. Hall is a scientist, entrepreneur, and prolific writer on nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, machine ethics, and other social impacts of technology.
Topics included:
Stephen's quick thumbs-up for Star Trek.
Whats new with the Foresight Institute
Early Retirement for Humanity. How does what Josh describes compare to other models?
Michael A.'s original post on the subject
Nick Bostrom explains the idea of a Singleton
Josh's response
Michael's response
Utility Fog. Will it get us to where we want to be?
Phil Bowermaster discusses the role that the human imagination plays in bringing about the future.

What is the relationship between the limits of human imagination and the limits of potential human accomplishment? Put another way -- is our imagination adequate to the task of describing the future we have in store?
Show Notes below.
Tonight Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon spoke with guests Alvis Brigis and Marisa Vitols about how to get the word out about the Singularity to a broader audience.

Our chat host Michael Darling led the chat discussion. Get all the details on listening live at our audio host, Blog Talk Radio.
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Continue reading "FastForward Radio-- Spreading the Word about the Singularity" »
Same conflicts as last week. The show will definitely be back next week.
Futurist Brian Wang returned to FFR to discuss Collapsatarianism with Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon.
Why do some people believe that a major collapse is imminent? And are they seeing the whole picture?
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Sunday night, March 22, Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon honored the life of their friend and fellow blogger Michael Sargent.

They celebrated with topics that Mike loved to talk about. Stuff like jet packs, the Rocket Racing League, and the feasibility of building a Pleistocene park with cloned animals like the mammoth.
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Phil Bowermaster, Stephen Gordon, and Michael Darling presented their own breakthrough ideas for 2009. What innovations today will make a difference tomorrow?
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Continue reading "FFR: Breakthrough Ideas for 2009, Part 3" »
Breakthrough Ideas for 2009, Part 2
Sunday night Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon talked about breakthrough business ideas for 2009. Can innovation revive our economy? And what cool stuff is around the corner?

They also talked about "Watchmen" and other fun stuff.
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Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon talked about breakthrough business ideas for 2009.

Can innovation revive our economy? And what cool stuff is around the corner?
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Stephen Gordon and Michael Darling talked about how, in spite of all our problems, the world is getting better all the time.

They also weighed in on Phil's question "is genius born or created?" And they had a surprise "guest" at the end of the show!
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Specunomics!
Sunday night Phil Bowermaster, Stephen Gordon, and special guest Brian Wang discussed "Specunomics." They spoke the growing world middle class, increasing government debt, and how the increased productivity of the future will factor in.

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Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon continue their discussion about a world without scarcity, with an emphasis on exploring how exactly we get there from here. Blogger Will Brown joined the discussion.
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About our guest:
Will Brown writes about many topics, with an emphasis on strategy, at Where There's a William.
He recommends the following as further reading on this subject:
http://www.garygagliardi.com/
http://www.scienceofstrategy.org/main/
Will comments: "I no longer actively write for Gary, but he remains the modern expert on strategic applications (particularly those removed from the classic military venue) and his initial invitation to me is the reason I'm here to confuse your audience today. :) [But in fact we were no more confused than usual! --Phil]
"Also, I have a recent post up that might serve as a model ...for how a much more broadly based approach to this problem might be inspired:
http://wheretheresawilliam.blogspot.com/2009/01/still-more-entertainment.html
Continue reading "FastForward Radio -- More on the Future of Abundance" »
Tonight Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon talk live with futurist Joseph Jackson. How do we prepare for a world in which scarcity has been eliminated?

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About our guest:
Joseph Jackson is a philosopher and social entrepreneur. A graduate of Harvard College AB (Government 2004) and the London School of Economics Msc (Philosophy of Science 2005), he has been studying Open Source and user innovation as a subset of the emerging political and economic phenomenon of Peer Production (P2P), since the “Napster Revolution” of 2000. Working at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, he analyzed these themes in the context of Digital Media, before moving to Australia as a visiting academic to observe the workings of a non-profit research institute attempting to pioneer Open Source principles in bio-agriculture. He now leads the Network for Open Scientific Innovation, a 501(c)3 organization and distributed think tank with partners in Brazil and Australia, coordinating a variety of research seeking to promote the emergence of Open Source models in the life sciences.
We're rescheduling later this week. Stay tuned.
Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon resumed their discussion about how to set the agenda for the future -- the Speculist way.
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Continue reading "FastForward Radio -- Setting the Future Agenda Part 2" »
Phil, Stephen, and Michael, with special guest PJ Manney, set the agenda for the future the Speculist way.
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The gang started with this question: "What are we most looking forward to in the coming years?" Possibilities include d
Time only permitted getting through half the list on this program. Sunday they will finish working through the list and discuss what should be on the agenda, how we prioritize the agenda items, and what dependencies exist between them.
Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon talk about the importance of teaching creativity, how robotics could change the world, mysterious underwater stoneworks, and a new "Tales of the Paranormal."

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Continue reading "FastForward Radio -- Future of Scarcity and Robot Utopia" »
Sunday night Phil and Stephen welcomed a whole gang from Memebox / FutureBlogger -- Jeff Hilford, Alvis Brigis, and Garry Golden -- for a panel discussion in which they looked back at the major technological, scientific, and social developments of 2008 and made some daring predictions for 2009 and beyond.

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Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon welcomed futurist Brian Wang back to FastForward Radio.

Topics included interesting developments related to energy, DNA electronics (and other possibilities for DNA engineering) and weather machines.
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Brian L. Wang, M.B.A. is the Director of Research for the Lifeboat Foundation. Brian is a long time futurist who has been involved with nanotechnology associations since 1994. He is now a member of the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology (CRN) Task Force where he moderates the technology sub-task force. He is also on the Nanoethics Group Advisory Board. He is also the mastermind behind Next Big Future.
Phil and Stephen talked with nanotechnology visionary J. Storrs Hall about the future of nanotechnology and artificial intelligence, and how the concept of autogeny applies to both. And, yes, utility fog was discussed.
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Sunday night Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon discussed The Singularity 101, with special guest futurist Tyler Emerson.

Following up on last week's discussion about what is possible and what it is reasonable to expect will happen in the future, guys outlined the basics of what we mean when we use the term "singularity," and the role that organizations such as the Singularity Institute and events such as the Singularity Summit play not only in helping us to understand the singularity, but in helping to bring it about.
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Our Guest:
Tyler Emerson is founding executive director of the Singularity Institute, a nonprofit for the long term study of advanced artificial intelligence systems. He is curator of the Singularity Summit, an annual conference for gathering the smartest people around to explore the biggest ideas of our time, cofounded in 2006 with inventor Ray Kurzweil and investor Peter Thiel. He is a cofounder and managing trustee of Innerspace Foundation, created to fund research that creates tomorrow's interfaces for accelerating learning and memory. He is a cofounder and director of Humanity+, which is dedicated to fostering emerging innovation that can radically benefit the human condition. He has five years experience in long term philanthropy, concentrating on communications, fundraising, events, strategy, and community organizing.
This weekend we presented not one, but two editions of FastForward Radio, both coming to you live from the Convergence '08 Unconference in Mountain View, California. Phil traveled to the event to report on developments and talk with the participants, while Stephen held down the fort in the FFR International Command Center in Shreveport, LA.

For those of you who didn't make the Unconference, this is a chance to hear some of the participants and get a flavor of the event. We caught up with old friends and made some new ones as we discussed technologies and ideas that are shaping our world. Some of the things talked about at the conference included:
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Continue reading "FastForward Radio Live at Convergence 08!" »
Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon discussed various hot topics related to the future including election results, new breakthroughs in solar energy, and those mysterious "structures" which are said to be tugging at the edge of the universe.

And we had a lot of great participation in the chat room!
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Sunday night Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon welcomed two very special guests back to FastForward Radio -- Christine Peterson from Foresight Nanotech Institute and P. J. Manney from Humanity+. They spoke about the upcoming Convergence '08 Unconference that will be held November 15-16 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View California.

They talked about how this event came to be organized and what exactly an "unconference" is.
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Sunday's show arrived two days late. So what? Think of it as a little trip into the future!
The guys talked about how life expentancy tables are off (in a good way), the coming smart electric grid, Blacklight power, the Pickens Plan, and much more!

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Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon talked about the role of the worldwide web in shaping the future. Is the Internet making the world a better place?

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Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon present:
They spoke about the many more exciting things the bail-out money could have been spent on, and offer their own best forward-thinking solutions to the current financial mess.
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Celebrating the First Year at Blog Talk Radio!
Tonight Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon celebrated the first full year of weekly FastForward Radio on Blog Talk Radio.

Come enjoy the cake! Phil and Stephen talked about the subjects covered over the last year and stuff that they want to do in the year to come.
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Sunday night Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon continued their discussion of a world gone right. It was Part 2 of...

The Radio Edition!
Phil and Stephen reviewed more good news stories from recent editions of Better All the Time, and solicited listener suggestions for good news to use in the next edition. And there is still time for you to provide your own dispatches from a rapidly changing, rapidly improving world -- the contributor of the best good news story will receive a coveted FastForward Radio Coffee Mug. *

* They're freakin' huge!
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The first audio edition of...
Need some good news? Phil and Stephen discussed why they think the developed world is caught in a cycle of virtue. And, yeah, they're still optimists after the horrible week on Wall Street.
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Memes! Part 2
Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon talked about memes:

What memes should die?
What memes should be promoted?
What are the memes that somebody needs to get going?
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Memes!
Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon discussed memes:

How do memes shape the future?
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Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon observed Labor Day with a special between-the-political-conventions edition of FastForward Radio.

They talked about Hurricane Gustav and the future of humanity's relationship with the weather, the future of labor, the changing face of politics, and what a Speculist looks for in a presidential candidate.
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Long Shot Futures, Part 2
Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon talked about long shot futures - futures that they think aren't likely, but are hoping for anyway!

We can always be surprised.
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Long Shot Futures, Part 1
Sunday night Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon talked about long shots...

No, not who has a shot of hooking up with whom. They talked about future developments that aren't likely, but that they're pulling for anyway.
Ric Ocasek is just a reminder that sometimes long shots pay off.
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Sunday night Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon talked about the Olympics opening ceremony, and how openess can bring power to anyone (or anything) that tries it.

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"Solving the World's Problems: The Speculist Way!" Part 2
...of two. Check out part 1 here.
That's right. Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon finished solving the worlds problems with part 2 of this two-part show.

Assume anything is possible. In the next 25 years how could we:
Our audience contributed greatly to the success of this show.
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"Solving the World's Problems: The Speculist Way!" Part 1
...of two.
That's right. Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon will be solving the worlds problems in two podcasts. This was the first.

Assume anything is possible. In the next 25 years how could we:
Our live audience is a big part of this show. Harvey Espatchelowe called in and Matt Duing had some great comments in the text chat.
If you typically listen on a delay, please listen live next week as we finish this two-parter. We need your help digging ourselves out of our own challenge. You can suggest a problem to consider or, even better, give us a solution. We'll give a FFR coffee mug to the caller or chat-room guest who makes the best contribution to the discussion. Next week we'll ask how, in the next 25 years, can we:
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Phil Bowermaster, Stephen Gordon, and Michael Darling covered a lot of ground with this show.
They talked about The Dark Knight film, the hybrid bridge to electric vehicles, how a Blue Ray player makes regular DVD's look better, and they took a shot at figuring out how an electron can be two places at once.
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Phil Bowermaster, Stephen Gordon, and two surprise guests talk about shopping for HDTV equipment without getting reamed, Hellboy 2, and why electricity will be so important to the transportation sector in the future.

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Sunday night Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon discussed the possibility of a mundane Technological Singularity.

No, not a Singularity where we only get stuff we don't need - like a razor with infinite blades - we're talking about the Singularity we'd get if both practical molecular assembly and artificial general intelligence prove impossible. Could you even have a Singularity without those things?
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Sunday night Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon hosted a panel on The Future of of Fit (and Fat). The panelists were PJ Manney, Brian Wang, and fitness expert and entrepreneur Shawn Phillips.
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Sunday night Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon will talk about the future of fun. If automation gives us more free time, what will we do with it?

Could entertainment, recreation, and "experience" industries become the center of the economy? Will RPG's, video games, and virtual reality blur the line between entertainment and real life?
Would this be a good or bad thing?
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One of the coolest things about having a live talk show (as opposed to pre-recorded like we used to do it) is that we can now take your calls during the show. But we've missed some calls. In an effort to minimize this problem, here is the "FastForward Radio Call-in Guide:"
When you call a talk radio station that broadcasts on the AM/FM dial, you'll typically talk to a call screener before going live on the radio. We wouldn't be surprised if Blogtalkradio eventually offers that capability. But they haven't yet.So, when you first call our show (or any other Blogtalkradio show), you'll hear the show, but you'll be on mute. There is no audible alert to the hosts that there is a caller. The switchboard operator has to see there is a call and unmute it.
Stephen usually serves as the switchboard operator. But, being a host, he's also trying to think of coherent things to say on the show. Sometimes his attention wonders from the board. There have been shows where we've learned after the show that we had a caller (the Blogtalkradio system gives us the number of callers... post show), but we were never aware we had a caller during the show.
There have been other occasions where Stephen sees the caller - and wants to bring them in - but is waiting for a break in the conversation to do so... when the caller hangs up.
So, either way, please be patient. You'll get brought in as soon as there is a break in the conversation or Stephen wakes up.
So, what are you waiting for? Call in!
Phil Bowermaster, Stephen Gordon, and Michael Darling asked and then answered "Questions About the Future."

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Sunday night Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon hosted a live discussion with aerospace engineer and blogger Rand Simberg
They spoke with Rand about the future of space travel. Have we lost our way in Space? Are manned missions to Mars and space elevators in our future? What commercial ventures will lure us into space?
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In this show Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon talked about "Speculist Essentials." What have been the key influences towards developing our unusual outlook on the future? They named one item in each of the following categories that has had the most impact on them as Speculists:
We had great feedback from the chat room. Michael Darling shared his own "essentials" and well as those of the chat participants.
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Continue reading "FastForward Radio: Speculist Essentials" »
Time travel... is it possible? Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon talk about the latest theories.

And, as we are travel forward through time the old fashioned way (by living it), what likely near-future inventions will change our world?
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Every week Phil and I enjoy wrapping up our FastForward Radio show with a podcast-safe tune from an indy band or solo artist. My criteria for choosing the music is simply - "does it sound good to me?"
If it sounds good, I'll download it, play it Sunday night, then put it on my iPod.
Most of those songs get played once or twice more, then put aside. But a few others have become some of my favorite songs. This is stuff that should be huge hits on the radio, but... so far... aren't.
I've assembled eleven of these highly re-playable songs in a compilation album. And, unlike our podcast, you'll be hearing them in all their stereo glory. And Friday before a holiday weekend is a great time to publish a fun project like this.
Enjoy:
FFR: The Best of Sunday Night Music, vol 1.
Please remember to support these artists. They are:
Happy Memorial Day.
Sunday, May 18, 2008, FastForward Radio featured a distinguished panel discussing the Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems.

Our live listeners reported a serious sound problem during the show. Fortunately, the archived show sounds fine. Our apologies to those who tried to listen live. We hope you enjoy the show now.
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Here's the nanofactory video that was mentioned several times. It provides a good quick introduction to the idea of atomically precise manufacturing.
Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon discussed the future of money with special guest Ivan Kirigin.

Ivan recently left iRobot in Boston, where he worked as a software engineer for their Government & Industrial Division, to found Tipjoy. Tipjoy is a micropayment tipping sys that enables content creators to monetize what otherwise would have been free content.
How will micropayment systems change the way content creators are compensated? And how will the Web continue to transform our thinking about how value is created and transferred?
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Sunday night Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon laid out the Speculist Manifesto. What is the shocking truth about the future that the mainstream media and the politicians aren't telling you?
What is at stake? What can we learn by studying possibilities and scenarios? And why do we Speculists spend time blogging and podcasting about this stuff? Do we have a contribution to make?
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Sunday night Phil Bowermaster, Stephen Gordon, and Michael Darling spoke live with author and futurist Jim Elvidge. Elvidge is a Cornell-educated entrepreneur and inventor who holds four patents in digital signal processing. His love of music inspired him to develop one of the first PC-based digital music samplers and to co-found RadioAMP, which was the first private-label online streaming radio company. In recent years he has turned his attention to the ultimate question of existence and, drawing on a broad and eclectic base of knowledge and interests, has come up with a unique explanation for...pretty much everything.
As you might imagine his book, The Universe - Solved, covers a lot of scientific and philosophical ground. A big topic of discussion was whether we live in a computer simulation. If so, are there Easter Eggs in the cosmos?
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Sunday night your hosts Phil Bowermaster, Stephen Gordon, and Michael Darling discussed weird ideas about the future... both past-futures that turned out to be bizarrely wrong and very strange futures that may turn out to be right.
Click image to see it larger.
Obviously, predicting the future is difficult. Given the uncertainty, do Futurists still have a role to play in preparing us for the future?
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Sunday night Phil Bowermaster, Stephen Gordon, and Michael Darling talked about future ethics. How will our views of right and wrong change?

When, for example, will humans give up killing animals for food?
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Sunday night Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon visited live with futurist Wayne Radinsky. Wayne became a futurist in 1997 when he was working as a software developer and asked the question, "Why does Moore's Law happen?"
Wayne was part of the Bay Area Future Salon in Silicon Valley for five years before moving to Colorado and starting the Boulder Future Salon. He is also a director of the Global Futures Network.
We talked about how groups such as GFN and futures salons can help us to shape both our understanding of and expectations for the future.
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Tonight Stephen Gordon and Michael Darling talked about the human brain...

...it's original purpose, how we use it, and the possibilities of augmenting it.
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Sunday night Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon visited live with Michael Anissimov. Michael Anissimov writes and speaks on futurist issues, especially the relationships between accelerating change, nanotechnology, existential risk, transhumanism, and the Singularity. His popular blog Accelerating Future discusses these issues regularly. Michael is a member of the Board of Directors of the World Transhumanist Association and is the North American fundraising director for the Lifeboat Foundation.
They visited with Michael about the philosophy of transhumanism and what the Singularity could look like.
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Sunday night Stephen Gordon and P.J. Manney interviewed artificial intelligence researcher and author Ben Goertzel.
They asked Ben about the current state-of-the-art in AGI and about the recent AGI conference at Memphis University. They also learned how AI is already changing our world.
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Better late than never!
Sunday night Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon covered AI. But the show was missing until this morning. They are happy to be able to post it now.
AGI - savior or harbinger of the apocalypse?
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Sunday night Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon welcomed PJ Manney and Michael Darling to the show.
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Blog Talk Radio seems to be experiencing technical difficulties, and so far no archive of our interview last night with Philippe Van Nedervelde of the Lifeboat Foundation has been published. Stephen is in touch with BTR and working on the problem. Stay tuned. We hope to have the recorded show up soon.
Sunday night Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon talked about risk. There are small risks - like not getting the right thing for your Valentine, medium risks like harvesting corn for ethanol, and existential risks like global nuclear war.

What, me worry?
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Don't miss this, our Super Speculist Sunday Show! Phil Bowermaster, Stephen Gordon, and Michael Darling visited about all things geeky.
Michael Darling filed his first "M Report" on fusion reactors. The picture above is Robert Bussard's electrostatic containment model for a small fusion reactor.
Phil's brought us a new "Tales of the Paranormal" and "Astounding Science Facts." And Stephen covered "Fun Tech!"
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This show was a transhumanist round table with Tyler Emerson, PJ Manney, Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon.

They discussed the meaning of transhumanism, what tranhumanists hope to accomplish, and the risks of a transhuman future.
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Sunday night Stephen Gordon was joined by guest cohost Michael Darling. Michael is a longtime commenter and independent thinker at the Speculist.
Among many other topics they talked about the Star Trek technologies that are becoming real world inventions. No. Quick and easy (and routine) plastic surgery is not, yet, one of those technologies. But just about everything else is becoming, at least, theoretically possible.
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Sunday night Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon covered the future. They talked about the latest life extension news, how the $2,500 car will affect our prices at the pump, MRI mind reading, and whether a pill will reduce our need for sleep.

It wasn't all serious news though. They also talked about the new Terminator television show, "The Sarah Connor Chronicles." Don't miss it!
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Sunday night Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon welcomed sci-fi author Tobias Buckell back to FastForward Radio.

They visited with Tobias about the process of creating plausible and entertaining futures.
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Tonight your FastForward cohosts got together for a year-end roundtable. Phil Bowermaster, PJ Manney, and Stephen Gordon discussed the technological developments of 2007 and their hopes for 2008 and beyond.
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Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon visited live with author and futurist Dr. James Hughes.
They spoke with Dr. Hughes about his association with the World Transhumanist Association and his book Citizen Cyborg.
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PJ Manney returned to FastForward Radio - this time to co-host the show with Stephen Gordon.
Stephen and PJ visited live with Dr. Pearl Chin of the Foresight Nanotech Institute. Pearl specializes in advising on nanotechnology investment opportunities. She is a prolific writer on nanotechnology investing, business, management and social issues. Her articles appear in Nanotechnology Now and the Nanotechnology Law and Business Journal. And she is actively sought out to speak about and be interviewed on diverse nanotechnology related topics.
We asked Pearl what nanotech developments are exciting. We also asked her about potential dangers. Don't miss it!
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Tonight Phil Bowermaster and Michael Sargent had the pleasure of visiting with Dr. Robert Zubrin. Dr. Zubrin is an aerospace engineer who is well known as an advocate for a manned mission to Mars and for his book The Case for Mars. After some unfortunate technical difficulties, Phil and Michael spoke with Robert about Mars and his newest book Energy Victory: Winning the War on Terror by Breaking Free of Oil.

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This week Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon had a chance to visit with PJ Manney. PJ has written for television - Xena and Hercules - and she's a novelist.

PJ is also a very active futurist. She's on the board of directors for the World Transhumanist Association, she's a senior associate at the Foresight Nanotech Institute, and she is on the scientific advisory board for the Lifeboat Foundation.
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Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon are back with an interview of Dave Gobel. Dave cofounded with Aubrey de Grey the Methuselah Foundation. This is the nonprofit charity that is behind the Methuselah Mouse Prize - a prize for proving life extension technologies in mice.
This interview explains why developing life extension matters more, fundamentally, that almost anything else we can put our efforts into. It's also a fascinating glimpse into how the efforts of a few people can be leveraged to change the world. You'll want to hear this one for sure.
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Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon interviewed special guest Brian Wang. In addition to his many other accomplishments, Brian has been a Foresight Nanotechnology Institute senior associate since 1997.
We spoke with Brian about the crappy beta versions of human enhancement that some people are experimenting with today, often to their detriment. When will better enhancements be available?
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Phil Bowermaster returns to FastForward Radio with a report on this year's Foresight Nanotech Unconference. Also, we have an audio interview with Dr. Zheng Cui who is developing a cancer treatment that works by strengthening the immune system.

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Stephen Gordon and guest host Michael Sargent discuss the speech Eliezer Yudkowsky gave at the 2007 Singularity Summit. It turns out that the Singularity means different things to different people. We also covered the DARPA Urban Challenge that happened Saturday, and the new Fab Lab that won a Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Prize.


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Listen in as Michael Sargent and Stephen Gordon discuss Artificial General Intelligence, the Turing Test, the simplest Turing Machines, Moore's Law, and artery-clearing micro-cyborgs:
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In this show we covered some of the latest developments in Nanotech.
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Phil and Stephen started the show tonight, for the first time, by talking sports. Throughout the show Phil reported happily on the progress of the Colorado Rockies. Stephen was less happy about Saturday's upset game between LSU and the University of Kentucky.
This led, as it would only with Phil and Stephen, to a discussion of the difficulty predicting the future of anything in a complex system. Whether it be the fall of communism in the late 80's or technological development in the next twenty years.
Phil and Stephen took calls from Karl Hallowell and Matt Duing. They contributed greatly to the discussion. Thanks guys!
The show included discussion on the parallel universe theory, quantum mechanics, quantum computers, quantum immortality, and quantum suicide. And Phil's Amazing Exponentials and Stephen's Spock's Chessboard make an appearance.
The guys finished by talking about our Sun's twin.
The music can be found at Magnatune.com. The front bumper was a sampling of Marginal Prophets' "The Difficult Song" and they exited to "In The Middle" by Beight.
Make sure to catch next week's show live at the same time Sunday night - 11:00 Eastern/10:00 Central/9:00 Mountain/8:00 Pacific.
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Phil and Stephen had a great time catching up with Sci-Fi author Tobias Buckell. The last time we spoke with Tobias he had just published his first novel Crystal Rain. Now he has published his second novel, Ragamuffin, and is completing a third, Sly Mongoose, for publication next summer.
You'll want to hear all about it - including the surprising inspiration for his latest novel.
Be sure to also check out Tobias' website where you can read the first 1/3 of both Crystal Rain and Raggamuffin!
Enjoy the show!
Click "Continue reading" to stream or download the show.
Phil and I had some technical difficulties last night, but after an hour's delay we soldiered on with an abbreviated 20 minute test program. As promised it was live and we even had some audience participation. We had a good discussion on life extension:
We will be rescheduling our intended guest, Dave Gobel, for an upcoming edition of FastForward Radio. Meanwhile, since we threw some props both his way and in the general direction of Aubrey de Grey, it's probably appropriate that we include links to the MPrize and SENS home pages.
Special thanks to Speculist blogger El Jefe for his participation in this week's show.
Or, click here to download (23.65 MB).
Next Phil and Stephen discuss what it takes to be a Transhumanist. Do you really have to be an atheist? Can we have both God and The Singularity? And don't miss our survey results.
Then Phil and Stephen discussed personal freedom in the contexts of both genetic engineering and fab labs - the fab labs that can replicate themselves, and those that are big enough to print a house. Can we protect intellectual property while maximizing creativity?
Here are the books referenced in our podcast:
Music for this episode comes from Magnatune.com. This episode opened with a sample of the song "Fountain of Life" by Artemis. We closed the episode with "Sweet Melissa" from Chris Juergensen.
Just prior to publishing Episode 13, we changed the RSS feed for our show. Our apologies to our subscribers, but (if you haven't already done so) you will need to resubscribe to the show at this feed:
http://fastforward.mypodcast.com/rss.xml
If you've never subscribed to a podcast before, your first step is to install podcast software. The most popular podcast software is the ubiquitous iTunes. Click here to download iTunes, or here to download other podcast receivers.
For more Speculicious podcasting fun, check out The L2si Report.