Jim Baen's Universe

What's New in The Future And You

Columns

The Future And You, June 2007

Written by Stephen Euin Cobb

Listen as Robert J. Sawyer, Mike Resnick, David B. Coe, Edmund R. Schubert, Davey Beauchamp and Randal L. Schwartz describe many of the technological and social changes which will alter your life during the coming years.

The Future And You is an award-winning audio podcast about the future which may be downloaded and enjoyed, or even copied and shared, for free. Every episode contains many interviews which reveal a wide variety of ideas and opinion from a wide variety of people.

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The June 1, 2007 episode includes all of the following and more:

Should we fear AI? Once we make machines that are smarter than us how will we control or contain them? And if we try, won't they just outsmart us? Robert J. Sawyer feels that AI is a future technology that has dangerous possibilities which are being ignored today; and will continue to be ignored until—thanks to the accelerating pace of technological advancement—it will be too late. Once the AI genie is out of the bottle, there may be no putting it back. Robert J. Sawyer discusses some of the near term dangers, and ponders humanity's ultimate fate. Will we become pets or partners to machines, or something else for which we have no word?

Is the rising popularity of state lotteries really just an unethical "tax" upon the very people who can least afford it—the naive and gullible? And does the widespread popularity of gun ownership in America make the United States the only nation on earth that is unconquerable? Mike Resnick covers these and other subjects such as: Will Puerto Ricans ever vote for statehood, knowing it will mean they'll have to begin paying income taxes? Will the US ever have socialized medicine? When Castro passes away, will Cuba embrace consumerism?

Did An Inconvenient Truth reveal as much about Al Gore and his political aspirations as it did about Al Gore's beliefs concerning climate change? David B. Coe describes what he sees as the many takeaway lessons from the movie including his own estimation of the probability that Al Gore will run for president in 2008, and his chances in competing against Hillary and the rest of the Democratic candidates.

Are public libraries embracing the vast information access powers of the internet? The movement is called "Library 2.0" and Davey Beauchamp (a professional librarian, and part-time writer and voice actor) has been watching it work its way into the quiet book-lined rooms of some, but by no means all, traditional libraries. "Age is becoming irrelevant," Davey says. "I see the elderly generation as well as children actively learning and using the internet."

Davey also speaks of the trends in anime, podcasting and audio theater; as well as his work as editor on the Writers for Relief Anthology II (which will benefit the Bay Area Food Banks). He also announces that he’s just been hired to write a rock opera based on the legend of Blue Beard the pirate.

What methods has Microsoft used that have given it a reputation for aggressive monopolism? And is it true, as some claim, that Microsoft's new Vista operating system has stolen 45 things from Apple's OS-10. Randal L. Schwartz talks of this as well as his experiments with podcasting and Geek Cruises.

Will the online SF&F magazines survive? Edmund R. Schubert, editor of Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show, paints a clear picture of the strengths and weakness of this business. Just how much money is there to be made; what are the trends and what is the future?

We also include another installment in our serialization of the Hard SF novel, Bones Burnt Black; and Walt Boyes (The Bananaslug ) & Stoney Compton do their bit to let the world at large know what's in the current issue of Jim Baen's Universe.

News items in this episode include the results of your host’s throat surgery. (More on that in the News section near the end of this article).

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And if the current episode's ideas and opinion are not enough to satisfy your curiosity about the future check out the previous month's episode which contains Mike Resnick, Kim Stanley Robinson, Elizabeth Bear, Dave Freer, Paul Levinson and Randal L. Schwartz discussing all the following and more:

Many online magazines now pay professional rates—sometimes much better than print magazines—does this mean the great electronic experiment was a success? Or just that the print magazines are dying? Mike Resnick discusses this and provides another eyewitness report on how bad things really are across Africa. He also answers your host's question about Funny Novels: is there more money but less respect?

Must a generation die off for a culture to change its most deeply held beliefs? Or is our current population somehow learning to become comfortable with nontraditional ideas, behaviors, clothing and lifestyles? Elizabeth Bear speaks of this and of the universal notion of "Us verses Them."

Have we been relying on non-lethal weapons for centuries without even realizing it? Kim Stanley Robinson insists that we have. He also suggests that implanting a computer inside your skull is not trivial. It carries risks of damage and infection, and might best be reserved for solving life-altering problems like blindness or deafness.

Despite the numerous benefits, the renowned programmer and programming activist Randal L. Schwartz insists he will be highly reluctant to accept a computer hardwired into his brain. And he will refuse it entirely if its operating system is made by Microsoft since that would make his mind too easily hacked and too prone to spontaneously crashing.

Cell phones have changed our culture and altered the way we live, but their changes are not yet complete. Paul Levinson ponders what is yet to come.

Large scale engineering projects have been less visible recently thanks to all the buzz about nanotechnology. But the future is not given only to the very small. Those who design big are still thinking big, and the biggest place to build big is in the biggest place of all: space. Dave Freer presents his vision of how humanity will spread beyond the earth and fulfill its destiny among the stars.

This episode also includes another installment in our serialization of the Hard SF novel, Bones Burnt Black; as well as the official segment from Jim Baen's Universe in which Walt Boyes (The Bananaslug ) & Stoney Compton take us inside the greatest online science fiction and fantasy magazine in the world.

News items in this episode include the recent discovery of the first earthlike planet outside our solar system, as well as a mention of your host's upcoming surgery. (More on that in the news section near the end of this article).

Listener feedback includes emailed comments on superconductivity, sexual equality, the singularity and transhumanism.

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Mini-Essay

Prediction: Diabetics will all stop poking themselves to draw blood

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