Exploring Possibilities

Missed Opportunities

What if the future we’re planning for never arrives because we don’t take advantage of the opportunities that would get us there? For example, did we miss the boat in not capitalizing on our progress […]

Exploring Possibilities

Misplaced Priorities

Getting the future right may be harder than we think. There are numerous initiatives in place to address problems with health care, the environment, employment and other challenges — but what if in each of […]

Exploring Possibilities

Human Downgrades

A recent news story that has recieved quite a bit of attention tells us about a woman who claims she wants to become a living Barbie doll. To achieve that goal she is working on modifying her […]

Exploring Possibilities

The Idea Machine

Picking up where last Friday’s show left off, Phil and Stephen discuss the changes that are reshaping our world — most of which started out as good ideas. A few examples: Human lung produced in a […]

Accelerating Tech

Singularity When?

Phil and Stephen discuss the timing of the Technological Singularity: …a hypothetical moment in time when artificial intelligence will have progressed to the point of a greater-than-human intelligence, radically changing civilization, and perhaps human nature.Since the […]

Accelerating Tech

The $3.5 Million iPhone

Last Week Business Insider ran a story calculating what an iPhone would have cost if one had been assembled in 1991. Once you add up the 1991 prices for the processing power, memory, and communication speed […]

Exploring Possibilities

A Matter of Days

Phil Bowermaster demonstrates how quick and easy it can be to write a chapter for the book version of The World Transformed by composing his in real time on the show. Phil’s chapter is called “A […]

Exploring Possibilities

Quantum Consciousness

Phil and Stephen  explore the relationship between consciousness and the physical world. Can our thoughts determine physical outcomes? Is consciousness itself a quantum phenomenon? What can a physiscist tell us about the relationship between mind and matter? Audio […]

Entertainment

From Here to “Her”

Phil and Stephen  discuss the possibility that we will soon be interacting with intelligent agents like Tony Stark’s digital assistant Jarvis in the Iron Man movies or Joaquin Phoenix’s crush Samantha in Her. Our current interactions with […]

Exploring Possibilities

Humanity Revised

Phil and Stephen  review two breakthrough biotech developments that promise to enable powerful human modification capabilities: Simplified editing of DNA Simplified production of Stem cells Human modification will have a tremendous impact on everything from […]

Exploring Possibilities

The Art of Prediction

Predicting the future is a daunting task. One area where would-be knowers of the future are making signficant progress is in predicting human behavior. Not to put to fine a point on it, they’re getting […]