The World Transformed

Latest Episodes:

Weird Tubes on Mars! (And Other Stuff) Jan 20, 2018

Show notes

Okay, so maybe there is nothing to the recent observation that a Pathfinder photo of a Martian rock has strange tube-like structures that could be fossils. But one of these days, one of these stories about life in the universe is going to be right. And then everybody who DIDN’T get all excited is going to feel pretty silly, aren’t they? Plus lots of other stories and GEEKOUT. News stories discussed: Incredible 'Hypatia' Stone Contains Compounds Not Found in the Solar System You’re Descended from Royalty and So Is Everybody Else Curiosity Rover Spots Weird Tube-Like Structures on Mars The World Needs More Scientists: How We Can Train Millions in Virtual Labs A crowdfunding platform aims to solve the puzzle of aging The First Mind-Controlled VR Game Will Hit Arcades in 2018 Pulse 47: CRISPR Made Spectacular Advances in 2017, More to Come in 2018 GEEKOUT: NAD+ update. Also: Engadget’s picture of a 50 qubit quantum computer looks steampunk awesome: https://goo.gl/zDKKUS WT 393-705

Are Things Getting Worse? Jan 16, 2018

Show notes

Phil and Stephen discuss evidence that things might not be improving as quickly as we would like. And why we might tend to see things as getting worse even if that's not the case. The Toxoplasma of Rage Alibaba's Jack Ma Expects the World to Experience Decades of 'Pain' “In the next 30 years, the world’s pain will be much greater than its happiness,” Ma told a Chinese entrepreneurial conference over the weekend. “Social conflicts over the next 30 years will hugely impact every industry.” The somersault changes the Internet brings will create millions of jobs, as Alibaba has, Ma told the entrepreneur conference this weekend, but only if changes are made to the world’s education systems. Ma said that policies on artificial intelligence should work to mitigate the job losses that longer lifespans and better-equipped robots will produce. A swarm of home-made drones has bombed a Russian airbase Are things getting worse? What do you really think we're going to say? WT 391-703

Cities with Force Fields (and Other Predictions) Jan 13, 2018

Show notes

Phil, Stephen, and special guest Thomas Frey conclude their 3-part celebration of the 700th edition of the World Transformed. (Here's Part 1. Here's Part 2.) In Part 3, Phil, Stephen, and Thomas make predictions covering the next 200 years. Will cities be protected by force fields? Will new human varieties emerge -- genderless, merged with animals, or otherwise significantly modified? Will we travel to the stars in a soda can? Will we ultimately merge with AIs or aliens? Join us. About our guest: Over the past decade, Thomas Frey has built an enormous following around the world based on his ability to develop accurate visions of the future and describe the opportunities ahead. His keynote talks on futurist topics have captivated people ranging from high level government officials to executives in Fortune 500 companies including NASA, IBM, AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, Lucent Technologies, Boeing, Capital One, Ford Motor Company, many others. Because of his work inspiring inventors and other revolutionary thinkers, the Boulder Daily Camera has referred to him as the “Father of Invention”. The Denver Post and Seattle Post Intelligencer have referred to him as the “Dean of Futurists”. He has been featured in thousands of articles for both national and international publications including New York Times, Huffington Post, Times of India, USA Today, US News and World Report, Popular Science, and many more. He currently writes a weekly “Future Trend Report” newsletter and a weekly column for FuturistSpeaker.com. WT 390-702

The Death of Banks (and Other Predictions) Jan 11, 2018

Show notes

Phil, Stephen, and special guest Thomas Frey continue their 3-part celebration of the 700th edition of the World Transformed. (Here's Part 1.) In part 2, the guys discuss predictions for the next 20 years. Are banks going to disappear? Will AI be the primary tool that humanity uses to solve problems? Will a robot be your best friend? Will (some) people soon have dorsal fins? Join us. About our guest: Over the past decade, Thomas Frey has built an enormous following around the world based on his ability to develop accurate visions of the future and describe the opportunities ahead. His keynote talks on futurist topics have captivated people ranging from high level government officials to executives in Fortune 500 companies including NASA, IBM, AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, Lucent Technologies, Boeing, Capital One, Ford Motor Company, many others. Because of his work inspiring inventors and other revolutionary thinkers, the Boulder Daily Camera has referred to him as the “Father of Invention”. The Denver Post and Seattle Post Intelligencer have referred to him as the “Dean of Futurists”. He has been featured in thousands of articles for both national and international publications including New York Times, Huffington Post, Times of India, USA Today, US News and World Report, Popular Science, and many more. He currently writes a weekly “Future Trend Report” newsletter and a weekly column for FuturistSpeaker.com. WT 389-701

2017 The Year In Geek Jan 05, 2018

Show notes

Phil and Stephen review a year’s worth of geekouts to compile their ultimate list of geeky goodness from the year 2017. Topics discussed include: Game of Thrones Season 7 Blade Runner 2049 All These Worlds Ready Player One Spider-Man Homecoming Thor Ragnarok Wonder Woman Justice League Logan Planet of the Apes Star Wars: the Last Jedi Plus lots of other stuff. (Because you can’t talk about this stuff without mentioning lots of other stuff. That’s how being a geek works.) WT 387-699

FastForward -- The Elephant in the Brain Jan 03, 2018

Show notes

Why do we do the things we do? We like to think we have good reasons for the choices we make, but we may very well be fooling ourselves. In their intriguing new book, The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life, authors Robin Hanson and Kevin Simler explain how hardwired primate behavior, social norms, and evolution combine to obscure our motives...even (or maybe especially) from ourselves. While it’s easy to see how hiding our motives from others might bring about certain advantages, it’s harder to imagine why we would ever try to hide our reasons from ourselves. But Hanson argues that it’s no great mystery. "We prefer to attribute our behavior to the highest-minded motives,” he explains. “But often our behavior is better explained by less high-minded motives -- i.e., more selfish motives -- and we'd rather not look at that and acknowledge it." About Our Guest Robin Hanson is an associate professor of economics at George Mason University and a research associate at the Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University. He has a doctorate in social science, master's degrees in physics and philosophy, and nine years of experience as a research programmer in artificial intelligence and Bayesian statistics. With over 3600 citations and sixty academic publications, he's recognized not only for his contributions to economics, but also for the wide range of fields in which he's been published. His amazing blog OvercomingBias.com has had some eight million visits. He is the author of The Age of Em: Work, Love, and Life when Robots Rule the Earth. He blogs at Overcoming Bias. Music: www.bensound.com FF 003-698

Infinite Possibilities Dec 29, 2017

Show notes

The World Transformed is all about possibilities: amazing new possibilities that are being realized daily, frightening possibilities that we have to work to avoid, and tantalizing possibilities shimmering on the horizon that speak to a future beyond our wildest dreams. In the conclusion of our four-part series (here's part one goo.gl/m3tiu9; here's part 2 https://goo.gl/Xbx9EC; here's part 3 https://goo.gl/RjYuNg), Stephen reviews the possibilities contained in four of his favorite shows from the second half of the year. 2017 podcasts referenced include: Emergent Magic: Why Ideas Are Becoming More Valuable https://goo.gl/3yhxy Self-Driving Cars: a Stranger Future than You Think https://goo.gl/axYMzc PJ Manney and (ID)entity https://goo.gl/MNWiHk Realizing Possibilities…Fast! (PS: Specialization Is for Insects) https://goo.gl/WuHBYy WT 386-697

Is This as Good as It Gets? Dec 27, 2017

Show notes

Not by a long shot. First off, there are major positive changes taking place that are getting only a tiny fraction of the attention they deserve. And then there is more good stuff to come. In part three of a four-part series (here's part one; here's part 2), Phil reviews some of the positive developments in the second half of the year that speak to very bright future to come. 2017 podcasts referenced include: Checking in on the Future Wow. History-Making News Future Wealth: Universal Basic Income and Alternatives The Amazing Wealth Machine WT 385-696

A Whole Big Bag of Good News Dec 22, 2017

Show notes

What kinds of things do we discuss on The World Transformed? Sending cars into orbit, curing horrible diseases, why kids are from a different planet, communists in space, super-antibiotics, machines that suck carbon from the air, lightsail-powered interstellar spacecraft, and why we should all be more optimistic. To name just a few topics! In part two of a four-part series (here's part one), Stephen outlines some of the positive developments in the first half of the year that speak to very bright future to come. 2017 podcasts referenced include: Getting Closer to the Final Frontier: On to Mars and the Stars The Golden Age: Why Don’t We See It? Engines of Disruption: How Data Is Changing Everything A Cure for Multiple Sclerosis? WT 384-695

The Year That Was Almost Magic Dec 20, 2017

Show notes

There was a lot of talk about what a strange year 2016 was, and now some are claiming that 2017 was even weirder. Phil and Stephen beg to differ. 2017 was an amazing year. Dare we say it? Almost magical. In part one of a four-part series, Phil outlines some of the positive developments in the first half of the year that speak to very bright future to come. 2017 podcasts referenced include: World Transformed Book Update True Stories: News Not Dated April 1st Ancient Martian Fossils, Self-Growing Computers, and Flowers that Cure Cancer Barely Distinguishable from Magic WT 383-694

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected