The World Transformed

Latest Episodes:

On the Other Hand... Aug 14, 2017

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Phil and Stephen revisit ideas from recent shows. Should we keep kids off their electronic devices? Does VR make us more vulnerable or stronger when it comes to discerning the world around us? Let them play: kids glued to phones could save UK, ex-spy chief says LONDON (Reuters) - Parents who think they are being responsible by limiting their children's time online should think again: they could be putting their kids and Britain's security at a disadvantage, according to a former British spy chief. "If you appear to be spending your holiday unsuccessfully attempting to separate your children from Wi-Fi or their digital devices, do not despair," Robert Hannigan, a former director of the Government Communications Headquarters, wrote in the British newspaper The Telegraph. How VR Gaming Will Wake Us up to Our Fake Worlds Human civilization has always been a virtual reality. At the onset of culture, which was propagated through the proto-media of cave painting, the talking drum, music, fetish art making, oral tradition and the like, Homo sapiens began a march into cultural virtual realities, a march that would span the entirety of the human enterprise. We don’t often think of cultures as virtual realities, but there is no more apt descriptor for our widely diverse sociological organizations and interpretations than the metaphor of the “virtual reality.” Indeed, the virtual reality metaphor encompasses the complete human project. Interesting counterpoint to... Is This the Real Life? WT 336-645

Dispatches from the Robo-Wars Aug 11, 2017

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Phil and Stephen discuss the good-new / bad-news of the robotics revolution. Our Minds Have Been Hijacked by Our Phones. Tristan Harris Wants to Rescue Them Harris is a former product manager at Google who has gone viral repeatedly by critiquing the way that the big platforms—Apple, Facebook, Google, YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram—suck us into their products and take time that, in retrospect, we may wish we did not give. Silicon Valley luminaries are busily preparing for when robots take over Antonio is worried about where modern technology – especially the twin forces of automation and artificial intelligence – is taking us. He thinks it’s developing much faster than people outside Silicon Valley realize, and we’re on the cusp of another industrial revolution that will rip through the economy and destroy millions of jobs. Geek Out! The New Bobiverse book is out Stephen saw Valerian and thinks its better than the critics are letting on. WT 335-644 Photo by Adrien Milcent on Unsplash

Emergent Magic: Why Ideas Are Becoming More Valuable Aug 09, 2017

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Phil and Stephen discuss why ideas are becoming more valuable, along with other news from the future. Emergent Magic: Why Ideas Are Becoming More Valuable Is the value of ideas diminished by their ubiquity as the “ideas are a dime a dozen” argument would have it, or is it diminished by the low probability that they will amount to anything? Senate passes ‘right to try’ bill to help terminally ill patients get experimental drugs The Senate on Thursday passed by unanimous consent a measure designed to make it easier for terminally ill patients to get access to experimental treatments without oversight from the Food and Drug Administration. NASA's Age Reversing Pill Begins Human Testing Within 6 Months When treating mice with an NAD+ 'booster' called NMN , studies showed improvement in the cells' ability to repair the damaged DNA. “This is the closest we are to a safe and effective anti-ageing drug that's perhaps only three to five years away from being on the market if the trials go well. In the study, cells of old mice were indistinguishable from the young mice after just one week of treatment,” said lead author Professor David Sinclair." WT 334-643

WOW. Just WOW. History-Making News Aug 04, 2017

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Phil and Stephen review news stories that may change history. And they all broke this week. In Breakthrough, Scientists Edit a Dangerous Mutation From Genes in Human Embryos (Related) Ethical concerns over dawn of the designer baby: Campaigners warn breakthrough that removed faulty DNA could lead to creation of 'superior' children with genes modified to improve appearance or intelligence William Gibson quote: "In an age of affordable beauty, there was something heraldic about his lack of it." Artificial intelligence can stop premature aging Want to live FOREVER? Major breakthrough in cryogenic freezing GEEK OUT Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind WT 333-642

Hot Topics! Best of TWT Aug 03, 2017

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Phil, Stephen, and Michael D. discuss fast trains, future pets, global warming, cosmic mysteries, and solar energy. The future of dogs as pets. Will they be the only acceptable pets in the future? Remembering Michael Crichton California bullet train between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Dark flow to the universe Bjorn Lomborg on global warming. Ray Kurzweil and the Solar Singularity. Should solar power be promoted by government or the private sector?. [This show first aired November 10 2008.] Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash

The Semi-Automated Economy Aug 02, 2017

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Phil and Stephen continue their discussion with strategy expert Will Brown, exploring what role there might be for human workers in an increasingly automated world. Topics: Neanderpundit -- selected readings: Watch This Space Next And Then OK, Now For A Simple Circle So Silicon Greybeard Cutting Tools But Why? Hierarchy Of Code Robots Now, You'd Think Here's The Thing Does a modified search program actually achieve "imagination?" Will AI soon replace even the most advanced consultants? In her book, "A Crack In Creation", Jennifer Doudna makes clear that the technical capability required to perform gene editing is within the realm of a typical high school chemistry students capabilities. WT 332-641

Should Jeff Bezos "Hire" Humanity? Aug 01, 2017

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Will Brown joins Phil and Stephen to outline an intriguing scenario for the future: how Jeff Bezos can hire humanity. Topics covered: Jeff Bezos is already having trouble finding places to put his cash. Jeff Bezos needs to create opportunities to invest his money in ways and places that expand his business and permit him a degree of control over the process with little need for direct involvement himself in routine operations. Amazon has begun moving in expansive directions in recent years; Amazon Studios, marketing Kenmore appliances recently, reportedly working to get into health care delivery and/or support services. Before very long, Jeff Bezos is going to need 10's of thousands (likely millions) of remote vehicle/device operators. One of the most likely follow-ons to the orbital and lunar efforts will be construction of asteroid mining capabilities. Jeff Bezos will necessarily have to invest massively in electrical power generation and distribution technology as well as communication infrastructure to enable planetary involvement in all of the above. About Our Guest: Futurist and strategy guru Will Brown is a newly enlisted member in the ranks of the gainfully unemployed, otherwise known as retirement. As such he anticipates many future opportunities to speculate about issues without the distraction of employment getting in the way. In other words, he has no idea what comes next, but he's confident he'll have something to say about it. Will is a co-author of Visions for a World Transformed. He blogs at Where There’s a William. WT 331-640

Convergence 08, Best of TWT Jul 31, 2017

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Phil, Stephen, and Michael D. welcome PJ Manney and Christine Peterson to discuss Convergence '08 an unconference that evolved from the Foresight Nanotech Institute's Topics for the unconference: nanotech, biotech, cogtech, and infotech. The gang brainstorms possible unconference topics: A discussion room in which participants stand up to speculate about how/when their own jobs will be made obsolete. Networking opportunities Fab lab printing of human organs The versatility of buckypaper Programmable matter Virology -- both fighting viruses and using viruses to our ends. [First aired November 2, 2008.]

Is This the Real Life? Jul 28, 2017

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Phil and Stephen explore the increasingly blurry line between fantasy and reality. Are we on the verge of a reality crisis? Where Does Reality End and Imagination Begin? In the Future, We Might Not Know "The line between what it means to be dreaming and what it means to be awake is going to become very interesting," says Jordan Greenhall, CEO of Neurohacker. Virtual reality is perhaps the easiest way to conceive of that concept right now, but it's just one piece in a much larger body of accelerated technology on the horizon.. Prescription Video Games May Be the Future of Medicine Akili is a Boston-based tech company that has used Neuroscape’s core technology to develop a mobile game called Project: EVO. The goal is make Project: EVO so powerful, that it could potentially help treat children with ADHD — as a prescription-based video game. This Week In Science OTHER GEEK Dr. Who update Hard Candy / Cotton Candy WT 330-639

Alternative Energy and the Future, Best of TWT Jul 27, 2017

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Phil and Stephen discuss the role that alternative energy sources will play in shaping the future. Topics: Unlocking the secret of how green plants efficiently split water to make hydrogen and oxygen Development of a smart utility grid Will the big contest for alternative fuels be between alcohol-based fuels and compressed natural gas? Blacklight power--anything to it? [Nine years later, apparently not. ] [This show first aired October 28 2008.]

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