The World Transformed

Latest Episodes:

So We Have Aliens: Now What? (Part 1) Nov 03, 2016

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Hots Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon discuss the possibility of really finding aliens. So What Happens the Day After We Find Extraterrestrials? “So, let’s say that day has arrived, and we finally detect inarguable evidence of an extraterrestrial civilization. What happens next? The distance will be too great to traverse for the foreseeable future, so it’ll still be just us here, but with a mind-boggling piece of new information. How will we react? Will we run screaming into the streets? Maybe. But then what? Go back home and make lunch?” What is the impact if we discover the remains of what is apparently now a long-dead alien civilization? What is the impact if we discover what we can assume is a current and thriving alien civilization -- but there is no contact? What if we receive signals from aliens indicating that they want to communicate with us? Probably the least likely scenario -- what happens if aliens actually show up here? Plus, if we detect an alien civilization, what is the likelihood that they have detected us? Join us! WT 227-536

Nuclear Options: Scenarios for a Nuke-Powered Future Nov 01, 2016

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Nuclear Options: Scenarios for a Nuke-Powered Future Phil and stephen discuss nuclear energy technologies. Fission : The case for Thorium Could China build the world’s smallest nuclear power plant and send it to the South China Sea? Our Fusion future Recent Department of Energy report. Deuterium — can readily be extracted from seawater. Helium 3 One of the main reasons helium-3 is sought as a fusion fuel is because there are no neutrons generated as a reaction product. The protons that do get generated have charge, and can therefore be safely contained using electromagnetic fields. Join us. WT 226-535

Surprising News, Crazy Questions 3: Puzzling Signals and Self-Driving Stars Oct 29, 2016

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Hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon review the some surprising astronomical news stories and ask some follow-up (crazy) questions. Either Stars are Strange, or There Are 234 Aliens Trying to Contact US [Headline alert: No particular reason to believe they are trying to find US.] Crazy Questions: 1. 234 is quite a few. What if tech civilizations are not so rare? 2. What if these signals are coming from exotic life forms living inside stars 2. What if these signals are coming from the stars themselves? The Rocket Scientist Who Woke the Stars Crazy Questions: 1. Is it possible that stars are actually the primary intelligence in the universe? 2. Do stars have a conscious phase of development? Are most stars dead / asleep? OTHER GEEK HBO’s WestWorld explores consciousness emerging among robots designed for recreation How cooperative board games allow a game players to play against the game… or is it the game designer by proxy? A simple example of mechanical computing? Can something this simple be considered intelligent? Join us Wt 225-534

Surprising News, Crazy Questions 2: The Best Time to Be Alive Oct 27, 2016

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Hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon review the most surprising news story of them all -- and ask some follow-up (crazy) questions. Barack Obama: Now Is the Greatest Time to Be Alive We are far better equipped to take on the challenges we face than ever before. I know that might sound at odds with what we see and hear these days in the cacophony of cable news and social media. But the next time you’re bombarded with over-the-top claims about how our country is doomed or the world is coming apart at the seams, brush off the cynics and fearmongers. Because the truth is, if you had to choose any time in the course of human history to be alive, you’d choose this one. Right here in America, right now. Crazy Questions: 1. Why isn’t technology THE prime consideration when discussing: Jobs? Education? The Economy? 2. Why doesn’t anybody ever run for office on this platform? 3. Will the next great political divide be between those who recognize the transformative power of technology and those who still want politics to work as it always has? The World Is Getting Better and Nobody Knows It Crazy questions: 1. Does everybody thinking things are bad help us keep moving forward? 2. Is it wrong to do a show like this one? WT 224-533

Surprising News, Crazy Questions 1: Climate and Energy Oct 25, 2016

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Hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon review unexpected news developments concerning climate and energy that raise some interesting questions -- as well as some really crazy ones. Scientists Accidentally Discover Efficient Process to Turn CO2 Into Ethanol Crazy Questions: 1. Could this be a turning point in the viability of ethanol as a fuel? 2. Will this be the end of grain-based ethanol? 3. Will we soon have to worry about too much CO2 coming OUT of the atmosphere as people start to cash in?? 4. Re: my climate control scenario from last week: will our first phase of full climate control involve pulling CO2 out of the atmosphere to make ethanol, followed by pumping it back in (via massive coal fires or something) when it gets too low? Global Warming vs. Global Greening Crazy questions: 1.Wouldn’t all this greening have a natural cooling effect on the planet? 2. Will greening be another strategy for controlling climate? Solar Grid parity Uncrazy question: What exactly is Grid Parity? Crazy questions: 1. Is this evidence of the impending solar singularity? 2. Is solar about to make other forms of energy irrelevant? Join us! WT 223-532

Secrets Revealed: Think You Know the Whole Story? Oct 22, 2016

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Think you know the whole story? Phil and Stephen discuss surprising recent discoveries in a variety of areas. Comet Collision Could Have Caused Rapid Carbon Rise A Single Migration From Africa Populated the World, Studies Find The moon has hundreds more craters than we thought Observable Universe contains ten times more galaxies than previously thought "One of the most fundamental questions in astronomy is that of just how many galaxies the Universe contains. The Hubble Deep Field images, captured in the mid 1990s, gave the first real insight into this. Myriad faint galaxies were revealed, and it was estimated that the observable Universe contains about 100 billion galaxies. Now, an international team, led by Christopher Conselice from the University of Nottingham, UK, have shown that this figure is at least ten times too low." OTHER GEEK PlayStation VR review: When good enough is great WT 222-531

Accelerating Medical Technologies: AMAZINGLY Good for What Ails You Oct 20, 2016

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Hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon discuss how electronic implants, gene editing, and harvesting organs from stem cells are revolutionizing medical science. In a medical first, brain implant allows paralyzed man to feel again CRISPR Gene Editing Is Making Huge Strides In Curing Sickle Cell Disease Scientists Grow Full-Sized, Human Beating Hearts from Stem Cells "Of the 4,000 Americans waiting for heart transplants, only 2,500 will receive new hearts in the next year. Even for those lucky enough to get a transplant, the biggest risk is the their bodies will reject the new heart and launch a massive immune reaction against the foreign cells. To combat the problems of organ shortage and decrease the chance that a patient’s body will reject it, researchers have been working to create synthetic organs from patients’ own cells. Now a team of scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School has gotten one step closer, using adult skin cells to regenerate functional human heart tissue, according to a study published recently in the journal Circulation Research." Join us. WT 221-530

HI + AI: Are we Becoming Our Own Robot Overlords? Oct 19, 2016

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Hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon discuss the vanishing boundaries between humans and machines. Are we becoming more like them or are they becoming more like us? And what are the chances we might soon meet in the midde? This Robot Can Do More Push-Ups Because It Sweats In a medical first, brain implant allows paralyzed man to feel again Deep Learning Is Going to Teach Us All the Lesson of Our Lives: Jobs Are for Machines The combination of human and artificial intelligence will define humanity’s future Join us WT 220-529

Answering the Unanaswerable Questions: Part Three Oct 15, 2016

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Hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon conclude their 3-part exploration of futurist Thomas Frey’s “10 Unanswerable Questions that Neither Science Nor Religion Can Answer.” This time out, Phil and Stephen attempt to formulate their own “unanswerable” questions. Along they way, they learn that these questions are just about as hard to ask as they are to answer! But the answers are worth striving for Stephen: What is consciousness? Phil: What is meaning? Other Geek: Movies to help you answer the unanswerable questions! Roxanne The Matrix Bicentennial Man Gattaca Monty Python's the Meaning of Life Join Us WT 219-528

Answering the Unanaswerable Questions: Part Two Oct 13, 2016

Show notes

Hosts Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon continue their 3-part exploration of futurist Thomas Frey’s “10 Unanswerable Questions that Neither Science Nor Religion Can Answer.” Frey Comments:: Regardless of your beliefs, start with the most basic of all questions – Why does anything exist? It’s rather ironic that our first impulse is to use logic and reason to come up with answers, an approach that has historically only been able to answer questions about the tiniest of all fractions of the knowable universe. 6.) Why do humans matter? 7.) Why are humans so fallible? 8.) Do human accomplishments have long-term meaning? 9.) Why is the future unknowable? 10.) What is the purpose of death? Join Us WT 218-527

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