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Catherine Asaro discusses The Down Deep; and Tinker by Wen Spencer, Part 65. View the podcast in video form at https://www.baen.com/podcastfiles/mp3/video-baen-free-radio-hour-The-Down-Deep-Tinker-Part-65.mp4 and the Baen YouTube Channel.
Special Interview with Matthew Jones. Featuring: Windycon and the Royal Manticoran Navy, Chengdu wrap-up, and SableCon in Milwaukee. Catherine Asaro gets poured a Cold One. Eric's past self gives him a call on the Temporal Phone. Plus, a new episode of The Stupid Files, with new segments 'Sci vs Fi' and 'The Grammar Nazi.' Also, top 10 best sci fi and fantasy books of 2023.
I'm back from WorldCon in Chicago! Reporting on the convention - awesome - and how lovely Chicago was, along with thoughts on ballet and appearing effortless. Now l'm buckling down to finish SHADOW WIZARD!Interested in Author Coaching from me? Information here: https://jeffekennedy.com/author-coachingPreorder SHADOW WIZARD, Book One in Renegades of Magic, continuing the epic tale begun in DARK WIZARD. https://jeffekennedy.com/shadow-wizardROGUE'S PARADISE is out today! (https://jeffekennedy.com/rogue-s-paradise). Buy book 1, ROGUE'S PAWN, here! (https://jeffekennedy.com/rogue-s-pawn) and book 2, ROGUE'S POSSESSION, here! (https://jeffekennedy.com/rogue-s-possession).ORIA'S GAMBIT now available in audio on Scribd here! https://www.scribd.com/audiobook/571010481/Oria-s-Gambit LONEN'S WAR - now in audio! - is available wide. Buy links here https://jeffekennedy.com/lonen-s-war and in audio on Scribd here https://www.scribd.com/audiobook/558914129/Lonen-s-WarIf you want to support me and the podcast, click on the little heart or follow this link (https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/jeffekennedy).You can watch this podcast on YouTube here https://youtu.be/PjsqfTYHatoSign up for my newsletter here! (https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/r2y4b9)Support the show
Catherine Asaro discusses the latest Major Bhajaan novel, The Jigsaw Assassin and Cobra by Timothy Zahn, Part 17. View the podcast in video form at https://www.baen.com/podcastfiles/mp3/video-baen-free-radio-hour-The-Jigsaw-Assassin-Cobra-part-17.mp4 and the Baen YouTube Channel.
Catherine Asaro discusses The Vanished Seas, an entry in the Major Bhaajan science fiction mystery series set in the world of Asaro's Skolian Empire. Asaro talks about the characters and the deep history of her setting, the city of Cries on the planet Raylicon—a city stratified by an opulent metropolis on the surface with a hardscrabble underground section below called the Undercity—and the manner in which her private investigator is able to bridge both worlds; and David Weber's Uncompromising Honor, Part 21.
Episode 74 we (eventually) judge the book Primary Inversion by Catherine Asaro. We also talk about Jess' pandemic unicorns, saying pandemic wrong, owning pets, bad Tinder, farming moss, fish and spaceships, and tacos.
"The Ruby Dice", by Catherine Asaro. This week we open the Grimoire Cage and unleash that most dangerous of bibliographic bogeymen: the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book! Your stalwart hosts recount very different experiences on their voyage through the number-coded pages of a vast and sprawling adventure, with naught but their wits — such as they are — and a studious commitment to sincere literary reportage to guide them. K battles a Space Dragon (who may or may not be a pirate). Khaki invents a collective noun for Velibraraptors. Find CoverMyAssCast on Twitter, Gmail and www.covermyasscast.com.
This episode’s guest is Catherine Asaro, two-time Nebula Award-winning science fiction author and former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. She is also a dancer, musician, teacher, and an extremely successful math contest coach. Catherine discusses her scientific background - which culminated in a PhD in Chemical Physics from Harvard University - and how she discovered her career path by bringing her passion for science together with her love of storytelling. She also talks about the challenges of raising a profoundly gifted child, and how those challenges led to her becoming one of the top math coaches in the nation.
Catherine Asaro has written more than 25 books in science fiction, fantasy, and near-future thrillers. She earned her doctorate in chemical physics and master’s in physics, both at Harvard. Her works The Quantum Rose and The Spacetime Pool are both Nebula® Award winners. Among her other distinctions, she is a multiple winner of the AnLab from Analog Magazine and the RT BOOKClub Award for “Best Science Fiction Novel.” Her most recent books are Undercity (Baen) and Lighting Strike, Book II. Her latest book, The Bronzed Skies, came out from Baen in 2016. A former ballet and jazz dancer, Catherine has performed on both coasts and in Ohio. As a musician, she performs at various cons and jazz clubs. She has appeared at cons and other venues as a Guest of Honor or author guest in the US and abroad. http://www.facebook.com/Catherine.Asaro Twitter: Catherine_Asaro YouTube: http://www.catherineasaro.net Bruce Press spent 30 years as a Computer Engineer and regrets none of it. Except for all the time he didn't spend as a photographer. He is a husband to one and a father to many (or so it seems). When he is not creating images or video, he is working to promote science, critical thinking, podcasts and the idea that everyone on this planet will be equally screwed if we don't pull it together. http://www.brucefpressphotography.com http://www.facebook.com/BruceFPressPhotograph
We talk about The Expanse and the merits of hard sci-fi with scientist and sci-fi writer Catherine Asaro, rocket scientist Jack Clemons, and Baltimore skeptic Bruce Press. Catherine Asaro has written more than 25 books in science fiction, fantasy, and near-future thrillers. She earned her doctorate in chemical physics and master’s in physics, both at Harvard. Her works The Quantum Rose and The Spacetime Pool are both Nebula® Award winners. Among her other distinctions, she is a multiple winner of the AnLab from Analog Magazine and the RT BOOKClub Award for “Best Science Fiction Novel.” Her most recent books are Undercity (Baen) and Lighting Strike, Book II. Her latest book, The Bronzed Skies, came out from Baen in 2016. A former ballet and jazz dancer, Catherine has performed on both coasts and in Ohio. As a musician, she performs at various cons and jazz clubs. She has appeared at cons and other venues as a Guest of Honor or author guest in the US and abroad. Jack Clemons is a former Lockheed Martin engineering executive and a degreed “rocket scientist”. He was an engineer and team leader on NASA's Apollo and Space Shuttle Programs. He has given talks across the Mid-Atlantic region on the Apollo Moon Program, on the design and first flights of the NASA Space Shuttle, and on the subject of Why Science Matters. He also appeared in the "Command Module" segment of "Moon Machines," the Discovery Science Channel's award-winning six-part documentary about the Apollo Program. He’s a published science fiction author and a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and he writes a space and science column for the new Amazing Stories Magazine print edition. His works of fiction have earned him an Established Artist Fellowship for Literary Fiction by the Delaware Division of the Arts. "Safely to Earth: The Men and Women Who Brought the Astronauts Home", his book about his time on the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs, will be released this September. Bruce Press spent 30 years as a Computer Engineer and regrets none of it. Except for all the time he didn't spend as a photographer. He is a husband to one and a father to many (or so it seems). When he is not creating images or video, he is working to promote science, critical thinking, podcasts and the idea that everyone on this planet will be equally screwed if we don't pull it together. Catherine Asaro http://www.facebook.com/Catherine.Asaro Twitter: Catherine_Asaro YouTube: http://www.catherineasaro.net Jack Clemons amazingstoriesmag.com/authors/jack-clemons/ Bruce Press http://www.brucefpressphotography.com http://www.facebook.com/BruceFPressPhotograph
Catherine Asaro discusses The Bronze Skies, her new Major Bhaaj science fiction detective novel, the sequel to Undercity. The book is set in Catherine's far-future Skolian Empire universe and features a gritty detective who grew up in the tough Undercity area on the planet Raylicon; and part sixteen of the complete audiobook serialization of Liaden Universe® novel Alliance of Equals by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.
Catherine Asaro discusses her novel Undercity, a mystery-science fiction blend with noir elements, and lots of great SF ideas intermixed. Undercity marks the start of a series set within her Skolian universe; and Part 38 of Hard Magic by Larry Correia as read by Bronson Pinchot.
A panel on space travel with Andy Love moderating, with Catherine Asaro, Pamela Gay, Charles E. Gannon and Geoffrey Landis.From the programme:"Scientists discuss ideas for space travel that have been underutilized or could be due for reintroduction into the genre"
Catherine Asaro (theoretical physicist, author and SIGMA consultant), Stephanie Osborn (former NASA payload specialist and author) David L. Burkhead (who works at a scanning electron microscopy facility, and writes science fiction as well) and your host: Stephen Euin Cobb. Topic: Nanotechnology. What is being done today and what it may produce in the future. Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the August 21, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 53 minutes] This is a panel discussion recorded before an audience at the SF&F convention LibertyCon in Chattanooga TN on June 29, 2013.
John Ringo (best selling author), Larry Correa (best selling author), Catherine Asaro (theoretical physicist, author and SIGMA consultant), Les Johnson (author and NASA administrator), Tedd Roberts (brain scientist), Michael Z. Williamson (author), Julie Cochran (author), Patrick Vanner (author) and Lillian Price (microbiologist and medical student) are today's speakers. Topic: "Ten Ways Civilization Might Die." Ways discussed include: another Carrington Event, an eruption of the Yellowstone caldera, an asteroidal impact, The Singularity, a computer virus with unexpected catastrophic secondary and tertiary effects, a human engineered virus or bacteria, cyber attacks against infrastructure, EMPs (electromagnetic pulses), the vulnerabilities of digital patient medical records, the rise of artificial intelligence, universal apathy in a wired world, The Law of Unintended Consequences, and the obvious--Global Nuclear War. Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the July 31, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 60 minutes] This is a panel discussion recorded before a live audience at the SF&F convention LibertyCon in Chattanooga TN on June 29, 2013.
Seventeen diverse interviews from LibertyCon 2013. Topics: Trends and insight into what is happening behind the scenes in a wide variety of professions, interests, enthusiasms and fields. This collection is partly intended give you a sense of the trends which are creating the future, but also to provide you with a bit of the flavor of the science fiction and fantasy convention LibertyCon. Our guests today in the order in which they appear: Catherine Asaro (author, scientist, dancer, singer and LibertyCon's Science Guest of Honor). Kevin J Anderson (best selling author and LibertyCon's Literary Guest of Honor) accompanied by his wife Rebecca Moesta. Larry Correia (best selling author and LibertyCon's Master of Ceremonies). John Ringo (bestselling author). Toni Weisskopf (head of Baen Books). Michael Z. Williamson (author of military SF). Patrick Vanner (author). Stuart Jaffe (author & podcaster). Elayna Little Cook (volunteer working in the LibertyCon art room). Melissa Gay (professional artist). Brandy Spraker (LibertyCon's new chairperson). Kennith I. Roy (engineer and space engineering researcher). Gail Sanders (costume maker and vendor). Warren Buff & Jeff Orth (SF&F convention organizers). Cathe Smith (insect geneticist and LibertyCon volunteer). Geoffrey Mandragora (author of The Thunderbolt Affair). Lillian Price (author of Thin Places). Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the July 24, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 133 minutes].
Catherine Asaro (theoretical physicist, author and SIGMA consultant), Les Johnson (author and NASA administrator), Sarah Hoyt (author), Tedd Roberts (brain scientist), Ben Davis (nuclear physicist), Jeff Barnes (FAA safety engineer and SF writer), Lillian Price (microbiologist and medical student), Chuck Gannon (author and SIGMA consultant) and Jim Beall (nuclear engineer) are today's speakers. Topic: "Where's My Flying Car?" And other broken promises about the future from science fiction. Subtopics: tricorders; jet packs; nuclear fusion; teleportation; faster than light travel; anti-matter; space tourism; foods that won't spoil; supersonic commercial airliners; and robot servants that do the laundry, wash the dishes and cook meals. Also all those cool things from the movie "Back to the Future" such as Doc Brown's time machine and Mister Fusion; Marty Mcfly's hover board, self-tying shoes and self-drying clothes; and the national weather service's right-on-time weather control. Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the July 17, 2013 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 59 minutes] This is a panel discussion recorded before a live audience at the SF&F convention LibertyCon in Chattanooga TN on June 29, 2013.
This is the 200th episode of The Future And You. Over a hundred never-before-heard predictions about the future from dozens of past guests, a few possible future guests, several listeners and an assortment of people actively building the future we are all going to live in. Predictions and Congratulations from: Larry Niven, Joe Haldeman, Frederik Pohl, Catherine Asaro, Harry Turtledove, Gregory Benford, John Varley, Extropia DaSilva, CJ Cherryh, CJ Henderson, David Orban, Dave Freer, Giulio Prisco, Mike Resnick, Michael Anissimov, David Brin, Barry Hayworth, Paul Fischer, Cathe Smith, Michael D'Ambrosio, Tim Bolgeo (AKA: Uncle Timmy), Bryan Bishop, James Maxey, Robert Hooker, David Drake, Charlie Stross, Nancy Kress, Hildy Silverman, Michael Vassar, Randal L. Schwartz, David B. Coe, R.U. Sirius, Kevin J. Anderson, Amara D. Angelica, Gail Z. Martin, Philippe Van Nedervelde, Dale Baker, Vernor Vinge, Wayne Rooney, Larry Bowman, Joseph Sullivan, Charlie Kam, Dr. Anders Sandberg, Davey Beauchamp, Timothy Zahn, Sarah A. Hoyt, and Podcasting's Rich Sigfrit. Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the May 25, 2011 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 90 minutes].
Harry Turtledove, David B. Coe, and Toni Weisskopf are our featured guests today. Interviewed as a group and recorded before a live audience, they discuss the future of books and the trends they see in publishing. In the process of sharing their vision of the future they also share many personal anecdotes about themselves and about famous authors they have met, including: Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, L. Sprague de Camp, Mike Resnick, Sarah A. Hoyt, Lois McMaster Bujold, Charles Sheffield and Catherine Asaro. Harry Turtledove is an award winning science fiction & fantasy author best known for his novels of alternate history. He holds a Ph.D. from UCLA in Byzantine history. (Web, Wiki) David B. Coe is an award winning author of epic fantasy novels who holds a Ph.D. in environmental history. (Web, Wiki) Toni Weisskopf is an award winning editor and the head of Baen Books: the world renowned publishing house of SF&F hardbacks, paperbacks and electronic books. Baen Books was founded by Jim Baen, and is the owner of Jim Baen's Universe Magazine, where your humble host is a columnist and contributing editor. (Web, Wiki) Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the July 16, 2008 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 69 minutes] This interview was recorded on July 12, 2008 at the Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention in Chattanooga TN called LibertyCon.
Catherine Asaro, physicist and Nebula award winning author, is our featured guest. (Her website) She discuses nanotech, biotech, artificial intelligence and the singularity. She also describes her expectations concerning aging and longevity, oil and alternative energy; and she agrees to let the host arrange for her to do a personal appearance inside Second Life. She mentions that she has begun composing music on the computer, says a few words about her new novel (The Night Bird) and briefly lets slip that she will be consulting with a game developer (which she could not name) to help them with aspects of the new game they are designing. When asked questions which form the core beliefs of The Order of Cosmic Engineers (web) (a new international organization of which your host is a founding member) she displays a remarkable level of agreement. As a tutor to gifted children she sees how the world view of children today is radically different than those held by children just twenty or thirty years ago. Their vision of the world has been transformed by the Internet and cell phones into something far more global and far less tied to ones specific locality. Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the June 25, 2008 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 66 minutes] Catherine Asaro is the author of 23 novels which have been described as a blend of hard science fiction, romance and space adventure. 11 of her novels belong to her Saga of the Skolian Empire. Her novel The Quantum Rose won the Nebula Award for best novel of 2001 and she is a three-time winner of the Romantic Times Book Club award for Best Science Fiction Novel. From UCLA she received a Bachelors Degree in Chemistry. From Harvard she received a Masters in Physics and a Ph.D. in Chemical Physics. She has done research at the University of Toronto in Canada, the Max Planck Institut für Astrophysik in Germany, and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Her research involved using quantum theory to describe the behavior of atoms and molecules. She was a physics professor until 1990, when she established Molecudyne Research. A former ballerina, she has performed with ballets and in musicals on both the east and west coast of the United States. In the 1980's she was a principal dancer and artistic director of the Mainly Jazz Dancers and the Harvard University Ballet. She has also published short stories, reviews, essays, and scientific papers in refereed academic journals. Her paper Complex Speeds and Special Relativity, which appeared in the April 1996 issue of The American Journal of Physics, forms the basis for some of the science in her novels.
Catherine Asaro, scientist and Nebula award winning author, is our featured guest; while Glen Walkerson who writes tech-manuals for the F-16 fighter jet provides a brief bonus interview.Catherine Asaro describes her thoughts on the rise of nanotechnology, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, the ongoing feminization of civilization, and how non-lethal weapons might alter the nature of war. Glen Walkerson shares a few comments on the new F-22 fighter jet, which is under production, as well as the F-35 fighter which is still in development.Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the February 13, 2008 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 41 minutes]Catherine Asaro is the author of 16 novels which have been described as a blend of hard science fiction, romance and space adventure. 11 of her novels belong to her Saga of the Skolian Empire. Her novel The Quantum Rose won the Nebula Award for Best Novel of 2001 and she is a three-time winner of the Romantic Times Book Club award for Best Science Fiction Novel.From UCLA she received a Bachelors Degree in Chemistry. From Harvard she received a Masters in Physics and a Ph.D. in Chemical Physics.She has done research at the University of Toronto in Canada, the Max Planck Institut für Astrophysik in Germany, and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Her research involved using quantum theory to describe the behavior of atoms and molecules. She was a physics professor until 1990 when she established Molecudyne Research.A former ballerina, she has performed with ballets and in musicals on both the east and west coast of the United States. In the 1980's she was a principal dancer and artistic director of the Mainly Jazz Dancers and the Harvard University Ballet.She has also published short stories, reviews, essays, and scientific papers in refereed academic journals. Her paper Complex Speeds and Special Relativity, which appeared in the April 1996 issue of The American Journal of Physics, forms the basis for some of the science in her novels.
Authors Catherine Asaro, Hildy Silverman, Randal L. Schwartz and Stoney Compton are joined by editor Paula Goodlett from Jim Baen's Universe Magazine. Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the August 1, 2007 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 114 minutes] --- Topics include: [1] News and Listener Feedback (a) Fred Saberhagen (author of the Berserker Series) has passed away. [2] Will future ballet dancers augment their bodies for greater strength and range of motion? And will we develop faster than light travel (FTL) in the same way we developed quanta mechanics and the relativistic equations? Author and scientist, Catherine Asaro covers both questions with authority because her career has included both. Concurrent with earning her doctorate in chemical physics from Harvard, she started and ran the Harvard University Ballet dance company, which still performs. [3] Stoney Compton (author of the alternate history novel Russian Amerika) provides summaries and short readings from Jim Baen's Universe, the online magazine of science fiction and fantasy. [4] How soon will e-books be as cheap as candy bars? As a child, Paula Goodlett, more than once, lived in towns without a library; where there was little available for her to read. Today she's the Managing Editor of Jim Baen's Universe Magazine and of The Grantville Gazette, both of which were created by Eric Flint and the late Jim Baen to experimentally test the waters of electronic publishing. Paula describes how these two experiments developed and what has been learned from them so far. She also provides hints of what changes are yet to be tried. [5] Another installment in our serialization of the novel Bones Burnt Black; this time the second half of chapter 16. [6] Infertility in America is increasing. This trend has lasted for decades, has been verified through statistics, and shows no sign of slowing. But while infertility is growing a new openness in talking about the subject is allowing its stigma to fade. Achieving Families Magazine is the “only magazine dedicated to providing real-life informative stories and articles to guide you through the challenges of infertility.? Hildy Silverman is more than just one of its editors; she's a living example of how science and technology are bringing the joy of childbearing to those who would otherwise be left out. Her daughter was conceived through technological intervention. Hildy describes new methods of conception, and the thorny legal problems they've created. [7] With its twitchy and crash-prone reputation, do you really want Microsoft Windows running the anesthesia and life support software during your next surgical procedure? And in the future, when nanorobots are ready to be injected into your bloodstream to protect you from heart attack, stroke and cancer, should you trust their AI software not to crash. Or more importantly, should you trust them not to get a bug that identifies, as a cancerous tumor which must be sliced up and removed, your heart or eyes or brain? Randal L. Schwartz is a programmer familiar with the weakness and frequent glitches of software.
Authors Kim Stanley Robinson, David B. Coe, Jay Lake, Catherine Asaro and Sarah A. Hoyt are joined by John R. Douglas (from scifipedia.scifi.com) and Bananaslug and Stoney (from Jim Baen's Universe magazine). Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the January 1, 2007 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 125 minutes] --- Topics include: [1] Comments from listeners. [2] Is our world already changing too fast for our cultural headlights? Jay Lake (author and anthologist) discusses this as well as Wikipedia, Google and global warming. He also suggests that those who don't benefit from The Singularity at its very beginning will be left out of it forever. [3] Bananaslug and Stoney take us inside Jim Baen's Universe in this, the second official segment, from the online science fiction and fantasy magazine. [4] Do large segments of the American population have various vested interests in not looking at the future's potential dangers? John R. Douglas (editor at scifipedia and one of the organizers of World Fantasy Con) believes that Americans would rather be happy consumers than listen to scientists' scary predictions. He also says that too many business people plan for the future only as far as their company's next quarter, and not one second farther. He also suggests that the first immortal may already be alive; specifically, Bill Gates. [5] Another installment in our serialization of the novel: Bones Burnt Black. [6] Is the internet killing hundreds of used bookstores? When the one near her house closed, Sarah A. Hoyt (author and voracious reader) was surprised to discover that she was as much at fault as everyone else. As she gradually changed her book buying habits, without her knowledge, the rest of the population had been changing theirs too. [7] Does POD publishing (Print-on-demand) have a future? And are there times when it makes sense to use it now? Catherine Asaro (author, physicist and former president of SFWA) uses concrete examples from two of her friends. She also talks of eBooks and electronic rights. [8] Has digital photography achieved professional quality? David B. Coe (author and serious nature photographer) says the future is here now, and the advantages cannot be ignored. [9] Is our civilization in a time crunch? Have we reached a crisis point in history? Or has every generation seen themselves this way? Kim Stanley Robinson talks of this as well as nanotechnology and his doubts about the singularity and artificial intelligence.
Authors Eric Flint, Mike Resnick, David B. Coe, Marjorie M. Liu, Catherine Asaro and Sarah A. Hoyt are guests, as are: Lucienne Diver (a major literary agent), Toni Weisskopf (the new head of Baen Books) and Walt Boyes (the soon to be famous Bananaslug). Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the December 1, 2006 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 152 minutes] --- Topics include: [1] News Item: This show is now teamed with the largest SF online magazine in the world Jim Baen's Universe. [2] Can the magazine equivalent of an e-book compete with magazines printed on paper? Launched this summer with the legendary publisher's name on its masthead and the support of Baen Books behind it, Eric Flint explains how he and the staff of Jim Baen's Universe intend to find out, as well as what they've learned already. [3] The podcasting debut of Jim Baen's Universe. Walt Boyes interviews Mike Resnick (winner of five Hugo Awards). [4] How rapid is the growth of home schooling? Is it really better than public school? And are parents even qualified to teach their kids? Catherine Asaro (author, physicist and former ballerina) who has home schooled her own daughter for years and now teaches advanced mathematics to eighty other home schooled children, emphasizes that it's not just for religious families anymore. [5] Toni Weisskopf (the new head of Baen Books) describes her take on the singularity, technological immortality, global warming, the next fall of civilization, the Chinese going to the moon, faster-than-light travel, cryonics and SETI. [6] Another installment in our serialization of the novel: Bones Burnt Black. [7] Is the future we live in today already weirder than the futures we dreamed of decades ago? Sarah A. Hoyt (author and polyglot) thinks so, and insists that if science increases our healthy years by a few more decades this will produce a huge cascade of changes throughout society. [8] Lucienne Diver (one of publishing's top literary agents) describes trends within the publishing industry, as well as her worries and hopes for the future outside the biz. [9] How can you verify scientifically the day when men and women are equal? Your host has devised an empirical measurement completely devoid of bias. [10] How soon will parents give in to the temptation to use increasingly available eugenics technologies to improve their own children? Marjorie M. Liu (N.Y. Times bestselling author and former lawyer) describes the inevitable legal and judicial problems soon to be dropped in society's lap. She also startles the host with her revelation that there are judges sitting on the bench right now who have not passed the bar, have never been lawyers and have no degree in law. [11] In the face of our looming energy crisis is it time for passionate environmentalists to rethink their knee-jerk opposition to nuclear power and hydroelectric dams? David B. Coe (author and environmentalist with a PhD in environmental history) risks his environmentalist street creds by insisting that it is.
Authors Catherine Asaro, Kim Stanley Robinson, Alan Dean Foster and Sarah A. Hoyt are joined by Toni Weisskopf (the new head of Baen Books) and Paul Levinson (author, professor and media commentator). Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the November 1, 2006 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 150 minutes] --- Topics include: [1] Ideas from listeners. [2] Why do they keep raising the requirements of artificial intelligence every time someone builds a computer that meets the requirements? Catherine Asaro (author, physicist and former ballerina) discusses this and other transhumanist concerns. [3] With the tragic loss of its visionary founder, Jim Baen, what direction will Baen Books take into the future? Toni Weisskopf, Baen's new leader, provides many of the answers. [4] Chapter twelve in our serialization of the novel Bones Burnt Black. [5] Can political science become an actual science rather than a pretend science as it is now? And if it embraces the scientific method can it then become a tool to benefit all people, rather than just its divisive practitioners as it all too often does now? Kim Stanley Robinson, author and a self-proclaimed science patriot, speaks of this and other matters. [6] Are adults different today? Has intellectual maturity become a thing of the past? Instead of reaching a plateau of stability, do we now spend all our lives in a mentally malleable child-like state in which we are continually learning, growing and changing? Sarah A. Hoyt, author and life-long learner, insists the answer is Yes. [7] Has the time come for a single unified diagram which can integrate every kind of celestial object in the universe? Is it even possible to arrange in a single continuum all the objects from the tiniest tumbling grain of dust to quasars brighter than a billion suns? Your host thinks it is, and proposes just such a diagram in this essay. [8] What is the likelihood of technological immortality? Why is cryonics better than cremation? And do ecological preserves without armed enforcement against poachers have a meaningful future? Alan Dean Foster, author and world traveler, covers all this and more. [9] Can every celestial object in the universe be defined accurately using a simple notation system of just five numbers? Based on the universal diagram from his previous essay, your host makes a case for an equally universal system of classification. [10] What's it like to go head-to-head with Bill O'Reilly on his TV show The O'Reilly Factor? Paul Levinson (author, professor and media commentator) shares his experiences in that very public hot-seat.