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In this special episode of Book Overflow, Carl Brown (of the YouTube channel Internet of Bugs) joins Carter and Nathan to share some of his favorite books! Carl is incredibly well read and shares which books have influenced him over his very impressive 35 year career. 00:00 Intro 02:17 How did Internet of Bugs come to be? 06:03 Why still read tech books? 08:32 Mythical Man-Month 14:40 Philosophy of Software Design, TCL/TK, 25:56 Advanced Programming in Unix and TCP/IP Illustrated 32:32 How important is it to be well-versed in Unix? 42:27 Freelance, Business, and Consulting book recommendations 52:57 Lightning Round: Managing your programming career, philosophy, and general advice 01:02:34 Final Thoughts -- Books Mentioned in this Episode -- Note: As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. ---------------------------------------------------------- App Accomplished: Strategies for App Development Success 1st Edition, Kindle Edition by Carl Brown https://amzn.to/473mG9C (paid link) Mythical Man-Month, The: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition Anniversary Edition by Frederick Brooks Jr. https://amzn.to/3XnDhlm (paid link) A Philosophy of Software Design, 2nd Edition by John Ousterhout https://amzn.to/473OISA (paid link) Tcl and the Tk Toolkit 1st Edition by John K. Ousterhout https://amzn.to/3X7sdHX (paid link) Advanced Programming in the Unix Environment by W. Richard Stevens https://amzn.to/477PayZ (paid link) TCP/IP Illustrated, Vol. 1: The Protocols by W. Richard Stevens https://amzn.to/3T6ZFgo (paid link) {Carl says Volumes 2 and 3 are great, too} Sun Performance and Tuning: Java and the Internet (2nd Edition) Subsequent Edition by Adrian Cockcroft, Richard Pettit https://amzn.to/3Xkczdt (paid link) Free Agent Nation: How America's New Independent Workers Are Transforming the Way We Live by Daniel H. Pink https://amzn.to/47mhDBD (paid link) The Computer Consultant's Guide: Real-Life Strategies for Building a Successful Consulting Career 2nd Edition by Janet Ruhl https://amzn.to/3T9IT0d (paid link) Getting Started in Consulting by Alan Weiss https://amzn.to/3T7INpY (paid link) The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas https://amzn.to/3T6lvk9 (paid link) The Pragmatic Programmer: 20th Anniversary Edition, 2nd Edition: Your Journey to Mastery by David Thomas, Andrew Hunt, et al. https://amzn.to/3TafdQp (paid link) My Job Went to India (and All I Got Was This Lousy Book): 52 Ways to Save Your Job (Pragmatic Programmers) 1st Edition by Chad Fowler https://amzn.to/3T8ubGu (paid link) Programming Perl by Tom Christiansen, Randal L. Schwartz, et al. https://amzn.to/4g32KYy (paid link) Speed Reading: Third Edition by Tony Buzan https://amzn.to/3X7qCla (paid link) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: 30th Anniversary Edition (The Covey Habits Series) by Stephen R. Covey , Jim Collins, et al. https://amzn.to/4geWVYm (paid link) Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (3rd Edition) by Steve Krug | Dec 24, 2013 https://amzn.to/3X1RRxD (paid link) Database in Depth: Relational Theory for Practitioners by C. J. Date | May 15, 2005 https://amzn.to/3z055D4 (paid link) Joe Celko's SQL for Smarties: Advanced SQL Programming by Joe Celko | Dec 16, 2014 https://amzn.to/4geWYn0 (paid link) Problem Frames and Methods: Analysing and Structuring Software Development Problems Paperback – January 1, 2001 by Michael A. Jackson https://amzn.to/4g6sdjO (paid link) Learning to Classify Text Using Support Vector Machines 2nd Edition by Thorsten Joachims https://amzn.to/3ACf95y (paid link) Driving Technical Change: Why People On Your Team Don't Act On Good Ideas, and How to Convince Them They Should by Terrence Ryan | Dec 28, 2010 https://amzn.to/3MoUpRC (paid link) Understanding Deep Learning by Simon J.D. Prince https://amzn.to/3TafqTH (paid link) As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
Main Fiction: "Eventual Consistency" by Zero HP Lovecraft.This story was previously published at the author's website.Zero HP Lovecraft is in the room with us right now. He is a known antichrist-hater and woman-respect-maximalist. He believes that love and emotions are chemicals but, hypocrite that he is, he relies on chemicals to tell him his emotions are chemicals. But he will not perish like a dog, oh no–he'll fight.Narrated by Randal L. Schwartz.Randal L. Schwartz is best well known for his seminal books on the Perl programming language that helped make the world wide web possible and popular. He produced a weekly audio and video podcast on open source software, but has given that up after 13 years to get those five hours per week back again. Between the podcast, and bouncing all over the world teaching programming and speaking at conferences, he's no stranger to the limelight. He enjoys pulling out his gear to record yet another narration, and likens it to "getting to read bedtime stories to the kids I never had", and looks forward to future assignments. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/starshipsofa. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Randal L. Schwartz is a renowned expert on the Perl programming language, having contributed to a dozen top-selling books on the subject, and over 250 magazine articles. Schwartz is a Dart/Flutter Google Developer Expert, providing assistance and training. Schwartz runs a Perl training and consulting company (Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc of Portland, Oregon), and is a highly sought-after speaker for his masterful stage combination of technical skill, comedic timing, and crowd rapport. Schwartz hosted the successful FLOSS Weekly podcast, covering Free/Libre Open Source Software by interviewing the project leaders and legends in the industry. Schwartz serves on the LinuxFund Board, and formerly served on the boards of the Perl Institute and Squeak. And he's a pretty good Karaoke singer, winning contests regularly. https://youtube.com/channel/UCUDt0S0gfQJ4eLkx66ox5Jg Podcast producer: FLOSS Weekly (https://twit.tv/floss) InSightCruises News-es (https://podcast.insightcruises.com) Books authored/coauthored: Programming Perl (multiple editions) Learning Perl (multiple editions) Learning Perl on Win32 Systems Learning Perl Objects References and Modules (multiple editions) Effective Perl Programming: Writing Better Programs with Perl Object Oriented Perl Randal Schwartz's Perls of Wisdom Magazine articles and columns (over 250 total): UnixReview Magazine PerformanceComputing Magazine SysAdmin Magazine and Website WebTechniques Magazine and Website Linux Magazine and Website The Perl Journal E-Magazine Apple Developer Works Website Regular contributor to online forums: Gitter channels for Dart and Flutter stackoverflow.com perlmonks.org (The Perl Monastery) use.perl.org newsgroups comp.lang.perl.misc et. seq. newsgroup comp.lang.perl.announce (moderator since inception) perl.org mailing lists
Parth is a guy who is trying to grow up and do mature stuff and work but ends up designing, playing games (most of the time) or watching Movies/TV Series. Parth has lots of experience in designing user interfaces & front-end development. Parth uses Angular for Creating frontend, ionic and Flutter to create hybrid apps. Parth has mastery over some of the adobe creative suite apps. Correction: In this episode I mentioned that VSCode is implemented by a community member. Originally yes, but Google bought a year of his time, so he's working for the Google now. Not sure when the renewal date is though. Most of the differences between the IntelliJ plugin and the VSCode plugin are because the VSCode plugin architecture is more limited. Thank you Randal L. Schwartz (https://twitter.com/merlyn ) for pointing this out!
Four years of BSDTalk.Interview with Randal Schwartz. We talk about his early experiences with BSD, permissive licenses, OpenBSD, OpenSolaris, perl, the BSDFund credit card, and the Floss Weekly podcast.File Info: 24Min, 12MB.Ogg Link:https://archive.org/download/bsdtalk183/bsdtalk183.ogg
In this first episode of GitMinutes, I talk to Randal L. Schwarz about the history of Git, and a lot of other things like Perl, involuntary Git migrations, the Git community, and his favorite editor! If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element. Use the link below to download the mp3 manually. Link to mp3Links that we mention:FLOSS Weekly (Randal's podcast, recommended)Episode 122: Mercurial Episode 118: GerritEpisode 19: Git Randal's homepageRandal on Google+ Randal’s Google TechTalk about Git (2007)The revised Git talk on Vimeo (2012) (Slides)Deploying with(out) GitRepo managers: Gitolite, Gitorious and Gitblit (which I mispronounced as 'libgit', doh)My tips on sending mail to the Git developer's mailing listThe Git-user mailing listSome Git commands we talked about:Nice graphic Git log in console: git log --oneline --graph --decorateUpdate and study history in gitk: git fetch -p; git pull --rebase; gitk --allAdditionally, I think these are some interesting links to have a look at:Junio C Hamano aka Gitster's Blog (a nice place to keep up to date with new Git releases)A Note from the Maintainer (explains some of the Git project's conventions)You can email comments and feedback to feedback@gitminutes.com, or comment on this blog-post, or get in touch via:GitMinutes on TwitterGitMinutes on Google+The intro/outro music is provided royalty-free by danosongs.com. Do check them out!Thanks for listening!Listen to the episode on YouTube
Chris and Janet Morris (US military and government advisers on non-lethal weapons) are our featured guests. Topic: Non-Lethal Weapons: How they change the future of military engagements (Part 3). Also Chris and Janet's fiction anthology series': Heroes in Hell and Lawyers in Hell. Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the October 26, 2011 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 48 minutes]. This is the third and final portion of this interview which was recorded using Skype on October 1, 2011. Janet Morris is President and CEO of M2 Technologies, Inc., a woman-owned corporation specializing in non-lethal weapons (NLW), novel technology applications, tactics and technology. Her seminal non-lethal concept and novel technology applications work has been used by the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Office of the Secretary of Defense, and was excerpted in the Army's Draft Operations Concept for Disabling Measures (920904). She has taught or provided course material to the U.S. Air Force's Air Command and Staff College, National Defense University's (IRMC) School of Information Warfare and Strategy, and Penn State University Applied Research Laboratory's Non-Lethal Institute. She has provided and presented seminars and briefings to the Defense Science Board, the Congressional Research Service, Senate Armed Services Committee Staff, and the Center for Naval Analysis. Chris Morris is Vice-President and Board Chairman of M2 Technologies, Inc., specializing in strategic planning, tactical support, and technology exploitation. His work on non-lethal, developmental, and foreign technology policy and implementation issues has been used by the U.S. Army, the U.S. Marine Corps, OSD Office of Munitions, OSD Net Assessment, and excerpted in the U.S. Army's Draft Operations Concept for Disabling Measures (920904). He has taught course elements and contributed papers to the U.S. Air Force Air Command and Staff College and National Defense University's (IRMC) School of Information Warfare & Strategy. He has presented Strategic Planning papers and papers on technology exploitation to the Center for Naval Analysis, the Defense Science Board, Georgia Institute of Technology, Penn State University's Advanced Research Laboratory, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. News Item: A new cyber-threat warning issued by the United States National Cyber-Alert System in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security. Unspecified vulnerability in Medtronic Paradigm wireless insulin pump 512, 522, 712, and 722 allows remote attackers to modify the delivery of an insulin bolus dose and cause a denial of service (adverse human health effects) via unspecified vectors involving wireless communications and knowledge of the device's serial number, as demonstrated by Jerome Radcliffe at the Black Hat USA conference in August 2011. NOTE: the vendor has disputed the severity of this issue, saying "we believe the risk of deliberate, malicious, or unauthorized manipulation of medical devices is extremely low... we strongly believe it would be extremely difficult for a third-party to wirelessly tamper with your insulin pump... you would be able to detect tones on the insulin pump that weren't intentionally programmed and could intervene accordingly." Special thanks go to Randal L. Schwartz for emailing me this news item. (Randal is a widely known author of programming books and articles. He is co-host of FLOSS Weekly, and has been a guest on The Future And You six times in the last five years.)
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].
Randal L. Schwartz, the widely known computer programmer and programming consultant, is our featured guest today.Randal has acquired a level of renown through his longstanding work in popularizing and promoting the programming language called Perl. He has authored and co-authored many widely used books on the subject, and has written over 200 articles about it for various computer magazines.He is also the co-host of FLOSS Weekly (a podcast from the TWiT podcasting Network which features prominent guests from the free software/open source community).In today's interview Randal discusses the following topics:How ethanol is not only raising food prices world-wide but its production is also a major source of carbon dioxide (a concern for Global Warming), some have suggested that switch grass may be a better answer. Google's announced desire to offer free nation-wide wireless internet access; and the legal catch-22 that municipalities have always found themselves in when they tried to provide wi-fi at the taxpayer's expense. How passports with RFID chips can be hacked wirelessly as you walk through an airport; why it is that Japanese users are getting 25 times faster high-speed internet than American high-speed users; and how Netflix.com is scrambling to keep Hulu.com from outpacing them.Randal also describes his involvement with Geek Cruises and the Scientific American Cruises; his podcast FLOSS Weekly (which stands for Free Libre Open Source Software and may be found at twit.tv/floss); and his enthusiasm over a powerful new programming language called SeaSide. (Examples, BTW, of open source software include: Wikipedia, Blender, Gimp and Open Office.)Randal also gets to gloat over his prediction from last year because the New York Times has reported that pacemaker heart implants with wi-fi internet connections can be hacked through the internet by a hacker on the other side of the world, who can make the device stop working or even give the patient electric shocks strong enough to kill.Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the April 16, 2008 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 69 minutes]Randal L. Schwartz is a founding board member of the Perl Mongers, the worldwide Perl grassroots advocacy organization and, since 1985, has owned and operated Stonehenge Consulting Services which specializes in the teaching, training and programming of Perl.Also included in this episode is your host's eyewitness report on the Yuri's Night celebration that took place on April 12 in the city state of Extropia inside Second Life. David Brin (the award-winning and best-selling author) was the featured speaker. David was easily recognizable since his avatar wore a photorealistic skin created for the occasion by a skilled avatar artist.During the all-day festivities in Extropia your host: met two NASA representatives as well as some Russians, drove a moon buggy; sat inside a life-sized model of Yuri Gagarin's space capsule, danced with a wide variety of beautiful women, admired Vidal Tripsa's space suit (possibly the sexiest space suit ever), watched David Brin pack the house for his open forum discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of virtual worlds such as Second Life, and took over 300 photos of the day's events. (Many of which can be viewed on Flickr.)
David B. Coe the award-winning, and critically acclaimed, author of nine fantasy novels (some of which have been translated into no less than six languages, including Russian, German, Dutch, and French) is our featured guest today.David has a doctorate in American history from Stanford University, and he enjoys nature photography, bird and butterfly watching, and playing guitar.David talks about Wikipedia, e-books and Amazon's Kindle, Green investment funds, solar power, his belief that clean coal is decades away, and he once again emphasizes that if his fellow environmentalists are going to get serious about global warming they will have to find a way to embrace nuclear power.Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the March 12, 2008 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 82 minutes]David also describes the changing corporate climate concerning environmentalism. Being Green has become the In Thing for corporate marketing. Wal-Mart has become a leader in promoting Green. Saving the environment is now widely seen as good business.He explains why official decisions concerning which birds are, and are not, defined as separate species are based mostly on science, but also partly on politics, emotionalism, local tradition and sentimentality. An avid bird and butterfly watcher, he describes the trends in both, and mentions that butterflies are like the canary in the coal mine: they are an early indicator of damage to an ecosystem.He also responds with surprising candor to the host's question: For each of the current candidates (John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton) what is the best and worst things that would probably happen during their presidency?Others who provide comment, feedback or receive an honorable mention in this episode include: Randal L. Schwartz, Shaun Ferrell, Rich Sigfrit, Mur Lafferty, Tee Morris, Khannea Suntzu and Extropia DaSilva (for her blog post entitled Snowcrashing into the Diamond age).
Authors Jack McDevitt, Dr. Aubrey de Grey, Randal L. Schwartz and Stoney Compton are joined by Uncle Timmy (chairman of LibertyCon) and Walt, The Bananaslug, Boyes from Jim Baen's Universe magazine. Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the September 1, 2007 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 113 minutes] --- Topics include: [1] News Items (your host has been promoted to Contributing Editor at Jim Baen's Universe Magazine) and Listener Feedback (about The Singularity and how the Golden Age of Phone Surveying is drawing to a close). [2] Jack McDevitt, author of the Nebula Award winning novel Seeker, as well as thirteen other novels, has made a career out of imagining our future. Here he describes what he anticipates and wishes for our future, as well as what he fears. [3] Walt Boyes and Stoney Compton tell us what's in the latest issue of Jim Baen's Universe Magazine. [4] If you can cause a mouse to live an unnaturally long life you can win a huge cash prize. Inspired by the now famous space-commercializing X-Prize, The Methuselah Mouse Prize is just as real but is designed to popularize and promote innovative medical research in Life Extension. Doctor Aubrey de Grey of the Methuselah Foundation--who is both a gerontologist and a transhumanist--speaks of this and other aspects of medical life extension. [5] Another installment in our serialization of the novel Bones Burnt Black. [6] What would you do if you were unjustly arrested on felony charges as a computer hacker? Randal L. Schwartz knows what he would do since this actually happened to him. [7] In his twenty years of running a science fiction convention, Uncle Timmy (the founder and chairman of LibertyCon) has spent quality time with some of speculative fiction's greatest visionaries. In this candid interview Uncle Timmy reveals memories and anecdotes from behind those many scenes.
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.
Battlestar Galactica cast member Bodie Olmos (son of Edward James Olmos and grandson of Howard Keel) is joined by the authors Robert Buettner, Mike Resnick, Randal L. Schwartz and Stoney Compton, as well as by Walt (The Bananaslug) Boyes from Jim Baen's Universe magazine. Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the July 1, 2007 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 118 minutes] ---Topics include: [1] A few items of News and Listener Feedback: (a) The World Death Stacks tournament now offers a trophy for artificial intelligence, (b) this show has been nominated for a 2007 Parsec Award in three categories, and (c) Listener Feedback from Bunnies of London (an expensive British escort service). [2] With the future coming at us faster and faster how can your favorite science fiction writers stay one step ahead of emerging technology and the changes it creates in our lives? The truth is, sometimes they can't. Robert Buettner describes the future inside and outside of his novels, and how he and other writers struggle with the ever accelerating speed of scientific advancement. [3] Walt Boyes and Stoney Compton provide an inside look at what's new in the latest issue of Jim Baen's Universe, the online magazine of science fiction and fantasy. [4] Mike Resnick addresses a wide variety of questions such as how his own medical conditions may someday require he use voice recognition software, and how these conditions have influenced his feelings about socialized medicine. He also tackles other tough questions: Will the worlds religions remain relevant? Is it OK for big brother to watch you if it reduces crime? Will artificial intelligence worship its creators rather than destroy them? Will the lessons of prohibition be forgotten when writing future laws concerning Marijuana? And consumerism American style: is it succeeding where fascism and communism failed? Is consumerism doing what it appears to be doing: conquering every nation on earth?[5] Another installment in our serialization of the novel Bones Burnt Black; this time the first half of chapter 16. [6] Is it time to buy beachfront property inside the virtual world called Second Life? Randal L. Schwartz, who rents an apartment inside, and is therefore a resident, describes this bizarre world which is both similar and dissimilar to our own. Randal also describes some of his ideas concerning artificial intelligence and how quantum computing and neural nets may relate to it. [7] The actor Bodie Olmos (son of Edward James Olmos and grandson of Howard Keel) describes his work on the set of the TV show Battlestar Galactica, as well as how it has affected his expectations of the future. He also talks of trends within his favorite hobbies: surfing and playing drums; and (in this interview taped June 2, 2007) reveals that Battlestar Galactica will end its run at the end of this season.
Authors Robert J. Sawyer, Mike Resnick, David B. Coe, Edmund Schubert, Randal L. Schwartz and Stoney Compton are joined by Walt (The Bananaslug) Boyes and Davey Beauchamps. Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the June 1, 2007 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 167 minutes] --- Topics include: [1] News about your host's recent throat surgery, and listener feedback about the implanting and hardwiring of computers into the human brain. [2] Should we fear artificial intelligence? Once we make machines that are smarter than us how will we control or contain them? And if we try, won't they just outsmart us? Robert J. Sawyer explains why AI has dangerous possibilities which are being ignored today; and will continue to be ignored until, because of the accelerating pace of technological advancement, it will be too late. He discusses near term dangers, and ponders humanity's ultimate fate. Will we become pets or partners to machines, or something else for which we have no word? [3] Walt Boyes (The Bananaslug) and Stoney Compton give us an inside peek at what's going on in the current issue of Jim Baen's Universe Magazine. [4] Are state lotteries really an unethical tax upon the very people who can least afford them: the naive and gullible? Does the widespread popularity of gun ownership in America make the United States the only nation on earth that is unconquerable? Mike Resnick covers these and other subjects such as: Will Puerto Ricans ever vote for statehood knowing it will mean they'll have to begin paying income taxes? Will the US ever have socialized medicine? When Castro passes away, will Cuba embrace consumerism? [5] Another installment in our serialization of the novel Bones Burnt Black. [6] Did the documentary An Inconvenient Truth reveal as much about Al Gore and his political aspirations as it did about Al Gore's beliefs concerning climate change? David B. Coe describes what he sees as the many lessons from the movie including the probability that Al Gore will run for president in 2008, and his chances against Hillary and the other Democratic candidates. [7] In the next seven to fourteen years your monthly electric bill will drop to zero permanently, and you will drive a car every day which costs you nothing to fuel. An essay by your host about the soon-coming abundance of really cheap solar cells. [8] Are public libraries embracing the vast information access powers of the internet? The movement is called Library 2.0 and Davey Beauchamp (a professional librarian, and part-time writer and voice actor) has been helping it work its way into the quiet book-lined rooms of traditional libraries. Davey also describes trends in anime, his work on the second Writers for Relief anthology and announces that he has just been hired to write a rock opera based on the legend of Blue Beard the Pirate. [9] In the next three to five years diabetics will all stop poking needles into their fingertips forever. A mini-essay by your host about RFID chips which will be implanted inside human patients and provide constant medical measurements without wires. [10] What methods has Microsoft used that have given it a reputation for aggressive monopolism? And is it true, as some claim, that Microsoft's new Vista operating system has stolen 45 things from Apple's OS-10. Randal L. Schwartz talks of this as well as his experiments with podcasting and Geek Cruises. [11] Will the online science fiction and fantasy magazines survive? Edmund R. Schubert, editor of Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show, describes the strengths and weakness of this business; the money to be made and the trends he sees developing.
Authors Mike Resnick, Kim Stanley Robinson, Elizabeth Bear, Dave Freer, Paul Levinson and Stoney Compton are joined by Randal L. Schwartz (programming consultant and activist) and Walt (the Bananaslug) Boyes of Jim Baen's Universe magazine. Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the May 1, 2007 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 142 minutes] ---Topics include: [1] News: (a) the recent discovery of the first earthlike planet other than our own, (b) your host's surgery, (c) your host will appear at ConCarolinas in Charlotte NC, USA (June 1-3, 2007), (d) listener feedback on superconductivity, sexual equality, the singularity and transhumanism. [2] Many online magazines now pay professional rates--sometimes much better than print magazines--does this mean the great electronic experiment was a success? Or just that the print magazines are dieing? Mike Resnick (editor of the highest paying online magazine) discusses this and provides another eyewitness report on how bad things really are across Africa. He also answers your host's question about Funny Novels: is there more money but less respect? [3] Walt (the Bananaslug) Boyes and Stoney Compton take us inside Jim Baen's Universe magazine. [4] Must a generation die off for a culture to change its most deeply held beliefs? Or is our current population somehow learning to become comfortable with nontraditional ideas, behaviors, clothing and lifestyles? Elizabeth Bear speaks of this and the universal notion of Us verses Them. [5] Have we been relying on non-lethal weapons for centuries without even realizing it? Kim Stanley Robinson insists that we have, and also argues that implanting a computer inside your skull is not trivial. It carries risks of damage and infection, and might best be reserved for solving life-altering problems like blindness or deafness. [6] Another installment in our serialization of the novel Bones Burnt Black. [7] Despite the numerous benefits, the renowned programmer Randal L. Schwartz insists he will be highly reluctant to accept a computer hardwired into his brain; and will refuse it entirely if its operating system is made by Microsoft since that would make his mind too easily hacked and too prone to spontaneously crashing. [8] Cell phones have changed our culture and altered the way we live, but their changes are not yet complete. Paul Levinson ponders what is yet to come. [9] Large scale engineering projects have been less visible recently thanks to all the buzz about nanotechnology. But the future is not given only to the very small. Those who design big are still thinking big, and the biggest place to build big is in the biggest place of all: space. Dave Freer presents his vision of how humanity will spread beyond the earth and fulfill its destiny among the stars.