Thinking our Way out of Extinction with guest Rebecca Costa

Dr. Future 3.08.11 Rebecca Costa       Listen Now

In Dr. Future News we delve into the Internet situation in Libya, the high tech sleep behavior of Americans, alien microbes, moon caves, realistic androids, eye-controlled laptops, and a new bionic eye.

The second hour features guest Rebecca Costa, a sociobiologist whose unique expertise is to spot and explain emerging trends in relationship to human evolution, global markets, and new technologies. 

Some of the basic precepts of her popular new book, The Watchman’s Rattle, are:

Humankind’s Cultural Complexity is exceeding our biological capability…

Biology evolves slowly compared to our culture and technology.

When complexity makes facts difficult to acquire, we experience ‘Gridlock’..a paralyzed state..

When gridlock happens we resort to beliefs instead of rational solutions and system collapse is often then not far away..

So, the question is, “Can there be a non-doomsday scenario solution for our species and what might that look like?”

Click on in, find out…

Frogs - The "Canaries in the Coal Mine" - The Amphibians and Mother Gaia

Dr. Future 3.01.11 Kerry Kriger  Listen

In the first hour we discuss the Libyan situation, the iPad 2, drones, and the Kinect device, with lots of call-ins. 

Our guest in the second hour is Dr. Kerry Kriger, who holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Science from Griffith University in Gold Coast, Australia. He is a recognized expert on the amphibian disease chytridiomycosis, and his research into amphibian declines has been supported by the National Geographic Society.  Also a practiced  “Croaker,” he can use his voice to call many species of frogs, and he has studied what they say and do for a decade… all over the world.

www.savethefrogs.com
www.savethefrogs.com/kerry-kriger

Techno Singularity on Schedule, & Meet the WWW father of "Transclusive" info publishing

Dr. Future 2.22.11 Ted Nelson Listen

This week in the future is raging with controversial characters from the past and the future. Today is the anniversary of the birth of Dolly, the first cloned mammal in 1995, who sparked a new debate about the ethics of humans playing GOD with their scientific pursuits. Yet the gifts of the research abound, with discoveries such as new skin for burn victims, driverless cars, robocops and mechanical hummingbirds. With a nod to current events of the day such as Obama’s budget for “Exascale” computing, and the Social computing shoot out in the Google VS Facebook saga, we turn to our excellent guest, inventor Ted Nelson.

For BG, a few lines from Wikipaedia:
Ted Nelson is currently working on a new information structure, ZigZag,^[6] which is described on the Xanadu project website. ZigZag is Ted Nelson’s trademark on a data model he has designed for computer interaction, both for users and between programs. The design is centered around an information structure called a zzstructure and its interactive visualizations. Nelson’s stated goal is on one hand a platform for theProject Xanadu hypertext and on the other a complete computing system built on new conventions. Instead of the conventional textual formats and tree structures, zzstructure is a multidimensional extension of a spreadsheet whose cells can contain various kinds of data. 

Watson vs Humans, Vat Meat, Expats in Ecuador Saving Rain Forests, planetary Eco-activism, Stephanie Sutton, Keith Lampe, Brian O'Leary Astronaut

Dr. Future Feb 15th, 2011 Listen

 In the news hour, we discuss the use of social media for creating social change in the Middle East, including Twitter use by the U.S. State Department directed to Iranians. We also look at a new scheme for taking down the internet, the IBM Watson computer vs. Humans in playing Jeopardy, and a new way to peer into the human body using astronomy tech. We also briefly touch on a new game-changing technology that allows us to grow meat in a vat rather than killing animals.

In the second hour we have guests via Skype in Vilcabamba, Ecuador, an ex-pat community known for its exceptionally healthy environment.  Our host in South American is Agent Stephane Sutton, there to investigate the scene.  She intros us to Keith Lampe, aka Pondo, one of America’s original hippie activists, historian and change agent, now living in Vilcambamba.  He brings us up to date on his considerable activities there, which can be followed via his email missives.  You can reach him via his website:http://www.usa-exile.org/ , where you can subscribe to his daily newsletter.  

We also chat with Dennis “Galen” Mitrzyk, a journalist and ex-Palo Altoan, who recently moved to this Shangri-La community.  He recently co-created and facilitated ~ 10.20 NutopiA 20.10 ~ an Aquarian Gathering of the Rainbow Warriors, a 13-day conference which was attended by people from around the world interested in co-creating a world where people are free to pursue life, liberty, and happiness

Our second call to Vilcabamba introduces you to scientist and ex-astronaut Dr. Brian O’Leary, who just finished a new book on energy, entitled “The Energy Solution Revolution.”  He speaks to us about alternative energy and a new documentary about oil and saving the Amazon rainforest  in which he is featured, entitled “Yasuni - two seconds of life.”

Verizon iPhone, Egypt Revolution, Open Leaks, Future of Santa Cruz Libraries

Dr. Future Feb 8th, 2011  Listen

In the first hour, we delve more into the Egyptian Revolution, with some behind-the-scenes analysis, with special thanks to call-in, Michael S.  In the first hour we also explore the the new Open Leaks site, started by Wikileaks employees, and Verizon vs AT&T iPhone results, now in.

In the second hour we focus on the future of libraries, with particular focus on our local Santa Cruz Library system, currently being redefined by the community and city council.  We have a several callers cogniscant of the current situation and update our listeners to what’s what with our libraries. We also check out the newly updated Reagan Presidential Library with 250 iPads, Google’s great art tour you can do from home, and a revolutionary fractal broswer.  Thank you Julia, for that set!