May 1, 2006 Episode

Authors Greg Bear, Vernor Vinge, Spider Robinson and Nancy Kress are joined by this year's winner of the Phillip K. Dick Award, M.M. Buckner; and the actress Lydia Cornell who played Ted Knight's daughter, Sara Rush, on the TV comedy Too Close for Comfort. Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the May 1, 2006 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 72 minutes] --- Topics include: [1] This year's winner of the Phillip K. Dick Award, M.M. Buckner, gives the blow-by-blow on what it feels like to win such a prestigious and career-changing award. [2] Once we all have our brains wired (or wifi'ed) directly into the internet, Greg Bear warns that we'd better have powerful firewalls protecting us from hackers. Anyone who doesn't may have to spend a lot of time with their brain in the shop. [3] If the much talked-about singularity never comes to fruition Vernor Vinge suggests that there may be severe limits on how far we develop advanced nanotechnology and artificial intelligence; limits which might make technological immortality a goal we can never reach. [4] Chapter six in our serialization of the novel Bones Burnt Black. [5] Spider Robinson discusses SETI and speculates on the remarkable science of Nicola Tesla. [6] Nancy Kress on three brief subjects: Faster than Light Travel (FTL); SETI verses theology; and medical life extension verses technological immortality. [7] A celebrity interview with the actress Lydia Cornell who is most famous for playing Ted Knight's daughter, Sara Rush, on the TV comedy show Too Close for Comfort.