If you want to test your ability as a writer, to keep the action and interest and intellect...and empathy all going at the same time, while building a world and dealing with ideas and issues -- I think you're pretty much behooved to write science fiction. We science fiction authors, we poke at the universe using these prefrontal lobes...and we know that this is the seat of the thought experiment. As a futurist, it's job to stimulate these front lobes...that the Bible may have referenced as Moses having lamps on his brow...
Many people today are concerned about critical infrastructures such as the electrical network, water supplies, telephones, transportation, and the Internet. These nerve and bloodlines for society depend on reliable computing, communications, and electrical supply. What would happen if a massive cyber attack or an electromagnetic pulse, or other failure mode took down the electric grid in a way that requires many months or even years for repair? What about a natural disaster such as hurricane, wildfire, or earthquake that disabled all cellphone communications for an extended period? David Brin, physicist and author, has been worrying about these issues for a long time and consults regularly with companies and federal agencies. He says there are many relatively straightforward measures that might greatly increase our resiliency—our ability to bounce back from disaster.
On this episode, we’re touching up against the outer limits of cosmology, and through that bringing up questions of limits on the imagination, the role of theology, and the end (and ends) of the universe. First, Paul Steinhardt speaks on developing the inflationary model of the universe. Then David Brin, science fiction author and futurist, shares his perspective on understanding religion, enabling discussion, and how nice it would be if we were all reborn in computronium as the universe collapses in on itself.
MacObserver runs an interesting podcast interesting interview podcast series. This one with David Brin covers a wide range, from his education at Caltech and UCSD to how he started writing fiction. Fascinating discussion of where some hard science fiction authors imagine "things" heading. And why the stars are our destination.
An interview with author David Brin, on transparency, reciprocal accountability, cyber-utopianism and the preservation of excitement in an age of cynicism. David was an early guest on Hearsay Culture, on show # 30 back in early 2007 discussing his now-classic Transparent Society. In the intervening eight years, our sense of utopianism has continued to wane, even as technology’s ability to positively confront the world’s ills has improved. David’s prolific writings on this and other topics was the subject of our far-ranging discussion, from transparency today to how to teach children to maintain energy and optimism despite life’s seemingly hyper-complex challenges.
Why haven't we heard from aliens? What explains the Great Silence in the cosmos? Author David Brin discusses the Fermi Paradox and comments on why we haven't found any extraterrestrial neighbors yet. From an interview conducted on April 7, 2013.
Indignation, Addiction and Hope: Does it help to be “Mad as Hell?” My talk at TEDxUCSD For a generation, we’ve been taught that the best way to deal with our problems is to get mad as hell! Recent science exposes this as a scam that has produced the largest and most disastrous addiction in civilization. Sometimes problems merit indignation! But are we abandoning our greatest gift – the ability to actually solve problems.
Fifty years from now, will we have destroyed the world? Or saved it? It's not too soon to ask. Little more than 100 years ago, the mundane acts of our 21st Century daily life were strictly the purview of the gods: To take flight and traverse a continent in just hours...To splash daylight across a massive arena on a moonless night with the touch of one finger..
"The more god-like we've become, the more our humility is affected." And if we don't give serious thought to our trajectory as a global society, if we spend too much time looking backward nostalgically rather than ahead thoughtfully, we will succumb to ourselves. Because, "the default human society is flawed", and it is up to us to fight against that default.
Interviews for Closer to Truth: Can We Explain the Cosmos and Consciousness? Where are all the aliens? Could our universe be a fake? Why Explore Consciousness and Cosmos?
Brin's newest novel EXISTENCE explores the ultimate question: billions of planets are ripe for life. So where is Everybody? David's main thread: how will we shape the days and years ahead -- and how will tomorrow shape us?
David Brin is the award-winning author of the highly regarded ‘uplift’ novels that include Startide Rising (1983), The Uplift War (1987), Brightness Reef (1995) and most recently, Existence (2012) -a fictional look at the Fermi Paradox.
Science fiction writer and futurist David Brin bucks the current trend of cynical pessimism, arguing that Western history since the Enlightenment is marked by slow but steady progress, and calling for open dialogue to solve pressing problems.
Live from BayCon 2019, Fanboy Planet Podcast recorded an interview with scientist and science fiction author David Brin! The Hugo, Locus, Campbell and Nebula Award winner spoke about the future, writing, science fiction, and Star Wars -- as well as saving the world through proxy power.
Political economy: A podcast interview on privacy, surveillance and sousveillance between David Brin and James Pethokoukis: According to David Brin, as technology advances, there will be no hiding from surveillance. What we should instead fight for is transparency.
Scientist, public speaker, and author David Brin joins writer Hank Garner for Episode 172 of The Author Stories Podcast. David talks about: Why authors should first write a murder mystery. Moving the plot along in science fiction stories. Writing believable stories with believable characters... and more…
Talk Universe has posted - episodically - a four part extensive audio interview with David Brin on matters ranging from Artificial Intelligence and human augmentation to SETI and the future of capitalism.
Transparency and privacy: can we have both? The pyramidal vs. diamond-shaped social structure and cultural renaissances Why reciprocal accountability and criticism are necessary for self-improvement Is suspicion of authority ingrained in us by the media? The decentralized society: is it really better than what we have now?
David Brin thinks the next 10 years will be critical timeframe within which we will either be able to keep our freedoms and prosperity for most or fall back into a feudal system with an oligarchy having absolute power. Who is spending the most on AI? The investment bankers to improve their algorithms for high frequency trading. This is done in absolute secrecy, without any oversight. The investment bankers are developing the most ruthless predatory AI imaginable to wring out every little advantage from the system, which is of great concern. I asked him later whether the Tobin Tax [small tax on all trades to make high frequency trading unprofitable] would mitigate that risk and he enthusiastically agreed.
In this interview, David talks about fiction's unique role in helping humanity find a beneficial future =- a job done in large part by pointing out what we want to avoid most, says David .
Western Civilization famously changed everything with innovations such as market economics, democracy, mass education, and science, empowering millions to compete, cooperate, and invent as never before. But there's been a price. Each generation must deal with sudden expansions of vision, memory, and attention . . . now accelerating faster than ever.
Today, some forecast that vast information flows will empower tomorrow's citizens to converge and tackle problems with greater agility than governments or corporations—an era of creative "smart mobs." Is this plausible? Can new innovative visualization and collaboration tools boost millions of new problem solvers? Underlying all of this is a deeper question: Can our civilization maintain its 200-year commitment to openness, transparency, accountability, and confident belief in progress, or will a growing "relinquishment movement" fight back against the onrush of change?
One platform, Your voices, Our Futures: A series of interviews from the European Union's ICT Conference in Vilnius. Video 1 explores the role of Science Fiction in exploring the future; Video 2 talks about how technologies can make the difference in the future; Video 3 highlights the important role the internet will have in the future; Video 4 explores how technologies can help us face future challenges; Video 5 presents David's views on the future vision for Europe.
David led an amazing roundtable of people working both inside and outside NASA, including Geoffrey Landis, Chris McKay, Rusty Schweickart, and Ariel Waldman, as they roughed out some of the ambitious new goals that could animate this next era in space, ranging from mining asteroids, to setting up solar energy stations in orbit, to exploring for life in the roofed water worlds of our solar system. We also talked about the critical next steps would be needed to lay the groundwork for this next era – like dropping the cost of getting payloads into space by an order of magnitude, or finding a way to manufacture rocket fuel outside earth.
Science Fiction—Predicting and Inventing the Future DEC 20, 2014 David Brin, scientist, futurist, and Hugo and Nebula Award winning author, explores how science fiction can improve the future, by helping us chart technological dangers to avoid and promising new goals to pursue...
The Singularity Summit 2011 was a TED-style two-day event at the historic 92nd Street Y in New York City. The next event will take place in San Francisco, on...
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