Sir Martin Rees, Sunday, 6-17-12 June 18, 2012
Posted by The Space Show in Uncategorized.Tags: " BBC Radio Lecture Series, " SpaceX, "From Here To Infinity: A Vision For The Future Of Science, conflict, consciousness, education, extraterrestrial life, fundamental physics, genetic modification, human spaceflight, interstellar travel, ISS, ISS science, Kepler Space Telescope, lunar commerce, microgravity, Neal Stephenson, political leadership, religion, risk averseness., robotic space missions, Roger Penrose, Royal Society, science, science fiction, science media, science teachers, Sir Martin Rees, space & astronomy for kids, space & long term planning, space & spiritualism, space settlement
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Sir Martin Rees, Sunday, 6-17-12
http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/1797-BWB-2012-06-17.mp3
Guest: Sir Martin Rees. Topics: Science in our society, space development, political leadership, education & more. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed back Sir Martin Rees to discuss his new book, “From Here To Infinity: A Vision For The Future Of Science.” Please remember that if you order this book from Amazon using www.amazon.com/Here-Infinity-Vision-Future-Science/dp/0393063070/ref=onegiantlea20, Amazon will make a contribution to The Space Show/One Giant Leap Foundation. Lord Rees started our discussion by talking about the amazing things we have learned about the cosmos in a very short period of time. He also explained that this new book is based on a series of lectures he did with BBC Radio. We also talked about science reporting in the media but we focused on teacher issues, both in the UK and the U.S. Another topic covered in his book was religion and science conflicts. An example cited was creationism. We also talked about space as a spiritual experience. We then talked about commercial space development with companies such as SpaceX, the high risk averseness of NASA, and the fact that private companies can take on more risks. Lord Rees expressed the view that for human spaceflight for sure, we will see more and more of it being done by the private sector. Our guest was asked about science on the ISS & he said it was hard to justify the ISS on the grounds of science. Jack called in to ask talk about the outstanding history programs on the Royal Society website, http://royalsociety.org/Podcasts-of-Library-events. He also mentioned famous sci-fi author Neal Stephenson, www.amazon.com/Quicksilver-The-Baroque-Cycle-Vol/dp/0380977427. Jack’s call was followed by John in Atlanta who talked about spirituality, consciousness, religion and the work of Roger Penrose. This led to an interesting discussion about the search for the unified theory and the difference in perspective with cosmology and fundamental physics. Our next topic was in response to a note from Fred about political leadership and space/science issues. Out last topic of the segment dealt with the Kepler Space Telescope (KST) and the search for extraterrestrial life. We asked questions about the impact on cultures were life off Earth discovered. Sir Martin had much to say about this subject.
In our second segment, we started out talking about science fiction. Sir Martin is fascinated by the ideas in science fiction so don’t miss his comments on this subject. Harold in Los Angeles asked if we might be slowing down in our rate of discovery of new science & space information. This is another terrific discussion. We then talked about the Earth’s population growth and the intellectual shift to Asia away from the west. Lord Rees talked about the need to balance out science and development in the under developed regions, focusing on Africa for example Later in the segment, we talked about bringing space resources back to Earth & our guest said the economics of doing this are still up in the air. Space settlement and returning to the Moon came up as did private missions to Mars and the asteroids. Our guest suggested that one way Mars missions might be possible in the future, but the probability of doing it near term & funding such a mission remains somewhat low at this time. Our guest also mentioned genetic modification for those that do settle off Earth but thought the ethics of doing it on Earth would make it unlikely to happen here.
If you have comments/questions for Sir Martin Rees, please post them on The Space Show blog.
Jim Funaro, Wednesday, 2-15-12 February 16, 2012
Posted by The Space Show in Uncategorized.Tags: anthropology, Contact 2012, COTI Simulation, Cultures of the Imagination (COTI), Cute Response., Dr. Frank Drake, ET contact, First Contact, Jim Funaro, Larry Niven, NASA, religion, SETI, UFO mythology
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Jim Funaro, Wednesday, 2-15-12
http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/1714-BWB-2012-02-15.mp3
Guest: Jim Funaro. Topics: Contact Conference 2012, First Contact, human behavior. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. To find out more about the Contact 2012 conference and for online registration, please visit http://contact-conference.org. Note that the special registration rate was extended three days for Space Show listeners but you have to mention The Space Show in your registration email to take advantage of this offer. In our first segment, our guest talked about conference logistics and registration, plus he told us about the first day which is at SETI in Mountain View, CA. This is a terrific opportunity to see the new SETI facilities, to learn firsthand about SETI and what it does, and to meet the SETI team of researchers. I asked Jim about the name of the conference as I thought it was based on Contact with an ET culture. Jim explained that the name was to symbolize ignition or spark, that is bright people sparking light and heat for enlightenment.
In the second segment, we talked about the Cultures of the Imagination program referred to as the COTI Simulation. Jim explained the program in details, talked about the two teams, a human team and an alien team, and how they operate during the conference. On the final day of the conference, the afternoon session is devoted to First Contact between the humans and the aliens. Noted Science Fiction author Larry Niven is the person in charge of the simulation and the troubleshooter for the simulation.
In our third and final segment, we went over the hotel logistics and the room rate, the banquet for Saturday night and its cost, plus the keynote speaker which is Dr. Frank Drake. Later in this final segment, Blake asked if most members of the Contact organization thought that there was ET life or if contact had been made with humans. You might be surprised by Jim’s answer. This subject took us into a discussion about the anthropology perspective for ETs and UFOs around the world. Jim said people want to believe and that may be a simple but viable explanation. He also talked about people’s imagination and what is known as the Cute Response. You don’t want to miss this discussion. Jim returned to the subject of the conference as our program ended. He stressed that it was a warm, friendly, networking, and participatory conference for everyone.
Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog. You can email Jim Funaro regarding Contact 2012 at jafunaro@cabrillo.edu.
Dr.James Hughes, Friday, 12-23-11 December 23, 2011
Posted by The Space Show in Uncategorized.Tags: " bioethics, "Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond To The Redesigned Human Of The Future, Age of Enlightenment, animal ethics, animal research, anti-technology bias, Apes, bioLuddites, biotechnology, cloning, convergent technologies, Dr. James Hughes, genetic engineering, God, Great Apes, happiness illusion, happiness in public policy, human enhancement, human factors for human spaceflight, Institute For Ethics and Emerging Technologies (www.ieet.org)., interplanetary internet, long duration spaceflight, mapping the human genome, Martian colony, medical research, microgravity, nanotechnology, NASA, reason, religion, space propulsion, STEM education, techno progress
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Dr.James Hughes, Friday, 12-23-11
http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/1677-BWB-2011-12-23.mp3
Guest: Dr. James Hughes. Topics: We discussed his book, “Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond To The Redesigned Human Of The Future,” human enhancement, public & space policy, long duration spaceflight. The Space Show wishes all of you a very Merry Christmas and holiday season. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. The Space Show/OGLF is now engaged in its annual fundraising drive. Please see & act upon our appeal at https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/space-show-2011-fundraising-campaign. We welcomed Dr. James Hughes to the program to discuss his new book, “Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond To The Redesigned Human Of The Future.” Please note that we experienced telephone noise which you will hear as audio noise on this show. Unfortunately, we could not edit out the phone line background noise. Our discussion started with a focus on bio and medical ethics and an assessment of an anti-technology, anti-science movement in various segments of society and that impact policy making. In Citizen Cyborg, Dr. Hughes talks about using human enhancement and other technologies to push the boundaries of humans to improve the quality of our lives. Fundamental to being able to do this is overcoming the opposition and this was a significant part of our discussion. We had several listener emails asking about playing God by pushing these technologies and engaging in the human enhancement technologies. This took us into a discussion about God, religious and spiritual issues. I believe you will find this discussion to be most interesting. At times during our discussion we extrapolated to the space field, particularly human spaceflight. In our second segment, listener Lonnie asked Dr. Hughes to describe some of the main bioethical issues. Here, we got into animal research, morality, Apes, Great Apes, and even pets, specifically dogs. We talked about our eventual settlement on Mars or elsewhere, making modifications for us to live on Mars or another world, and the ethics of making it possible for animals to live on the new world with us. We talked about medical research, cloning, and human genetic modification, especially for space travel. One listener asked if humans were cloned and we sent the clone on a deep space mission, was that the same as sending humans. The answer was yes but you will want to hear the full discussion on this topic. Later in the segment, Dr. Hughes was asked if human spaceflight could be a leader in developing human enhancement technologies or would it be a beneficiary. Our guest said beneficiary and pointed to the main issue of needing cheap propulsion for human spaceflight. Our guest was asked about his term bioLuddites which he uses in his book. Dr. Hughes provided us with a brief history of Luddism and then we discussed the mix in society that makes up the bioLuddites. Another listener asked if cosmetic surgery was also human enhancement and we asked Dr. Hughes about his theory as expressed in his book that happiness is an illusion. Near the end of the program, he mentioned the organization of which he is the Executive Director, The Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (www.ieet.org). This Space Show discussion not only addressed human enhancement technologies for human spaceflight, but also for our society in general. For those of you interested in the subject, I strongly recommend you read his book, Citizen Cyborg. Please post your comments and questions on The Space Show blog URL above.
