The massive growth of the Internet has brought an unexpected bonus: the release of videos, downloads and podcasts of many of my video and audio interviews and appearances. In fact, I decided to make my own YouTube videos, which I've now posted onto this page.
In my newest YouTube video I discuss the role of amateurs in science. Amateurs have always played a significant role in scientific discovery, particularly in astronomy and the natural sciences. In the last century, we've seen an increasing trend toward professionalization of all aspects of society; however I have forecast a counter-trend toward an Age of Amateurs. Indeed, the sheer number and complexity of our challenges will demand a wider proliferation of skills than just one-per-person. We may be returning to a greater emphasis on amateurs, even in areas like national defense and self-reliance. The scope of SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, will be enhanced by thousands of amateur dishes scanning the skies, sharing their results through the internet. Now I talk about this in a newly posted video that may open your eyes to a fascinating trend.
My latest podcast? Problem-solving the future. It's easy to be pessimistic when considering the problems we face: war, political instability, economic trouble, global warming, vast inequalities of wealth across the globe. To keep things in perspective, we should recall that things were nearly always worse in the past. We must develop innovative problem-solving skills to face the complex world of the future -- and to raise standards of living across the world. For the first time, the entire world community is able to communicate -- across borders and nationalities -- to share strategies and seek solutions. My favorite aphorism: Criticism is the only known antidote to error. Identifying errors is the first step toward seeking solutions. But we must keep in mind the goal -- to improve our civilization. Technology must be part of the solution.
In my next YouTube podcast, I contemplate the end of NASA's space flights: If NASA had received a mere 1% royalty on all technological spin-offs of the space program, its budget would be covered. For starters consider communication, navigation, reconnaissance & weather satellites, GPS, solar cells, fuel cells, microelectronics, image processing, robotics, CCDs, a generation of scientists, engineers, teachers & artists inspired. Where would we be without these? We must invest in tomorrow.
How do we keep privacy and empower citizens when cameras become smaller and proliferate daily? On the tenth anniversary of the release of "The Transparent Society," I discuss issues of transparency and accountability in an age of increasing surveillance. From Part 1: "If we're free and powerful as citizens, privacy is something we'll be able to negotiate among ourselves." The key is reciprocal accountability... when we have the power to watch the watchers. In Part 2, I discuss what the future will hold in the transparency field. For better or worse, the changes in transparency has meant the return of the village of old -- where everyone knows everyone -- but will it be the good village or the bad, oppressive village?
I've been recording and posting some brief (for me) monologues on YouTube, starting with Space Exploration Part 1: Planning our next steps in beyond Earth ... followed by Space Exploration Part 2: Mining the sky: Are there economic incentives out there? ... and then Space Exploration Part 3: The Big Picture, Where is the excitement? And what about warp drive? Finally, and just posted, there is Space Exploration Part 4: Ambitious technologies for space: Space tethers, solar sails and space elevators.
Catch a clip of me on "Life After People." This segment covers the last ten minutes of History Channel's most popular show ever.
See these great Brin titles available to listen to during your commute!
I've received permission from SKEPTIC Magazine to post two of my past articles as PDF files. Seeking a New Fulcrum was my careful appraisal of Psi or "psychic phenomena," starting with some basic physics and logic, but concluding that these powers are likely to be real... in the future, not in any mystified past.
The Dangers of First Contact discusses the modern fixation/assumption that advanced life forms will automatically be altruistic. Altruism is a fascinating and complex subject, in its own right! But the assumptions that currently guide the SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) may be just as foolish and short-sighted as those that were foolishly clutched by our ancestors, during earlier "first contacts" between cultures. We need open minds. Enjoy opening yours! ;-)
Take a look at this entertaining and informative panel discussion about Third Millenium Problem Solving.
My recent talk for the USENIX Conference is available for viewing online. A bit nerdier than my usual speeches about the future, for more general audiences. This bunch of technies seemed to really get into it! So I went a little long. Extrapolation! Peering into tomorrow! What fun.
Recently YouTube started an EDU component, collecting lecures, classes and graduation ceremonies from universities nationwide. Since I frequently appear on campuses, these appearances are beginning to show up. Here's the first one: I appear on a panel with other UCSD alumni/science fiction authors.
For those wanting that good old fashioned book on tape -- for that long drive, perhaps -- the first Uplift Trilogy (Sundiver, Startide Rising, and The Uplift War) are all available from Audible.com.
While at IBM Research I did a brief, ten-minute oral-essay about how science fiction can change the world. IBM has podcast it. This is separate from my hour-long (and detailed) talk about "Third Millennium Problem-Solving: Can New Visualization and Collaboration Tools Make a Difference?"
The "Future in Review" (FiRe) conference is a top technology-business session conference that meets in San Diego every May. In 2007, I was asked to run an "architechs-style workshop" in which the CTOs (Chief Technology Officers) from several major companies would be asked to solve a design problem... in this case to work out "the next cell phone." Aided by other conference attendees, the CTOs held working sessions across two days... whereupon I asked for their report in front of a live audience. Portions of this event can be viewed online. (It's caled "CTO Roundup." Go to the video that's 8th from the bottom.)
I introduce and moderate the theme of a video -- and conference -- discussing Jonas Salk's notion of the "Good Ancestor Principle"... the question of whether our descendants will judge us to have been wise... or profligate and destructive of their chances for a decent life and world.
Check out the StarShipSofa site, where they have some really terrific podcasts of classic science fiction stories. They made an earnest effort to recite "The Crystal Spheres" -- though it's a very hard story to do in audio, filled with combined-words that most readers need to eye scan a few times in order to grasp or put in context. Something most can do unconsciously, but cannot do in audio. That understood, this narrator does a fine job with this Hugo-winning story.
Are any of you out there interested in a wild ride through an idea-fest, ranging from the Fermi Paradox to existence tests for God? See my speech at the recent conference held at the Salk Institute -- "Beyond Belief: Enlightenment 2.0." There were many other fine presentations on topics ranging from "The end of literary postmodernism" to "The myth of pervasive Islamo-terrorism."
Escape Pod posted a podcast-reading (pretty good) of my short story "The Giving Plague."
National Public Radio discusses the SIGMA science fiction authors consulting group, which has focused its attention on national defense.
I was interviewed on the topic of "Messages to ET" on the radio show CULTURE SHOCK of the BBC World Service.
Meanwhile closer to Earth, David S. Levine of the Stanford Law School interviewed me on the continuing importance and relevance of The Transparent Society as the book approaches its tenth anniversary. Indeed, it is one of the only public policy tomes of the nineties still in print and still widely discussed.
PBS has posted a podcast of a panel discussion about spying and censorship on the Internet.
"Science Fiction Writing" and "Evaluating Horizons" were recorded at Accellerating Change in 2004. The latter explores how we explore future possibilities, including far-out ones like the "singularity" -- and whether humans really want to become demigods.
My speech at Planetfest '97 was recently You-Tubed. A classic about our future in space!
Audio transcript is now available for a panel discussion on "Human Rights, Technology & the Humanities," at a conference hosted by HumaniTech at the University of California, Irvine, (May 2005). Also, an excellent audio talk about the future "surveillance panopticon" by tech pundit Jamais Cascio is very worthwhile.
Those of you with a good internet link and RealAudio can pull in three fun interviews that originally ran on National Public Radio and are now archived for ready access from the NPR site. One is about 'Video Surveillance' -- deriving from The Transparent Society. The other two are about science fiction -- a discussion of "The Science in Science Fiction" with William Gibson and one about "Science Fiction Writing."
An October appearance as guest on NPR's show "Talk of the Nation" -- discussing video surveillance in light of the DC Sniper Terror -- can be downloaded from NPR.
UCSD Alumni Science Fiction Authors (88 min. | #6557) (7/9/2002) discuss why UCSD has cultivated more science fiction writers than any other university of our time, including such luminaries as panel participants David Brin, Kim Stanley Robinson, Vernor Vinge and Gregory Benford.
This interview, which originally ran on National Public Radio, is about 'Video Surveillance' -- deriving from The Transparent Society.
Another National Public Radio interview which is newly available on their site is a discussion of "The Science in Science Fiction," with William Gibson.
National Public Radio has posted a third interview with me, this one about "Science Fiction Writing."
Seems I'm making appearances in a number of surprising pop-cult venues. See a recent spread that features a novel by yours truly, in a popular literary comic strip... the "Unshelved Book Club." I've also been interviewed for several episodes of a podcast "The Future And You."
Of course some of this is in reaction to the wildly popular-culture book King Kong Is Back!: An Unauthorized Look at One Humongous Ape! (Smart Pop series) -- a fun and smart collection of 21 essays examining King Kong from every angle. (Some will surprise you.) But if you think that was something, just keep your eyes open for the next brash offering -- Star Wars on Trial: Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Debate the Most Popular Science Fiction Films of All Time (Smart Pop series)!
public speaking
future/tech consulting
predicting the future
biography
podcasts & downloads
film/media rights & rants
Uplift novels
other SF novels
graphic novels
young adult novels
free short stories
the transparent society
the political lamp is lit!
about fiction
pop culture
about science
my Tomorrow Happens blog
my Contrary Brin blog
my Facebook Fan page
Questionnaire on Ideology
games & music
recommendations
freebies & offers
giving back to the future
fan sites
photos & artwork
email me
return home
[All items sold thru Amazon.com (a secure online store) help offset the cost of maintaining the site.]
I still do science, but civilization seems more interested in my perspectives on the future. (Who am I to argue with civilization?) Let's face change with agility and hope, and meet the challenges ahead.
I blog at: Contrary Brin and Tomorrow Happens.
newest David Brin book!
advice to aspiring writers
request special books & autographs
download a free short story
The Meme Wars
We will watch the watchers!
Citizens are competent
Philanthropy & hope
Transparent Society
Disputation & accountability
JRR Tolkien vs. the Future
Infamous Star Wars articles
...and The Matrix
...and The Postman.
What's Your Ideology Quotient?
The Real Culture War
Neoconservatism, Islam and Ideology
War in the 21st Century
The libertarian dilemma
The liberal dilemma
Technological Nightmares
Literature & the Future
Video Surveillance
Science of Science Fiction
Writing Science Fiction
SF that teaches
Holocene Chat!
Public Speaking
Future/Tech Consulting
Contrary Brin
The "Brin-L" discussion group
I answer some emails
This Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Net Ring link is maintained by David Brin. |
|
Previous 5 Sites |
Proud Son:
