Robotic Future - Understanding Optimism - Underwater Mtg. & Genomics 2011

Robotic Future - Understanding Optimism - Underwater Mtg. & Genomics 2011


Biography:
Mark Stevenson's early career saw him mixing two jobs; one as an expert in prime number cryptography, the other fronting a pop band. After a brief stint trying to do what his parents would call 'a proper job' he quit -- having decided that communication and learning were what really interested him. He now combines two other careers -- one as a successful writer/comedian and another as a director of the cultural learning agency Flow Associates and the science communication agency ReAgency.

Biography:
Dr. Sherri Tenpenny is the Director and Founder of OsteoMed II, a clinic established to provide alternative, traditional and preventive medicine. She is also the president of New Medical Awareness Seminars, LLC. She is a graduate of the University of Toledo and she received her medical training at Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kirksville, Missouri. Dr. Tenpenny is Board Certified in Emergency Medicine and Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine.

She has lectured abroad on health issues at numerous conferences, conventions, and universities and is a regular guest on radio talk shows. In addition, she has been published in numerous magazines, newspapers and internet sites. Dr. Tenpenny is an alternative medicine researcher and highly sought after for her ability to present scientific information regarding vaccination hazards.

Writer, deep-thinker, and stand-up comedian Mark Stevenson shared his journey to find out what the future holds, and how we can approach it with a sense of pragmatic optimism. He discussed his meetings and interviews with a variety of forward-thinking people including farmers in the Australian Outback who devised an ingenious but low-tech method of sustaining their grasslands, and the President of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, who invited him to participate in an underwater cabinet meeting.

Stevenson also interviewed George Church, a molecular geneticist, who is trying to bring forward a "personal genomics revolution," which could reveal how an individual's genetic code interacts with the environment. He is currently sequencing the genomes of 100,000 volunteers and correlating it with their health and medical information. Eventually, this could lead to specific diet and pharmaceutical recommendations based on a person's genetic markers, Stevenson explained.

He discussed the transhumanist movement to extend people's lifespans, and the continued development of robots. Based on his research, he's concluded that we don't need to worry about "robotic overlords" taking over anytime soon, as they continue to have difficulty in doing basic tasks like walking. Stevenson also touched on the positive and negative aspects of interconnectivity through the Internet and mobile devices, how human organs are now being grown in labs, and nanotechnology-enabled printers that can manufacture anything from the ground up.