The Future, Conan?

June 21, 2012 10:21 AM

Help me find some informative scientific podcasts/lectures/audio books/videos about the future of man and technology.

For example, I love TED talks that broach the subject of the future applications of technology optimistically. The DEPTHX one, for instance, is something that really got my mind racing. I also love Carl Sagan's Cosmos, but am often disappointed at how dated some sections are.

A lot of lectures that I find online tend to be meant for students in higher-level courses and are overly academic and specific to that course, and a lot of things that aren't lectures (i.e. Discovery/Science Channel shows) tend to be too starry-eyed, theoretical, not based in actual science, or overly broad.

I'd love to be able to get a nice list of things to listen to at work, ideally free or on Netflix, but I wouldn't be opposed to grabbing some recent. Thanks!

posted by gregoryg to media & arts (4 answers total)

*recent audio books
posted by gregoryg at 10:22 AM on June 21, 2012

Answering this because I follow a lot of science and technology news for the same reasons (and it is one of the few things in life that makes me happy). Some of these recommendations are for podcasts, videos, and also lectures that you may want to consider checking out.I'm pointing out some of the podcasts based on the journal Nature because that is the research right now...which has implications for the future. Most of the stuff below is based on science vs starry eyed (although radiolab sometimes walks into starry eyed), but you can check out this stuff and decide for yourself.

--Nature podcast (They usually interview researchers and ask them to explain how the research is relevant)

--The Naked Scientist (the news they cover is based on research/stuff covered in the science journal Nature,although the audience is meant to be younger/lay person audience.I'd recommend an entire podcast vs just a story on the website)

-American Natural History Isaac Asimov Debates. If you live in the area, I'd highly recommend seeing these live -- but they bring in top researchers (usually space and or physics) and they discuss various topics. Hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson.

-Radiolab podcasts Science based info, usually in a human story form

-World Science Festival,full lectures online.Intended for a lay audience but really up to date and summarizes science/technology.One of the top talks from this yr IMO is Dispatches from the Birth of the Universe

Also,I would highly,highly recommend the Economist (digital format,which reads the articles,too). They have a quarterly Technology magazine-these are usually very up to date. From this past year, there were also really interesting articles on 3-D printing, manufacturing, etc. You can just purchase 1 magazine as you want vs a subscription.
posted by Wolfster at 11:08 AM on June 21, 2012

Seconding RadioLab. You can download all of their podcasts for free on their site. Perhaps it is a bit starry-eyed at time, but it is definitely entertaining and informative.
posted by Quincy at 12:19 PM on June 21, 2012

The Long Now Foundation podcast sometimes deals with your topic. And its really really awesome.
posted by tempythethird at 11:18 AM on July 22, 2012