Is the Internet a barrier or a bridge for young adults?

Is literacy in danger because of technology? Will students stop reading and writing all together because they spend lots of time on the computer?

I have talked to some parents who legitimately worry about their children slipping away from the traditional ways of books, pen and paper. Afraid of change and yearning for a return to the “good old times,” some worry that technology they do not understand or use will destroy the children’s motivations to read and write. Not familiar with sites such as Facebook, Twitter, deviantART, YouTube and other blogs or forums, some parents cannot participate in the activities of their children, adding a fear of being disconnected from their children and leaving them with feelings of inadequacy.

Along the same lines, science fiction shows such as Syfy’s upcoming Caprica, will display a world where technology is run amok, used by a lazier younger generation. Yet it’s doing the exact opposite in our world: it’s sparking a definite, driven creativity that’s enabled by technology, rather than hampered or perverted by it.

Running Out of Time, Part Three

We left the UN with a sense of wonder at the realization that we had been part of something truly special. We left with the idea that maybe we could do something to start changing the world.

But we also got challenged to enter the Visions for Tomorrow challenge of the NBC Universal Digital Media competition, by making a short video about some issue addressed by the show. During the one month that followed, the students and I worked to construct a movie about the role of women as leaders, inspired by the portrayal of the president of the colonies in Battlestar Galactica, Laura Roslin, played by Mary McDonnell.

Running Out of Time, Part Two

We, all of us, have the responsibility to buy the extra time, which will maybe ensure our survival as a civilization. And I have been wondering what we can do about it. The human species with its genius and its ability to understand the world and the universe has devised all the technological advances to make our world a better place; we have the knowledge, the science and the resources.

Have we just become too lazy using our gifts and abilities to fight for our humanity? Have we become too selfish and greedy to really care about the world around us?

Running Out of Time, Part One

At the World Science Festival in June, Mary McDonnell said, with visible emotion, “I no longer suffer from the illusion that we have a lot of time. On a spiritual and political plane, I’d like to be of better and more efficient service, because it really feels like we’re running out of time.”

We are certainly running out of time.

I have been feeling that way for a while. This feeling, tenuous at first, barely there, has been amplifying steadily over the past few years. It has made its way slowly to a conscious level in my mind. It really started with the terrorist attacks on the twin towers, which killed thousands of people and instilled poison in our souls, eating at our liberties and our humanity through insidious ways. Aren’t the best civilizations tested by fire?

Does TV Matter?

I have recently begun working with the good folks at the Sci-Fi channel and last Thursday, the 11th, I had the extraordinary opportunity to live tweet a special event at the Mann’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Topic: the role of television in helping society explore the big issues of the day, as well as the big issues of tomorrow.

One thing that made the event so extraordinary was that it was framed as a panel discussion with stars from the recently concluded Battlestar Galactica (Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell), producers of the show (Ronald D. Moore and David Eick), and two representatives from the United Nations dealing with many of the issues in fact — human rights, torture, justice — that shows like BSG deal with in fiction. But as the UN’s Craig Mokhiber told the audience at the Mann last Thursday, “There’s not much fiction in Battlestar.” (Note: the BSG crew ran a similar panel at the World’s Science Festival at the 92nd Street Y in New York City.)

Join us on Twitter tonight for more Battlestar Galactica; this time: cyborgs

If you aren’t already following Visions for Tomorrow on Twitter, then hit us up! We’ll be tweeting live from yet another Battlestar Galactica panel with cast members from the show. The topic this time? The science, ethics and philosophy surrounding a future where intelligent machines walk alongside us.

Actor, comedian and Deep Space Nine alumna Faith Salie will moderate a panel made up of the Galactica crew and company, including Mary McDonnell, who played President Laura Roslin, Michael “Colonel Saul Tigh” Hogan, World Transhumanist Association co-founder Nick Bostrom, University of Reading professor of cybernetics Kevin Warwick, and Hod Lipson, evolutionary robotics researcher and director of the Computational Synthesis group at Cornell University.

The action starts tonight at 8:00 PM until 9:30 PM, Eastern, at the World’s Science Festival at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, and you can follow it all right here.

Sci Fi/United Nations Battlestar panel reconvenes June 4th at 7:30 PM PT

Want to chat about the impact of Battlestar Galactica outside of the TV screen? The Sci Fi Channel and the United Nations Department of Public Information partnered up in March to talk about just that, covering topics ranging from fundamental human rights, the realities of equal opportunity, and justice in a diverse society.

On Thursday June 4th at 7:30 PM Pacific Time, the Sci Fi/UN panel will reconvene, and you can follow it all through the Visions Twitter, or join the discussion yourself.

Getting to Go to the United Nations Because I Made a Cool Television Show

As a Poli Sci major at the University of Redands, I often considered a career in the field of diplomacy and international relations. To that extent, the U.N. was always the Holy Grail, in terms of places it would be awesome to see. I never did the tour, because I thought it wouldn’t count. The only way I wanted to see the U.N. was on official business. Once I’d sold my soul to Hollywood, I figured the U.N. dream was over. So imagine my surprise when I got the call that my two worlds, past and present, had unexpectedly collided.

The best way to describe my reaction to actually being in that room is what I whispered to Whoopi Goldberg after my introduction as I made my way to the stage: “I can’t believe this.” Except I added a colorful adjective between “can’t” and “believe,” which she seemed to appreciate. Of course, the best part was how someone at the U.N. had replaced the name plates which usually say “France” and “Botswana” with the names of “Galactica“‘s colonies: “Picon,” “Tauron,” “Caprica,” etc. If we were at a nerd convention like Comicon, I would’ve thought that kind of thing was taking scifi geekdom to an absurd level; the fact that the United Nations had arranged such a thing was nothing short of sublime.

From United Nations to Universal Nations

On March 17th, the delegate country names lining the rows of seats in the main “theater” of the United Nations were replaced with the names of the colonies that were home to the crew of Battlestar Galactica. Whoopie Goldberg and the cast and creators of the Sci Fi epic were seated on the dais, facing the audience. Dignitaries attached to the United Nations’ efforts to stop crimes against women and children, seek reconciliation amongst warring peoples, and keep up the struggle for universal human rights were rotated on and off the stage in concert with episodic clips from the show that eerily reflected our similar dramas here on earth at the beginning of the 21st century.

It was surreal. And too real. It is painful to think that civilization on this planet has advanced thousands of years, and we still resort to uncivilized behavior when our turf or status is threatened, when we are under stress, or when we are just plain stupid. Science fiction, at its best, has always shown not only the wonders of what could be if we projected our society and knowledge into the future, but the horrors as well. I sat listening to how our earthly crimes are no different, and our moral centers no less grounded, than those depicted in a dark series about a homeless civilization elsewhere in the universe, struggling with each other and the intelligent beings they created.

Watch this space for exciting news from TED 2009

If you know about the TED conference, it won’t surprise you that I’ve been a big fan for a long time. For more than 20 years, the Technology, Entertainment, Design conference has sparked our imaginations with “ideas worth sharing” by amplifying the voices of the visionaries of our time.

So you can imagine how thrilled I am that SCI FI is going to be part of TED this year. It’s the perfect venue for us to continue to expand the impact of Visions for Tomorrow. We are hosting our first annual Young Visionaries luncheon as a way to kick things off.

We will devote our time on the stage to amplifying the voices and the visions of seven spectacular people who will be announced this Thursday. All perfect examples of people whose passions have driven them to make their visions for tomorrow a reality for today. They are all visionaries of our time, sure to continue to inspire others who aspire to create a more positive future.

Keep an eye out for highlights from TED 2009. We want to extend the experience well beyond TED — we want the ideas worth sharing to continue to proliferate. And you are key. We want to know your ideas worth sharing.

The changing color of money

It would be naïve to say that the times we are going through are not as bad as they seem. Millions are hurting, many are hurting badly. The global financial crisis is a tragedy of uncommon proportion. But the fact is, things will not be as bad as they now seem. I’m not being optimistic, I’m being realistic. As I watch my own savings depleted by the slumped stock market, and my own business slammed by loss of clients and contracts, I have to somehow remember that I am a professional futurist, and in that role I don’t have the luxury of wallowing in my own troubles. I have to look out over the horizon, and see what comes next. And what comes next is pretty amazing.

Memo on saving the world: Thinking outside the big-box store model

Those who gaze at big-box stores and fail to see future cathedrals, museums or artists’ communities have no sense of history. Or imagination.

It is beyond time to start thinking creatively about what to do with all of those big boxes becoming unsuited to their original function long before they physically wear out. Here are some brilliant ideas from a small team of artists, architects, engineers and developers assembled for the purpose. The result? Everything from truck farms to fabulous apartments to, um, kitty-litter boxes for 10-story tall intergalactic cats (Refer to the artist’s rendering above. -Ed).

We can prevent asteroid impacts — the last great hurdle is working together

In early October, a small asteroid, about the size of a VW bug, impacted Earth coming in over Sudan. It was very special. This sort of event happens every several months on average, so just why was this one of particular note?

Because it was spotted headed our way less than 24 hours prior to impact by the guys (and presumably gals?) at the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona — and then subsequently by many other asteroid trackers around the world. The sum of all this intense telescopic tracking was the first ever predicted Near-Earth Object (or NEO) impact time, impact location and estimated energy. All of which came true — to the extent that it has been check-able.

Now this was of particular interest to a group of us who have been putting together a detailed report for consideration by the United Nations regarding a decision-making process which needs to be coordinated within the international community if we are ever to respond in a timely way to threatened NEO impact.

Visions for a more environmentally-friendly tomorrow

It’s Green Week here at NBC Universal, and How You Can Save The World is always thinking about the environment. That’s because our planet plays a big role in how we are — and should be — shaping the way we think, act and react to the political and technological challenges that sometimes make it hard to be green. That’s why it’s important to stay informed, and explore how you feel about energy, science, nutrition and more — and how it all plugs back into our planet.

Catch up on our evolving dialogue about a more environmentally-minded future by clicking on the headlines below.

• Tomorrow matters, as much as today, by Jamais Cascio

• Change the food system, and you change the world, by Denise Caruso

• Why your personal carbon footprint matters, by Siel

• Is your cheeseburger causing global warming? by Jamais Cascio

• We ignored our looming energy crisis for far too long, by Lee Schipper

• A case for vegetarianism, without the guilt trip, by Brian Sager

• The Earth will be just fine, thank you, by Jamais Cascio

• Nature’s Wrath: Who stands to lose the most? by John Podesta

• Do we no longer believe in a better tomorrow? by Peter Schwartz

• The dangers of a politicized scientific community, by Neal Lane

• Opening up new horizons for solar energy, by John M. Deutch

• Down the rabbit, er, prairie dog hole , by Anton Yelchin

Visions Forum, Part Three: Over 20 of our brightest minds sound off about Barack Obama

I remember the excitement and hope that accompanied JFK into the White House. This is the first time in half a century that I sense the same excitement. When I look at the racial situation in the US during the Kennedy era and now see Obama as president, it gives me pride in our country’s ability to change. JFK had trouble achieving many of his goals, and Obama is far more constrained by external circumstances; but let’s hope he can move us to address some of the many serious problems we now face.

On a more parochial note, I await anxiously Obama’s decisions on the future of our country’s space exploration program, which for the first time was addressed by both candidates in this election.

 

We asked the contributors here at How You Can Save The World to weigh in on President-elect Barack Obama’s victory. Continue reading to find out how they responded.