The PBS show 22nd Century takes you to the forefront of technology
KurzweilAI: 22nd Century is an innovative new PBS series about technological advances taking place today that within our lifetimes will significantly change the way humans live and interact.
I think it is very important to communicate realistic visions of possible future scenarios based on scientific speculations to television audiences, with a future-friendly or at least not unfriendly attitude. Unfortunately I cannot watch PBS from Europe but the 22nd Century websites has long streaming videoclips. On Youtube there is a 22nd Century group of videoclips contributed by users. The 22nd Century websites has interesting polls - at this moment 50% of participants answer the question “What would you rather see a show about?” with “The potential of living forever”. The KurzweilAI website is one of the futurist resources they list.
In an interview Ramez Naam, the author of More Than Human, discusses the implications of technically enhancing the human body: “We have always, as long as we have existed as humanity, we’ve always looked for ways to make ourselves smarter, make ourselves live longer, give ourselves more physical abilities. That’s why we invented writing. That’s why we picked up sticks. That’s why we invented the use of fire. We’re always looking for these ways to improve our lives, and improve our control over who we are, and our environment. That’s what it means to be human… The future is about gaining control over our genes, gaining control over our bodies, gaining control over our brains and minds, and being able to alter them so we can look the way we want to, so we can be stronger, and faster, so that we can work for decades, or maybe centuries more, so we can restore youth to people who are aged, and so we can alter our thoughts, change our personalities, become smarter, communicate things back and forth, from brain to brain”.
From the website:
Ever wonder what the world is going to be like in the future? Will people routinely live to see their 250th birthdays? Will personal computers be smarter than us? (Or more personable?) Will machines shrink so small they can make repairs inside a human cell? Science fantasy or futuristic nightmare? The PBS show 22nd Century takes you to the forefront of technology and hears from people on the cusp of a scientific revolution.
In the first episode we will meet a young man who was rendered unable to communicate with the outside world due to a devastating automobile accident. Surgeons implanted an electrode in his brain and it has allowed him to break out of his isolation and communicate just by thinking about what he wants to say. In another segment a leading neurophysicist tells how he has developed bundles of wires thinner than spider webs that can be inserted into the blood vessels of human brains.
The series is hosted by Robin Robinson, a Chicago-based journalist, who is joined by two virtual co-hosts, each with insightful and often conflicting viewpoints about the merits of this new technology. One is an actor playing Aldous Huxley, the late author of Brave New World, who worried about the dehumanizing consequences of scientific discoveries. The other is Orlanda Bell, a time-traveling visitor from the future, who represents the best-case scenario of these technological advancements. Is this a future that will benefit the human race? Or will we lose all sense of individuality? Find out on the premiere episode of the 22nd Century.
The program is one of three science pilots airing on PBS in January; only one pilot will move forward to become a series. Watch online or on-air and then tell us what you think of the program using the feedback form below. [Perhaps if enough people write they will choose 22nd Century. My comment on the feedback form: I just watched the videoclips and read the intervews. Great show! This is a good example of “using the power of noncommercial television, the Internet and other media to enrich the lives of all Americans through quality programs and education services that inform, inspire and delight” as in PBS’ mission statement].
In the premiere episode, guests arrive from the future, past and present to guide you through a quirky tour of the “World Wide Mind,” an intriguing theory that proposes that in the future our brains will be wired up so that we can communicate with the world effortlessly and instantly. Science fantasy or futuristic nightmare? Watch the show and decide for yourself!
Posted by G.P. on 01/10 at 03:11 PM