GeekSpeak – Life in a large permanent space station. Join the discussion Saturday February 22nd at 12pm SLT

What would life be like in a big space station?  Imagine a huge O’Neill cylinder, revolving to create artificial gravity, where millions of people could live.  What would it be like to live there? Will there be strict rules for every aspect of life, and no freedom at all?  Will the inhabitants feel safer than on Earth?  Will there be prisons, or will criminals be ‘spaced’? How will the millions of...

Read More

GeekSpeak – Disruption! Why does technological disruption happen? Join the discussion February 15th at 12pm SLT

A disruptive technology displaces an earlier technology and changes the society it exists in.  The car disrupted the horse technology, the telephone disrupted the telegraph.  What makes a technology disruptive?  And how can we see it coming?  What will be the next great disruptor?  Will it ever end?  Will there be something like the Last Disruptor?  Or will we forever move...

Read More

GeekSpeak – Is it time to revise the Drake Equation? Join the discussion February 8th at 12pm SLT

It has been many years since Drake produced his equation about how many intelligent, technological aliens there could be in the universe.  In 1961 we had not discovered a single exoplanet.  And we now have a much broader definition of life. On the other hand, we now know of many more ways in which a civilisation can destroy itself.  So is it time to review the Drake Equation?  Or the Fermi paradox? (Why don’t...

Read More

GeekSpeak – Are we facing the next pandemic? Join the discussion Saturday February 1st at 12pm SLT

A new virus is threatening humanity. Will this be the big one?  Or will it be contained like Ebola and SARS?  If we want to survive, what is the best course of action?  Can you really quarantine a city?  Should we see hazmat suits as the next fashion? If humanity becomes extinct, will we leave a replicating technology behind us to continue our legacy?  A technology that is in a sense a virus itself,...

Read More

GeekSpeak – What benefits will we get from space in 5 years? Join the discussion Saturday January 25th at 12pm SLT

The new space race is really taking off this year.  We will see space tourism and we will see products made in space. There will be very precise chip manufacturing and better optic cable.  And we may even see 3d printed human organs.  What do you think will make the biggest impact?  Will Space be a safe investment?   Or a rich person’s toy?  Will we solve world problems by going into...

Read More

GeekSpeak – Will we still recognize our transport systems in 50 years? Join the discussion Saturday Dec 21st at 12pm SLT

Will the planes, trains and cars that we know now still exist?  Will our cities be filled with self-driving cars, maybe driving through deep tunnels below empty streets?  Should we expect high altitude air transport, taking us to any destination on Earth in less than an hour?  Will goods be delivered by drones?  Will 3d printing mean that transport is no longer needed for most goods?  Do you...

Read More

GeekSpeak – What will 2020 bring in space? Join the discussion Saturday December 14th at 12pm SLT

Will humanity really start to take off in space?  There will be a lot happening.  Virgin Galactic first flights, SpaceX testing their starship, Mars2020 rover on Mars. What are your predictions for 2020 in space?  Will there be a first step in asteroid mining?  Or will we find interesting results from all the probes flying around, like the solar probe that is flying right now? Will the general...

Read More

GeekSpeak – Living in the machine: Will red tape suffocate us all? Join the discussion Saturday Dec 7thth at 12pm SLT

We add more and more rules all the time, but we remove old rules very slowly.  Will this lead to an overkill of rules?  Will bureaucracy become so strong that nothing can move again in society, ever? How do we work around all the red tape without destroying civilisation? Will we end up being ruled by a computer that knows all the rules?  And all the exceptions?  Do you think all people will be treated...

Read More

GeekSpeak – Is it our purpose to colonise the universe? Join the discussion Saturday November 30th at 12pm SLT

If we assume there is no other life in the universe, should we humans try religiously to ‘seed’ the universe with life?  Would that be our purpose?  If not, what is our purpose? If we cannot colonise distant planets, will some religious groups start sending capsules of bacteria out to distant stars?  Will that be the religion of the future?  Should we all become ‘seeders’ for the ‘church of the universe’?  Will...

Read More

GeekSpeak – Are the World’s Currencies about to collapse? Join the discussion Saturday Nov 23rd 12pm SLT

The voices that say a collapse is imminent are getting louder and louder.  Even the most serious hotshots in the world markets are starting to scratch their heads.  What would such a collapse look like?  Will there be safe havens in other currencies?  How long will they be safe from the collapse? What will the aftermath look like?  Will the world’s governments come up with a solution, and how...

Read More

GeekSpeak – Healing the Earth- Join the discussion Saturday Nov 16th at 12pm SLT

So much damage has been done to the planet.  Deforestation, seas filled with plastic, acid rain.  This week we will be talking about the various ways in which humanity has started to clean up the world.  There are many efforts underway, from recycling plastic to planting millions of trees. What is really needed to make cleaning up economically viable?  Can we think of ways to make money out of it?  Will...

Read More

GeekSpeak – Preppers! Should we be prepared for disaster, even when no disaster threatens? Join the discussion Nov 2nd at 12pm SLT

How safe are we really?  And how fragile is our civilisation? There are so many things that can go wrong.  There are personal disasters like the ATM not working, local disasters like power cuts and world disasters like wars or epidemics.  Which disasters are you most afraid of and which are most likely to happen?  Do you prepare for any of them?  Do you think you should? What should you store...

Read More

GeekSpeak – Fake News! What is it? How do we deal with it? Join the Discussion Saturday Oct. 26th at 12pm SLT

 We hear about fake news more and more these days.  But what is it?  Do we have to deal with ‘alternative facts’, in the words of KellyAnne Conway?  Do we need a Ministry of Truth in Facebook?  Is there any way to guarantee that some news is not fake? Do we have to live in a world where fake news is always possible?  Have we always lived in such a world?  Will we forever live...

Read More

GeekSpeak – How will autonomous driving change our cities? Join the discussion Oct. 19th at 12pm SLT

In a few years from now self-driving electric cars will be a reality.  What will our cities be like?  Will there be more cars or fewer?  Will the possession of a car become a small business since cars can be robotaxis when they are not being used by the owner?  Will cities become much pleasanter places to live?  Fewer cars, and maybe most of those driving in underground tunnels, less pollution, quiet...

Read More

GeekSpeak – Is it moral to eat Europa’s aliens? Join the discussion Saturday Sept 28th at 12pm SLT

If we find alien life on another planet or moon, what will we owe to it?  Should we feel that we are responsible for its conservation, as we would if it lived on Earth?  Should we leave it alone and not allow anyone to land there?  Should it be the law that colonies are forbidden on inhabited planets? Or should people be free to kill the aliens?  Free to eat them?  Free to take home alien...

Read More

GeekSpeak – Should we merge Science and Sports? Join the discussion on Saturday September 14th at 12PM SLT

Sports tend to become more and more extreme and a lot of science is involved so that people can achieve new records.  Is it time to merge sports and science?  Science will make new sports possible and the team of scientists will also get prizes.  How about skydiving from 20 km up or deep diving, 10 km down?  Would people be interested in such a merger?  Do you think, as science progresses...

Read More

GeekSpeak – how do we stop the paperclip maximizer? Join the discussion Saturday September 7th at 12pm SLT

The paperclip maximizer is an AI that makes paperclips and never stops making them.  Its existence, or possible existence, presents us with the problem of how to talk to an AI.  For example, if we say “AI, make me a lot of paperclips” will the AI then start to convert the entire solar system into paperclips.  Can we stop such a runaway AI?  Or will it eventually kill itself?  If the paperclip maximizer...

Read More

GeekSpeak – reaching a Kardashev Type 1 civilization. Join the Discussion on Saturday, August 31st at 12pm SLT

Reaching level 1 on the Kardashev scale means storing and using all the energy that the earth gets from the sun.  We will reach this when we increase our energy production about a million-fold.  Can we ever get there?  Will we need to hollow out the earth and use all the asteroids around? What will happen if we do not reach it?  Will we fall back to stone age energy levels, or is there a middle way? What...

Read More

GeekSpeak – what is the future of Africa? Join the discussion Saturday, August 24th at noon SLT

Africa is the second largest continent, with 54 countries and a very young and rapidly expanding population.  At present it is suffering from wars, diseases, and droughts. But there is a lot of promise for the future. Let’s talk about how the next superpower will develop.  How soon will we see a major boost in the wealth of the African population?  What is needed to get it going? What problems must be overcome?Will Africa...

Read More

GeekSpeak – ethical shopping, how important is it? Join the discussion August 3rd at 12pm SLT

We in the west buy questionable products like palm oil or hardwood from the Amazon.  We buy products that may have been produced by slave labour, or at the expense of local people.  Should we all be forced or nudged into ethical buying?Is the problem one of information?  Should all products carry enough information so that we can make an ethical choice?  Is that even possible?How do we know what information we can rely on? ...

Read More