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Welcome to Mr Futurist’s first weekly podcast where I discuss what going on in emerging science and technology. Scientists have successfully edited the first human embryo in the U.S. using CRISPR. CRISPR is a gene editing technique that can modify any region of the genome of any species with high precision accuracy. Modifying a species to have certain characteristics or traits. If you’re curious as to what CRISPR is, I have added a link below to an excellent video from Futurist that explains what CRISPR is and what it can be used for, all in 60 seconds. It’s worth a minute of your time.

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Eric Shuss, Ed Hudgins, Peter Voss, Zoltan Istvan, Gennady Stolyarov; Michael Shermer (mod) discuss artificial intelligence and robots. Will these developments lead the economy of the future or end capitalism as we know it?

Gennady Stolyarov II, FSA, ACAS, MAAA, CPCU, ARe, ARC, API, AIS, AIE, AIAF, is the second Chairman in the history of the U.S. Transhumanist Party and the Chief Executive of the Nevada Transhumanist Party. Mr. Stolyarov is an actuary, independent philosophical essayist, science-fiction novelist, poet, amateur mathematician, composer, and Editor-in-Chief of The Rational Argumentator, a magazine championing the principles of reason, rights, and progress. Mr. Stolyarov regularly produces YouTube videos discussing life extension, libertarianism, and related subjects, In December 2013, Mr. Stolyarov published Death is Wrong, an ambitious children’s book on life extension illustrated by his wife Wendy Stolyarov. Death is Wrong can be found on Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats, and can also be freely downloaded in PDF format in the English, Russian, French, Spanish, and Portuguese languages.

Dr. Edward Hudgins is research director at the Heartland Institute, which seeks to develop and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. Hudgins has written extensively on the promise of exponential technologies and the need for a human achievement and entrepreneurial ethos. Before joining Heartland, he worked at The Atlas Society, which promotes the philosophy of reason, freedom, and individualism developed by Ayn Rand. During his stint at the Cato Institute, Hudgins directed regulatory studies and produced the book, Space: The Free-Market Frontier. He has also worked at the Joint Economic Committee of Congress and at The Heritage Foundation, where he pioneered the concept of an Index of Economic Freedom. Hudgins has a BA from the University of Maryland, an MA from American University, and a PhD from the Catholic University of America. He has taught at universities both in the United States and Germany.

Zoltan Istvan is a Libertarian candidate for California Governor in 2018. He is often considered one the world’s leading transhumanists after his popular run in the 2016 US Presidential race as a science and technology candidate. Zoltan began his futurist career by publishing The Transhumanist Wager, an award-winning, #bestseller in philosophy that has been compared to Ayn Rand’s work. Zoltan is also a leading technology journalist, a successful entrepreneur, and a former filmmaker and on-camera reporter for the National Geographic Channel. His futurist work and promotion of radical science has reached over 100 million people. He is a graduate of Columbia University, and lives in San Francisco with his physician wife and two young daughters. Breitbart wrote, “Istvan is a dynamic personality, as polarizing as he is engaging.” The New York Times wrote Zoltan has “a plausibly presidential aura.”

For the first solar eclipse since 1979, Southwest Airlines will be hosting an aerial eclipse-viewing party.

Passengers on five domestic Southwest Airlines flights will get a view of the total eclipse from 35,000 feet in the air. While hundreds of flights will have the opportunity of viewing the eclipse from the air, these five Southwest flights are said to have the best view. For these flights, Southwest will provide passengers with eclipse-viewing glasses. Flight attendants will also serve special “cosmic cocktails” in-flight. Those hoping to grab a seat at one of these aerial eclipse parties will have to reserve their seats quickly due to the airline’s open-seating policy.

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Cancer continues to be one of the major diseases that plagues humanity. Around the world, approximately 1 in 6 deaths is due to cancer, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The prevalence of cancer is due, in part, to the absence of a universal cure for all forms of the disease. While various treatments are available, each type of cancer generally requires specific treatment.

A new method developed by doctors at the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London presents a hopeful solution. The team has successfully tested their method on two infants with an aggressive form of leukaemia.

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