December 7, 2012 5:48 pm

This Sunday’s Episode: StarTalk Live at Business Insider IGNITION

If you were disappointed that you couldn’t see StarTalk Live at the Business Insider IGNITION Conference, I have some good news for you.

We recorded it. In fact, it’s going to be this Sunday’s Podcast. I just listened to it, and I think you’re going to enjoy it when you get to hear it Sunday night.

In addition to astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, of course, and comic co-host Eugene Mirman, there were two guests, both futurists: Jason Silva and Melissa Sterry. The episode is a whirlwind, freewheeling orbit around the intersection of technology, human biology and the cities of the future. Discussions explore the possibility that bio-mimicry, nanotechnology and bio-ware will propel humanity to evolve into something that is post-human. And whether the future of space exploration will be manned, robotic, or via Avatars like in the James Cameron movie. And how long it will take until we have smart cities, filled with adaptive structures and blanketed by millions of sensors tracking people and movements, which use smart data to adapt to seasonal changes and mitigate environmental challenges. (Hint: it’s not as far off as you think.)

By the time everyone slows down to catch their intellectual breath, you may find yourself wondering whether when Eugene Mirman says, “This is how people become evil scientists,” he was making a joke… or delivering a warning.

You’ll have to wait until Sunday night to answer that for yourself. For now, though, we’ll leave you with something for you below that the people who paid thousands of dollars to attend the conference couldn’t see there: two “Behind the Scenes” videos shot backstage before StarTalk Live even started. The first shows Neil meeting Melissa and pondering whether “over-planning the development of cities can lead to an apocalyptic future?”

And the second features Neil and Jason discussing singularities, black holes and the question, “Are we a way for the cosmos to know itself? Or is that merely the hubris of humanity?”

StarTalk Live at Business Insider IGNITION will be available here on our website and on iTunes at 7:00 PM ET this Sunday, Dec. 9th.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!
–Jeffrey Simons