Mead McCormick is one of 100 finalists for the Mars One program, a private venture that hopes to start a colony on Mars by 2027. She talks to Anne Strainchamps about what attracted her to the project, what she imagines it will look like, and her fears about the blackness of space.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Lucy Kaylin tells Steve Paulson that the average age of American nuns is seventy, and that many orders are folding.
Marvin Minsky tells Steve Paulson he believes machine intelligence is very like human intelligence and that one day people may choose to back themselves up into computers.
Lorrie Moore has a new collection of short stories. She tells Steve Paulson that life is filled with absurdity; ghost stories are great fodder for fiction; and North America now owns the short story.
Jody Lewen is the executive director of the Prison University Project, a degree-granting program for the inmates at San Quentin State Prison in California. She's seen first hand the transformative power of knowledge and education and thinks the most important feature of higher education should be accessibility.
Cosmologist Paul Davies talks with Steve Paulson about the anthropic principle and proposes that we live in a "participatory" universe - a premise he explores in his book, "Cosmic Jackpot: Why Our Universe Is Just Right for Life."
Michael Piechowski talks about the intensity with which gifted children experience their lives.
Merritt Ierley talks with Anne Strainchamps about the domestic technology (central heating, indoor plumbing, vacuum cleaners, dishwashers) that makes American homes the most comfortable in the world.
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