The Next Billion Seconds

In our world, you flip a coin and it comes up either heads or tails. But in the spooky quantum world – that’s everything from a single atom all the way up to a small virus – that coin can come up both heads AND tails, depending on how you read it. So which is it? Heads? Tails? Both? Neither? Welcome to the strange world of quantum computing where this both-true-and-false ‘superposition’ allows quantum computers to vastly outperform their ‘classical’ peers (such as the one in your smartphone). At least, that’s the theory. Quantum computers are so unstable they tend to self-destruct before we can get them to run a program! Researchers Claire Edmunds and Virginia Frey from the University of Sydney’s Quantum Control Laboratory join us to explore this new quantum frontier: The deeper you go, the weirder it gets over the next billion seconds. Say Hello: Head to the website: https://nextbillionseconds.com Find Mark Pesce at: https://twitter.com/mpesce Follow The Show at: https://twitter.com/nextbillionsecs Follow PodcastOne Australia on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/podcastoneau/ Follow PodcastOne Australia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/podcastoneau

Is daily augmented reality closer than we think?  Back in July 2016, 'Pokémon Go' opened the doors to the brave new world of augmented reality - an 'overnight success' fifty years in the making. With companies like Magic Leap and Facebook working hard to create augmented reality ‘spectacles’, the next billion seconds will see us put our smartphones down and placing the screen over our eyes instead. But who will be controlling our new, 'improved' reality?  Say Hello: Head to the website: https://nextbillionseconds.com Find Mark Pesce at: https://twitter.com/mpesce Follow The Show at: https://twitter.com/nextbillionsecs Follow PodcastOne Australia on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/podcastoneau/ Follow PodcastOne Australia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/podcastoneau

Why is it so hard to tear ourselves away from Facebook’s feed? What is it feeding us that makes it so addictive? The power of artificial intelligence combined with the eternal surveillance of the smartphone made a monster out of Zuck’s social network - but has it divided us more than it united us? How are people using this social network to spread fake news? How is fake news being weaponised to change the way we vote? All of these questions - and much more - are answered in our special two-part episode, “The Last Days of Reality” Say Hello: Head to the website: https://nextbillionseconds.com Find Mark Pesce at: https://twitter.com/mpesce Follow The Show at: https://twitter.com/nextbillionsecs Follow PodcastOne Australia on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/podcastoneau/ Follow PodcastOne Australia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/podcastoneau

Like artificial intelligence, virtual reality (VR) is one of those twenty-year ‘overnight success’ stories. For longer than that, VR pioneer Tony Parisi has been probing the boundaries of computer graphics, interactivity and illusion to create the next generation of technologies that immerse us in the experiences of new worlds. He tells us why VR has finally come of age - and what’s coming next, as ‘augmented reality’ integrates ‘consensual hallucinations’ into our daily lives. Say Hello: Head to the website: https://nextbillionseconds.com Find Mark Pesce at: https://twitter.com/mpesce Follow The Show at: https://twitter.com/nextbillionsecs Follow PodcastOne Australia on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/podcastoneau/ Follow PodcastOne Australia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/podcastoneau

The Next Big Thing always promises to be the cure for all our ails - but inevitably the high promises tarnish and all our best efforts fall back to earth. For as long as we’ve had technology, we’ve believed in its capacity to craft a perfect world - even though we ourselves are far from perfect. Author and philosopher Erik Davis has spent twenty years dissecting our attitudes toward technology, utopia and belief - and writes about a future where we ‘wise up’ enough to understand the human value of our imperfections. Say Hello: Head to the website: https://nextbillionseconds.com Find Mark Pesce at: https://twitter.com/mpesce Follow The Show at: https://twitter.com/nextbillionsecs Follow PodcastOne Australia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/podcastoneau/ Follow PodcastOne Australia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/podcastoneau

Bill Gates once quipped, “Banking is necessary - banks are not.” For billions of ‘unbanked’ in the developing world, banking happens through a smartphone app - no branches, no tellers, and no ATMs. How does a bank inspire trust - or trust its customers - when it’s all inside a smartphone? Banking futurist Andrew Davis shares his vision of a future where banks protect privacy as well as your money, a world where everyone, everywhere becomes a banker. Say Hello: Head to the website: https://nextbillionseconds.com Find Mark Pesce at: https://twitter.com/mpesce Follow The Show at: https://twitter.com/nextbillionsecs Follow PodcastOne Australia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/podcastoneau/ Follow PodcastOne Australia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/podcastoneau

For two and a half thousand years, cities and politicians have grown together. The city gives politicians a platform, a stage - and a demanding public. Always economic powerhouses, our cities also hold the key to an urban future where city-states like Singapore rise in prominence. We talk to Sydney City Councillor Jess Scully about how best to grow a ‘world city’ like Sydney over the next billion seconds - and what it means to have a political career in a time when every citizen has social media to amplify their voice, their beliefs - and their anger. The future is here - and it’s local. Say Hello: Head to the website: https://nextbillionseconds.com Find Mark Pesce at: https://twitter.com/mpesce Follow The Show at: https://twitter.com/nextbillionsecs Follow PodcastOne Australia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/podcastoneau/ Follow PodcastOne Australia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/podcastoneau

Solar power cost $100 per kilowatt hour when energy futurist Ramez Naam entered the world. Last year, the UAE signed a 20-year contract for solar power at four thousandth the cost. For Ramez Naam it’s no longer a question of if renewables take over, it’s a matter of when - and the data proves it. Energy has been mixed with politics from the beginning - so over the next billion seconds, how do we talk ourselves out of our coal culture and into a sustainable future? Ramez Naam makes a convincing case for a future where we profit from the sun. Our guest: Ramez Naam: http://rameznaam.com Say Hello: Head to the website: https://nextbillionseconds.com Find Mark Pesce at: https://twitter.com/mpesce Follow The Show at: https://twitter.com/nextbillionsecs Find PodcastOne Australia on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/podcastoneau Follow PodcastOne Australia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/podcastoneau/ Follow PodcastOne Australia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/podcastoneau

It’s growing increasingly difficult to know where the truth lies. We’ve gotten very good at our electronic fakery - from Photoshop and ‘Deep-Fakes’ to synthetic audio of former U.S. President Barack Obama so accurate it’s indistinguishable from the real thing. All of this feeds into a growing online community which instantly separates into tribes then tunes out any competing with a cry of “fake news!”. Series Two of The Next Billion Seconds takes a look at the intersection of technology, truth and our future, beginning with frequent guest John Allsopp, revealed in the ways he teaches his children the spirit of inquiry, to help them discover where the truth lies. Episode links: Adobe Voco A.I. demonstration used to impersoante former U.S. Presient Barack Obama - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7csR8Q91Bh0 John Allsopp - http://johnfallsopp.com/ Say Hello: Head to the website: https://nextbillionseconds.com Find Mark Pesce at: https://twitter.com/mpesce Follow The Show at: https://twitter.com/nextbillionsecs Find PodcastOne Australia on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/podcastoneau Follow PodcastOne Australia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/podcastoneau/ Follow PodcastOne Australia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/podcastoneau

What stories should we tell ourselves (and our kids) to prepare them for the next billion seconds? We end Series One with this extended episode bringing contributors from this season, Genevieve Bell, Andy Polaine and John Allsopp together in a conversation about how we might think about and plan for a future that's looking both playful - and terrifying. Find Mark Pesce at: https://twitter.com/mpesce Follow The Show at: https://twitter.com/nextbillionsecs Find PodcastOne Australia on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/podcastoneau/ Follow PodcastOne Australia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/podcastoneau/ Follow PodcastOne Australia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/podcastoneau

Driving a car, folding a towel, cleaning the dinner table - these very human tasks have proven hard to teach to robots. So, how much can we expect from this rise of the Robots? Recorded at robotics pioneer Ken Goldberg's home in San Francisco, California - Ken shares his thoughts on a world of "multiplicity". Where the revolution rises in an emerging human-robot collaboration. Find Mark Pesce at: https://twitter.com/mpesce Follow The Show at: https://twitter.com/nextbillionsecs Find PodcastOne Australia on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/podcastoneau/ Follow PodcastOne Australia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/podcastoneau/ Follow PodcastOne Australia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/podcastoneau

Games and play expert Eric Zimmerman explains how play has become an X-Ray, giving us the opportunity to have 'a peek beneath the bonnet' of so much of our world. Play and games are the probes we're using to explore - ourselves, and our world - over the next billion seconds. It's a rich conversation with Mark and Eric, recorded at NYU where Eric teaches. Find out more: http://www.ericzimmerman.com/ Find Mark Pesce at: https://twitter.com/mpesce Follow The Show at: https://twitter.com/nextbillionsecs Find PodcastOne Australia on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/podcastoneau/ Follow PodcastOne Australia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/podcastoneau/ Follow PodcastOne Australia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/podcastoneau

Working with money in the digital world has long been a game of catch-up. Paypal and using your credit card online have become the new ways we spend traditional money in an online world. However, with the rise of Bitcoin and a multitude of other digital currencies, that landscape has changed to allow new ways of digital purchases, trading and digital currency values to exist entirely online. In this episode learn how it started, how important a blockchain is, the strengths and weaknesses of digital currencies and not if but when they will replace traditional money? Find Mark Pesce at: https://twitter.com/mpesce Follow The Show at: https://twitter.com/nextbillionsecs Find PodcastOne Australia on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/podcastoneau/ Follow PodcastOne Australia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/podcastoneau/ Follow PodcastOne Australia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/podcastoneau

When the internet was born it was free and was to stay free for everyone who wanted to access it. So, to pay for it, a few little ads would be needed. Our guest, media expert Rob Tercek, who was there at the beginning, couldn't have realised what those ads would evolve into. Data tracking, gathering your information and computers bidding for your eyeballs. Your data is for sale and it's big business. Now, they are working on reversing the process so we can gain back control. Find Mark Pesce at: https://twitter.com/mpesce Follow The Show at: https://twitter.com/nextbillionsecs Find PodcastOne Australia on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/podcastoneau/ Follow PodcastOne Australia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/podcastoneau/ Follow PodcastOne Australia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/podcastoneau

The latest in A.I. | For thousands of years, amateurs and professionals alike have dedicated themselves to the ancient Chinese board game Go. This week, Google's artificial intelligence group, DeepMind, unveiled a program so smart, it mastered the game in just 3 days, without any human help and only the rules as a guide. In this special episode, Mark explains how AlphaGo Zero didn't stop there, it then hit 2 more milestones, one at 21 days and another no one thought possible in just 40 days. This new benchmark in Artificial intelligence demonstrates how freeing machines from the limits of human knowledge shows us just how smart they can become without us. Find Mark Pesce at: https://twitter.com/mpesce Follow The Show at: https://twitter.com/nextbillionsecs Find PodcastOne Australia on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/podcastoneau/ Follow PodcastOne Australia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/podcastoneau/ Follow PodcastOne Australia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/podcastoneau