I’m really excited about this programming.  It’s all great.  Please note that my reading is early in the convention.  But hey, it’s right after one of may favorite topics, Environmental Speculative Fiction. So drop by for the panel and stay for the reading.  I also get to moderate some of my favorite writers…..
The Re-emergence of Environmental Speculative Fiction
Thursday 18:00 – 19:00, 2503A (Kansas City Convention Center)
This used to be a booming field but has only recently re-emerged. Why is this and how do today’s tropes differ from the ecological dystopias of the 1970s?
Mr. Peadar O Guilin (M), Brenda Cooper, Alyx Dellamonica
Reading: Brenda CooperÂ
Thursday 19:00 – 19:30, 2202 (Readings) (Kansas City Convention Center)
Brenda Cooper
Autographing: Neil Clarke, Brenda Cooper, Rebecca Moesta, Martin Shoemaker, Rosemary Claire Smith
Friday 10:00 – 11:00, Autographing Space (Kansas City Convention Center)
Rebecca Moesta, Neil Clarke, Brenda Cooper, Martin L. Shoemaker, Ms Rosemary Claire Smith
Humans and Robots
Friday 13:00 – 14:00, 2204 (Kansas City Convention Center)
With advances in artificial Intelligence and human control of robots, will Asimov’s farmous laws be needed. How might programming the laws of robotics be approached? How does this relate to fuzzy sets and chaos theory?
Brenda Cooper (M), Walt Boyes, G. David Nordley, Jerry Pournelle, Mr Kevin Roche
Generation Starships
Friday 18:00 – 19:00, 2502B (Kansas City Convention Center)
What would life be like for those living on a Generation Spaceship? From water storage and greenhouses to dealing with the reprecussions of being always indoors, panellists will discuss the scientific, sociological and psychological aspects of building and living on a Generation Spaceship.
Gregory Benford, Ms Pat Cadigan, Jerry Pournelle, Brenda Cooper (M), Mark W. Tiedemann
The Future of the City
Saturday 13:00 – 14:00, 2209 (Kansas City Convention Center)
As part of “The Future of” series we look at Cities. We consider what makes a city, whether it is a place of 350,000 people (Utrecht, the Netherlands), somewhere with a cathedral (Chichester, UK – population 27,000), or something else entirely. Over the centuries and throughout the world, cities have been defined and understood very differently, so what changes do we expect to come in the next decades or centuries?
Gary Ehrlich, Alex Jablokow (M), Luke Peterson, Renée Sieber, Brenda Cooper
Space Technology Spinoffs
Saturday 16:00 – 17:00, 2210 (Kansas City Convention Center)
There have been some 2,000 technological products, inventions and ideas trasferred from NASA missions to commercial products and services. Of these, many have made life on Earth better in the fields of health and medicine, transportation, public safety, consumer goods, energy and environment, information technology, and industrial productivity. Panelists discuss their favorite examples of space technology spinoffs.
Mrs. Laurel Anne Hill, Les Johnson, Janet Freeman-Daily (M), Joy Ward, Brenda Cooper
Kaffeeklatsch: Brenda Cooper, Larry Niven, Tui Sutherland
Sunday 11:00 – 12:00, 2211 (KKs) (Kansas City Convention Center)
Larry Niven, Tui Sutherland, Brenda Cooper