Dear Tech (Futurescape) Nology

Futurescape explores event horizons that will critically alter life as we know it.

Robots who have the same rights as humans?
The ability to stop the aging process?
The power to read minds?
The ideas -- born of science fiction -- aren't all that unimaginable, according to Science Channel's new series Futurescape With James Woods.

The six-part series, which airs at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Tomorrow (Tuesday), aims to reveal "the advances that will redefine humanity" by examining the next breakthroughs in science and technology, focusing on such topics as telepathy, colonizing space, achieving eternal youth and the integration of robots in our world. They're subjects that fascinate Woods, who not only serves as host and executive producer but also was involved with the show's development.



For Woods' part, he says he was especially interested in exploring not the questions of "can we" create something but "should we" do it just because we can."There's that awful, dreadful moment when you realize what you can do with science, where this fresh sort of creature emerges from the chrysalis and you don't know whether it's going to be something evil or great," says Woods.

The first episode, titled "Robot Revolution," examines a world in which "cutting-edge experiments have transformed machines into creatures with consciousness, while elsewhere, scientists are enhancing the human body with synthetic parts that work better than the real thing," according to the network description. The result is a "not-too-distant world where man and machine are not only equal, but indistinguishable."
The episode creates a scenario in which a robot goes into a voting booth while humans outside stage a protest. Woods says the situation isn't unlike those from America's past.
"If someone said to you that one day robots could vote, everybody would laugh," Woods says. "But people felt the same way about black people voting and women voting. Now we look back in astonishment, and we know that's absurd."

He also points out that scientific advances such as pacemakers and the like have made some humans "bionic," blurring the lines between man and machine even further.
Future episodes include "Cheating Time," which takes a look at advances in medical technology that could rid the world of illness and old age; "Replacing God," which examines the ability to create life from scratch; "Galactic Pioneers," centering on recent advances in propulsion technology, warp drive and solar energy; "How to Be a Superhuman," focusing on advances in genetic engineering and neuroscience; and "I Know What You're Thinking," which shows how scientists can "read minds" with telepathy helmets and scan hidden memories in ways that could threaten privacy.
Woods notes that he also injects his own humor into what's going on around him. For example, when filming a segment about the possibility of cheating the aging process -- and death -- he made a quip about someone who was "only" 150 but had been married 11 times and looked 20: "kind of like some of my friends in Hollywood."

In success, Woods says this is a show he'd like to continue doing as long as he could. There are very important social, scientific, moral and ethical issues that we address in the show."
Asked to make predictions on what he thinks the future holds, Woods is cautious but hopeful.

"It's possible that extraordinary advances in technology and science could help the human race [move toward] curing the most heinous of diseases and limit the ability to age, to live longer and more gracefully," he says. "By the same token, if these potential advances are not managed, we very well could be in worse shape.


Watch a clip from the show, which is exclusive to THR, below.

http://science.discovery.com/tv-shows/futurescape/videos/bioprinting-new-organs.htm

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