Interview: Baratunde Thurston

Baratunde Thurston, TV Host 

 

Baratunde is a comedian and vigilante pundit who lives at the intersection of comedy, technology and politics. Currently, Thurston serves as the web editor for The Onion, but also writes for The Huffington Post and his own website baratunde.com. He has authored three books, including "Keep Jerry Falwell Away From My Oreo Cookies", was nominated for the Bill Hicks Award for Thought Provoking Comedy, declared a Champion of the First Amendment by Iowa State University, and called "someone I need to know" by Barack Obama. I chat with Baratunde about his experiences as the host of the Science Channel and Popular Science's new Future Of series as well as his opinion on how technology will effect the world! Future Of premiers TONIGHT, (8/10) at 9pm!

You’re a comedian and writer with an impressive list of credentials to your name - how did your interest in technology develop?  

First of all, I love what yall are doing at Current.com. You're helping define the future of media, so keep working that out. It's inspiring.

Almost all questions about my origins can be answered the same way: my mother. She raised my sister and me during the crack wars of the 1980s in Washington DC and made sure to keep us busy, engaged and educated. She was my hero. We were the first family on the block with a computer. An Apple IIe in the hood! As a kid, I took apart pretty much every thing that had a circuit board. I rarely put them back together, but it was the start of my infatuation with technology, and there's been no looking back.

I paid for a good chunk of college doing advanced computer support and software testing, and even as I've pursued my political and comedic interests, technology has remained an important part of my life. I mean, I used to read Information Week every week when I was in high school. Who reads Information Week!? I'm a geek.

 PopSci’s “Future Of” focuses on how technology will change human existence- would you say that humans, via science, are now in control of their own evolution?

 I've asked myself that very question so many times in my life and especially while shooting Future Of. We manipulate our environments more than any other species. We prolong life and in many ways defy nature. We intervene with disease and trauma, and if even some of what I've seen while making this show is true, we'll continue to do so at the genetic and possibly atomic level. I asked one of the scientists if he thought all of our technological innovation and intervention freed us from the constraints of evolution. He said he understood where my question came from but that humans aren't the only ones changing in our relationship to evolution. As we change, so do the conditions that might affect us. Thus we have superdiseases and more drastic environmental situations, for example. Who knows? Maybe we'll have to contend with nanobot infections in the not too distant future. We've certainly changed our historical relationship with evolution, but we haven't completely left it behind.

The “Sixth Sense” tech you try out in the first episode is like a portable computer, camera and communication system all in one. It looks incredible, but it’s a bit bulky at this point. What type of modifications do you think it will need before it’s street ready?

  They will need to lose the glued together Lego pieces and the magic marker caps users must wear on their fingers so the gesture system works. No advanced technology should fail due to a lack of magic marker caps. None. After that, the system would need to be a lot lighter and more physically stable. The projected image bounces around a lot just from your breathing, so I'd say they have some work to do. However, the early stage at which I get to play with these things is the fun part. I'm getting a glimpse of what might be, not a finished product.  

When you checked out the concept of bionic contact lenses, you show us a world where you could look at someone and automatically have access to their name, interests and other information. Do you think that this idea takes away from the experience of human interaction and getting to know people?
 

I think that question can be asked about a lot of the technology featured in the show and a lot of the tech that is already out there. Most of these tools can deepen our social connections or make them more superficial. Does someone's name tag at a conference take away from human interaction, or does it avoid potentially embarrassing situations and allow for more meaningful interactions? Besides, the president has someone whose job it is to whisper background info to him about the people he meets at functions. Can't we all have that power? According to the bionic lens, yes we can.

The prosthetics we get to see in the first episode of “Future Of” are amazing- in some cases, they function even better than the “real thing“! Should we expect a future where people replace the majority of their aging body parts with prosthetic pieces and advanced technology?

 I'm not sure about the majority, but we will certainly see more augmented bodies, and thanks to Moores Law and economies of scale, the $6 Million Dollar Man will probably cost about $20,000. Think about the way we treat clothing, accessories and cell phone face plates and ringtones. How we appear to the world is a form of expression and communication, and I can certainly see us extending this to enhanced body parts. Some of us have been doing this for years: colored contact lenses, plastic surgery and botox are just a few examples. There are people who inject elastomer into their butts! Their butts! So why not have a pair of legs for running and another for dancing? I know a few people who could really use a new pair of dancing legs. It would be a much safer, more enjoyable world for all of us.

What other imaginative innovations will we be blown away by in Popular Science's “Future Of” series?

This is easy. The episode on immortality involved the most imaginative innovation I've ever experienced, and there was no hardware, no software, no chemicals. You'll have to wait and see to know exactly what I'm talking about, but you'll know. It changed my life.

Did hosting this ground breaking series teach you anything new, or change your opinion on any major scientific issues?

No. I knew everything before I started working on this show. Everything.

In all seriousness, I learned several new things with every interview. That's been the fun part! I get access to incredibly smart people, and I get to pick their brains. It's a ridiculous job, and I know I'm very fortunate to have it. In terms of my opinions, I think I've become even more cautious of robots and androids. I'm very familiar with the Terminator documentary series, and found myself very troubled by some of the emotional intelligence and needs we're giving these robots. There's just no need for that. We all know how it ends.  

Your resume keeps getting longer- author, editor, blogger and all around awesome funny man- what’s the ‘Future Of” Baratunde Thurston?

I realize how incredibly, ridiculously fortunate my life is. I hold several awesome jobs (including at The Onion). It is my goal to hold every awesome job there is at some point in the future. Stay tuned.