A look at the San Jose Tech Museum, located in the heart of Silicon Valley. Established with the help of leading Silicon Valley luminaries, it seeks to capture the “Spirit of Silicon Valley” by offering exhibits and programs to people of all ages that encourage scientific exploration and innovative thinking. The studio guest is Bridget Rigby, Director of Learning at the Museum. On location interviews include Vice President of Content Development Alana Conner and Director of Individual Giving Kama Fletcher.

New methods of information sharing between doctors, patients and medical institutions. The studio guest is Martin Entwistle, Co-Executive Director of the Center for Health Systems Innovation at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. The on-location guest is psychiatrist Michael Dinneen, Director of Strategy Management at the U.S. Military Health System and a proponent of “Accountable Care Organizations”, which follow a patient’s care as he goes from one medical facility to another.

A discussion of earthquakes, how to predict them and how to prepare for them. Includes footage of the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The guests are Jeanne Hardebeck and Kevin Montgomery. Jeanne is a research geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey and was the winner of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineeers. Kevin is CEO of Intelesense Technologies, which provides real time global monitoring systems to aid in disaster response. He is also director of the National Biocomputation Center at Stanford University.

An interview with prominent sociobiologist and futurist Rebecca Costa, author of the highly acclaimed book “The Watchman’s Rattle: Thinking Our Way Out of Extinction”, which claims that we’re increasingly unable to deal with the complexities of modern society. She describes some typical bad thinking habits and how to replace them with better thinking habits that might enable us to deal effectively with our most pressing problems. Future Talk co-producer Mei Lin Fung cohosts.

A look at electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors. The studio guests are Ali Javidan, Engineering Manager at Tesla, and Greg Zanghi, Service and Parts Director of Tesla. Also included: video of a Tesla body factory and a visit to a Tesla showroom, including interviews with Tesla employees, a look at an automobile assembly area and a service area, and a test drive of a Tesla Roadster with Future Talk host Martin Wasserman behind the wheel.

A discussion of a  recent TEDwomen conference hosted by TEDxBayArea. The studio guests are Tatyana Kanzaveli, chief organizer of TEDxBayArea and also a senior executive at Price Waterhouse, and Francine Gordon, Ph.D., CEO of the F Gordon Group and also an organizer of TEDxBayArea. On-location interviews include California Secretary of State Debra Bowen, John Hagel who is director of Deloitte’s “Center for the Edge”, and Vivek Wadhwa, senior research associate of the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School.
 

A discussion of recent developments in human-computer interaction with three guests. Andy Hertzfeld was one of the key designers of the original Macintosh computer and is currently involved in creating leading edge products for Google. He is the author of “Revolution in the Valley”, a book about the early days of the Mac. Isaac Majerowicz is a product manager at Cisco Systems, one of the leaders in the fast growing field of telepresencing, and Eileen Clegg is a visual journalist who draws murals to capture the essence of innovative ideas, and who draws a mural live on the show to record the highlights of this episode.

A discussion of graphic visualization tools, which are used to enhance productivity in Silicon Valley companies, and which have attracted the interest of the federal government as well. There are two guests. David Sibbet is founder and president of The Grove Consultants International and author of the best selling book “Visual Meetings”. Mei Lin Fung is the co-founder of Future Talk, chairman of the board of the Institute for Service Organization Excellence and cofounder of the Program for the Future. They tell how they use graphic visualization tools to help their clients improve communication and productivity.

A discussion of biomedical ethics. The guest is Prof. David Magnus, director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, co-chair of the Ethics Committee for Stanford Hospital, co-editor of the American Journal of Bioethics, and co-editor of the book of essays “Who Owns Life?” He currently serves on the California Human Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee.

 

A look at the digital home of the future, which will be able to provide an endless stream of information, communication and entertainment. The studio guests are Rich Green, CEO of a company that makes very high end audio visual systems, and Matt DiMaria, Executive VP of a leading provider of digital entertainment for the home. Also included: footage from the recent Connections Conference, one of the top annual events for showcasing digital home technologies.