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PODCAST

Beyond Infinity

Piers Cunningham

Broadcast every Tuesday at 11am AEDT on Radio Port Phillip 98.7 or 98.3 FM. It’s your weekly dose of science and technology. Including features on cool gadgets, website reviews, the latest science and IT news, not to mention astronomy and space exploration. http://beyondinfinity.com.au/ Special thanks to John Young, Paul Wattie, Steve Meyers, Brendon Telfer and the team at RPPfm.

technology

All Episodes

00:53:56

Dan's Legacy - How Well Did The Ex-Premier Handle Covid?

Beyond Infinity ·

2023/12/21

A wide-ranging conversation about Dan Andrews life, personality, socialist left politics and the repercussions. Does he deserve hatred or grudging respect? Geoff Wells, a medical specialist who repeatedly warned about brutal and misguided lockdowns during covid, offers insights. We talk golf, medical science, Victoria's economy and the world's response to the pandemic.

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00:39:05

Musk On Thin Ice

Beyond Infinity ·

2023/12/01

In a fiery appearance at the DealBook Summit in New York City, Elon Musk unloaded on Disney CEO Bob Iger. Musk insisted he would not be 'blackmailed' and that Iger should 'GFY' over his advertising boycott of X. We consider what's at stake for the mercurial Musk and the potential fallout for his other businesses.

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00:41:16

Golfing Blues For The Ex-Premier

Beyond Infinity ·

2023/11/30

Piers and John Mac chew the fat, again. Why such heated controversy around the esteemed former Victorian State Premier Dan Andrews joining a couple of Mornington Peninsula golf clubs? Can't a man just relax and enjoy his hard-earned, early retirement in peace?(If you like this stuff, there's PLENTY more at beyondinfinity.com.au)

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00:49:31

Your Very Own Home

Beyond Infinity ·

2023/11/17

Exorbitant prices, high interest rates and lack of housing stock mean many young people will never own their own home in Australia. And with 1% or less rental vacancy and record immigration, people are struggling to get any kind of a roof over their heads. Yet governments seem powerless to help, even as banks say lending rules are too tight and make many potential borrowers ineligible for mortgages. Check out our *mighty* back catalogue of 800+ podcasts at beyondinfinity.com.au

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00:12:10

Wasted Opportunity - Why The Voice Referendum Failed

Beyond Infinity ·

2023/11/03

Piers and veteran radio presenter John McCormack discuss Australia's recent referendum on the Voice to Parliament. Passing referenda is historically and technically difficult: only 8 out of 45 attempts to amend the Constitution have succeeded since Federation in 1901 and they require support from a majority of people in a majority of states. Yet there were high hopes, especially among Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders, that things could change for the better and the Voice would become law

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00:23:35

This Evolving Social Media Landscape

Beyond Infinity ·

2023/10/17

Mature (?) social media goes subscription-based; Twitter's blue tick of approval; Reddit's unpopular IPO; TickTock gains ground - forcing change on incumbents; Renting options on new cars. Piers and Brad show their age.

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01:15:11

On The Politicisation Of Climate Science

Beyond Infinity ·

2023/10/06

Piers and bee activist Simon Mulvany chat about the politicisation of the debate around so-called climate change, with its fear mongering and manipulation by vested interests. Is 'pollution' a better term to use than 'climate change'? We consider how important it is for Australia to transition carefully to renewables, without causing peak load blackouts and vast economic damage. We discuss how science has been politicised, nuclear energy demonised and our natural resources trivialised. And we look

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00:23:21

Australia's Lost Voice

Beyond Infinity ·

2023/08/30

With the referendum to alter Australia's Constitution set for Saturday, 14 October 2023, people will vote yes or no on a single question about the establishment of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Yet the devil is in the detail and the challenge for the government and other proponents remains to explain just how the new law will work in practice. Piers sat down recently with Brad Mackenzie for a chat about what's at stake.

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01:08:10

AI, Markets And The Future

Beyond Infinity ·

2023/08/03

Piers reconnects with mathematician Dr Ian Storey and pro investor Guy West over a glass of wine to update listeners on artificial intelligence's effects on markets and investing in AI. Are we seeing the start of an AI bubble, more about hype than a real threat to humanity? We discuss how hedge funds use machine learning and the need to regulate AI. We marvel at AI's astonishing mastery of language - humanity's operating system. We ponder current economic conditions and the inflation/deflation

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00:38:41

After Covid, Does Melbourne Have PTSD?

Beyond Infinity ·

2023/07/30

Longest cumulative lockdowns on the planet, declining mental health, record state debt, economic damage, new taxes and levies and now the loss of the Commonwealth Games. Melbourne continues to endure tough times. Piers sits down with Brad Mackenzie to ponder the question: are Melburnians scarred from their collective experiences since early in 2020 when a global pandemic was declared?

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00:29:01

Spread Of Varroa Destructor Threatens Australian Bees

Beyond Infinity ·

2023/06/01

Piers sits down with beekeeper activist Simon Mulvany to discuss the spread of a parasite killing honey bees in New South Wales. Simon explains how the varroa mite entered Australia, the only country in the world that was varroa-free until recently. He outlines the enormous damage the mite causes to wild and commercial bee populations and its threat to primary industries. Simon is opposed to the use of Fipronol, an insecticide banned in the UK and EU, to control the outbreak. He points to the work

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00:57:14

This New Artificially Intelligent World

Beyond Infinity ·

2023/05/22

Piers is joined by Dr. Ian Storey, lecturer in information systems at Torrens University, for a chat about the many and varied effects of artificial intelligence on almost every aspect of human life. From AI-powered battle drones and deep fake voice cloning for ransoms through to plagiarism, provenance of online images and manipulating elections, we are on the cusp of a revolution akin to the invention of the printing press and the World Wide Web. And as Ian explains, this is just the beginning,

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01:01:46

Dawn Of The New Starship Era

Beyond Infinity ·

2023/04/21

Despite its spectacular 'rapid unscheduled disassembly' four minutes into its flight, the maiden voyage of SpaceX's monster super heavy lift rocket is considered a successful failure. SpaceX say they will learn from their mistakes and try again in a matter of months. And if they succeed, they will have a vehicle far more powerful than the Saturn V moon rocket of the Apollo era, with the distinct advantage of being fully reusable. Piers and Brad discuss this giant leap in rocket technology, what it

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00:54:39

The Inevitable Intersection Of Sport And Politics

Beyond Infinity ·

2023/02/25

Piers sits down with Brad Mckenzie to discuss whether Russia should be banned from the Paris Olympic Games in 2024. We look at the long history of politics' involvement in sport - from Jessie Owens at the Berlin Games of 1936 through to the World Cup in Qatar and the Australian Tennis Open. For all the anguish over mixing politics and sport, sport seems to win out anyway. Please check out our entire back catalogue of 883 tracks at beyondinfinity.com.au

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00:19:42

The Many Uses And Abuses Of Drones, On Earth As In...

Beyond Infinity ·

2023/01/23

Welcome to the latest episode of Beyond Infinity and our first for 2023. We discuss how Unmanned Aerial Vehicle technology is re-shaping the battlefield and beyond. We dive into the exciting world of drones and how they will revolutionize space exploration - like on Mars with the Ingenuity helicopter, which has just completed its 40th ground breaking autonomous flight. Join us as we explore the future of space exploration and the role that AI-powered drones will play in it. Let's get started!

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00:16:20

That's A Wrap - A Look Back At 2022

Beyond Infinity ·

2022/12/20

A retrospective on the year's podcasts: how bee-keeping works; extreme weather hits eastern Australia; covid dwindles yet lingers as other biohazards emerge; Elon Musk's Twitter fiascos; the Multiverse; the mega hacks of Optus and Medibank. 2022 was supposed to mark an inflection point in history - with the rise of China, war in Ukraine and a climate emergency, but did we really 'inflect'?

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00:18:08

Musk Conquers Twitter

Beyond Infinity ·

2022/11/20

The world's most successful entrepreneur now owns what he hopes will be Earth's digital town square, but he faces stiff head winds. He paid a very high price for the business at the top of the market, seems to have pissed off many employees, including senior management, as well as raised doubts among key advertisers. He's made his presence felt through mass sackings, a ban on working from home, a move towards a subscription service model whereby users pay $8 a month for the blue tick and

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00:32:12

Lest We Forget? Victoria Seems Poised To Re-elect Dan...

Beyond Infinity ·

2022/11/15

The Premier looks like winning another four years in office, despite what many see as his disastrous and incompetent mishandling of the pandemic. First, there was Melbourne's hotel quarantine fiasco, then problems with contact tracing and hundreds of preventable aged care deaths. There followed the longest cumulative lockdown of any city on Earth - 267 days - with devastating effects on mental health, personal freedoms, education, family businesses and our economy. The repercussions will be felt for

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00:14:12

Fallout Continues From Optus Hack

Beyond Infinity ·

2022/10/01

A massive cyber attack threatens the private data of 9.8 million current and former Optus customers. Authorities are being forced to reissue drivers licenses and passports, while the Federal Government promises regulatory reforms with stiff telco penalties for future breaches.

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00:08:58

Push To Allow Recycled Water In Victoria

Beyond Infinity ·

2022/09/30

Better to recycle waste water and reduce ocean outfall or rely on energy-hungry desalination plants? In the lead up to the Victorian state election, a petition on change.org calls for a $60 million upgrade to the Eastern Treatment Plant to remove all contaminants from wastewater currently discharged near Gunnamatta on the Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne. The Clean Ocean Foundation claims the Weedy Seadragon is directly impacted by the outfall - its numbers are in decline and the species is

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520 results

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