Motherboard
Season 2013
As technology advances, the world is always changing. "Motherboard" uncovers stories around the world that help show what is coming next, with new technologies, cultures and discoveries helping to reshape the planet. From real-life cyborgs to guns that can aim themselves, this docuseries illustrates what is waiting for us and why it makes the future both wonderful and terrifying.
Where to Watch Motherboard • Season 2013
29 Episodes
- Libya In VitroE1
Libya In Vitro Last summer, Motherboard met Mohammed and Nadia, a couple from Tripoli who had left their distressed home for six months to live in Jordan, where they hoped to conceive through in vitro fertilization with the help of one of the region's best doctors, and full government backing, as promised. Though they hadn't been hurt in the war, they considered it the government's duty to pay for their treatment. "We came here with their support, with their understanding that they would pay our bills," said Nadia. - Yoani Sánchez, Cuba's Dissident BloggerE2
Yoani Sánchez, Cuba's Dissident Blogger Since starting her blog, "Generación Y," in 2007, Sánchez has become the Castro regime's most internationally visible opponent. Her site gets millions of hits per month, and hundreds of thousands of people follow her on Twitter, and she uses those platforms to shed light on life within the western hemisphere's last true dictatorship. - Growing Up with Growing (Electric Independence)E3
Growing Up with Growing (Electric Independence) Motherboard visits the practice space of the band one day before the release of their eighth album PUMPS! and the start of a 6 week North American tour in support of it. We also capture their first show of the tour in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and talk with the band about their sound. - The Future of Weed: HIGH COUNTRYE4
The Future of Weed: HIGH COUNTRYIn HIGH COUNTRY, Motherboard heads to Denver--ground zero for cannabis legalization, and home to a booming tech sector in what could be called the Silicon Valley of weed--to inhale the newest high-tech highs. We visit the key players scaling up this new green tech, wrap our heads around all the money to be made, crack open the confusing science of America's No. 1 cash crop, and smoke dabs. - Alien Hunting with a Child ProdigyE5
Alien Hunting with a Child Prodigy Meet Adora Svitak, a 12 year-old prodigy who has been declared "the most clever child in the world." She learned to read at three and published her first novel when she was seven. When Motherboard hung out with her in 2009, she said she sees herself as an "educator, poet and humanitarian." In this short video Adora interviews SETI astronomer Jill Tarter about her search for intelligent extra-terrestrial life. - Dmitry Itskov on the Philosophy of ImmortalityE6
Dmitry Itskov on the Philosophy of Immortality MOTHERBOARD met up with Russian billionaire Dmitry Itskov at his Global Future 2045 Conference in New York City to talk about immortality, spirituality, and the coming age of cybernetic avatar-based living. - Cuba's DIY Inventions from 30 Years of IsolationE7
Cuba's DIY Inventions from 30 Years of Isolation In 1991, Cuba's economy began to implode. "The Special Period in the Time of Peace" was the government's euphemism for what was a culmination of 30 years worth of isolation. It began in the 60s, with engineers leaving Cuba for America. Ernesto Oroza, a designer and artist, studied the innovations created during this period. He found that the general population had created homespun, Frankenstein-like machines for their survival, made from everyday objects. Oroza began to collect these machines, and would later contextualize it as "art" in a movement he dubbed "Technological Disobedience." - Machine Terrorism as ArtE8
Machine Terrorism as Art Mark Pauline is the founder of Survival Research Laboratories, a mythical moniker among weird-techies, art-punks and general violence seekers across the globe. Pauline began his work in the 80s in the San Francisco punk and art scene defacing billboards and organizing public pranks. Through the decades, he has become a pioneer in technological and performance arts. His vaguely anthropomorphic creations are some of the most dangerous machines ever made, rivaling the military, but instead of turning their threats on us, the machines blow each other up and let us watch. - A Monkey Head Transplant (Part 1)E9
A Monkey Head Transplant (Part 1)Robert J. White is the groundbreaking surgeon who in the mid-1970s- against all odds- pioneered the monkey head transplant, forever changing the face of monkey ownership as we know it. Wait, what's that? Your monkey still has its original head? Wow. Get with the program, choch. - A Monkey Head Transplant (Part 2)E10
A Monkey Head Transplant (Part 2)Robert J. White is the groundbreaking surgeon who in the mid-1970s- against all odds- pioneered the monkey head transplant, forever changing the face of monkey ownership as we know it. Wait, what's that? Your monkey still has its original head? Wow. Get with the program, choch. - Video Game Designer Lord British Goes to SpaceE12
Video Game Designer Lord British Goes to Space Garriott, also known as Lord British, now resides in a castle-like mansion outside of Austin, Texas, that's the dream home of any grown-up kid. But his favorite place to live is a five-bedroom fixer-upper 250 miles above Earth. In 2008, Garriott parlayed his success in the videogame industry into a lifelong dream: Fly to the International Space Station. - How a Truck Driver "Rebuilt" the Atomic BombE13
How a Truck Driver "Rebuilt" the Atomic Bomb John Coster-Mullen is a truck-driver with minimal college education who taught himself how to build the most detailed replica of an A-bomb ever made. "The secret of the atomic bomb is how easy they are to make," admits Coster-Mullen. - Microscopic Booze Can Be Art TooE14
Microscopic Booze Can Be Art Too Davidson is also the discoverer and curator of the "Silicon Zoo," a collection of infinitesimal drawings etched directly into the circuitry of mass-manufactured microprocessors by their designers, and running the gamut in shape and style from a 2mm-long Crayola crayon to a Waldo one-third the width of a human hair. It's like tiny graffiti for nerds (regular nerds, not graffiti nerds). - The World's Highest Ranking Alien BelieverE16
The World's Highest Ranking Alien Believer Paul Hellyer recently stirred up global controversy when he testified before a half-dozen former US representatives that aliens exist. As Canada's former Minister of Defence, Hellyer is the first and only cabinet-ranking official from a G8 nation to publicly state a belief in extraterrestrials. - Teen Plans to Cheat Death by Freezing his BrainE17
Teen Plans to Cheat Death by Freezing his Brain Matthew Deutsch is a singular teenager. He is not only afraid of dying, but he's made plans to put his brain on ice after he does so that he might be revived in the future. At 17, he is very likely the youngest cryonics candidate in the world. - Dragon Con: A Nerd's Comic Book ParadiseE18
Dragon Con: A Nerd's Comic Book Paradise Travel with Vice comics editor Nick Gazin to Atlanta for Dragon Con, a two-day bacchanalian orgy of sci-fi and comic book fans going bananas in the city's hotel rooms. We dive deep into the chaos with hundreds of cos-play and sci-fi fans, and then almost get arrested for talking to Carrie Fisher from Star Wars. - Edward Teller: the Real-Life Dr. StrangeloveE19
Edward Teller: the Real-Life Dr. Strangelove To make his point, Teller pointed to his first-hand experience with tyranny, first under the Communists and then the Fascists, who raised hell across Hungary before he fled in the 1930s for America. His scars weren't just psychic: a streetcar ran over Teller's foot during his early years, leaving him hobbling for the rest of his life. - Cutting Edge Technology from 1980: The Best of Tech TalkE20
Cutting Edge Technology from 1980: The Best of Tech Talk In 2009, Motherboard's then editor, Sean Yeaton, did the world a small service and dusted off Mark David's Box of Tapes. The tapes are a hastily edited set of clips gleaned from old cable access shows recorded by the deceased Mark David. The first stack of plastic from the dingy box we've got the luxury of feasting our cold, glassy eyes on is 'Tech Talk.' Brought to you in five short parts, 'Tech Talk' explores the most cutting-edge technology from the year 1980. In episode one, guest Monsignor Ron Duffy of the Vatican's Robotics - A Robotic ExoskeletonE22
A Robotic Exoskeleton If there is anybody working in the field of robotics whose success we are equally amazed by and terrified of, it is Professor Yoshiyuki Sankai. While his colleagues are taking their cues from the more "sophisticated" side of sci-fi like Phillip K. Dick and THX-1138, Sankai has thrown out any pretense of goodwill, naming his company after the fictional cyborg firm responsible for the Terminator and trying to develop his own version of the exoskeleton from Aliens (which he's named HAL, no less). - The Gun That Aims ItselfE24
The Gun That Aims ItselfIn spring of 2013, Texas-based start up TrackingPoint Solutions released the first ever precision-guided firearm, which is essentially a long-range, laser-guided robo rifle. Call it the gun of tomorrow: The technology is so advanced we've heard it can have beginners killing at extreme distances with single-shot accuracy in mere minutes. - Experiencing Psychosis with Digital LSDE26
Experiencing Psychosis with Digital LSD In 2005, artist Jennifer Kanary's sister-in-law committed suicide while suffering from a psychotic episode. This event led Jennifer to develop Labyrinth Psychotica, an experience designed to give people more insight into how it feels to suffer through psychosis. - Soylent: How I Stopped Eating for 30 DaysE27
Soylent: How I Stopped Eating for 30 Days Is Soylent the future of food? CEO Rob Rhinehart lived on his liquid invention for 30 days straight, and the feat propelled him to internet fame and fortune. So I decided to become the first person to repeat his feat—for a month straight, I'd try to live on nothing but the chemical cocktail, just like Rob. Along the way, I'd investigate the how an artificial food replacement might impact human health, Silicon Valley, and the world at large. This is the story of life after food. - Snowden's Cryptographer on the NSA & Defending the InternetE29
Snowden's Cryptographer on the NSA & Defending the Internet Cryptography expert Bruce Schneier, author of dozens of books on computer and real-world security, was tapped by The Guardian to help the newspaper decode the NSA documents disclosed by Edward Snowden. We met with him in Cambridge, Massachusetts to talk about the risks of widespread digital surveillance, the problem with thinking about those risks, and the ways that the public can demand change.