Tonight’s show from the Perimeter Institute – and in fact, all of the shows this week –  have been inspired by the writings and lectures of some of the great minds in science. On Tuesday’s show, we discussed the effects of living in a world where you are wired 24/7. One of the benefits this level of connectivity has afforded us is the opportunity to read and hear the thoughts and theories of scientists such as Stephen Hawking, Neil Turok, Bill Joy or writers such as Kevin Kelly, Stewart Brand and Natalie Angier.

 While we’re not on the air this weekend, I invite you to listen to Kevin Kelly on the next 5,000 days of the web, Ray Kurzweil on how technology will transform us or read about Bill Joy’s misgivings about the future. Also, one of my favourite books is The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science, by New York Times science writer Natalie Angier – a must for any lay person who wants to learn the essentials of science in order to understand everyday life.

Not to be underestimated are the scores of science fiction writers, whose imaginations fuel the ideas of tomorrow. We’ve had some of them on our panels this week – from Neal Stephenson to Cory Doctorow – I encourage you to look up their novels. My own personal favourite is Ontario-native Rob Sawyer, whose novel FlashForward has been the inspiration for the current hit-ABC television network drama.

The point is, if you love science, if you want to learn more about the universe you live in and the one you will inhabit in the future, come explore our Quantum to Cosmos programs, the Agenda shows, the lectures, the writings and previous presentations of our speakers – I hope they will inspire, entertain and education you as much as they have our team. Remember, our programs from Quantum to Cosmos, like all our episodes, are always available as video and audio podcasts.

Pick up a science fiction novel from time to time, and read about a future others dare to dream of.