Sonia Arrison, M.A.

The H+ magazine article Science Fiction Gets Funding said

Billionaires who care about escape velocity, radical life extension, or the Turing Test don’t come along very often, but when they do, their actions have the potential to dramatically change the world. Space travel, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence are three areas where some super-smart, super-wealthy people are directing their money — and it’s starting to pay off.
 
For instance, Richard Branson of Virgin Group has already signed up 200 people to take his commercial space flights starting in 2009. And, as if that wasn’t enough, he also announced that he’ll be performing the first-ever space marriage on board one of his ships.
 
When the new couple considers a location for their honeymoon, hotel chain billionaire Bob Bigelow can help. His company, Bigelow Aerospace, is planning on launching experimental inflatable hotel modules sometime in 2010. But it doesn’t end there.

Sonia Arrison, M.A. wrote this article and is also author of 100 Plus: How The Coming Age Of Longevity Will Change Everything, From Careers and Relationships to Family and Faith.
 
Sonia is an author and policy analyst who has studied the impact of new technologies on society for the better part of a decade. A Senior Fellow at the California-based Pacific Research Institute (PRI) and a columnist for TechNewsWorld, she is author of two previous books (Western Visions Perspectives on the West in Canada and Digital Dialogue: Technology, Capitalism, and the Pursuit of Freedom) as well as numerous PRI studies on technology issues.
 
A frequent media contributor and guest, her work has appeared in many publications including CBS MarketWatch, CNN, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. She was also the host of a radio show called “digital dialogue” on the Voice America network and has been a repeat guest on National Public Radio, Tech TV, and CNN’s Headline News.
 
Often asked for advice on technology issues, Sonia has given testimony and served as an expert witness for various government committees such as the Congressional Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce and the California Commission on Internet Political Practices. She is an instructor for California’s Command College, serves on the advisory board for the Acceleration Studies Foundation, and is chairman of Lead21.
 
Sonia is author of several major PRI studies including: Canning Spam: An Economic Solution to Unwanted Email, Being Served: Broadband Competition in the Small and Medium Sized Business Market, and Consumer Privacy: A Free Choice Approach. She is coauthor of Wi-Fi Waste: The Disaster of Municipal Communications Networks, Cutting the Cord: Streamlining the Video Franchising Process, Upgrading America’s Ballot Box: The Rise of E-voting, Crossed Lines: Regulatory Missteps in California Telecom Policy, Punishing Innovation: A Report on California Legislators’ Anti-Tech Voting, Internet Taxes: What California Legislators Should Know, and editor of Telecrisis: How Regulation Stifles High Speed Internet Access.
 
Prior to joining PRI in 1999, Sonia focused on Canadian-U.S. regulatory and political issues at the Donner Canadian Foundation. She also worked at the Fraser Institute in Vancouver, B.C., where she specialized in regulatory policy and privatization. She earned her BA in Political Science and Psychology (with a minor in Economics) from the University of Calgary in 1994 and an MA in Political Philosophy and Statistical Analysis from the University of British Columbia in 1995.
 
Her forthcoming book addresses the political, social, and individual impacts of radical human longevity and provides a roadmap of how to deal with it.
 
Watch her on Tech Closeup. Read Where Are the Japanese Googles?, Done with Death?, Testimony Submitted to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Standing Committee on Communications, Technology and Interstate Commerce, and Tax Day Over, Internet Tax Still Looms. Read her blog.