Futurism

We’ll Need Science Fiction To Imagine The Mind-Boggling Future Of War

A Greek writer taps away on his typewriter by candlelight,trying to make sense of the cyber war that started with a hacked pacemaker. AnAmerican major awaits trial for treason as the Pacificdescends into war. Russian forces attack adarkened Estonia. These aren’t science fiction stories — they’re entries in the Art of Future Warfare contest. All…

Russian App Trawls Social Media To Predict and Prevent “Mass Disorder”

A new computer program developed by a pro-Kremlin political center mines social network sites for chatter about unauthorized protest rallies — and then reports its findings to the local authorities. As Isvestia is reporting, the project was launched by the Center for the Study of Legitimacy and Political protest. Ominously, it’s named after “Laplace’s Demon”…

NASA Wants Your Help Figuring Out How to Build Space Habitats

If and when we send colonists to Mars and beyond, we’re going to need habitats unlike any we’ve built before. To encourage out-of-the box thinking, NASA and America Makes are kicking off a $2.25 million dollar competition to design and build 3D printed space habitats. Image: Interstellar Mayflower, art by Stephan Martiniere One of the…

Watch These Nimble Robotic Arms Perform Surgery On A Grape

Robots are poised to revolutionize surgery, as demonstrated by this astounding—and even touching—promotional video showcasing the da Vinci Surgical System as it sutures a damaged grape. There’s a reason these robotic arms’ actions look human-like. Though it’s referred to as a robot, the system can’t move or operate autonomously; a surgeon is 100% in control.…

Alastair Reynolds Says What It’ll Take To Colonize Other Planets

The more we learn about exoplanets and the physics of interstellar travel, the more daunting the prospect of traveling to other stars appears. But in a new essay for Reuters, House of Suns author Alastair Reynolds lays out exactly what we’ll have to do to get to other solar systems. In a nutshell, we need…

This Is How DARPA Thought Today’s Tech Would Look in 2001

Touchscreens everywhere, voice-activated software, real-time translation and automated cyber-defenses. This may look a lot like present day, but it’s actually DARPA’s vision of current-day technology as predicted in 2001. There’s also an array of bad ideas that didn’t make it, too. Which do you think is worst? [DARPA via Engadget]

An Artificial Intelligence Is Being Taught To Simulate Anger

Data scientists from New Zealand are teaching an AI to learn anger. Sounds crazy, but the idea is to help companies deal with common customer complaints. Tech firm Touchpoint Group is using machine learning to help its AI system recognize — and even simulate — anger. Called Radiant (a name taken from Isaac Asimov’s Foundation…

Squarepusher’s Trippy New VR Video Puts You In Control Of The View

UK-based electronic musician Tom Jenkinson — a.k.a. Squarepusher — has released a highly entertaining, and at times bizarre, fully immersive virtual reality video for “Stor Eiglass,” the latest single from his new album, Damogen Furies. In the video, you take on the POV of a headless woman as she ventures through a fantastically surreal environment…

15 Projects NASA Wants To Change From Science Fiction To Science Fact

The projects funded by NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program sound more like a list of science fiction dreams than plausible research, yet that’s exactly what they are. These 15 projects just received $100,000 to explore how feasible they can be. https://gizmodo.com/nasa-is-considering-the-use-of-soft-robotic-squids-to-e-1703592055 Before new technology like the Hall Thruster can rolled out for space exploration, researchers…

What will Europe’s population look like in 45 years? According to the latest projections by the European Commission, it will be larger (by about 15 million people), older, and have fewer employed people. You can read the whole thing, along with individual country breakdowns, right here.

NASA Is Considering The Use Of Soft Robotic Squids To Explore Europa

NASA has chosen its next batch of proposals under its advanced concepts program, including the use of soft-robotic rovers for exploring gas-giant moons, and autonomous robots capable of crawling, hopping, and rolling around the surface of the Moon. Under Phase I of NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, selected participants are given $100,000 to fund…

The Coming Decade Could See An Unprecedented Political Transformation

Huffington Post asked 10 science fiction writers to predict what will happen in the next 10 years, and the most striking answer came from Robert Charles Wilson, author of the new book The Affinities. Wilson predicts a huge change in our understanding of human nature, which in turn will transform our politics. Top image: Cover…

Are We Ever Going To Develop Faster-Than-Light Travel?

There’s a cosmic speed limit that unfortunately means you aren’t going to be firing up a warp drive anytime soon. Top image: Mark Rademaker Long before the Empire struck back, before the United Federation of Planets federated, Isaac Asimov created Foundation, the epic tale of the decline and fall of the Galactic Empire. Asimov’s Empire…

The Future of Energy Is Hidden in the Guts of Insects

This presentation from Berkeley Lab scientist Javier Ceja-Navarro hints at a strange new future for agriculture and energy production. I’m willing to bet it’s like nothing that you ever imagined. Ceja-Navarro is one of many researchers at Berkeley Lab who are trying to use biological systems to create sustainable energy — in this case, biofuels.…

Why I’m Running for President As the Transhumanist Candidate

It’s a wild request to ask a nation to consider electing you as their president, especially when you’re a transhumanist—someone who advocates for using science and technology to radically change and improve the human species. But I’m doing it. Last October, I declared my 2016 US candidacy under the newly formed Transhumanist Party, which I…

We’re Closer to an Encrypted Internet than You Think

Two thirds of all North American Internet traffic could be encrypted by 2016. No, it’s not because of privacy activists. It’s actually because of Netflix. This is according to a new report from Sandvine, a vendor that provides services to network operators. Sandvine studied traffic on one of its client networks, which it declined to…

China’s Manufacturers Are Shifting Towards Zero-Labor Factories

A company in South China’s Guangdong province is building the city’s first zero-labor factory. It’s an effort to address worker shortages and rising labor costs, but the rise of semi-autonomous “smart factories” could be a sign of things to come, in China and elsewhere. Photo: Robots with intelligent sensors examining products (Gov.cn) As China Daily…

Why Scientific American‘s Predictions from 10 Years Ago Were So Wrong

Recently, we did an experiment: We took an outdated issue of a respected popular science magazine, Scientific American, and researched exactly what happened to the highly-touted breakthroughs of the era that would supposedly change everything. What we discovered is just how terrible we are at predicting the long arc of scientific discovery. The daily churn…

How We’ll Build The First ‘Spacecoach’ To The Stars

If we’re going to venture out into the Solar System and beyond, we’re going to need versatile and reliable spaceships. One possible solution comes in the form of “spacecoaches” — reusable vessels that are self-sufficient and capable of carrying explorers to virtually any destination. Here’s how they’ll work. Top illustration: Frank Tinsley/American Bosch Arma Corporation…

Watch The ATRIAS Bipedal Robot Take A Stroll In The Park

Ah, spring has sprung. The weather’s warm, the trees are starting to bud, and robots are frolicking about — including ATRIAS, a two-legged bot developed by researchers at Oregon State University. When we last saw ATRIAS,it was getting pelted in a rather one-sided game of dodgeball. The robot, whose name stands for “assume this robot…