Futurism

Does anybody read books the right way any more?

And I’m not talking about paper versus digital. I’m talking about curling up with a good book, for hours. Sitting in a hammock, or in a chair by the fire, just totally pulled into a book. Is the long, totally focused book-reading session a thing of the past — and does this mean we’re getting…

Cut Copy’s gorgeous new music video takes 3D printing to new territory

Australian electronic music band Cut Copy has put out a new video featuring some 200 3D-printed figurines. And as an added bonus, you can download the video as an open source BitTorrent bundle to make your own version. The post-apocalyptic-themed video is for Cut Copy’s track, “We Are Explorers.” The characters, which are animated via…

The world’s largest aircraft has been unveiled — and it’s a mammoth

Who says our visions of a blimp-filled future are passé? Behold the Airlander, a hybrid air vehicle that’s part blimp, part airplane, and part helicopter. Experts are calling it a ‘game changer’ — and it could revolutionize the transport industry. Developed by Hybrid Air Vehicles Ltd., the Airlander was recently unveiled in Britain’s largest aircraft…

This coming Saturday March 1 is Future Day. And if a devoted group of futurists have their way, it’ll eventually become an official holiday. It’s described as “a way of focusing and celebrating the energy that more and more people around the world are directing toward creating a radically better future.” You can participate here.…

The Space Age Never Looked Brighter Than It Did in the Mid-1960s

At the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair, everything was Space Age. From the designs and architecture to the machines and rides, it seemed to everybody that the future was in outer space. Here are some incredible pictures that capture the way we imagined tomorrow — in space. The Unisphere, a 12-story (140 ft or 43…

Massive offshore turbine arrays would help us harness hurricanes

What would happen if a hurricane were to plough through a wind farm consisting of tens of thousands of individual turbines? A Stanford engineer recently ran a computer simulation to find out — and the results were astonishing. Given the often devastating impacts of climate change, the need for effective weather control systems has never…

American regulators are considering a controversial procedure known as three-parent in vitro fertilization. The technique, which recently became legal in Britain, prevents horrible genetic defects. But critics warn that it could lead to designer babies.

The​ drought in Brazil could cause a global coffee shortage

DON’T PANIC, coffee-drinkers. But Brazil is facing an epic drought, having just wrapped up one of the driest months on record — and the bad news could be making its way right into your (empty) coffee cup. Brazil is the world’s largest producer of coffee by far, but this year the drought and hot temperatures…

Are elevated bicycle highways the future of transportation?

Bicycles are an amazing form of transportation — they get you from A to B quickly, without harming the environment, and they’re terrific exercise. But biking in a city or on a highway can also be dangerous. So for over 100 years, people have designed elevated highways just for bikes — and a couple of…

New research suggests geohacking would be a catastrophically bad idea

In order to get our warming climate under control, some forward thinkers say we should deploy any number of geoengineering schemes. But as the latest computer models show, these efforts would not only be futile — they’d probably result in a complete disaster. https://gizmodo.com/10-ways-geoengineering-could-save-the-world-5959069 Geoengineering techniques include such things as reflecting sunlight from space, ocean…

Cyber thieves use a virus to pull off a digital currency heist

Using a malicious botnet called Pony, cyber criminals have stolen an estimated $330,000 worth of BitCoins, LiteCoins, FeatherCoins, and other digital currencies. It’s considered the most ambitious cyber attack on virtual money so far. Security experts are already familiar with the Pony botnet — a collection of infected computers that take orders from central “command…

This awesome intersection design is a dream come true for cyclists

A number of North American and European cities are introducing protected bike lanes, but they do little to help cyclists navigate through dangerous intersections. A proposal for a “protected intersection” could change that. No doubt, protected bike lanes are great. But their buffers disappear at intersections, significantly reducing the comfort and safety of cyclists. To…

What will life be like when digital brains outnumber humans?

These days, people worry about robots stealing our jobs. But maybe we should be more concerned about massive populations of computerized human brains. Called “ems,” these infinitely-reproducible brains could change the world. Here’s what will happen when digital brains vastly outnumber biological ones. To learn more about this prospect, I spoke to economist and futurist…

Which countries do Americans perceive as their greatest enemies?

Over the past few years, Americans have overwhelmingly pinpointed Iran as public enemy number one. But as a recent Gallup Poll illustrates, Americans are now focusing their attention on several new perceived threats — a sure sign of the world’s complex and ever-changing geopolitical balance. According to the poll, half as many Americans now view…

‘Nature is Ruthless’: Kurt Vonnegut’s Advice to the People of 2088

In 1988, as part of a print advertising campaign, Volkswagen asked many thinkers, including author Kurt Vonnegut, to write letters to the people of 2088. Vonnegut’s words of advice: Nature is out to kill us all and instead of being overly optimistic, we should submit to its terms of surrender. Vonnegut begins his missive by…

This sleek gesture-control armband can now be used to pilot a robot

If we’re ever going to build remote-control Jaegers, we’re going to need something just like this. It’s the Thalmic Myo Armband, and as you’ll see in this video, it was just used to control an unmanned robotic vehicle. The Myo Armband can be used to control an assortment of electronic gadgets, including toys, computers, consumer…

Should California be divided into six separate states?

California is the most populous state in the US, with more than 38 million people spread across its 163,696 square miles. A new initiative wants to split California into six states, deeming the current California “ungovernable.” Venture capitalist Tim Draper filed a ballot initiative in December to get a measure on the California ballot in…

Are bookshelves becoming obsolete?

The e-book is on the rise — but that does also mean that the bookshelf will disappear? In response to this post on the obsolete tech that people thought would be around forever, commenter IrTehSuck makes the case for why the printed book — and it’s display shelf — could carry on: I just like…

Economic study suggests we’re heading for a Blade Runner future

Earlier this month, a group of economists released the results of a massive study looking at the economic prospects of people from across the United States. What they found was that the U.S. is like a patchwork quilt of different countries, where some regions offer people the economic prospects of a typical developed nation —…

Brain interface lets one monkey control the movements of another

Neuroscientists have taken us one step closer to an Avatar-like world after demonstrating a brain-to-spinal-cord interface that allowed a “master” monkey to remotely control the hand movement of an “avatar” monkey who was completely unconscious. Scientists have already developed brain-to-brain interfaces, but this is the first demonstration of a brain-to-spinal-cord interface. The breakthrough could eventually…