Futurism

What Is Your Favorite Unrealized Vision of the Future?

Whether we do indeed live in the future or not, we can certainly agree that The Future — the one with hovercars and jet packs — isn’t here just yet. Today, we want to know what your favorite unrealized vision of the future is. Are you waiting hopefully for a robo-maid a la Rosie Jetson…

Could practical movie effects make a comeback thanks to 3-D printing?

The Ender’s Game movie includes a lot of props that were created via 3-D printer… and this could be the wave of the future. Ars Technica speculates that 3-D printing could make model-creation cheap enough, and easy enough, to give CG a run for its money. Ars Technica links to an interview in LiveScience with…

Must Read: An FAQ Explaining Why You Should Worry About Killer Robots

We all agree that programming robots to kill humans at their own discretion is a bad idea — but this scenario is a lot closer than most of us realize. A new FAQ from Human Rights Watch summarizes how close we are to autonomous killing machines, and how important it is to ban them now.…

Finally, a functional flying car that actually looks pretty cool

People complain that we still don’t have flying cars, but that’s not entirely true. There’s the Terrafugia Transition, but it looks like a piece of crap — a plane that we’re supposed to believe is car. Thankfully we now have the Aeromobil Roadable Aircraft — a sexy Slovak-designed car that just made its first flight.…

How Close Are We to Building a Full-Fledged Cyborg?

The dream of the cyborg is coming true at an exhilarating rate. As humans gets better and better at making machines, we keep attaching those machines to our bodies to make ourselves better humans. It seems at times that the only question left is if we can put a human brain in a robotic frame.…

Atlas Robot Breaks Ankle During First Public Performance

Pffft, so much for its reputation as a badass Terminator-style killer android. In front of dozens of journalists yesterday in Hong Kong, the 330 pound (150 kg) Atlas lost its balance and broke its right ankle during a rather simple walking demonstration. The media event got off to a good start when the 6.5-foot-tall (2…

A sneak peak inside Google and NASA’s new quantum AI lab

Wanna see what a super-futuristic quantum computer lab looks like? Press play and sit back. Back in May, Google and NASA launched the Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab. The uber-sleek facility uses two Canadian-built Quantum D-Wave computers which currently crunch at 512-qubits. Admittedly that’s not much, but the potential for quantum computers is enormous. It’s a…

Comment of the Day: Fictional Science Edition

In today’s comments, we envisioned life on a cold and sunless planet far from our own, exposed the soft underbelly of our worst technological nightmares, and dug deep into some of the tangled mythology surrounding science fiction itself. In response to this post, on the 10 biggest myths about science fiction, commenter nadirzenith throws in…

These Futuristic City Wallpapers Will Take Your Breath Away

These gorgeous images of futuristic cities are postcards from a future world where humanity has managed to survive and thrive. Make these your wallpapers and escape to the world of tomorrow! Futuristic Idyllic City by Robert D. Brown (via Robert D. Brown) Malaysia in 2210, by 3yen (via 3yen) Babel Myth by Frederic St-Amaud (via…

Here’s How You’ll Make and Save Money in the Future

The way we deal with money is constantly changing — as is the nature of money itself. You can absolutely expect your money to change over the coming decades. In fact, the world of finance is on the cusp of revolutionary change. To learn more about the future of money, I spoke to Heather Schlegel,…

Breakthrough: The world’s first net-positive nuclear fusion reaction

In order for fusion power plants to be feasible, they have to produce more energy than they consume. It’s a challenge that’s confounded scientists for years. But researchers at the National Ignition Facility just made it happen. Nuclear fusion is the process of making a single heavy nucleus from two lighter nuclei. The change in…

Samsung ad celebrates the history of people talking to their watches

What would scifi be without all those glorious telecommunication wristwatches? This amazing new Galaxy Gear commercial from Samsung — which features clips from Dick Tracy straight through to Predator — reminds us that the future is already here. Of course, if you were being uncharitable, you could say it’s a touch derivative of the first…

Self-assembling swarmbots are amazing, and look creepily alive

Researchers at MIT have created cube-shaped modular robots that can flip, jump, and assemble themselves into any number of configurations. And remarkably, they have no external parts. They’re called M-Blocks, and they’re able to move by virtue of an internal flywheel mechanism that can reach speeds of 20,000 revolutions per minute. And when the flywheel…

The U.S. military’s robopocalyptic army is starting to take shape

Everyone, say hello to WildCat, a robotic quadruped that can run 16 mph (26 kph) without tethers. It joins an already impressive cast of conceptual bots, including an updated version of ATLAS — who, as showcased in a must-see new video, may soon appear on an episode of American Ninja. Indeed, the Pentagon’s robotic army…

Could technology be used to control your mind?

As our brains become increasingly intertwined with our technologies, we run the risk of exposing our minds to hackers. As this new video from AsapScience shows, the possibility is very real.

If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area, check out the Berkeley Ideas Festival on October 25-26! There will be a ton of interesting people talking about science, the future, and more. And io9 has a special discount code (if you want the discount, click here).

Will we be living in city-states in the near future?

As we shift away from fossil fuels, there will be a few cultural changes that you might not expect. For one thing, political and economic power will become focused in cities rather than regions or states. That’s what energy expert Joe Browder says in an intriguing essay. Image by Jake Murray Browder, who consults with…

No, Extreme Human Longevity Won’t Destroy the Planet

It’s only a matter of time before humanity solves the aging problem. And resistance to radical life extension has already begun, driven by fears of overpopulation and the exhaustion of our planet’s resources. Here’s why the critics are wrong. Top image: “Chi-Town” by Stefan Morell. Make no mistake, it’ll take us a long, long time…

Why a superintelligent machine may be the last thing we ever invent

If you want to know about the future of artificial intelligence then you must read documentary filmmaker James Barrat’s new book Our Final Invention. We’ve got an incredible excerpt from the book, about the coming intelligence explosion that could redefine the human condition. “The Intelligence Explosion,” an excerpt from Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and…

This bizarro 3D-printed toothbrush can clean your teeth in 6 seconds

Life just suddenly got all that more convenient. Introducing Blizzident, a $300 toothbrush that’s specifically tailored to your own teeth. Just stick it in your mouth and let the bristles do the rest. Blizzident utilizes two intersecting technologies: 3D scanning and 3D printing. After having your dentist take an impression of your teeth, you send…