Futurism

The dystopian novel that’s turning China upside down

It’s 2013, and China’s the only country to have survived an economic meltdown. The Chinese own Starbucks, which now serves longan dragon well lattes. So why can’t anybody remember an entire month? That’s the premise of a new dystopian novel. There are spoilers ahead, by the way… Chan Koon-Chung’s novel Shengshi Zhongguo 2013 (which roughly…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Robot Teachers: Coming soon, to a classroom near you!

They’re coming, and they’ll be here by September! Robot teachers, programmed with a single mission: to save our failing schools. Funded by the Frankenstein Foundation, computer engineers in secret mountain laboratories and workshops hidden deep below the desert floor are feverishly soldering chips and circuit boards onto bits of aluminum to create mechanical life forms…

io9 Dennis Baron

An imaginary city that changed the twentieth century

Before he invented the safety razor, King Camp Gillette was a futurist. In 1894, he published plans for a porcelain, hexagonal city with transparent sidewalks. Why do so many innovators dream of building the perfect city? I’ve been thinking about that question a lot since seeing Christopher Nolan’s new film Inception, which is in part…

io9 Annalee Newitz

Our millennial cathedrals: The greatest works of architecture since 1980

Check out the sensual curves and dazzling sheen of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, designed by architect Frank Gehry. It’s the most significant work of architecture in the past 30 years, according to experts. Check out some others below. Vanity Fair surveyed 52 architectural experts, including 11 Pritzker Prize winners, to find out the…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

Janelle Monae turns rhythm and blues into science fiction

She’s deep into futurist Ray Kurzweil and loves Octavia Butler’s writing. But her science fiction stories play out over itchy beats, under a James Brown cape. io9 interviews the unclassifiable musician about her influences and dreams for the future. Janelle Monae has gotten attention for being the rare mainstream artist who is clearly doing her…

io9 Gillian 'Gus' Andrews

Can we turn garbage island into an eco-paradise?

A swirling island of garbage has emerged in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, cobbled together out of Pacific Rim waste, poisoning birds who mistake its plastic for food. Now a design firm wants to make it a real island. They call their project “Recycled Island,” and it would be created by converting all the…

io9 Annalee Newitz

Will Warner Brothers’ futuristic terrorism film World War X, film before World War Z?

Warner Bros. just bought a brand new screenplay titled World War X, which is all about time-traveling terrorists from the future. But does this mean World War Z has some potential brand confusion — or is it just never happening? WB just bout Colin Trevorrow’s script World War X, according to Variety. While we’re not…

io9 Meredith Woerner

Lloyd’s Of London warns businesses to prepare for peak oil

Venerable financial institutions Lloyds of London and Chatham House issued a dire warning to UK businesses. Energy shortages and peak oil are going to be major issues for insurance markets in coming years. The groups issued a joint report, Sustainable Energy Security: Strategic Risks and Opportunities for Business, which explained, “Companies which are able to…

io9 Annalee Newitz

Amanda Seyfried steals time in Andrew Niccol’s new I’m.mortal film

In the Andrew Niccol’s newest future vision, the rich stop aging at age 25, while the poor are forced to face mortality head-on. Amanda Seyfried has been cast as a gorgeous hostage, who’s worth her weight in minutes. TheWrap is reporting that Seyfriend has just been cast in a lead role in Niccol’s new film…

Movies Meredith Woerner

How to use MIT’s new invisible computer mouse

The Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT’s Media Lab has created “Mouseless” – a beta version of what computers might be like in twenty years. Watch this video of somebody controlling a cursor by moving an invisible mouse. If you recall, this is the same group of students who created the Sixth Sense interface, where you…

io9 Annalee Newitz

Scenes from a drowned London, 2030 A.D.

These illustrations by Anthony Lau depict a floating London made of refurbished oil rigs and recycled ship hulls. Lau designed this maritime city at London’s Bartlett School of Architecture as a potential solution to rising sea levels. Lau had this to say about his Thames floodplain city: “[The] Thames Estuary Aquatic Urbanism […] gives new…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar

Three ways that women are about to change the world

Now that women dominate the US workforce, will they become our new robot overlords? Nope. According to current labor statistics, they’ll be the new working class. Here are three ways a female working class could change the world. Image via Shutterstock. “Women’s jobs” will become everybody’s jobs In this month’s Atlantic cover story, Hanna Rosin…

io9 Annalee Newitz

A month of futuristic film from the British Film Institute

London’s British Film Institute is running an awesome series of programs in July about how movies depict the future of humanity. When they show 2001, it will be accompanied by a live orchestra! Check out their program of events. The film series is co-sponsored by the Royal Society, and started earlier this month with a…

Movies Annalee Newitz

With “Zendegi,” Greg Egan plunges us into the techno-future of Iran

In Zendegi, Greg Egan has created a beautiful, brilliant, near-future world that expertly explores the consequences of mind-mapping technology in the politically volatile world of Iran. Zendegi is two stories told in parallel. The first is the story of Martin Seymour, an Australian journalist sent to Iran to cover another disputed election (this one in…

Books & Comics Chris Braak

Singularity University, Where You Major In Immortality

Over the weekend, The New York Times ran a lengthy profile on Singularity University, an incubator for futurists of all stripe founded by tech-visionary Ray Kurzweil. On the exclusive school’s curriculum: nanotechnology, synthetic biology, artificial intelligence, and, of course, immortality. Established by Kurzweil and Peter Diamandis, founder of the X Prize, the University serves as…

Artificial Intelligence Kyle VanHemert

Singularity theorists turn Google founder into a robot

A group of future-obsessed entrepreneurs met earlier this year at NASA to talk about what will happen after humans evolve into cyborgs and live forever. Their gathering was called Singularity University, and Google founder Sergey Brin went cyborg to attend. The New York Times’ Ashlee Vance writes: While the flesh-and-blood version of [Sergey] Brin sat…

io9 Annalee Newitz

Marmaduke is the biggest “F*** You” to modernity I’ve ever seen

Marmaduke is so self-evidently bad that slamming it would be tautological. No, what concerns me is that this superpowered dog movie wasn’t made for modern audiences. It’s a crumbling monument to our own execrable pursuit of entertainment. I knew something was terribly, terribly wrong with the film adaptation of Brad Anderson’s comic strip when the…

Movies Cyriaque Lamar

What is the future of storytelling in videogames?

When we interviewed Bear McCreary about his upcoming soundtrack to Zipper Interactive’s SOCOM 4, we also had the opportunity to speak with Ed Byrne, creative director at Zipper. The following lively discussion precipitated from a single question: “Are videogames art?” I would say that games right now are we what call “craft” – between art…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar

12-year-old uses World of Warcraft skills to save his sister from moose attack

For proof that videogames can teach survival and teamwork, look no further than the story of 12-year-old Hans, a Norwegian boy who rescued his sister from a charging moose. All thanks to lessons he’d learned in World of Warcraft. Though this happened a couple of years ago, it’s a perennial tale of nerd triumph. According…

io9 Annalee Newitz

Get reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally stoned and watch a documentary about the Singularity

No, sorry, you’re not stoned enough to watch the trailer for Turning Into Gods, the new Singularity documentary. You won’t be able to appreciate lines like, “In order to use your head, you have to go out of your mind.” I can’t even begin to conceive of how baked you’d need to be to watch…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

The dystopian novel that’s turning China upside down

Robot Teachers: Coming soon, to a classroom near you!

An imaginary city that changed the twentieth century

Our millennial cathedrals: The greatest works of architecture since 1980

Janelle Monae turns rhythm and blues into science fiction

Can we turn garbage island into an eco-paradise?

Will Warner Brothers’ futuristic terrorism film World War X, film before World War Z?

Lloyd’s Of London warns businesses to prepare for peak oil

Amanda Seyfried steals time in Andrew Niccol’s new I’m.mortal film

How to use MIT’s new invisible computer mouse

Scenes from a drowned London, 2030 A.D.

Three ways that women are about to change the world

A month of futuristic film from the British Film Institute

With “Zendegi,” Greg Egan plunges us into the techno-future of Iran

Singularity University, Where You Major In Immortality

Singularity theorists turn Google founder into a robot

Marmaduke is the biggest “F*** You” to modernity I’ve ever seen

What is the future of storytelling in videogames?

12-year-old uses World of Warcraft skills to save his sister from moose attack

Get reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally stoned and watch a documentary about the Singularity

Travelers Experiencing the Longest Security Lines in TSA History

Could There Be a ‘Project Hail Mary’ Sequel?

Meta Has More Smart Glasses Coming Whether You Want Them or Not

Apple Requires Device-Level Age Verification in the UK Now. Could the US Be Next?

Astronomers Say Recent Rash of Meteor Sightings ‘Warrants Serious Investigation’

Did AMD Just Make the Best CPU for Gamers and Creators?

AI Just One-Shotted Another CEO

6 Magic School Anime and Manga to Discover Instead of Thinking About ‘Harry Potter’ Ever Again

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets

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