I came across a very intriguing post on NPR’s 13.7 blog this week, suggesting that the internet has made us all immortal – sort of. In the post, physicist Marcelo Gleiser describes how he searched the internet for his stepmother after she passed away. He found a lot, including photos of her, activities she liked, … Continue reading
Some parts of being a kid never change. Best friends, schoolyard bullies, and after-school snacks will be around for another century at least (speaking from my experience here in the US). But new technology forces us to adapt, and children are not exempt. At the risk of sounding like an old fogey before my time, … Continue reading
The other night, I spent an enjoyable hour watching Gattaca, a 1997 sci-fi film I haven’t seen in probably ten years. Not all of it aged well: Ethan Hawke’s dialogue is cornier than I remember, and it has one of the silliest love scenes ever committed to film. But the core conceit remains compelling: a … Continue reading
Ready for more end-of-the-world scenarios? If you missed the first half of the list, click here. Otherwise, let’s start with number 5, which kicks off the more speculative portion. And if you’ve got a favorite that’s not included here, be sure to add it in the comments. Happy apocalypse hunting! 5. Artificial black hole. Back … Continue reading
There’s something fun about pondering the end of the world, as many movie fans can attest. The end of a single life might well be a tragedy, but the end of all human civilization is so epic that it’s hard not to be awed. And unless you think humans will be around forever (which I’m … Continue reading
We’ve all wished for a little more brain power at some point. Maybe it was while trying to make sense of credit default swaps, or wrestling with an especially intractable Sudoku puzzle. Well, what if someone offered you a machine that could boost your cognitive capacity without effort? Would you use it? Would you want … Continue reading
Let’s admit one thing up front: genetic mutations are a good thing! They’re evolution’s way of experimenting, so we should thank them for bringing forth lobster claws, orchid petals, and human brains. In fact, without mutations, life on earth would have died out as soon as the environment changed in any way. But from a … Continue reading
Have you ever posted an article or a video on a social network? If so, congratulations! I’m about to explain how you’re shaping the world to come. You are a curator of the universe, and a herald of the future. I am? What does that mean? It means you collect and share items of your … Continue reading
As the future unfolds, more and more experiences are moving from the real world to the virtual. There may one day be an equilibrium between the two worlds, but for now, the virtual side is so unexplored that the flow is almost exclusively in that direction, like a modern-day gold rush. Recently, two more everyday, … Continue reading
We’re producing information faster today than ever before. Some studies suggest the amount of data in the world doubles every two years! Certainly between Twitter and Facebook, newsfeeds and friend streams, there’s far more information being thrown at me than I can process. How do we make sense of all this? And what’s the effect … Continue reading
Cosmic Revolutions 