Imagine you could build the city of the future, from scratch, right now. What would it look like? What would it do? It’s not a hypothetical question. According to this Salon article, software developer Plan IT intends to do exactly that: “Plan IT Valley” will be a new city located in northern Portugal, and is …
Just came across this bizarre story on Nextnature.net: Tired of spending time, money and energy on preparing meals, [Rob Rhinehart] decided to find a new way to survive without actual food. He created a unique mixture called “Soylent”, which contains nothing but the elements the body needs: iron, vitamins, fat, calcium and dozens of other …
Welcome to Cosmic Revolutions’ Topic Guides, where we wrap up a series of articles on a common theme. This week, let’s look at one of the biggest tags at Cosmic Revolutions: Sustainability. Sustainability is all about whether we humans survive as a civilization, and how well. Earth’s resources are finite, meaning the our growth potential …
The best way to solve the world’s hunger problem is a hotly debated topic. In the next few paragraphs, I’ll take a look at one fairly conventional idea, and explore another proposal that’s a bit more out of the box. But in the end, I’d like to poke at some of the assumptions underlying both …
It’s no secret that the internet has given us new ways to communicate. But if you think the information revolution has come and gone, I’ve got news for you: it’s just getting started, and we’re already seeing a dramatic transformation in the way we learn about the world. It’s also causing a shift in some …
Last week, we looked at some reasons why even the most rational individual might feel a touch of dread at the thought of a car that drives itself. This week, let’s zoom out a bit, and imagine a future society where driverless cars are the norm. I think this is a very plausible scenario, but …
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. – Arthur C. Clarke In last week’s post, we looked at the emerging technologies that allow a direct interface between your brain and a computer (or machine) – a BCI. Check out last week’s links if you’re interested in the “how.” Intracranial wiretaps, hands-free driving and monkey-robot …
Three times a week, I go to the gym on my way home from work. And three times a week, I ask myself the same question: isn’t this a waste? I don’t mean the exercise. A longer lifespan, plus reduced risk of Alzheimer‘s and cancer, is all the justification I need. No, I’m talking about …
‘Tis the season for doing things that make us warm and happy inside, whether that means giving to charity, spiking the eggnog, or lingering just a little longer beneath the mistletoe. In that spirit, I think Cosmic Revolutions is overdue for a post on the lighter side. Here are three quick links, all courtesy of … Continue reading
Oil is a finite and non-renewable resource. This is not a political position, nor a scientific theory, but a straightforward fact. “Peak Oil” is the time at which worldwide extraction begins to slow. Wells won’t run dry overnight, but beyond peak oil, dwindling supply will make oil ever more difficult and expensive to produce. The … Continue reading
In Part 1, we looked at a concept video for a future phone, packed with amazing technology, and we considered the possibility of virtual “projection” keyboards. In Part 2, we’ll look at the other two features: the thin design, and the holographic display. Continue reading
Have you seen the video below? Purporting to be a concept demo of the next iPhone, it’s recently gone viral on the web. Go on and hit play, it’s only a minute – we’ll still be here. What did you think? My first reaction was “wow, that would be awesome!” Comments on YouTube, meanwhile, seem … Continue reading
This topic isn’t strictly future-related. In fact, it made its rounds on the web 6 months ago, which on the internet might as well be last century. But it’s so awesome I had to make sure you didn’t miss it. Behold the cinemagraph (click through for the hi-res original): This novel effect is the offspring … Continue reading
In an earlier post, I observed that the current explosion of cheap data storage would allow people to record photos and videos without limit. Anyone with a camera will soon be able to archive every moment of their lives. What would such continuous recording mean for those of us caught in the footage, willingly or … Continue reading
If you’ve got the latest iPhone (or if you’ve seen an ad for it), you know what Siri is. To whit: it’s a speech recognition interface that lets you control your phone by talking to it. You can tell it to set reminders, find songs, or look up nearby pizza places; it listens to, and … Continue reading
So you’ve got the latest, greatest smartphone on the market. It downloads movies faster than you can watch them; takes photos at a higher resolution than the human eye can apprehend; connects to every bluetooth, wi-fi device and washing machine within seven miles; and does it all as smoothly as a stick of butter being … Continue reading
In the last couple of years, our planet’s human inhabitants have crossed two major thresholds, one of which indicates major problems ahead, and the other of which offers a glimmer of hope. We’ll get back to the hopeful bit in a minute, but let’s begin with the problem, which you’ve probably seen in the news … Continue reading
Since my day job is at a non-profit with tight budgets, it’s not often it introduces me to new technology. But thanks to a mid-October workshop hosted by our international department, I had the chance to get hands-on experience with a remarkable innovation: it’s a deceptively simple device, yet it has the potential to lift … Continue reading
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