-
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
- Valeri on Are You Being Controlled By Mind Parasites?
- Jacob on A Social Ranking System Straight Out of Black Mirror
- Sadek Hossain on Robo-Journalist Wins The Pulitzer
- The future is going to be weird, but at least Joelle Renstrom is here to explain it to us | Source All Buzz on No Light? No Problem.
- tonyon on In Event of Cosmic Radiation, Please Take the Stairs
Archives
- May 2019
- December 2018
- November 2017
- August 2017
- January 2017
- July 2016
- June 2016
- April 2016
- January 2016
- November 2015
- October 2015
- August 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- September 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- June 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
Category Archives: technology
Once More With Feeling–Or Maybe Twice More
How many times have you wished you could replay a scene from your life? Maybe your happiest memory, or a moment you don’t remember clearly enough, or perhaps a conversation with a crush, which almost certainly contained clues if only … Continue reading
Posted in Could this Happen?, medicine, technology
Tagged Black Mirror, contact lens, diabetes, Google, Google Glass, privacy, Sony
Comments Off on Once More With Feeling–Or Maybe Twice More
Perhaps We Shouldn’t Teach Robots After All
We all know the story: humans create robots, robots overthrow humans. It’s a trope almost as old as science fiction itself, first appearing in Karel Capek’s 1920 play R.U.R. (the first work to use the word “robot”), and then in … Continue reading
Posted in artificial intelligence, Could this Happen?, robot, technology
Tagged AGI, ai, artificial intelligence, Asimov, chatbot, deep learning, Elon Musk, Frankenstein, friendly AI, internet, machine learning, microsoft, programming, robot, Tay, terminator, twitter
Comments Off on Perhaps We Shouldn’t Teach Robots After All
The Tricorder Will See You Now
If you feel faint on the Starship Enterprise or your head starts spinning around, Bones McCoy would crinkle his brow in concern, take a step back, and scan you with the medical tricorder, a handheld device with a detachable scanner, … Continue reading
Posted in genetics, medicine, technology
Tagged bones mccoy, diagnosis, DNA, gattaca, genetic testing, medical tricorder, medicine, minION, Nosanov, quantuMDx, star trek, tricorder, X prize
Comments Off on The Tricorder Will See You Now
The Odds of Successfully Mining Asteroids
The Hoth asteroid field, which Han Solo improbably and awesomely navigates, is chock full of asteroids that contain valuable minerals and materials, including platinum. While I doubt there are any exogorths (space slugs) or mynocks (the winged parasites that live … Continue reading
Posted in Could this Happen?, space, technology
Tagged armageddon, asteroid mining, asteroids, deep impact, ESA, JAXA, leviathan wakes, NASA, planetary resources, platinum, resources, star wars, the expanse, water
Comments Off on The Odds of Successfully Mining Asteroids
Wired for Bliss
In Larry Niven’s Known Space stories, humanity has advanced to the point of producing pleasure by tinkering with the brain, rendering other vices obsolete. “Wireheads” have electronic brain implants, “drouds,” that tickle their brains’ pleasure centers. Not surprisingly, people become … Continue reading
Posted in Could this Happen?, genetics, medicine, neurotechnology, technology
Tagged bliss, brain, DBS, Death by Ecstasy, deep brain stimulation, dopamine, genomic modification, happiness, hyperthymia, Larry Niven, opioids, pleasure, Ringworld, TMS, transcranial magnetic stimulation, transhumanism, wireheading
1 Comment
Algae Power: Could Soylent Green Be the Future?
This post is written by guest blogger Beth Kelly, a Midwestern freelance writer with a passion for sci-fi and analog photography, as well as all kinds of other outdated and obsolete technology. She graduated from DePaul University with a degree … Continue reading
Posted in Could this Happen?, environment, technology
Tagged algae, beth kelly, biofuel, carbon, charleton heston, climate change, energy, farming, fossil fuels, industrialization, microalgae, plankton, soylent green
Comments Off on Algae Power: Could Soylent Green Be the Future?
Off to the Drone Races
One of the most iconic scenes from Return of the Jedi is the Endor speeder bike chase. Who could forget Luke and Leia whizzing through the forest, bumping into storm troopers and send them crashing into trees in a shower … Continue reading
Posted in Could this Happen?, drones, technology
Tagged drone racing, drones, endor, fat shark, FPV, phantom menace, return of the jedi, speeder bikes, star wars
2 Comments
One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Treasure, Thanks to Plasma
This post is written by guest blogger Beth Kelly, a Midwestern freelance writer with a passion for sci-fi and analog photography, as well as all kinds of other outdated and obsolete technology. She graduated from DePaul University with a degree … Continue reading
Posted in Could this Happen?, environment, technology
Tagged British Airways, fossil fuels, gas, hydrogen-carbon monoxide mixture, MSW, municipal solid waste, picard, plasma, pollution, Solena Fuels, star trek, syngas, trash, waste management
Comments Off on One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Treasure, Thanks to Plasma
Robo-Journalist Wins The Pulitzer
Okay, so that hasn’t happened yet, but the folks over at Narrative Science, a company that has created software that performs “automated narrative generation,” confidently predicts that its computer program will win the coveted prize by 2016. Let’s back up … Continue reading
Posted in robot, technology
Tagged AP, automated insights, computer program, journalism, LA Times, narrative science, New York Times, newspaper, Quakebot, robo-journalism, robots
1 Comment