MetaFilter posts tagged with future

The Future Gets Closer, Part II

StrikeTheViol — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 12:14:51 -0800

Practical gene therapy treatment emerges. Prosthetics that feel. Circumventing paralysis with brain implants.

Harvey Cox Says Atheism Won't Last. Here's Why You Should Care What Harvey Cox Thinks...

jefficator — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:21:40 -0800

Harvey Cox, one of the foremost American theologians of the twentieth century, recently retired from Harvard, where he held the oldest tenured professorship in the nation. You've seen him discussed here before for more bovine pursuits. But more importantly, he has argued that atheism is a passing fad; his new book contends it emerges in response to factors that will change the face of faith in the coming generation. Why should you care about an old theologian's last hurrah? His prior predictions have been right.

transcendental numbers rumble in the technium

kliuless — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 08:00:48 -0800

Extropy
How did life arise? What is information? In his recent dispatches from The Technium, Kevin Kelly would say extropy (cf. negentropy & Prigogine). [previously 1|2]

A Talking Head Dreams of a Perfect City

kliuless — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 09:41:37 -0800

David Byrne's Perfect City Osaka's robot-run parking lots mixed with the Minneapolis lakefront; a musician's fantasy metropolis BONUS -More Than a Tree Grows in Brooklyn Rooftop Farm [1,2] -Skyburbs: Bringing the Burbs to the City [1,2] -An Explosion of Ganjapreneurship [1,2] -The Power of the Poor [1,2] -The Currency Revolution [1,2] -The Dawn of Augmented Reality [1,2] -Where Did All the Flowers Come From? [1,2]

The Future Gets Closer

StrikeTheViol — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 19:02:31 -0800

The practical possiblility of augmented reality contact lenses. Contact lenses that reshape the eye. Bone-anchored hearing aids. Voice box transplant plans.

Yesterday's Energy of Tomorrow...and more

Miko — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:05:33 -0800

Peak Oil, 1925. In 2000, 20% of new buildings will be solar equipped. By the late 1990s, 90% of the world's energy will be nuclear-generated. These and other erroneous projections are being collected as part of the Forecast Project on the website Inventing Green: The Lost History of Alternative Energy in America.

Don't Talk to Robots

Pater Aletheias — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 06:02:52 -0800

PSA's from the Future

Evolution and intellect

mareli — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 08:20:33 -0800

On hive minds, “cognitive calisthenics”, “You+”. Cascio predicts that in the near future “many more humans will have the capacity to do something that was once limited to a hermetic priesthood”. Get Smart, by Jamais Cascio, the Atlantic, July/August 2009

"MMOs will be seen as being as cutting edge as 2D platform games are in 2009."

nushustu — Mon, 18 May 2009 13:24:31 -0800

SF author and mefite Charlie Stross speaks about video games in 20 years. Virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier has some similar ideas.

The Future of Everything

netbros — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 08:49:19 -0800

SpaceCollective. Where forward thinking terrestrials exchange ideas and information about the state of the species, their planet and the universe, living the lives of science fiction today. A growing number of universities, architecture and design schools are conducting projects on this site. Hundreds of art treasures, educational videos and narratives are found in their galleries. Every SpaceCollective member is provided with a personal time capsule, preserving their contributions for the edification of each other as well as future times and beings.

A Farm For The Future

Happy Dave — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 11:17:54 -0800

A Farm For The Future. Wildlife filmmaker Rebecca Hosking, previously in the public eye campaigning for the banning of plastic bags in the UK, is moving back to the family farm to take over from her father. This "deeply hopeful but realistic film" describes her investigation of the steps she could take to change it from a traditional beef pasture farm to a truly sustainable permaculture environment. An alternative to fossil-fuel driven high intensity farming that moves the focus of food production towards high-yield, low-acreage sustainable crops grown in ways that mimic natural systems, permaculture advocates believe that we can feed the world, rebuild biodiversity and live sustainably into the bargain. While it would require huge changes to our petrochemically derived diets and a significant return to the land for millions, it might be our only option. Better get started then.

whither or wither?

kliuless — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 09:41:13 -0800

What is the future of capitalism?
a) 3.0
b) Canada* ([1],[2])
c) 'smart growth' (viz.)
d) none of the above** *cf. Spain ([1],[2]) **cf. trust networks

The unforeseen

finnb — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 04:14:25 -0800

On Dec 14, the often-linked Clay Shirky (most recently) ended his guestblogging stint at boingboing with a question for the commenters: What's going to happen in the next five years or so that will catch most of the rest of us by surprise, but not you? 142 comments so far, ranging from apocalyptic visions to thoughts on standby power and the future of Mormonism. Predicting even the near term is difficult, of course, much less anticipating the unthinkable. Still: what surprises won't be surprising you?

Brief History of the Twenty-First Century

phrontist — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:34:12 -0800

A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century

Too bad the guy was only thirty eight - just two years older, he'd have been worth three times the points...

Artw — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 13:43:52 -0800

Did you grow up anticipating sports where death would be likely, if not certain? Almost certainly played by convicts, possibly with robot limbs? And which would be even more likely to have chainsaws and flamethrowers not usually found in the sports of today? Those We Left Behind’s look at Future-sports of the past, in videogames, movies and comics is for you!

Lies, Damn Lies, Statistics...and Voter Polls

jeanmari — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 09:40:29 -0800

Margins of Error We can't seem to let the future alone. Even though we often get predictions about it so wrong. Because, as Niels Bohr once said, "Prediction is very difficult. Especially if it is about the future." What are the origins of political polling (beware of awful interface design)? And how is political polling evolving?

Bricks from ashes

klangklangston — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:55:30 -0800

Superstruct: An alternate reality game of future survival from the woman who brought you I Love Bees. Starting soon.

Past Present Future Me You Someone Else

NotMyselfRightNow — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 08:05:11 -0800

Like Philip K. Dick said, "It's not just 'what if?', it's 'my god, what if?'." By all major accounts, the Zombie War (was | will be) a real bitch. And Fitzpatrick didn't do much better. If some writers have anything to say about it, the future probably wont look too good. Some hit a little close to home. On the other hand, some other writers think our future might be a little brighter. Who knows? It's just a guess. So is looking backwards and wondering "what if?". And if that's not enough, maybe you wonder what it's like to be someone else...

Feel like a dork for humming the Superman theme? Now you can SING IT.

Ambrosia Voyeur — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:41:39 -0800

Mario is at bat, man! Just in time to handle your jones for singalong fan bonding, to speak the heretofore unspoken truths of super _jawesome classic film themes. Also he dresses up, like it's, um, Halloween.

We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims.

infini — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 13:41:31 -0800

Today is R. Buckminster Fuller's 113th birthday. Visionary, designer, inventor, engineer - 'Bucky' continues to inspire us. Known as the grandfather of sustainability, even today we discover that we've barely scratched the surface of his thinking and still have far to go and much to learn about managing Spaceship Earth. [ previously]

The year 2000 as imagined in 1910

davar — Wed, 28 May 2008 05:04:43 -0800

The year 2000, as imagined in 1910. (See also other retrofuture mefi posts)

Back to the Future

Skeptic — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:07:04 -0800

50 years ago , it was the era of Sputnik, nuclear power, decolonisation, European vows of ever closer union, transistor radios, cars for the masses, and Hula Hoops. What better time to hold a damn big party? The Brussels World Fair of 1958 was inaugurated 50 years ago to the day. It left behind a quirky landmark, a changed city (not always for the best), and memories of more optimistic times.

Give me convenient bacon or give me death

Blazecock Pileon — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:36:21 -0800

Hi-fi spheres, bacon toasters, translated Pravda on demand, and other changes to come in 1975 A.D. [ via Bostworld ]

Scientific Progress Goes "Wonk"

SportsFan — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:00:20 -0800

I was watching Back to the Future Part II today, and realized that their idea of the world in 2015 doesn't really seem all that feasible now. While I was watching, I happened to come across this interesting piece in the now-free Sports Illustrated archives: a feature, written in 1979, on how the NFL would look in the year 2000. The full article is pretty long, but if you want the highlights, they're right here.

Life in the Future

caddis — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 09:57:02 -0800

40 Years in the Future - Another "what will life look like in the future" article. This one from Mechanix Illustrated, 1968. (via Boing Boing)