It is with great sorrow that I pass on the news that our dear friend and co-blogger Michael Sargent was killed in an automobile accident yesterday. The Colorado Springs Gazette reports:
Michael Sargent made “the future” his hobby. A science buff with a penchant for computers, the 39-year-old Colorado Springs man blogged for The Speculist, a Web site that explores how emerging technology and trends might change the world. Its motto: “Live to see it.”
Sargent won’t get to.
He was killed after a speeding pickup ran a red light and slammed into his car at Marksheffel Road and Constitution Avenue late Thursday. The computer technician, who was heading to his northern Colorado Springs home after work at Schriever Air Force Base, was pronounced dead at the hospital. He was wearing a seatbelt, but his 2002 Saturn coupe was broadsided on the driver’s side.
Mike had a broad spectrum of interests and a sense of humor that could sneak up on you. He wrote on this site about robotics, artificial intelligence, energy, transportation, space travel (one of his favorite topics) and why in Spain it rains more often on the weekend than during the week. He cohosted FastForward Radio a couple of times, which was something I encouraged him to do more often. He agreed that podcasting was the perfect medium for The Speculist seeing as he, Stephen, and I all had faces “made for radio.”
In his brief autobiography at the Speculist home page, he wrote:
The perspective Michael brings to the Speculist is born out of his roots in a small community with a relatively short history. Social networks on the Front Range tend to be smaller and flatter than they might be in other places. The number of relationships between one’s self and certain socially- and historically- important figures is small. As examples, in his brief lifetime, Michael has personally met the all-around rodeo cowboy of 1906, multiple Governors, Soviet Cosmonaut Gherman Titov, and presidential candidate Gary Hart among others. All of this serves as justification to his personal belief that individuals, and the exchange of ideas among them, are the most fundamental influence on the direction and rate of technological and cultural change. Each individual has the capacity, and indeed the responsibility, to be aware of potential changes on the horizon, to evaluate them against personal preferences and values, and to exert their own influence on the process of either bringing these changes to pass or preventing others from doing so.
That responsibility was one that Mike took seriously, and the web community of futurists and technology enthusiasts will be poorer for his absence. He will be sorely missed.
Our deepest condolences to Peggy, to Mike’s family, and to his many friends.
UPDATE: In lieu of flowers, Peggy Sargent has asked that donations be sent to the American Heart Association.