In the latest FFR show, Phil asked what started me on Twitter. The event that got me going was the Humanity Plus Summit. I set up an account, originally, just to follow their feed.
But I was also inspired by a fictional technology within Cory Doctorow’s novel, “Makers.”
Mild Spoiler Alert
“The ride” is an interactive museum created by the novel’s two main protagonists, Lester and Perry. Riders move through the museum on scooters and offer instant feedback to objects in the museum; and, often, contribute new objects. Robots tend the ride by rearranging existing objects according to feedback, and by 3D printing and placing new physical objects that were added first at other rides throughout the world – all of which are networked together. Some of the riders begin to see, almost mystically, a narrative begin to take shape within the ride which they call “The Story.”
What “the ride” was accomplishing in a physical space in “Makers” is similar to what I’m pursuing with Twitter. I see these “not-quite-random snippets of information” as an almost-narrative of the future unfolding. Like those aggravating autostereograms that were popular a few years back – some people can see it, some can’t. Those who can see it will struggle to see it more clearly, and will find the experience difficult to describe to those who can’t see it.
Good luck seeing “The Story.” It might help to squint your eyes a little.
Follow Stephen on Twitter @stephentgo.
“Makers” is available to download free here.
- Consumer Reports test drives the Chevy Volt.
- Steampunk: Nephelios, a solar-powered manned airship soon will make its maiden voyage across the English channel. link
The airship needs to make a comeback. Sometimes flight should be about having a good time rather than making good time.
- futureaware
Sam Vaknin: The Ten Errors of Science Fiction - The perennialization of grain crops would count among the greatest innovations in the history of agriculture. link.
Imagine the money saved if we didn’t have to replant food crops every season. Imagine how much soil would be retained if the root structure of crops persisted all year.
- Solar cells could see a boost in their theoretical maximum efficiency from 31% to 66% by reducing energy lost to heat. link
- reasonmag
InstaVision with Glenn Reynolds: Where Have You Gone, Jacques Cousteau? linkJacques Cousteau was more than a television personality. He was an inventor who opened the seas to many who would not otherwise have experienced it.
- ebertchicago
20 Most Anticipated Sci-Fi Movies of 2011, linkThe 2010 sci-fi movie I’m most looking forward to is “Tron: Legacy.”
- Stem cells have restored sight to 82 people with eyes blinded by burns, restoring vision up to 0.9 visual acuity level. link
We may, finally, be reaching the elbow in the curve on the development of adult stem cell therapies.
- DARPA announced program to build computers to achieve the mind-altering speed of 1 quintillion calculations per second. link
- Genetic information will be available to most in developed world in 10 yrs, allowing better treatment & safer drugs. link
I agree that the $1000 per person genome sequencing will be here in 5 years. And, I agree that the $1000 price point may allow the critical mass necessary to develop truly personal medicine.
I do not agree that blood tests will be made obsolete.
- digg_sciences
“Maybe ET’s Calling, But We Have the Wrong Phone” – linkRadio signals aren’t the only way to communicate.
- Next gen Multiple Sclerosis medication passes an initial reg hurdle on the way to approval. link
- nerdist:
“iPhone 4 delivered to house at 10am today. Body: Gorgeous. Screen res: Stunning. Reception: Still crappy. I love it like a crazy g-friend.”…the funniest comment I’ve read so far about the iPhone 4.
- Interview: “Venter’s accomplishment [producing synthetic life] will have profound ramifications. I see DNA as a programming language.” link
- Fashion designer Mark Suppes built fusion reactor in Brooklin. link
The most amazing thing about this story to me – Suppes is not the first independent physicist to do this. He’s the 38th.
- tedtalks
Today’s #TED: Charles Leadbeater went looking for education innovation — and found it in the slums. link - New tech could make existing nuclear power plants 30% more productive and produce less radioactive waste. link
Technology developed for a type of fusion reactor that has not caught on, could, nevertheless, be used to significantly boost the production of existing nuclear reactors with a minimal additional capital cost.
- China’s new white-collar underclass is developing intimate connections as they share struggles and seek to adapt. link
The high tech slums described in “Makers” already exist in China.
- Kurzweil offering a free ereader program called “Blio.” Will run on many platforms & preserves format of printed ver. link
…because Ray Kurzweil appears constitutionally unable to rest upon his laurels.
- “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself – After that it’s easy not to fool other scientists” – R Feynman link
- Genetically engineered crops reduce CO2 emissions. Those opposed to GM crops working against a goal they support. link
By whatever means, increased yields means more food for a hungry world, less land devoted to agriculture, and less CO2 emitted per unit of food produced.
- Harvard has created nanodevices made of DNA that self-assemble and can be programmed to move and change shape on demand. link
Nanotech could get “spooky” pretty quick.
- XiXiDu
Brain structure corresponds to personality linkBrain imaging is destined to be a bigger part of psychiatry.