Futurism

Under-predicting the Future

by Matt Swayne
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The new movie, Source Code, contains lots of technology that people interested in the Singularity and Transhumanism would recognize: Consciousness uploading. Parallel universes. Immersive virtual reality. Time travel. And on. There’s also some technology we might not expect. For instance, people are still traveling to work in trains. Doesn’t that strike you as odd? Obviously the writers will explain that this “source code” technology is a super-secret, government-eyes-only technology that has yet to be released (or unleashed) on the world at large. Obviously, Wikileaks has been closed in the near future. But the writers of Source Code aren’t the only folks that have a difficult time grasping the pre-Singularity and post-Singularity world. I recently read Damien Broderick’s 2001 book, The Spike: How Our Lives Are Being Transformed By Rapidly Advancing Technologies. It’s a fantastic book. I recommend it. However, I [...]

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The Charlie Sheen Guide to Predicting Our Transhuman Future

by Matt Swayne
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As technology follows its Moore’s Law speedway toward exponentially increasing power and ubiquity, futurists are just as rapidly falling into two schools of thought on how humans will handle this new-found power. Nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, immersive virtual reality, and dozens of other tools and technologies are poised to transform life in fundamental ways. Repetitive tasks and duties that most people think are odious could disappear. Robots will cook, clean, cut the grass, and perform dozens of other jobs that we — or at least, I — try to avoid. Virtual reality will become better than the real thing. For those who have accepted this technocentric future, the real question is how humans will deal with this transformation. Not everyone thinks transhumanity is going to be better. In fact, some believe that the future will lead to lazy, over-indulged, shallow-thinking slugs [...]

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James Martin on Singularity 1 on 1: We Can Control Accelerating Technology

by Socrates
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Yesterday I was privileged to have an hour long Skype interview with James Martin for my Singularity 1 on 1 podcast. James Martin is Andrew Crofts‘ archetype Change Agent in addition to being a world-renowned computer scientist, author, lecturer, teacher, philanthropist, futurist and film-maker. During our conversation we cover a whole spectrum of interesting topics such as: James’ interest in computers in particular and technology and futurism in general; his book that eventually turned into a movie -  The Meaning of the 21st Century, his current project titled the Transformation of Humankind; the technological singularity; the risks and promises of exponential growth of 21st century technologies such as genetics, robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnologies. So, go ahead, listen to or download the audio above or scroll down to watch the video of the interview in full. Most importantly – don’t hesitate [...]

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James Martin’s The Meaning Of The 21st Century

by Socrates
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Last night me and Julie watched James Martin‘s documentary The Meaning Of The 21st Century. The movie is based on his titular book and is aimed to provide what James calls A Vital Blueprint for Ensuring Our Future. In his 1 hour documentary Martin catalogues all the major perils and promises that humanity faces in the 21st century. In addition, he doesn’t forgo issues arising from advances in the fields of artificial intelligence, genetics, robotics and nanotechnology, or interviewing other futurists, scientists, inventors, singularitarians and transhumanists such as Ray Kurzweil, Hugo de Garis, Nick Bostrom and others. The video is narrated by Michael Douglas and I think it is worth watching. Synopsys: We are at an extraordinary crossroads of human history. Our actions, or failure to act, during the next 20 years will determine the fate of the Earth and [...]

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