futurism
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Reverse Engineering the Turing Test
"In theory, mind uploading is a pathway to immortality [...] I'm betting that not only will it happen, but that it's possible that the writers are going to get there first." Is David EdelmanSecond Life, Economic Evolution and the CopyBot
"As Sven Johnson suggests, the important story here isn't about Second Life per se, but about the clash between a scarcity-based economy and an abundance-based world." Jamais Cascio on the CMore on the Economics of Abundance
"Most truly disruptive technologies disrupt because they take a scarcity assumption and, thanks to some technology that generates abundances, simply turn it on its head. Just think VOIP..."Entrepreneurs See a Web Guided by Common Sense
"From the billions of documents that form the World Wide Web and the links that weave them together, computer scientists and a growing collection of start-up companies are finding new ways to minStop Worrying About Copyrights
"To the fear mongerers among the literati, the Internet is a threat to the paperbound book. It’s an electronic playground where copyrighted material can be exchanged among anonymous readers, destVirgin Galactic: Anatomy of a Business Model
"Tai said that he’s aware that there is still skepticism in some circles about public space travel. More stunt than a stable business. Branson is keen, he responded, on developing a legacy andImity
Who needs long-term memory when you've got technology to help you? A new Bluetooth app could make things much easier for people like me who have trouble remembering names, and when and where their ownRiver of Gods: "To be human is to transcend the rules."
A superb review of Ian Macdonald's 'River of Gods' on the Eve's Alexandria blog. Reminded me how much I enjoyed reading it myself - which is something I must do again, soon.PlayStation Home: William Gibson's Vision Realized
Pointed out by Captain Gibson himself, this article doesn't quite get the point - though the development is still interesting, IMHO. Virtual worlds are going to get real ubiquitous, real fast.Devolution
"It's not impossible to find discussions of (for example) nanofactories or everyware sensor networks that assume that the systems will be buggy and prone to surprising and sometimes baffling failGNU Radio Opens an Unseen World
This one is going to get a whole lot of governmental tooth-grinding going...another triumph for open source thinking?Blimp-borne telescopes could rival Hubble
Does what it says on the tin.Essay: Our Synthetic Futures (Rudy Rucker)
"Hipsters will install living tattoo colonies of algae under their skin. Punk rockers can get a shocking dog-collar effect by grafting on a spiky necklace of extra fingers with colored nails.&quoComparing AI’s Failures with Ubicomp’s Visions
Via Captain Bruce, a link fest that I haven't yet taken the time to go through thoroughly - but it looks like it is loaded with goodies.Book sales get a lift from Google scan plan
"Publishers are starting to report an uptick in sales from Google Inc.'s online program that lets readers peek inside books, two years after the launch of its controversial plan to digitally scanMolecular Manufacturing: A Primer for the Real Diamond Age
A brief guide by Chris Phoenix, co-founder of the nonprofit Center for Responsible Nanotechnology.Electric Sail Rides the Solar Wind
"The so-called ‘electric sail’ would use fifty to one hundred 20-kilometer long charged tethers, their voltage maintained by a solar-powered electron gun aboard the vehicle."Scribd “YouTube for Documents” Gets $300K
"Scribd is most easily described as a text version of YouTube. It is a social network that lets you tag, share, and comment on uploaded documents." Interesting development. Via Jeremy Tolber
