When I was very little, some early-grade teacher lost in the mists of memory told me the story of how Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon spent much of his life searching for the Fountain of Youth. Now that I’m approaching one of those decade birthdays, I can finally relate. Besides, as the leading edge of the baby boom starts retiring, this seems like a good time to take a peek at the science around longevity. Continue reading We are all Ponce: The Quest for Longevity
Category Archives: Today’s Tomorrows
Today’s Tomorrows – author and futurist Brenda Cooper on the thin fuzzy line between the future and the present.
Playing Our Way To the Future: Consumer Science and Technology goes Military
Last month, I spoke at a United States Army Training and Doctrine Command event billed as a mad scientist conference. That was actually quite an honor, and I enjoyed it more than I expected to, even though it was hard to spend three days thinking about threats based on new technology. I’ve got a blog entry up at my regular site that talks more about the conference, but suffice it to say I’ve been thinking about the military and science/science fiction. In the way of all attractive coincidences, I was also recently asked to write a military science fiction story. All that, and I’m basically a pacifist! Continue reading Playing Our Way To the Future: Consumer Science and Technology goes Military
The Tender Mash-up
Since I chose to write about things made of metal skins and electrical guts in November, and then about warm-blooded carbon-based life in December, I couldn’t resist a combination. I call it the tender mash-up because the fusion of man and machine might result in an emotional being with a huge leap forward in physical capacity. The popular television and movie characters Robocop and The Six Million Dollar Man may be coming close to reality. Continue reading The Tender Mash-up
What Are The Animals Becoming?
Since I went for things made of metal skins and electrical guts last month when I wrote about weird robots, I decided to opt for warm-blooded carbon-based life forms this time around – so welcome to the December column on smart animals!
Now, we’re a dog family, and we have a golden retriever and two border collies. My partner just bought a puzzle for the dogs. It’s a wooden base with cups for treats, and sliding doors that move and hide the treats. The object is for the dog to slide the doors out of the way and get the treats inside. One of the stated purposes of the toy is to increase animal intelligence. Mind you, if the border collies get much smarter we’re in trouble. The golden? Well, that’s another story. Continue reading What Are The Animals Becoming?
The Surprising Range of Robots
I’ve been invited to join a panel on robotics at the upcoming Orycon Science Fiction Convention, so I decided to write about them here, too. I also have a story coming out soon in Analog, called “The Robots’ Girl,” which started when I read an article complaining about robots being developed to help with childcare in Japan.
We were promised undersea cities and jet packs and household robots. The robots are here, and the next decade is pretty clearly a breakout time for them. Continue reading The Surprising Range of Robots