Yet more potential transhumanist body-modification! File under “you must all send me money until I can afford one of these”:
The strapline for the image on the Physorg report reads: “Waterproof and powered by pizza”. 🙂 [Via Chris Roberson and many others]
Richard Morgan, author of a number of excellent cyber-noir sf thrillers (the most recent being the excellent Black Man, or Thirteen as it was titled in the US) was asked by Index On Censorship Magazine to write an essay about the future of the internet, which is now available on his website. [Image by Meyshanworld]
If you’re familiar with Morgan’s books, you’ll know not to expect rose-tinted panglossian speculation from him. I’ll freely admit that I get carried away with techno-utopian visions from time to time, and it’s good to have writers with Morgan’s incisive intelligence to bring me down to earth:
“The future of the internet, then, is not going to be too much of a shock for anyone who knows much about human nature and whose eyes are open. In fact, regardless of the technical innovations that we may or may not see in the next few decades, virtual reality looks as if it’s going to conform pretty ordinarily to the existing human tendencies we so know and love.”
Go read! [Props to Ariel for the tip.]
For a number of years now biologists and farmers alike have been concerned about levels of honeybees around the world, with many hives collapsing due to what’s known as CCD – Colony Collapse Disorder. It leads people to find strangely abandoned hives with a few dead bees but most gone elsewhere. The causes are unknown – it could be a number of fungal or viral diseases, or interference from cell phone towers messing up their ability to find home. It could also be mites, global warming, GM crops, pretty much anything. As honeybees are used massively in pollinating commercial fruit and vegetables, this is a real concern not just for a species of insect, but also for us.
Happily a certain gourmet Ice Cream company is on the case. Haagen Dazs has already donated money to some of the researchers trying to find what’s going on with the bees. Now it’s also making a bee-themed honey Ice Cream, with profits going towards our stripy friends. Coincidentally, did you know Haagen Dazs is not actually Scandanavian? The name was created by its founders in America and both words are actually made up. The closest translation in any language is an Iranian phrase meaning ‘garbage can’.
Here’s a quick one from Futurismic’s (electronic) postbag – calling all writers of speculative fiction over fifty years of age!
“The Speculative Literature Foundation (SLF) is pleased to announce that it is accepting applications for the 2008 Older Writers Grant. The grant of $750 is available to any writer of speculative literature of 50 years or older at the time of application just beginning to work professionally in the field. There are no restrictions on the use of the grant money.
The grant will be awarded by a committee of SLF staff members on the basis of interest and merit. Applicants are asked to submit a brief autobiographical statement, a writing sample, and a bibliography. For full details on how to apply for the grant, please refer to the grants page on the SLF web site, or email olderwriters[AT]speclit[DOT]org.
Applications must be received by March 31st 2008. The successful applicant will be announced on June 1st 2008.”
Well, what are you waiting for?
As Brian Wang pointed out in the comments to my post about the Technology Review list of 2007’s most exciting technologies, there’s actually a 2008 list. And indeed there is, and here it is:
(Image: Wikimedia Commons)
[tags]technology,predictions,inventions[/tags]
