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addict
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addict
Joined: May 2000
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Rumour has it that Gerry Anderson was Bill Gates' technical advisor for The Road Ahead.I always suspected that someone was pulling some strings for him! geddit? 
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
Howcum nobody's mentioned "prophecy?" Seems to fit.
"Inovative proclamer" also "visionary leader" is how OED defines prophet.
A person who makes a prophecy (foretell the future) would be a prophet, oui?
Re Star Treck - anyone else notice that our present cell phones look and work (flip to open and flip to close) very much like the communicators used by James Tiberius Kirk on the Original ST?
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771 |
Well, now you're just showing off, wow...
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 8
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Jul 2002
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OK..you can spell "James Tiberius Kirk" and not "Star Trek"? 
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
>the tendency, when making predictions, to project the present into the future?
here's an article that contends that's pretty much all you can do anymore:
Blinded by Science
July 14, 2002
By PATRICIA LEIGH BROWN
THE impossible isn't what it used to be.
Not so long ago, the realms of science fact and science
fiction seemed worlds apart, two swirling spheres orbiting
each other around the galaxy.
But lately, news flashes from the front lines of science
suggest a bewildering telepathic collision between fact and
fantasy. In Australia, researchers in quantum optics say
they have "teleported" a radio-signal message in a laser
beam, using the same kind of principles that enabled Scotty
to beam up Captain Kirk. In rural Quebec, images of H. G.
Wells's "The Island of Dr. Moreau" have alighted upon
genetically altered goats whose milk contains a gene from
the golden-orb weaving spider, enabling goats to produce
milk containing superstrong spider silk. Meanwhile, two
young British researchers invented a "tooth phone" - a
microvibrator and low-frequency receiver that can be
implanted into one's tooth, raising the possibility of a
James Bond dental experience while undergoing root canal.
All this and "cc" - the cloned cat produced earlier this
year by Texas scientists - too.
The whirlwind convergence of science fact and fiction
raises the question of whether a sense of the impossible is
becoming passe. "Science fact is rapidly outstripping
science fiction," said Neil Gershenfeld, head of the new
Center for Bits and Atoms at M.I.T.'s Media Laboratory,
where a researcher is developing "paintable" computers with
chips suspended in viscous liquid, making the idea of
running to the hardware store to buy a few gallons of
computer a distinct possibility.
"I feel great sympathy for science fiction writers these
days," said Paul Saffo, a director at the Institute for the
Future in Palo Alto, Calif. "People used to go to
psychiatrists to say, `the C.I.A. planted a chip in my
brain.' Now, the family dog has a chip to prevent him from
getting lost. In a few years, psychiatrists may be asking,
`Have you been chipped?' "
Even paranoia isn't what it used to be.
In his
forthcoming book "I'm Working on That: A Trek From Science
Fiction to Science Fact," William Shatner explores the
reciprocity between Starship Enterprise fantasy and
real-life scientific breakthroughs. "What was suggested 30
years ago in `Star Trek' is now old hat," he said in a
telephone interview. "If you analyze the word `impossible,'
you break it down into `possible' and `I'm.' If I'm
possible, anything is possible. One imagined flight of
fantasy builds on another."
It all gets surreal.
As a culture, we have become writers of our own fantasy
saga in which pacemakers, cloning, the Internet, speech
recognition software and the like are merely part of the
scenery. And while much of what now seems humdrum was first
envisioned in science fiction - from mobile phones ("Star
Trek") to fax machines (Philip K. Dick) - it can sometimes
seem as though the tables have been turned, with reality
now providing inspiration to fantasy.
The science-fiction writer Bruce Sterling, who once wrote
about goats genetically altered to produce plastic
explosives, sees scientists unveiling more and more ideas
that can feed a fertile sci-fi mind. "They're becoming more
peculiar and far out," he said. "They're really into
antigravity and time travel."
Mr. Sterling recently returned from a Computer Research
Association conference, where computer scientists hobnobbed
about genetic algorithms and ubiquitous computing. He says
he came away with a full spiral notebook and the germs of a
novel's plot: a world in which every object is seeded with
sensors, where black helicopters hover over smoking ruins
and spew out computers that detect breathing.
To the biologist Robert J. Full, director of the Poly-Pedal
Lab at the University of California at Berkeley, this is "a
revolutionary moment" made possible by cross-fertilization
between disciplines. His laboratory is using the principles
of insect locomotion and the suction qualities of geckos'
toes to develop lifelike robots, including a fetching
self-righting six-legged fellow named RHex. RHex emerged
from collaborations between biologists, engineers,
mathematicians, computer scientists, and even Pixar
animators working on "A Bug's Life." Interplay with
once-alien colleagues is allowing scientists to venture
where they haven't gone before - and science buffs are
taking notice.
IN San Francisco, the Long Now Foundation, a nonprofit
organization that is building a 10,000-year clock, recently
launched a Web site called LongBets .org that attempts to
take the pulse of the impossible. People - many of them big
shots - are placing bets on what the future holds and will
be publicly accountable for their predictions. Among them:
"By 2030, commercial passengers will routinely fly in
pilotless planes," and "At least one human alive in the
year 2000 will still be alive in 2150."
"Things that clearly seemed impossible a few years ago,
like nanotechnology, have moved from the lunatic fringe to
core doctrine more quickly than at any time in history,"
said Stewart Brand, a founder of Long Now. "The downside
has become taking the long term seriously. We need to
develop civilizational patience."
In the meantime, it might be difficult to keep fantasy from
springing forth from newfound scientific realities.
Especially dreams of gossamer spider-silk evening gowns and
Sean Connery whispering sweet nothings into our molars.
Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
RE: anyone else notice that our present cell phones look and work (flip to open and flip to close) very much like the communicators used by James Tiberius Kirk on the Original ST?
that was a very conscious design decision made by motorola!
they wanted to make a smaller cell phone, and the Star tak (get the name!) was specifically designed to look like the Star trek communicators.. life sometimes does immitate art, just as art immitates life!
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
one of the thing we must remember about the future is it will in many ways be just like the past!
i live in a 75 year old house.. i know people who live in 150 year old houses, and some in the UK live in 300+ year old houses..
somehow, houses haven't changed that much.. (well the dweller of the 300+ year old house complain about the damp..No, wait, doesn't every home owner in UK complain about the damp?)
houses have changed.. and the 300 year old house have been changed over time.. the plumbing has been improved.. pumps have been replaced by pipes and facets, and drains have been improved.. and the out house (what ever) has been moved in..
in general, in new housing, ceiling are higher (but not nessesarly, some old house had very hight ceilings.. depends on how fancy it was to begin with..)
room are bigger, and more open and have more windows, fireplaces are smaller and fewer, storage space, as closets, cupboards or china cabinets are bigger and there are more of them.. but 300 year (and older) houses still function.. the changes, like electricty, plumbing and heating and closets can be retrofitted into existing houses with total destroying them.
like wise, 300 years ago, a well off person would not walk a great distance if they had to travel to the city, but would take a conveyance..
nowdays, that is a car or train, then it was a horse drawn carriage, so there is a technology change, but not an attitude..
recipes for dinner and menus have changed only slightly.. and mostly for the lower economic classes.. the rich always had access to lemons, tea, sugar and other imported foods, now everyone has access. Likewise, the poor eat more meat, and cheese, and other foods that were luxuries.. but really, food is mostly the same.. what has changed is, it is fresher (well not always) cleaner, better preserved, cheaper, easier to cook and store, and there is lots more of it... bread is softer and whiter.. but its still bread.. and beer is bottles, but still beer.. for the most part we still eat the same foods as we did 300 years ago.. (yes, red meat is more likely to be beef than venison, but meat is meat.. and almost no one eats wrens or larks, when chicken is so cheap, and available. )
(in the past, eggs were fresher, often eaten the same day they were laid, nowdays, even organic eggs are likely to be at least 3 days old before they get to the store, and then rarely eaten the same day they were purchased. the same was true for milk, it was often served same day!)
clothing? well we often wear less, and there are more synthetic fibers, and its better tailored and cheaper but men still wear trousers, and woman still wear skirts, and both men and woman wear shirts with buttons.. zippers and velcro are new- but Buttons were new not that long ago! (the amish don't use buttons for the most part, since they are too new!)
clothes are cleaner, lighter weight, and easier to care for... the changes are machine knits (very fine knits, like T shirt fabric) and synthetics micro fibers are new even in my lifetime! but i still wear cotton, and linen and silk and wool! the clothes are more colorful, since synthetic dyes are richter.. but some plant dyes were very rich, and while the were not color safe, since clothes got washed less often, the colors didn't have a chance to fade.
the big changes, transportation, communications, electronics, just made things easier... and faster and cheaper..
the biggest changes that effected one life and life style are are literacy, books, information, travel... (which are possible because of the big changes in transportation, communications and electronics!
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
<<one of the few things we must remember about the future...>>
'nuff said.
;)
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872 |
<<one of the few things we must remember about the future...>> 'nuff said. No no inselpeter, nuff didn't say that, of troy did.
Nuff was the one who said something bad about Captain Kirk.
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