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Utopian formulations, in some form or another, formed the basis of science fiction (SF) at its inception (1) and can be said to still lie at the root of most SF texts. Thomas More's initial conception of an ideal society that exists in a space and time that is both ou topos (no place) and eu topos (happy place) is frequently played out in these texts in various poses of either thesis (where utopia proposes some positive ideal) or antithesis (where dystopia, or anti-utopia, warns of destruction), all in the interest of creating what Edward James (2003: 222), in his deliberations on utopias and anti-utopias, refers to as "alternate possibilities" for "a better world". Nevertheless, as Carl Freedman (2000: 62) points out when he discusses the relationship between science fiction and utopia, "today the dominant Anglo-American colloquial meaning of the word is mildly pejorative: to describe an idea or plan as utopian usually connotes that it is naive and wildly impractical, though perhaps well-intended". In the words of Michel Foucault, as he explains his conception of heterotopias, utopias now are generally seen to "afford consolation: although they have no real locality there is nevertheless a fantastic, untroubled region in which they are able to unfold" (Foucault in Brown 1996: 57). In a postmodern climate, where the general inclination is to "deconstruct our unexamined assumptions about basic things" (Hutcheon 2006:115), such placidity hints at obsolescence; there is a pervasive sense that utopias are currently "producing a risibly impractical blueprint for a future society rather than (in most cases) a trenchant critique of contemporary institutions in fictional form" (James 2003: 220).
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Knowmads, Infocology of the future
Researchers have found that personality traits like being extroverted, enjoying laughter and staying engaged may also be part of the longevity genes mix that allows some people to reach age 100 and beyond. And while passing the Turing Test would be a landmark achievement in the field of AI, the test’s focus on having the computer have to fool a human is a distraction. Prominent AI researchers, like Google’s head of R&D Peter Norvig, have compared the Turing Test’s requirement that a machine fools a judge into thinking they are talking to a human as akin to demanding an aircraft maker constructs a plane that is indistinguishable from a bird. 
Simon Ings writes: 
It is often noted that life expectancy roughly doubled during the 20th century, but that statistic is an unhelpful merger of two phases. 
Would America’s highway system be better if it had been designed by mold? 
The act of feeding 7 billion plus human beings already puts more stress on the planet than any other single activity, so we're going to need to figure out a way to produce more food without further damaging the environment... 
How is my DNA NOT private? Unlike the contents of your inbox, bank statement, or Facebook timeline, your DNA quite literally defines you. 
"But some of the greatest achievements in philosophy could only be compared with taking up some books which seemed to belong together, and putting them on different shelves; nothing more being final about their positions than that they no longer... 
Genetically modified T cells which attack HIV have been shown to be both effective and safe after more than a decade. 
Canadian Manufacturing has an article covering General Fusion. General Fusion is creating a prototype and subsystems at full scale. They have made a full scale plasma injector that create the magnetized targets and individual full scale pistons. They have made a one meter diameter sphere with 14 pistons to demonstrate the symmetry of the compression. They recently closed on another round of funding for $19.5 million
A small country’s big decision to start from scratch. At least in one city. 
Complexity not as a mathematical concept, but as an almost intuitive sense of both complication and interconnectedness. Both are necessary components of a truly complex system or situation. Complicated systems have many parts, or take many steps, or have many rules; complex systems are complicated systems connected to and interdependent with other systems (likely also complex).There are rarely simple resolutions to complex (complicated+interconnected) problems; because a resolution must take into account the effects of changing a complex situation on the connected systems, the resolution will of necessity be at least as complex as the problem.The associated complexity of a seemingly simple resolution generally shows up in unintended or unexpected consequences; complicated interconnections cannot be cut without repercussions.For this reason, over time, simple solutions tend to increase complexity.Complication can be the perverse result of simple interactions, but complexity is rarely so; because complex situations are also complicated, the two can be easily confused.In situations where "complexity itself" is asserted to be the problem, the actual crisis is often around complication; the trick is to devise ways to reduce the complication without damaging the interconnections.Unfortunately, that's not simple; in many cases, it may not be possible.The only way to reduce and resolve the complexity of a given situation is to reduce its level of interconnection with other systems; doing so, however, can undermine the value or power of the given system, and will alter the systems to which it was once connected.In other words, the opposite of "complex" is not "simple," the opposite of "complex" is "isolated." 
(Phys.org) -- The main technical difficulty in building a quantum computer could soon be the thing that makes it possible to build one, according to new research from The Australian National University. |
TIMEStreet Light of the Future Would Provide Wi-Fi, Cell Coverage and MoreTIMEAre V-Poles the future? 
Much like the future of media itself, the future of television is more than social. Social is a fabric; it connects the individual nodes that make up the human network. But, social is also not a me... ![Tech-tastic Bodies [Infographic] – Urban Times | Knowmads, Infocology of the future | Scoop.it](http://img.scoop.it/iE84gLYWCC3qPmyD20hB2Tl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBVaiQDB_Rd1H6kmuBWtceBJ)
After Urban Times' Tech Day and the launch of the UK tour of the Olympic Flame last week, there is no better time to appreciate the technological advancements in sporting prosthetics in recent decades. 
The Winchester Centre for Global Futures in Art Design and Media highlights historical, contemporary and future roles for art, design and media within globalization The Winchester Centre for Global Futures in Art Design and Media highlights historical,... 
A pioneering study to gauge the toxicity of quantum dots in primates has found the tiny luminescent crystals are safe over a one-year period, a hopeful... 
The Music of Science: Oliver Morton reckons Alan Turing would love this: a gadget the size of a matchbox which can read a genome sequence... 
America the Philosophical? It sounds like Canada the Exhibitionist or France the Unassuming: a mental miscue, a delusional academic tic. Everyone knows that Americans don't take philosophy seriously, don't pay any attention to it, and couldn't name a contemporary academic philosopher if their passports depended on it. As historian Richard Hofstadter dryly observed in his Pulitzer Prize-winning Anti-Intellectualism in American Life (1963), ''In the United States the play of the mind is perhaps the only form of play that is not looked upon with the most tender indulgence.'' 
Ever read about UFOs in Spanish or Hebrew? 
Researchers have unveiled an 'inexact' computer chip that challenges the industry's dogmatic 50-year pursuit of accuracy. The design improves power and resource efficiency by allowing for occasional errors. 
George Michelson Foy: 'A violinist hammered on the door after a few seconds, demanding to be let out because he was so disturbed by the silence'... The 3-year project GRATITUDE ('Gains from losses of root and tuber crops') brings together 16 project partners from Ghana, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Portugal, Thailand, the United Kingdom and Vietnam. Led by scientists from the University of Greenwich's Natural Resources Institute in the United Kingdom, the project partners aim to find new ways of reducing waste during the production of food crops vital to families in parts of Africa and Asia. Another aim of the project is to develop new products such as snack foods from the crops, and seek new markets. The fact that the consortium is made up of partners from both academic and business will help meet this aim. Cassava and yam are important food security crops for approximately 700 million people worldwide, and their post-harvest losses are significant. These losses can be physical or economic, through discounting or processing into low-value products, or can result from bio-wastes. By reducing such losses, the role these crops play in food and income security can be enhanced. 
Anyone else see The Avengers? Just like in Iron Man 1 and 2, Tony Stark has the coolest interactive 3-D displays. He can pull a digital wire frame out of a set of blueprints or wrap an exoskeleton around his arm. |
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