Technoscience and the Future

Economist Andrew McAfee suggests that, yes, probably, droids will take our jobs -- or at least the kinds of jobs we know now. In this far-seeing talk, he thinks through what future jobs might look like, and how to educate coming generations to hold them.

Andrew McAfee studies how information technology affects businesses and society.

In Issac Asimov's classic science fiction saga Foundation, mathematics professor Hari Seldon predicts the future using what he calls psychohistory.

Drawing on mathematical models that describe what happened in the past, he anticipates what will happen next, including the fall of the Galactic Empire.

That may seem like fanciful stuff. But Peter Turchin is turning himself into a real-life Hari Seldon — and he’s not alone.

Turchin — a professor at the University of Connecticut — is the driving force behind a field called “cliodynamics,” where scientists and mathematicians analyze history in the hopes of finding patterns they can then use to predict the future. It’s named after Clio, the Greek muse of history.

These academics have the same goals as other historians — “We start with questions that historians have asked for all of history,” Turchin says. “For example: Why do civilizations collapse?” — but they seek to answer these questions quite differently. They use math rather than mere language, and according to Turchin, the prognosis isn’t that far removed from the empire-crushing predictions laid down by Hari Seldon in the Foundation saga. Unless something changes, he says, we’re due for a wave of widespread violence in about 2020, including riots and terrorism.

More efficient, less complex and cheaper, 3D solar cells can also capture more sunlight than conventional PV models

Goodbye newspapers, retirement, wrinkles, euro...

Scientists, futurists, and other experts describe how we've begun to blur the lines between humans and technology.

When you look up at a starry sky, nearly every star you see has a planetary system, astronomers announced today.

In just a few years, a new report warns, we may see a battlefield teeming with cyborg infantrymen and brain-enhanced commanders. And we may not like it much.

Try to imagine the red planet filled with oceans, a thick atmosphere... and a biosphere.

2013 will be a year of more rapid advances in technology, lingering worries about the economy and a search for solutions about climate change. Patrick Tucker, deputy editor of The Futurist magazine, views 2013 a...

John Hagel: "If you have tightly scripted jobs that are highly standardized where there's no room for individual initiative or creativity, machines by and large can do those kinds of activities much better than human beings. They're much more predictable. They're much more reliable. We as human beings have flaws. We tend to get distracted. We tend to go off into unexpected areas. "

Igor Nikolic graduated in 2009 on his dissertation: co-evolutionary process for modelling large scale socio-technical systems evolution. He received his MSc as a chemical-- and bioprocess engineer at the Delft University of Technology. He spent several years as an environmental researcher and consultant at University of Leiden where he worked on life cycle analysis and industrial ecology. In his research he specializes in applying complex adaptive systems theory and agent based modeling.

On TEDxRotterdam Igor Nikolic left the audience in awe with his stunning presentation and visualizations, mapping complex systems

From cancer treatments to new devices to gene therapy, a look at six medical innovations that are poised to transform the way we fight disease

SpaceX's Grasshopper takes a 12-story leap towards full and rapid rocket reusability in a test flight conducted December 17, 2012 at SpaceX's rocket development facility in McGregor, Texas. Grasshopper, a vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (VTVL), rose 131 feet (40 meters), hovered and landed safely on the pad using closed loop thrust vector and throttle control. The total test duration was 29 seconds. Grasshopper stands 10 stories tall and consists of a Falcon 9 rocket first stage, Merlin 1D engine, four steel landing legs with hydraulic dampers, and a steel support structure.

The 12-story flight marks a significant increase over the height and length of hover of Grasshopper's previous test flights, which took place earlier this fall. In September, Grasshopper flew to 1.8 meters (6 feet), and in November, it flew to 5.4 meters (17.7 feet/2 stories) including a brief hover.

Testing of Grasshopper will continue with successively more sophisticated flights expected over the next several months.