How often do we hear people ask “Why isn’t the future here yet? Where are the gleaming cities connected by suspended walkways that look disturbingly like Habitrails? Where are the moon colonies and twinkling domed cities? Where are the robot servants dressed in 1940’s maid uniforms?” And most ubiquitously, “Where, […]
Technological advances bring all sorts of change to our world. Such change often brings with it the need for new rules and legislation. The trick is in establishing laws that create a level playing field – one which can provide us adequate protection without putting a stranglehold on new developments. […]
My latest article “The Age of the Interface“ is the cover story for the May/June issue of The Futurist which is out this week. A properly designed and implemented interface not only facilitates system-to-system communication, but it also simplifies and automates control of otherwise complex functions. Interfaces let us operate […]
The Four Rs: Changing Jobs in a Changing World The Intelligence Revolution will transform many aspects of our lives, but few as radically as work and employment. By its very nature, progress is disruptive. Technological advances lead to the development of new markets and the withering away of old ones. […]
When I talk about the intelligent future, I’m referring to far more than just artificial intelligence and intelligence amplification. The application of existing knowledge and tools in new and innovative ways will play just as much a role. One excellent example can be found in a paper published yesterday in […]
A number of recent stories illustrate the rapid progress that’s being made in many different fields linked to artificial intelligence: Europe’s four-year AMARSi project (Adaptive Modular Architecture for Rich Motor Skills) could lead to humanoid robots that quickly acquire skills from human co-workers as well as their environments. AMARSi project […]
In the intelligent future, positions, roles, entire fields will disappear from the jobs market. In many cases, the tasks themselves will still exist but increasingly they’ll be done by evermore intelligent technologies instead of by humans. As in the past, these changes will be motivated by market forces and the […]
Listen to this original piece of music before reading this post: This music was composed by a prolific, young composer named Emi. During a brief career, Emi created thousands of works, many of them in the style of famous composers, such as Bach, Beethoven, and Chopin. These compositions have been […]
Imagine if you didn’t have a nervous system. Your body would have no way of regulating any of its other systems. It wouldn’t know if it was too hot or too cold. It couldn’t register dangers and harmful conditions. Every aspect of the environment would be shut off to it. In […]
Xerox announced this week they’ve developed several breakthroughs in the printing of low-cost electronic circuits. Most notably, this includes their development of a silver-based conductor ink and significant improvements to their previously-developed semi-conductor ink. These advances will make circuits possible on a wide range of materials, including plastics, film and […]