Category: "the future"

up with space tourism

May 30th, 2013
That achievement is not something that "we" can claim as a culture - it is something the rest of us can marvel at from the sidelines, but the responsibility lies with the individual people who are actually doing it, people who are brave enough to risk their money on the venture, and the scientists and engineers and managers and bookkeepers and marketing people and hundreds or thousands of others who are contributing to that hoped-for success. more »

getting better

March 19th, 2013
... we live in a historically unique period of peaceability. It is not the first time I've been exposed to this sort of analysis ... more »

when worlds collide, who pays for it?

February 24th, 2013
Insurance as a model for protection against asteroids - concentrate the costs to those that benefit most, and spread the gain across the entire population of the planet more »

Artificial Intelligence (2001)

February 19th, 2013
While the film opens some interesting questions, the second half leaves so many loose ends it looks like the producers failed to consider some of the most basic ramifications of the premise. more »

econtalk

December 28th, 2012
I listen to a few podcasts, when I'm driving or walking around the city, doing laundry or working in the yard. Among them I find econtalk to be informative and engaging, due in part to the in-depth and calm discourse of the interview format between the diverse assortment of guests and host Russ Roberts. more »

two educational podcasts

September 24th, 2012
In the same week I found two distinct but complementary takes on the question of whether there might be better ways to improve education among the poorest in our communities. more »

technology on econtalk

July 3rd, 2012
The premise of the author in this interview is that in the large space of technological development, there are growing areas of autonomy that react to the environment independently of direct human interaction. more »

new weight loss scheme

June 14th, 2012
It might have been at work where I first saw mention of this story in Gizmag, describing how Evgeny Katz and fellow researchers at Clarkson University have implanted a snail with an enzyme-based biofuel reactor, allowing said snail to generate electrica… more »

the singularity on econtalk

January 3rd, 2011
The subject matter for this episode holds my interest, but the discussion ended with a stark and bleak dystopian vision that I originally had no interest in writing about (which writing here shows I changed my mind about that).  A couple interesting his… more »

simple talk that really scares me

February 18th, 2010
a Professor Bartlett discusses world population and energy usage, worried about continuations along the present path. more »