Vocation (occupation)

An Hour with Will McIntosh

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Tue, 12/16/2014 - 19:45

If you aren't familiar with Will McIntosh, he isn't surprised. Like many authors, Will is happy just to have a writing career and thankful for the opportunities his readers provide, even if his name isn't well known. But given the quality of his previous work and a new young adult science fiction series in development (The first novel, Burning Midnight, is scheduled for 2016), don't be surprised if you start hearing his name more often.

But you should know his short story "Bridesicle" won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story and also the Asimov's Reader Poll in 2010. It was also a finalist for the Nebula Award for Best Short Story that same year. His short version of "Soft Apocalypse" was a finalist in 2005 for both the British Science Fiction and British Fantasy Awards.

Timebanks on The Future of Money Podcast

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Mon, 12/08/2014 - 16:12

On the Future of Money Podcast, Heather Schlegel interviews Autumn Rooney, the founder of the Echo Park Time Bank. While I've heard of time swapping, time banks themselves are a new concept. In 42 minutes, they cover several interesting points on the topic, including:

@3:50 - How is the future changing? Ms. Rooney points out today's unsustainable methods and how they are bringing about tomorrow's changes.
@4:55 - An explanation of time banks and how time values are traded.
@15:20 - How do new users experience this service?
@23:20 - How time banks can mesh with the cash economy.

Soft Apocalypse

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Tue, 10/28/2014 - 10:53

As atmospheric carbon rises towards 450 units per million and the pitch of climatologists reach higher levels of alarm, Soft Apocalypse offers a worst-case scenario of what a slow collapse of society might look like from the inside. Where McIntosh's Bridesicle/Love Minus 80 revolved around a misuse of life-saving technology, Soft Apocalypse is an avalanche of Hell unleashed on our planet. It is futurehorror without a Freddy or Michael, where the bad guys numbered in billions around the globe. Many of them bad guys who live among us today, but who haven't been forced to show their true natures as long as the distractions of civilization keep them in check.

This story could easily be the world outside as everything unraveled in Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Watching the slow collapse of society through Jasper's narrative, we see humanity returning to its fierce roots as the veneer of civilization is slowly stripped away. Soft Apocalypse is a message you live through as you read it.

Futurepath: Human employment

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Sat, 10/11/2014 - 21:24

Baby fed by a robot Last year, Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne published their paper, "The Future of Unemployment: How Susceptible are Jobs to Computerisation?" In their research, they identified that nearly half of US jobs will be automated within the next 10-20 years. Since then, there is a rising sense of urgency represented by the range of articles presenting the medium to long-term career forecasting of either a world of high unemployment or a world in which robotic productivity creates a socialist scenario where all humans maintain a minimal life quality without concern over unemployment. Digging more deeply into viewpoints with more diverse data and historical comparisons show a lot more reasons to be either bullish or bearish on the future.

Abundance 360 and Exponential Technologies (2014)

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Sat, 10/11/2014 - 20:49

A 5 minute video illustrating 6 expected technology advancements over the next 25 years and how they will impact our future. Developed for Peter Diamandis' Abundance Summit attendees as an introduction to his view of an abundant future, it's now online for us to enjoy.

What will future jobs look like?

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Sat, 10/11/2014 - 19:45

Andrew McAfee, one of the authors of The Second Machine Age, gives a presentation on the future of jobs as one of his TED talks. He provides a nice overview of the benefits and challenges of "the new machine age" and, on the human side, who will be impacted. At 15 minutes long, it's a fairly complete overview on the topic and how our societies might adapt to prepare our children and the adult unemployed for this change.

Do We Need Humans?

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Sat, 10/11/2014 - 19:28

Robot worker There is a lot of speculation on the technological singularity - the point at which artificial intelligence has progressed beyond human intelligence. Between AI and advanced engineering, humans could quickly become extraneous to modern society, especially from the viewpoint of those who own the robots and see extra humans as needful beings who return little to the planet.

That's a very dystopian view, but a possible outcome all the same. The February 28, 2014 episode of NPR's Ted Radio Hour offers four viewpoints on the future of humanity.

The Hyperloop is down...speculative fiction by Crave's Eric Mack

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Fri, 10/10/2014 - 12:13

Eric Mack, from CNET's Crave, wrote a two piece story using today's news to speculate on what the futre might look like a decade or two from now. Worth a few minutes read to see what he thinks about a few things. Especially with humor like this:

With all my high-speed transport options out of commission for the day, I should be posting my own angry EEG GIF showing my brainwaves mashed up with some vintage footage from an old Dwayne Johnston flick, back before he was elected, before his groundbreaking presidency united the American and Canadian states (largely to allow for American drone fleets to better protect Arctic borders from polar pirates) and led to the annexation of Mexico, back when -- for some reason -- everyone simply called him "The Rock."

Part 1: The Hyperloop is down and I'm late for work
and part 2: Smart wig on and lightsaber packed, I visit the future.

Enjoy.

Surrogates (Graphic novel and 2009 film)

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Wed, 08/06/2014 - 11:08

The Surrogates is a 2005 comic series that explored a future society where humans control robots from the comfort and safety of their own homes. These robots provide what appears to be perfect telepresence by connecting the owners to the outside world - without risk to their physical bodies.

The series was made into a motion picture in 2009, titled Surrogates, with a slightly altered storyline in which humans can be killed through through the Surrogate interface. In both works, investigators (police in the graphic novels and FBI agents in the film) attempt to solve a series of crimes involving attacks on surrogates, with the investigation taking them deep into societal issues between a modern world and a militant group who refuses to interact with surrogates.

They are both engaging stories exploring extreme telepresence and the positives and negatives that come with the technology. The graphic novels are thoughtful and very well written with a lot of believability. The film is science fiction as an action film, though Surrogates takes time to explore additional elements not included in the graphic novels, adding to the plot and in the background of the main storyline. It's an intelligent movie behind the gunshots and car chases.

River of Gods

Submitted by Daryl Weade on Mon, 07/14/2014 - 13:21

It's 2047, a hundred years after India gained independence from Britain, River of Gods is set in a country now broken into smaller nations. There hasn't been a monsoon season in years, resulting in a parched region with a Ganges trickling through Varanasi after being dammed upstream - a dam that has two nations on the edge of war.

The world is a different place in 2047. Genetic modification is everywhere, including superchildren and gender neutralizing body modifications. Artificial intelligence operates at different levels, some of them above the limits banned by international treaty. Otherwise, much of India is still poor, water is even more scarce, and the caste system carries on with only a few adjustments.

However, the Americans have found something deep in space. An object that causes a lot of questions and sends a specialist in search of her former lover. In India, someone else finds him first, someone with a strange past and who might not be completely human. Meanwhile, Mr. Nandha, one of the Krishna Cops, is hunting aeai's (artificial intelligence) with his team.

A winner of the British Science Fiction Association award and a nominee for both the Arthur C. Clarke Award and Hugo Award, River of Gods is a wild ride through a futuristic Indian culture. The complexity of the story, presenting normal human lives and emotions intertwined with decades of advancements, presents a believable backdrop against which events unfold.