Synthetic life (biocreation)

Where will technology and big data take our future?

Stratasys 3d printed shoes

Technology is slowly infiltrating every area of our human existence. I read Alistair Croll's Race Alongside the Machine today on re/code and it led me to a reflection on how we humans are being changed by the technology we develop and where this might lead in the future.

When I came up with the original idea for a future-focused site, I immediately created a short list I called "aspects of human existence." I've changed them to "elements of how we live" and use them as story tags, a taxonomy vocabulary in Drupal terms, in order to help users find content. After reading Croll's piece, I decided today's exercise would be to look at the (now much longer) list and see what I can come up with for where current trends and predictions will take us as we continue to combine humans, technology and big data.

Artifact from the future: Species Design Symposium

Subway view of artifact contentAnother great artifact from Institute for the Future. This time focusing on the use of genetics to create predator species capable of limiting the growth of problem species - ocean species in this scene.

It raises some good questions and brings together a few current trends: genetic engineering, failure of ecosystems as important species are wiped out to provide food (whether they are the food species or depend on disappearing habitat), and using prize money to crowd-source innovations.

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