Are We Afraid of the Future?

Modern depictions of the future are often more than not a little harsh. 

Typically, they point to humanity's intrinsic flaws as inescapable regardless of how our technology advances around us.

Although, it's not all atom bombs and robot invasions, despite my last post.

Image credit: http://evworld.com/images/mixaerospace_skylys_illustr800x500.jpg

Movies like The Fifth Element, offer an incredible panorama of the possibilities. Similar to The Jetsons, flying cars and floating cities are a major feature in the film. I think it's safe to say the dates set for these developments are unrealistic, but the ideas are not:

• Flying cars have already made an appearance. Although, they have not been the most practical thus far. 

• Even the International Space Station could be cited as the early start of flying cities or space outposts.

While these ideas have been common across a variety of media, what my soul craves is new ideas. 

It seems the imagination stops at flying cars and automated tasks. 

 Personally, I live to behold a future in which the feared term GMO, genetically modified organisms, applies to more than just fruits, veggies and livestock. Currently, GMOs are hailed for their ability to provide higher yields and quicker harvest with less inputs such as pesticides and water. Great for a world that is increasingly concerned with environmental and personal health. 

Yet, I envision a time when humans begin tinkering with their own genetics in order to increase human efficiencies. 

We all want to live longer, but what if instead we slept less and required less food? Without increasing our lifespan, we can increase the amount of time available to us.  Along the same vein, instead of combing the rainforest for a cure-all, we could genetically modify ourselves to be disease, virus and allergy resistant. The HIV immunity, delta 32 mutation, has already been discovered.

Perhaps someday, we will overcome our fear to put these important discoveries to use.

When the Robot Revolution Begins: Know Thy Enemy

Someday when the streets are painted red with humanity's blood, we may remember the robots below as the first stirrings of a new wave. 

                            It's best you learn their faces now.

 

The robots are rising. 

Yeah, you heard me. Any day now, one of these lab rats may decide enough is enough.

MIT's bartender bot is called the Maker Shaker. It takes orders via smartphone. The project leader calls its sparse shell a metaphor for the third industrial 

revolution.

                       Image credit: http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/16/tech/innovation/robot-bartender-mit-google-makr-shakr

While Maker Shaker is the least equipped to overtake the world someday, it just might dispense enough alcohol to fuel an old-fashioned revolution.

Keep an eye on this one. 

Image credit: http://news.discovery.com/tech/robotics/cyborg-cockroach-controlled-by-phone-130611.htm

Another smartphone controlled robot: the RoboRoach. 

Okay... Technically, this one is a cyborg. 

Designed by students at the University of Michigan, the RoboRoach is controlled by a living roach. 

If you’re think this seems cruel, never fear. The roaches are given plenty of anaesthetic before the controlling device is planted within their antennae. Right?

Hey, if they're going to outlive humans, we might as well give them the vehicles to overcome us as well. 

Can’t wait to get your hands on one? Then, don’t.

Image credit: http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-01/meet-diego-san-humanoid-robot-toddler

Hanson Robotics, a company gaining fame for their lifelike creations, designed the face of DIEGO-SAN for the Machine Perception Lab at the UCSD Institute for Neural Computation.
The intent behind this lively character, you ask?

Developers hope he will be useful in therapy for special needs children.

As every paranoid knows, the best way to a society is through the children. I'm not worried.

However, Boston Dynamic's BigDog is unquestioningly the most frightening creation on the scene. 

With funding from the Army Research Laboratory, this hydraulic pup is equipped with an onboard computer that has sensors for stereo vision, locomotion, navigation and system monitoring. Shock absorbers and the ability to carry a 340lb payload make it easy to see where BigDog gets its name. Not only do these shocks allow for rugged terrain conquering, including water, they give BigDog the ability to recover itself from slips, falls and even kicks. 

                                          

                                                                                                Image credit: http://www.bostondynamics.com/robot_bigdog.html

 Of course, its just that unyielding design to track and follow soldiers through any obstacle, that has people feeling unsettled. 

Or, maybe it’s the new arm that’s capable of chucking cinderblocks...

The last robot to know comes in a much friendlier package; Aiko is an android.  Some call her a “gynoid” or “fembot.” Cue whistles.

 

Image credit: http://www.projectaiko.com/

Aiko is different from other robots in that she has only a sole creator, Le Trung. Like something out of science fiction, Aiko’s purpose is to take care of those mundane household chores. 

Finally, a robot for the common people!

Her current array of technology allows her to read and speak both English and Japanese, offer helpful suggestions based on the weather, recognize simple objects and even deter intruders by recognizing strangers. Now, if she could just make a sandwich...

Letters to America: The Jetsons and all that Future Jazz

It seems to me, there was a time where America dreamt of greater and more outlandish things; the impossible, one might say.
In light of a struggling economy, many of those dreams feel as though they've fallen to the wayside.


Where is the hoverboards-and-flying-cars fantastic future I was promised in the 90's?

Any fans of Back to the Future in the house tonight?

Why are car companies still troubling themselves with miles per gas gallon anyway?  

Shouldn't they all be running on water by now...

And, what of teleportation and time travel?

Is research to reduce car emissions and global warming really taking precedence here?

 America, don't you know, teleporting to and fro our daily biz stands to reduce emissions too.

Did a society of philosophers, dreamers and questioners just stop dreaming altogether?

America, for shame!
Where are your lofty priorities? Did you lose sight of humanity's goals?
How long must Americans dream of dining with an impeccably mannered Rosie the robot or C-3P0 before finally attaining those sweetest of future visions? When do we bask in the dappled light of our daily nutrition uptake routine?

Most importantly, when does it start feeling like the future around here?
The science-fiction cartoons, movies and books I was exposed to as a child, name these years of 2010, 2015, 2020 and so on as the shining, golden future. While many ideas featured in these cartoons have already come to fruition, we are a long ways off from clean living in the skies. From my perspective, it's still a rather bleak and littered world.

Then again, maybe I'm simply a child of the 90's who will forever have a bit of Gak under my nails and see neon purple, green and pink splats with eyes closed.

It is highly likely that my perception of the world is irrevocably skewed.