NSF’s “Discoveries”
The National Science Foundation’s “Discoveries” web page features a number of articles on scientific discoveries and advancements that have implications for the future.
“NSF’s public investment in science, engineering, education and technology helps to create knowledge and sustain prosperity. Read here about the Internet, microbursts, Web browsers, extrasolar planets, and more… a panoply of discoveries and innovations that began with NSF support.”
Barry Schuler: Genomics 101
In this 21 minute video, Barry Schuler provides an engaging and highly informative look at the current state of genomic research and its enormous implications for the future. Presenting the science of genomics in a clear and understandable fashion, he points out the similarities between programing software and the potential for programming the DNA of organisms.
The world of 2020 and beyond
“No-one can predict the future, but perhaps the most authoritative and authentic description of the future comes from interviews with the world’s leading scientists. I have interviewed the 150 top scientists who are inventing the future, in three areas: life, the mind, and matter, which are the three pillars of science.”
—Michael Kaku
Michio Kaku, professor of Theoretical Physics, City University of New York offers these thoughts on the future from his 2005 conference presentation posted on The Futures Foundation web site.
The Universe in One Year
December
The following website provides an interesting conceptual view of the development of the universe and the much more recent evolution of life on earth in the form of a calendar.
The Ultimate Reboot
This excellent 19 minute video examines the impact of engineering cells, tissues and robots on human functioning and the creation of the next step in human evolution. The first 7 minutes focuses on more immediate issues related to the economy.
“Juan Enriquez thinks and writes about the profound changes that genomics and other life sciences will cause in business, technology, politics and society.”
Radical Evolution
Joel Garreau’s book Radical Evolution (2005) may be one of the best introductions for educators and their students to the future and the key changes we will face . Its focus is on one of the key themes of the future, the enhancement of human capabilities. This theme maintains that the next step in human evolution will not come about through natural biological processes, but through the intentional development of augmentations and enhancements that will produce a new human being. The GRIN technologies (genetics, robotics, information technology and nanotechnology) are the key players in this process.
Written by a journalist, Radical Evolution is an engaging, informative, and provocative view of the future. It should work well in any discussion oriented educational environment.
A big GRIN for Human Engineering
What is the Future? Is it some utopian vision, a scenario of annihilation or is it a bit of both? Wise scholars and great minds have wrestled with what is to be, forging, shaping, fleeing from their own predictions. Are they prophetic voices crying in the wilderness or annoying buzz flies we long to swat in one blow? Before you make up your mind, take a look in this forum at what some of these Futurist voices are saying and what that means for all of us.
One clear voice is Dr. Gregory Stock, who is the director of The Program on Medicine, Technology, and Society at the School of medicine of the University of California at Los Angeles. In this TED talk by Dr. Gregory Stock, filmed in February 2003, his thoughts particularly relate to Human genetics which are part of the GRIN technologies (Human Genetics, Robotics, Computer Intelligence, Nanotechnology) and which are viewed as crucial to any vision of the Future.
Dr. Stock believes in the Heaven scenario for the Future, one in which humans will be willing participants in redesigning what it means to be human. As Joel Garreau notes in his book Radical Evolution, Stock departs from other Heaven Scenarios because he doesn’t think that humans will transcend through computer technology but by way of genetic engineering. Is this as he states, “biology’s bid to keep pace with the rapid evolution of computer technology” (115)? Who knows, but the future Stock describes is fascinating and certainly one where “we are the architects of this” as well as “the objects.” And his Future is happening right now.
http://www.ted.com/talks/gregory_stock_to_upgrade_is_human.html
