Donate
Donate

Gaming the Future: The Book!

Author: Foresight Editor

Proposed model for group-authored Foresight book

from the many-hands-make-lots-of-work dept.
Senior Associate TomMcKendree writes "I understand the intent of "Engines of Creation 2000" project is to produce an up-to-date version of Engines of Creation by integrating the work of many contributors. An excellent model for such an integration is the Fifth Discipline Fieldbook (Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Smith (eds), 1994). It combines the work of 63 contributors, many providing just a single section of a few pages. The book is organized into chapters by topic, with individual sections identified by type (solo exercise, team exercise, guiding idea, resource, etc). It is intended to be highly browsable–readable in any direction." In addition, the book has its own website under construction.

Perpetual motion machine in Phys. Rev. Lett.

from the let's-get-a-2nd/3rd/4th-opinion-on-this-one dept.
Senior Associate ChrisPhoenix brings weird news: "I wouldn't have believed it, but it's reported in the American Institute of Physics Physics News Update number 494. A team in Europe has done some new thermodynamics work. They say that heat engines may be made more efficient than previously thought, by putting the hot and cold baths in direct contact for brief periods of time–this may even lead to new engine designs. Even more surprising is their second paper, which claims that a quantum particle strongly interacting (entangled) with a "quantum thermal bath" may violate the Clausius inequality. The particle may gain heat from a colder bath. They term this "appalling behavior", but come right out and say that this could constitute a perpetual motion machine of the second kind."

Freenet: is it "the end of copyright"?

from the DaveK-says-"info-wants-to-be-frictionless" dept.
Paul Hughes writes "For those of you who don't already know, FreeNet is a peer-to-peer network designed to allow the distribution of information over the Internet in an efficient manner, without fear of censorship. Freenet is completely decentralized, meaning that there is no person, computer, or organization in control of Freenet or essential to its operation. This means that Freenet cannot be attacked like centralized peer-to-peer systems such as Napster. Freenet also employs intelligent routing and caching, meaning that it learns to route requests more efficiently, automatically mirrors popular data, makes network flooding almost impossible, and moves data to where it is in greatest demand.

Brian Atkins (posting to the Extropians List) has pointed out a new article about FreeNet. It appears to be spreading across the net at lighting speed, with many believing it spells the end of copyright as we know it. What do you think?"

Nanomedicine in prestigious "The Sciences"

from the enough-pain-&-suffering-already dept.
Senior Associate Robert Freitas Jr., author of the partially-Foresight-funded book Nanomedicine Vol. 1, has published an article on nanotechnology in the prestigious magazine The Sciences published by the New York Academy of Sciences. He concludes: "The hope and dream is that, sometime in the not-too-distant future, those devices will be able to eliminate virtually all the common diseases of the twentieth century, and virtually all bodily pain and suffering as well." Oddly, the magazine is not online at all; Read More for order info.

Merkle to ACM: why "relinquishment" can't work

from the why-the-good-guys-have-to-work-work-work dept.
Foresight advisor Ralph Merkle responds to Bill Joy's concerns in an interview for ACM's Ubiquity: "…if we attempt to block the development of new technology, if we collectively try and say, 'These technologies are technologies that are not meant for humans to understand,' and we try to back away from them, what we effectively have done is not to block the technologies, we have simply ensured that the most responsible parties will not develop them…In other words, a relinquishment of the new technology, unless it is absolutely 100 percent effective, is not effective at all. If it's 99.99 percent effective, then you simply ensure that the .01 percent who pays no attention to such calls for relinquishment is the group that will develop it."

Idea Futures Activity at the 2000 Senior Associates Gathering

from the never-too-late dept.
At the Foresight Senior Associates gathering in 1999, an Idea Futures market was set up for attendees to "put their money where their mouths were" on a variety of questions related to Foresight's goals. The market is now available on an ongoing basis for those who've opened accounts. This article reports on events at this year's gathering: Two new claims were added concerning how and when AI will appear. The most contentious claims during the gathering were those related to the date that the Feynman Grand Prize will be awarded. The odds on those claims have see-sawed back and forth as people with different viewpoints have weighed in on the question. Senior Associates can join by sending money to the Foresight office.

Nobel chemist: why we MUST develop nanotechnology

from the well-OK-if-they-insist dept.
Given all the teeth-gnashing and hair-rending about the ethics of nanotechnology, it's worth reviewing Nobel chemist Rick Smalley's case that we must develop nanotech to deal with urgent problems: "Even given that, even if we stop population growth somewhere between 6 and 10 billion people, we can't sustain even the current population with the current technology. So for the 50 years, there's really only one good alternative: we need more technology, not less. It has to be green, it has to be clean, and it has to be closed loop. And I am confident that in almost every area the keys to these technologies are going to come when we start learning how to put things together one atom at a time on the nanometer scale…We need it urgently to get through these next 50 years. It will be a challenge. But, I am confident we will succeed."

Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Sci & Tech

from the like-trying-to-get-a-drink-from-a-firehose dept.
The Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science and Technology is a weekly multi-journal compilation of the latest nanoscale research, including journals from APS, AIP, AVS, even some Russian journals. It should save you time (and possibly money, since you can order specific articles instead of taking an annual subscription, which gets darn expensive, believe me). Abstracts are free, as are weekly emails of the table of contents.

Ethics for Nanotech & AI: Chicago, July 20-22

from the OK-so-it's-short-notice dept.
The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity's summer conference , Bioethics in the New Millennium, will explore the ethical issues surrounding many new technologies including nanotechnology and artificial intelligence. Note that media attendance is free, and Foresight Update needs a representative at this event. Email the editor c/o [email protected] if interested.

Venture Capital interest in nanotech

from the here-comes-the-money dept.
The cover story of July/August Worth magazine is on Senior Associate Steve Jurvetson of VC firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson: "Jurvetson's thoughts go beyond the Internet, as far afield as the potentially even more disruptive world of nanotechnology…there will be nanobots that navigate the bloodstream to repair the body, he says, and much, much later, nano-powered chips with such speed that a computer could practically think like a human being…But where Joy foresees peril, Jurvetson joyfully foresees opportunity. At the last retreat of the Foresight Institute–which Jurvetson likened to a 'brain spa'–he received his first two business plans for nanotech start-ups…" Jurvetson is quoted: "It's starting to happen!"

Facebook Twitter Youtube Linkedin Podcast Spotify
0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyReturn to Shop
    Continue Shopping

      Search Foresight Institute