Warren Ellis Predicts The Future
Bruce Sterling’s comment about "Nazi layers" in his recent address to augmented reality (AR) company Layar comes true very fast, as the BNP releases a "British layer" that superimposes on your camera view of any British town a hyperlocal guide to population pressure, of "indigenous" British supposedly being "forced out" by what the rest of us call simply "other people". AR is self-selected mediation of the world. It lets us choose the glasses we want to see through. A nicked iPhone and credit card lets you buy criminal layers that establish where CCTV is densest in relation to regions with the wealthiest demographic, establishing the easiest predation. Soon enough, citizens of the digital cities are peering at everything through their AR phones, seeing not the city that’s in front of them, but the city they want to see.
via ‘Look out for Hollywood films about spelunking on the Moon’.
Looking Back To See The Future Of Tech
David Pogue highlights the 2009 tech advances that he think are most interesting and likely to point the way for future development: tiny projectors, low-light capable cameras, scrutiny of wireless carriers, the explosion of mobile apps, netbooks and e-books.
The year’s not quite over yet, but it’s over enough to observe a few of the most interesting high-tech highs, lows and trends of 2009. Besides, it’s Thanksgiving — a perfect time to contemplate the future that’s starting to take shape.
via State of the Art - Some 2009 Technology That Won’t Be Novel Long - NYTimes.com.
Where do we go from here?
Paul Krugman and Charlie Stross had a conversation about the future at Anticipation World Con, every paragraph of which is worth reading.
Though a few exchanges caught my mind.
Paul Krugman on the acceleration of change:
(T)here hasn’t been that kind of dramatic change … If you walked into a kitchen from the 1950’s it would look a little pokey, but you’d know what to do. It wouldn’t be that difficult. If someone from the 1950’s walked into a kitchen from 1909 they’d be pretty unhappy – they might just be able to manage. If someone from 1909 went to one from 1859, you would actually be hopeless. The big change was really between 1840 and the 1920’s, in terms of what the physical nature of modern life is like. There’s been nothing like that since.