Futures Thinking: Scanning the World

Jamais Cascio — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:14:03 -0500

In Futures Thinking: The Basics, I offered up an overview of how to engage in a foresight exercise. In Futures Thinking: Asking the Question, I explored in more detail the process of setting up a futures exercise, and how to figure out what you're trying to figure out. In this entry in the occasional series, we'll take a look at gathering useful data.

IBM Simulates a Cat-Like Brain: AI or Shadow Minds for Humans?

Jamais Cascio — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:27:05 -0500

A real-time computer-simulated cat brain? Could IBM have come up with a project more likely to trigger Internet excitement?

Is the Atmosphere Simpler Than We Thought?

Jamais Cascio — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:30:07 -0500

It's a pretty widely-accepted notion that the atmosphere is a ridiculously complex system, and the best we can do with our models is a rough approximation. The more teraflops we throw at the problem, the more granular the results--but even the best models operate at a scale of a hundred or so kilometers; we're still just seeing a shadow of the atmosphere's true complexity.

But what if that's wrong?

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Jamais Cascio — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:55:24 -0400

Futures Thinking: Asking the Question

Jamais Cascio — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:24:34 -0400

In Futures Thinking: The Basics, I offered up an overview of how to engage in a foresight exercise. Today, as the next piece in this occasional series, I'll take a look at the first step in such a process.

Singularity Scenarios: The Ultimate Innovation or an AI Apocalypse?

Jamais Cascio — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:34:33 -0400

My talk last weekend at the New York Future Salon explored the likelihood and the implications of the transformative event known as the "Singularity." I tend to part ways with many Singularity enthusiasts over two small issues: what comes before a Singularity, and what comes after.

The Singularity and Society

Jamais Cascio — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:54:13 -0400

The 2009 Singularity Summit is coming up this weekend (October 3-4) in New York City.

Futures Thinking: The Basics

Jamais Cascio — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:52:42 -0400

The first in an occasional series about the tools and methods for thinking about the future in a structured, useful way.

Application Progamming Interfaces Are Not a Substitute for Ethics

Jamais Cascio — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 23:14:41 -0400

If you follow my Twitter feed, you might have seen a post come through recently offering, without context, this observation:

APIs [Application Programming Interfaces] are not a substitute for ethics.

Awareness Is Everything

Jamais Cascio — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 16:42:11 -0400

As our various electronic devices gain more and more sensory awareness, we open up the potential for entirely new forms of interaction. Not just new interfaces--tapping and shaking and whatnot--but a shift in presence. With few exceptions, we use these new technologies in rather familiar ways.