By David Brin ENCINITAS, California — Last week it was asteroid mining, as Peter Diamandis and his partners showed us their bold new venture, Planetary Resources, aiming eventually to start harvesting trillions of dollars worth of materials that would then no longer have to be ripped out of Mother Earth. This glimpse of a vigorously [...]
By David Brin ENCINITAS, California — In a brief return to political matters… What won’t the candidates be discussing during this election season? Campaign finance, surveillance, patent reform…are among a few issues that candidates are sure to avoid. What else….? This mini-slide show shows just a few. In fact, the matters discussed at sciencedebate.org are [...]
By David Brin ENCINITAS, California — A look at how technology enables greater transparency…but not always both ways: Google Goggles… or Project Glass… is finally announced. See the official preview… and an amusing satire. These futuristic Goggles would project information directly in your field of vision, offering updates on the time, weather, map directions, road [...]
By David Brin ENCINITAS, California — In some cool, exciting news, I can now formally announce the fruition of a project that I’ve been helping put together for some time, led by my colleague, UCSD professor Sheldon Brown. The University of California, San Diego and the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation have agreed to establish the [...]
By David Brin ENCINITAS, California — It’s well known that in 1865, Jules Verne published his novel, De la Terre à la Lune (From the Earth to the Moon), which includes the concept of human spaceflight. And yet, Verne never discussed the far more practical notion of of an artificial satellite orbiting Earth. For that [...]
By David Brin ENCINITAS, California — Is the bold future of our youth being killed by gloomy science fiction? Or has Sci Fi grown more dour as a reflection of our mood? Glenn Reynolds interviews authors Neal Stephenson and Vernor Vinge in a thought-provoking inquiry: Why We Need Big, Bold Science Fiction: “While books about [...]
By David Brin ENCINITAS, California – Thursday is Yuri’s Night, an international celebration of human achievement and ingenuity, in recognition of mankind’s achievements in space exploration—with hopes of inspiring a new generation to continue looking upward and reaching outward. Fifty-one years ago, Yuri Gagarin was the first human to launch into space: “Circling the Earth in [...]
By David Brin ENCINITAS, California–Google’s April Fools “product releases” are infamous, but this is one I sure hope they actually implemented as an app. (Anyone care to try it?) “Tap” is an implementations of two-thumb texting that would let you exchange messages truly eyes-free… via Morse Code! (Hey, I even portray this in my new [...]
By David Brin ENCINITAS, California –I regularly consult with various branches of our “protector caste”… from the military services and homeland security to several unnamed “agencies.” Naturally, I am encouraged by the fact that some of the most serious-minded men and women on the planet are very interested in well-grounded projections of diverse possible futures [...]
By David Brin ENCINITAS, California — A deep irony, underlying our political season, is that the U.S. middle class…the biggest victims of the first decade of this century, are also being slandered relentlessly. The ongoing campaign of propaganda that democracy can’t work and we should turn to oligarchy has many threads. May I take [...]
