Sometimes, we need to take a look at technologies, their trends, and their consequences from alternative points of view. This week, a slew of stories popped up around the web showing just how much things are changing but in unexpected ways. Settle in and read how the future is unfolding.
Enjoy this week’s stories!
ARTIFICIAL LIFE: Binary Code Can Now Copy Itself Like DNA
Jordan Pearson | Motherboard
“’There’s no doubt in my mind that living and intelligent technology will be the next really big thing the same way that we’ve had a revolution with information technology.’”
VIRTUAL REALITY: Forget Oculus Rift
Will Oremus | Slate
“Do you look like an idiot holding a cardboard box up to your face and jerking your head around wildly? You do. That’s just part of the bargain with virtual reality at this point.”
SCIENCE FICTION: Can science fiction writers predict trends in technology’s future?
Peter F Hamilton | New Statesman
“As science fiction writers, we design our future fictional worlds by extrapolation. It doesn’t matter what kind of book we’re writing, satire, military, space opera, dystopia, the fundamentals of the society have to be in some way believable. To do this we take what we see around us today, and run with it.”
CULTURE: Did Jesus Save the Klingons?
Clara Moskowitz | Scientific American
“Which religion will have the toughest time reconciling aliens with its beliefs? The ones that have decided that we humans are the sole focus of God’s attention.”
WEARABLES: The unpopular take on wearable technology
Jack Wallen | TechRepublic
“Companies that design and manufacture wearable technology should focus less on trying to create a replacement for the smartphone and more on devices that can actually serve a purpose in ways nothing else can.”
BUSINESS: Humanity’s Last Great Hope: Venture Capitalists
Christopher Mims | The Wall Street Journal
“While research and development is critical to creating new technologies, total spending on R&D as a percentage of U.S. GDP has been stagnant since the 1960s…by itself that might not be a problem; the real issue is that the proportion of R&D spending going to basic research has declined precipitously.”
GAMING: For South Korea, E-Sports Is National Pastime
Paul Mozar | The New York Times
“’Fourteen years ago, you had a government that gave a thumbs-up to e-sports — it was professionally organized, and it was on television, so it became a mainstream thing…the way soccer is around the world.’”
Image Credit: Shutterstock
