Future
Navigating toward the best of all possible futures. Follow along as Singularity Hub discusses the future and latest trends in futurology.
How Artists Are Using Tech to Shape the Future
The capacity for creative expression is one of the defining qualities of being human. Our innovative imagination and ability to express it in so many different ways is unparalleled by any other living being.
However,...
The Coming Creativity Explosion Belongs to the Machines
Does creativity make human intelligence special?
It may appear so at first glance. Though machines can calculate, analyze, and even perceive, creativity may seem far out of reach. Perhaps this is because we find it...
Will Privacy Survive the Future?
Technological progress has radically transformed our concept of privacy. How we share information and display our identities has changed as we’ve migrated to the digital world.
As the Guardian states, “We now carry with us...
Japan’s SoftBank Is Investing Billions in the Technological Future
Remember the 1980s movie Brewster’s Millions, in which a minor league baseball pitcher (played by Richard Pryor) must spend $30 million in 30 days to inherit $300 million? Pryor goes on an epic spending...
Civilization Is Breaking Down—Here’s What We Need to Do About It
“I think civilization is fundamentally breaking down today.” These were the opening words of Salim Ismail’s talk at Singularity University’s Global Summit in San Francisco this week.
Not the most uplifting intro. But the...
What Are the Ethical Consequences of Immortality Technology?
Immortality has gone secular. Unhooked from the realm of gods and angels, it’s now the subject of serious investment—both intellectual and financial—by philosophers, scientists and the Silicon Valley set. Several hundred people have already...
China Is on Its Way to Being the Next Tech Superpower
My recent trip to Beijing and Shanghai has me convinced China is the next technological superpower.
This blog lays out the data so you can make your own judgment.
China is the world’s second-largest economy with...
3 Exponentials to Watch | Future of Everything With Jason Silva (Part 3)
In the third of Singularity University's Future of Everything YouTube series with Jason Silva, Silva discusses "The Big Three" exponential technologies, which he defines as GNR: genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics.
"If I were to be talking...
Organizations | Future of Everything With Jason Silva (Part 2)
In the latest installment of Singularity University's new web series, the Future of Everything With Jason Silva, Silva discusses the relationship between organizations and disruptive technology.
"Organizations tend to be innovative at the beginning," he says. The problem...
Why XPRIZE Is Asking Writers to Take Us Through a Wormhole to 2037
In a world of accelerating change, educating the public about the implications of technological advancements is extremely important. We can continue to write informative articles and speculate about the kind of future that lies...
Legacy | Future of Everything With Jason Silva (Part 1)
Introducing our new web series, Future of Everything with Jason Silva. In this video, he discusses how futurists and entrepreneurs Peter Diamandis and Ray Kurzweil created Singularity University to communicate the implications of exponential technological progress. Humans...
We Worked Out What It Would Take to Wipe Out All Life on a Planet—and It’s Good News for Alien Hunters
The first exoplanet was spotted in 1988. Since then more than 3,000 planets have been found outside our solar system, and it’s thought that around 20% of Sun-like stars have an Earth-like planet in...
7 Critical Skills for the Jobs of the Future
We live in a world of accelerating change. New industries are constantly being born and old ones are becoming obsolete. A report by the World Economic Forum reveals that almost 65 percent of the...
This Tech Could Charge Electric Cars While They Drive
The global auto industry is worth $2 trillion, but electric and hybrid cars currently make up less than one percent of that figure. However, experts are predicting an explosion in electric car adoption.
Financial services...
Beyond Politics: Innovating for a Sustainable Future
Singularity University is dismayed by the Trump administration’s choice to withdraw from the Paris Accord. Climate change is one of the greatest risks to humankind, and the decisions we make over the next few...
What Happens When Cyborg Tech Goes Beyond Medicine?
The age of the cyborg may be closer than we think. Rapidly improving medical robotics, wearables, and implants means many humans are already part machine, and this trend is only likely to continue.
It is...
Society Is Destroying and Rebuilding Itself for the Networked Age
When the dust settled from last summer’s failed Turkish coup d’etat, where a faction of Turkey’s armed forces attempted an overthrow of the sitting government and President Recap Tayyip Erdogan, a bizarre—yet distinct—signature of...
Watch: Ray Kurzweil Predicts When We’ll Be Able to Program Matter
Ray Kurzweil is an inventor, thinker, and futurist famous for forecasting the pace of technology and predicting the world of tomorrow.
In this video, Kurzweil predicts when he thinks we’ll get programmable matter—or the...
The Future of Flying Cars: Science Fact or Science Fiction?
Uber has shaken up the taxi industry and is trying to put driverless cars on our roads. Now the company aims to have flying ride-sharing vehicles in our skies by 2020.
Uber is not alone...
What We’re Learning From a Big Universal Basic Income Experiment
Will artificial intelligence “destroy humanity?” Probably not.
But I am concerned that AI and robotics will massively impact the future of work.
McKinsey & Co. predicts that 45 percent of jobs today will be automated out...
4 New Human Rights for When Our Brains Are Hooked Up to Computers
The human-machine mind meld is just around the corner if you believe the buzz coming out of Silicon Valley these days. But neuroethicists worry the technology poses a threat to the last bastion of...
How Chemistry Is Making Our Food Safer, Better, and More Abundant
Although food scientists often explore new technologies to reduce the percentage of hungry people in the world today, many also have future-oriented mindsets and look at possibilities that could solve food challenges for future...
David Hasselhoff Stars in a New Short Film—and All His Lines Were Written by AI
Last year, an AI named Benjamin wrote a weird and entertaining science fiction short film called Sunspring. Now, Benjamin’s back in a new film titled It’s No Game. Like its predecessor, the short is...
The Future of Food: To GMO or Not To GMO?
An organic diet has never been more in style than it is right now, with millions of consumers willing to shell out extra dollars for organic foods. Most of us have a vague idea...
Is ‘Strange Beasts’ a Preview of the Sad (Augmented) Reality Ahead of Us?
Strange Beasts is a British short film reminiscent of the dystopian Netflix drama Black Mirror—and it packs an equally strong punch in about a fifth of the time.
The film starts out with a game...
Star Trek or Mad Max? Why What Happens in the Future Is Up to Us
Is humanity headed toward a Star Trek-like utopia or a Mad Max-inspired dystopia?
This is one of the big questions Vivek Wadhwa examines in his new book, co-authored with Alex Salkever, The Driver in the...
Ghost in the Shell Thrills, But Ducks the Philosophical Questions Posed by a Cyborg Future
How closely will we live with the technology we use in the future? How will it change us? And how close is “close”? Ghost in the Shell imagines a futuristic, hi-tech but grimy and...
How to Feed 9.7 Billion People? CRISPR Gene Editing For Crops
It’s no secret that we’re going to struggle to feed the rapidly expanding global population. New genome editing technologies could hold the answer, according to scientists.
The number of humans on this planet is expected...
The Rise of a New Species of Human Being
Today, what survives on Earth can be determined entirely by human beings. We can alter the genetics of almost any life form and potentially design entirely new ones. According to renowned physicist Freeman Dyson,...
Automation Could End Meaningless Jobs—And None Too Soon
What makes your work valuable?
Does it fulfill you? Allow you to connect with or help people? Contribute to a greater good?
Or does its value come from your income, which allows you to do other...
Matchmaker, Make Us the Perfect Love Algorithm
We live in a hyper-connected world where communication is almost effortless. And yet, despite abundant connection, we still lack interpersonal fulfillment. The next challenge, then, is not increasing the number of relationships possible, but...
If We Can See the Future We Want, We Can Shape It Too
Alida Draudt and Julia Rose West are not only co-authors, business partners, and best of friends, but most importantly, they have differing points of view—which is ideal for two budding Silicon Valley futurists.
Alida currently...
New Burger Robot Will Take Command of the Grill in 50 Fast Food Restaurants
Would your burger taste as delicious if it was made by a robot?
You’ll soon be able to find out at CaliBurger restaurants in the US and worldwide.
Cali Group partnered with Miso Robotics to develop...
How to Experiment Like the Most Successful, Hyper-Growth Companies Do
Today’s most successful companies, the ones that are “crushing it,” started as a series of crazy ideas, followed by experiments to test just how viable those ideas might be.
Experimentation is a crucial mechanism for...
The Cities of the Future Are Smart, Green, Connected Innovation Hubs
Humanity has come a long way since the very first cities began to emerge about ten thousand years ago. Today, places like New York, Tokyo and Dubai are centers of innovation and human progress....
How the World Has Changed From 1917 to 2017
Over the last 100 years, the world has changed tremendously.
For perspective, this year at Abundance 360, I gave a few fun examples of what the world looked like in 1917.
This blog is a look...
Art in the Age of AI: How Tech Is Redefining Our Creativity
Technology has long been considered a resource-liberating mechanism, granting us better access to resources like information, food and energy. Yet what is often overlooked is the revolutionary impact technology can have on our ability...
Editorial Note From the Singularity Hub Team
The Trump administration’s executive order on immigration has affected many in tech, and our site is no exception. Our team is privileged to work with bright and talented individuals from all over the world,...
Make Sense of the Future With This Winter Reading List
It’s always jarring to society when we move from one way of doing things to another. Today’s rapid changes can leave us feeling like we’re confronting unprecedented madness, but change is one of the...
India Is Building the Infrastructure for a Truly Digital Economy
Silicon Valley fancies itself the global leader in innovation. Its leaders hype technologies such as bitcoin and blockchain, which some claim are the greatest inventions since the Internet. They are so complex that only a few...
Could Having Too Much Become a Bigger Problem Than Having Too Little?
Years ago I traveled to Juarez, Mexico for work, staying across the border in El Paso, Texas and driving back and forth each day. On the Texas side, American life bustled on as usual:...
Robots May Steal Our Jobs, but Not as Quickly as We Thought
Fear of job loss to automation is growing, with each announcement of exciting technological progress generating a backlash from those who could end up unemployed because of it. Amazon Go is eliminating the need...
One Third of Americans Prefer a Software Robot Over a Human Boss
Digitization and automation are ever-growing topics in relation to the workplace.
A famous Oxford study on the future of employment from 2013 estimated that up to 47% of American jobs may be automated by 2035;...
You Can Now Wear a Nanoscale Archive of 1,000 Languages Around Your Neck
The future depends on how well we've preserved the past. Tomorrow’s breakthroughs are built from today’s innovation. To continue the trend, we must keep preserving information properly for future generations. If we leave indecipherable...
‘New York 2140’ Is a Sci-Fi Vision of the World Reshaped by Climate Change
If a trip to Venice is your ideal holiday, then you’re going to love the future.
Most of us, however, will be quite sobered by Kim Stanley Robinson’s upcoming novel, New York 2140, a near-future...
No Job Is Safe, But These Skills Will Always Be Valued in the Workplace
If you’d asked farmers a few hundred years ago what skills their kids would need to thrive, it wouldn’t have taken long to answer. They’d need to know how to milk a cow or plant...
The Ethical Conundrums Technology Confronted Us With This Year
New advances in technology constantly push humanity into uncharted territory.
Sometimes this territory brings us questions we might not have imagined needing answers so soon, like, "Is editing the DNA of human embryos moral?"
Other questions are more familiar, only with...
Post-Truth: Technology Is a Big Part of the Problem, But It’s Also a Solution
"Post-truth" was chosen as the 2016 word of the year by Oxford Dictionaries, a catch-all term describing a perception of growing distrust of “the facts” and increasing reliance on emotion in public discourse.
It is frequently used...
Exponential Growth Will Transform Humanity in the Next 30 Years
As we close out 2016, if you’ll allow me, I’d like to take a risk and venture into a topic I’m personally compelled to think about… a topic that will seem far out to...
This Bitcoin-Eating Plant Robot Hires Artists to Make Its Babies
This is a thing that exists in the world: a bitcoin-eating plant robot (called a plantoid), made of self-executing computer code which owns itself and hires artists to make its babies. If that sounds...
