Copulation (sex)

CryptoDNA

Submitted by Daryl Weade on

Microscopic view of a virusHis alarm sounded, followed by three pings to let him know that many messages were waiting. Jack rolled over, grabbing his phone off the stand and heading for the toilet. Blinking, he palmed his right eye. It was hazy, like a filmy shower door.

Taking a seat, Jack's stomach rumbled and a tension headache was working up his neck. The flu? he wondered, but a quick review of his phone's health sensors didn't show anything of concern. They weren't infallible, but they'd catch any substantial temperature increase.

Jack thumbed up the first message and squinted. Rsrv @ Ice House 8:30. Dinner with his brother, Earl. He flipped it to his calendar and pulled up the next as his stomach made a fuss. Package printed, ready for shipping. Track via Y8DK848785984. He tapped the code and it shot offscreen to his tracking software. His stomach emptied so hard he shivered.

River of Gods

Submitted by Daryl Weade on

 

River of Gods coverIt's 2047, a hundred years after India gained independence from Britain, River of Gods is set in a country now broken into smaller nations. There hasn't been a monsoon season in years, resulting in a parched region with a Ganges trickling through Varanasi after being dammed upstream - a dam that has two nations on the edge of war.

The world is a different place in 2047. Genetic modification is everywhere, including superchildren and gender neutralizing body modifications. Artificial intelligence operates at different levels, some of them above the limits banned by international treaty. Otherwise, much of India is still poor, water is even more scarce, and the caste system carries on with only a few adjustments.

However, the Americans have found something deep in space. An object that causes a lot of questions and sends a specialist in search of her former lover. In India, someone else finds him first, someone with a strange past and who might not be completely human. Meanwhile, Mr. Nandha, one of the Krishna Cops, is hunting aeai's (artificial intelligence) with his team.

A winner of the British Science Fiction Association award and a nominee for both the Arthur C. Clarke Award and Hugo Award, River of Gods is a wild ride through a futuristic Indian culture. The complexity of the story, presenting normal human lives and emotions intertwined with decades of advancements, presents a believable backdrop against which events unfold.

A stronger, sexier, younger body

Submitted by admin on

Robot stripper on screenI've been watching this video make the rounds for about two weeks. My first thought upon seeing it was, "How long before Madonna is on the phone with Kurzweil and Kaku to figure out when she can dump her brain into it and plan a new world tour?" Humorous, but hardly kind. Though I'm no fan of Madonna and believe she is narcissistic to the extreme, I also have to admit most of humanity is the same way. If we could push our minds into machines like these, how many of us would and how often?

A Woman Sold for Her Brains and Body

Submitted by Daryl Weade on

"And this, Mr. Trupp, is our greatest gem."

The attendant led the woman...no, girl this time...by the hand as she had the others. Warren wondered if this 'demo mode' hurt them or if they were even aware of the time passing.

As with the others, the attendant brought her into the room, told her to twirl and sat her on the sofa opposite him. Mr. Lomen reached up to caress her cheek with two fingers. The girl did not flinch or even seem to notice his presence.

On course to collapse or a future of abundance?

Submitted by Daryl Weade on

Deserted farmNews this week from a NASA sponsored study on the possibility of civilization collapse and how it might happen. The study was led by applied mathematician Safa Motesharrei and looked at five factors leading to historical collapses of past civilizations such as the Roman empire: population, climate, water, agriculture, and energy.

Where will technology and big data take our future?

Submitted by Daryl Weade on

Stratasys 3d printed shoes

Technology is slowly infiltrating every area of our human existence. I read Alistair Croll's Race Alongside the Machine today on re/code and it led me to a reflection on how we humans are being changed by the technology we develop and where this might lead in the future.

When I came up with the original idea for a future-focused site, I immediately created a short list I called "aspects of human existence." I've changed them to "elements of how we live" and use them as story tags, a taxonomy vocabulary in Drupal terms, in order to help users find content. After reading Croll's piece, I decided today's exercise would be to look at the (now much longer) list and see what I can come up with for where current trends and predictions will take us as we continue to combine humans, technology and big data.

Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next 50 Years

Submitted by Daryl Weade on

Tomorrow Now book coverBruce Sterling has written three non-fiction books. This is his second and was published in 2003. It's a multilayered work, with seven stages (chapters) based on William Shakespeare's As You Like It, in which Jaques's monologue outlines the seven ages of man as infant, schoolboy, lover, soldier, justice, and at the end of life. Through each stage, Sterling looks at current (at the time) research and runs it out 50 years, to the middle of our century, attempting to paint a picture of how our lives will change.

Yes, there is now an app for when to keep it in your pants (or take them off)

Submitted by Daryl Weade on

Glow screen view Glow is an app for iOS and Android devices designed to assist women (and couples) with tracking and controlling their reproductive health by identifying their activity cycle. Founded by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, the company offer two ways to help women or couples looking to conceive (or not).

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