Faith (belief)

Afterparty

Submitted by admin on

Afterparty book coverSet in the near future, Afterparty explores a world where psychoactive drugs are printable. All you need is a chemjet printer and an Internet connection to begin printing designer drugs on paper, which is torn up and digested for each hit. The story follows Lyda Rose, one of the five founders of Little Sprout, a group trying to find a cure for schizophrenia, a condition from which Lyda's mother suffered.

The group is successful and Numinous is ready for trials when an event changes their lives. In high enough doses, Numinous permanently alters the user's perception by imprinting a bond with whatever god they believe in, often paired with hallucinations of a holy figure to watch over or even run their lives. Lyda believed the recipe was off the market, but then someone shows up in her ward who is clearly under its effect.

Angered by this, Lyda leaves care early with plans to find the source. With help from a few friends, not all of them real, she goes on a thrilling adventure across Canada and the United States in search of answers.

How will we practice our faith in space?

Submitted by Daryl Weade on

Kelsey Atherton at Popular Science reports on the response a group of Islamic leaders had about the Mars One colony and their fatwa against making this trip as it is perceived as suicide. Robert Lamb at HowStuffWorks gives a quick overview of how religious leaders have viewed praying in space and how future advancements might impact our religions or create new ones. Part of his presentation explains how prior rulings from Islamic leaders have approved prayer away from Earth.

While much science fiction trends towards either flight from religious dominance or humanity shedding religion through social evolution, the reality is religion and spirituality will remain part of human cultures and evolve over time.

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.

The Joining

Submitted by Daryl Weade on

She found herself robed and ready on time, which was expected - a lack of synchronicity is a sin.  Her mother and father stood to either side of the door, ready to enter at her side.  They would offer her to the Colony, supporting her as she adjusted to the input.  She shivered at the thought of it, but had been advised it was controllable.  Practice would provide some autonomy and mastering the filters would limit unwanted intrusion.

The Joining

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She found herself robed and ready on time, which was expected - a lack of synchronicity is a sin.  Her mother and father stood to either side of the door, ready to enter at her side.  They would offer her to the Colony, supporting her as she adjusted to the input.  She shivered at the thought of it, but had been advised it was controllable.  Practice would provide some autonomy and mastering the filters would limit unwanted intrusion.

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