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Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

Submitted by Daryl Weade on

Rise of the Planet of the Apes posterThe original "Planet of the Apes" introduced us to a world where humans are secondary to our closest family species in the great apes. The film relaunch of "Planet of the Apes" set those events in our future. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" explains why these species are uplifted to human-level intelligence and the resulting conflict when humans attempt to deal with "alien" emotions, attitudes, and actions.

The film focuses on the development of an uplifted chimpanzee named Caeser, who gains human-level (or greater) intelligence as a result of the pharmaceutical testing of a potential Alzheimer's cure on his pregnant mother. Raised by the scientist who developed the cure, the film presents Caeser's life from a newborn to his role as a leader of a group of uplifted animals.

Radical Abundance: How a Revolution in Nanotechnology Will Change Civilization

Submitted by Daryl Weade on

Book coverEric Drexler introduced the world to nanotechnology in his first book, Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology. In his newest book, Radical Abundance, Drexler presents a range of information, informing the reader of the process of nanoscale manufacturing, current efforts and research (and hurdles), and the benefits to science, society, and the planet once we achieve the reality of nanoscale fabrication.

Drexler presents APM (atomically-precise manufacturing) as the next revolution, the first three being agriculture, industrial, and information. This revolution will be powered once we control "the molecular machinery of life (using) proteins that can fit together to form motors, sensors, structural frameworks, and catalytic devices..." By using natural systems to construct from the atomic level towards larger and more complex products, we can manufacture efficiently, using common chemical substances in place of minerals and metals acquired through ecologically damaging mining, and to create materials we cannot visualize today.

In Drexler's future, APM solves many of the societal issues that create poverty, ecological disasters, and conflict. It's an important work that gives us a future to look forward to when so many visions are broken and dystopian.

Minority Report (2002)

Submitted by Daryl Weade on

Film posterBased on "The Minority Report," a short story by Philip K. Dick, this film explores the issue of preventing crime before it occurs. The PreCrime division, a special unit set in Washington, D.C., uses three individuals who possess the ability to foresee murders before they occur. When each case is identified, including the victim, the perpetrator, and the time, the PreCrime police use recorded visuals from the "precog's" visions to identify the location and foil the crime before it happens.

While the division has had great success and is considered perfect, the film focuses on what happens if these visions are not 100% reliable. Especially when the perpetrators are arrested and imprisoned when they were not allowed to actually commit the crime.

Blade Runner (1982)

Submitted by Daryl Weade on

Considered one of cinema's most influential science fiction films, the Blade Runner screenplay was based on Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and directed by Ridley Scott, who also directed sci fi classics Alien and Prometheus. Blade Runner is set in our near future, 2019 is only 5 years away, against a dystopian backdrop of a filthy, crowded, culturally mixed cityscape on a planet where most humans appear to have left for other colonies. As with most classics that visualized technological and ecological hell on the other side of the year 2000, the vision is not accurate. Yet, it navigates issues we are discussing today because they will be here tomorrow.

The Island (2005)

Submitted by Daryl Weade on

The Island dvd coverClones are big business in the future. Buy your own to supply the parts you require when sickness or injury threaten your life. The Island is a sci-fi action adventure set in the not-too-distant future, told from the viewpoint of two clones as they discover the truth of their existence and work to uncover corporate inhumanity.

Lincoln Six Echo and Jordan Two Delta are clones living in a safe, controlled world among others of their kind. History tells the outside world is too contaminated for life outside the compound, with only one remaining island clean enough to support human life. The clones live their routine hoping to one day win the lottery and move to the island, where they can live out their lives under the sun. But it's all a lie fabricated to keep them controlled and hopeful, two things necessary for the products, their bodies, to remain healthy.

Gravity (2013 film)

Submitted by Daryl Weade on

Gravity scene grabGravity is a highly detailed action thriller set in Earth's orbit. Starting with a what should be a routine Hubble Space Telescope repair, the mission ends as events threaten the shuttle and astronauts. The movie spins the lead characters, of which there are two, through a series of attempts to survive in orbit while seeking a way back to Earth.

The impact of life extension

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Katherine Helmond getting her face stretched in the movie BrazilPromises to extend lifespans keep rising. Some online surveys peg my lifespan between 76 and 88 years old, but specialists are claiming lifespans as long as 140 years for some humans as medicine provides the ability to regenerate, grow, or print and replace human tissue. With ongoing breakthroughs in organ printing, providing they can get bodies to accept the replacements, it is theorized the replacement of every body part with the possible exception brain can be replicated and the limitation with the brain is shifting our persona/character/self/soul into a viable replacement - an advancement that could truly create immortality.

If this turns out to be true, then science is really looking for ways to keep the brain healthy and living for a longer duration. Looking back at Bruce Sterling's novel Holy Fire, the character Mia lives by the rules governing her participation in a lifetime-enhancement program. I'm not certain longevity won't be available to the masses, or at least those who can afford the payments for procedures or insurance to cover the costs, but I do suspect Sterling got it right that longevity will be a privilege and not a right.

Using the past to forecast the future

Submitted by Daryl Weade on

Flying carPredicting the future goes hand-in-hand with preparing for the future, a skill humans have developed to survive tough times and to make their world a better place (mostly, but not always). While we live at a point where futurism is growing more mainstream, even if the term and field are not household names, futurists have made predictions for some time. Ed Fries, formerly of Microsoft, has shared his collection of century old, French futurist postcards in which artists forecast life in 2012.

The postcards depict a variety of scenes, including the one above where a family takes a trip to the moon. Others include a Skype-like system of communication, flying cars, and aquanauts riding seahorses. You can see them at Wired, in an article by Greg Miller.

Suspended animation and cryonics are no longer science fiction

Submitted by Daryl Weade on

Surgeons preparing a patient for cryopreservationA team of surgeons at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania are being allowed to place the traumatically wounded victims of gunshot wounds into suspended animation to gain time before blood loss decreases the chance of survival or, in the survivors, permanent decreases in cognitive function and memory loss. The trial will allow this one team to use this technique on ten emergency victims, who will have their body temperatures decreased to 50F (10C) with a special focus on decreasing cellular activity in the brain.

The temperature drop involves forcing cooled saline through the heart to the brain, dropping critical tissue to temperatures low enough, they no longer require an oxygen source to remain intact. Normally, brain tissue begins to take permanent damage after 5 minutes without oxygen. In these trials, patients may remain in suspended animation for up to two hours, giving surgeons more time to rebuild and repair before attempting to revive the patient.

The Martian

Submitted by Daryl Weade on

The Martian book coverA Martian storm forces Mark Watney's crew to end their mission just a few days into their 31 days on Mars. Separated from his crew, Watney is left behind to find ways to survive with slim hope of a rescue. An engaging novel from page one, The Martian provides detailed engineering and scientific realities as Watney, a botanist and engineer, overcomes a range of issues in his quest to survive as the lone occupant of the planet.

I'll make no bones about it, The Martian is the best novel I've read in years. Weir picks up right at the beginning of Watney's realization his crew has abandoned him, and keeps you on the edge of your seat. In addition to Watney's perspective, he includes the workings and politics of NASA, and presents a world where all of Earth is rooting for one of our own stranded alone. Weaving it all together offers the reader a roller coaster full of science and engineering that will teach as much as it entertains.

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