The 1967 Outer Space Treaty was one of the few things the U.S. and the Soviet Union managed to agree on at the height of the Cold War. Among other things, it forbid both nations from bringing space microbes back to Earth, or spreading Earth germs to other planets.
My new story for Vice Motherboard on how in the near future we will edit our realities to suit our tastes and desires:
“The high seas of Mars may never have existed. According to a new study that looks at two opposite climate scenarios of early Mars, a cold and icy planet billions of years ago better explains the water drainage and erosion features seen today.”
Wearables. A growing trend with very soon to have their “moment in the sun” but I am a firm believer that wearable technology is simply a transition technology. Technology must and will soon move from existing outside our bodies to residing inside us. That is the future of wearables, the next big frontier.
Here we have top 10 implantable technologies rapidly growing, soon to be part of your life (and your body) Read more
“The ethics of encountering non-sentient alien life in our solar systems boils down to a core dilemma, says Waller. ‘Is it about conservation and preservation? Or is it about our needs, wants, and desires?’ On Earth, natural-resource grabs have a history of bringing out the worst in us as a species…There’s plenty of reason to believe other planets will be chock-full of resources we’d like to exploit, even if the life forms are microbial – perhaps especially if they’re microbial.” Read more
Humanity’s future in space very much in the planning stages. Will we float among the stars in crazy spaceships? Will we set up small camps that sprawl into townships that grow into cities, or is an orbital mothership more human friendly? The question is, could any of these really be possible? Or do they deserve to be forever enshrined as sci-fi fever dreams?
I am currently in Europe, talking about humanity’s future via science, technology, and design. Onward transhumanist vision!
“American sci-fi novelist Philip K. Dick once famously asked, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? While he was on the right track, the answer appears to be, no, they don’t. They dream of dog-headed knights atop horses, of camel-birds and pig-snails, and of Dali-esque mutated landscapes.”
If even HALF of all the studies released over the last few years turn out to be complete frauds, it would even still be just as mind blowing to consider the speed at which our species is ascending towards a fundamentally new, self directing, purposeful evolution into something truly magnificent (and/or terrifying, depending on your point of view; OR if you just happen to be Stephen Hawking).
Which is why, as far as I am concerned, it is an HONOR to be alive, aware, and at large in this most pivotal Age of Man.
