Computers are improving at an exponential rate.
Futurists started predicting that in just a few decades machines would be as smart as humans soon after computers evolved in the 1940’s. Every year, the prediction seems to get pushed back another year. The consensus now is that it’s going to happen in … you guessed it, just a few more decades.
Continue reading… “Will robot brains catch up to human-level intelligence in 25 years?”
We all want to find an alternative to fossil fuels as soon as possible. The most viable answer to the planet’s energy needs is visible to us any time we look upward. The amount of solar energy that hits just 1 square mile of this planet over the course of a year is equal to 4 million barrels of oil, and the energy that hits the Earth in a mere 40 minutes can fuel all of humanity’s energy needs for a year. Isn’t that incredible? (Infographic)
Continue reading… “Could we run the entire world on solar power?”
rHealth Device
This month, the XPRIZE Foundation announced the winner of the Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE. The global competition was aimed at accelerating the availability of hardware sensors and software sensing technology as a means to smarter digital health solutions. The winning device is called the Reusable Handheld Electrolyte and Lab Technology for Humans (rHEALTH) system. It can potentially run hundreds or even thousands of lab tests using a single drop of blood, and those tests, in turn, can be used to diagnose a range of diseases. (Video)
Continue reading… “rHEALTH diagnoses hundreds of diseases using a single drop of blood”
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo
October was a tough month for space enthusiasts and the world’s private space industry. The explosion of the Antares rocket, which was headed to the International Space Station, was followed just a few days later by the crash of Virgin Galactic’s and Scaled Composites’ SpaceShipTwo space plane.
Evacuated Tube Transport Technology
Evacuated Tube Transport Technology is magnetically levitated capsules in vacuum tubes. Propulsion energy required is 100,000 times less than required by a car. ET3 will achieve 50 times more transportation per kWh (or ton of CO2) than electric cars or trains. The cost is ten times less. They calculate they can build an ET3 system for about $7 million per mile. (Videos)
Continue reading… “Evacuated Tube Transport Technology (ET3) is 50 times more efficient than rail”
Futurist Thomas Frey: A few weeks ago I got into a discussion with some friends centered around this question. “What, in your mind, will be the most powerful entity in the world 100 years from now?”
Continue reading… “What Industries will produce the First Trillionaires?”
The shrinking government workforce doesn’t mean that government spending is at record lows.
It’s hard to believe the federal government now employs the fewest people since the mid-1960s. Yet according to jobs report earlier this month, the federal government now employs 2,711,000 people (excluding non-civilian military). Among the economy’s largest job sectors, it was the only one to shrink over the past year.
Continue reading… “Not since 1966 has the federal government’s workforce been so small”
Alan Shaw, CEO Calysta, right and Josh Silverman, the chief scientific officer.
Methane, the primary component of natural gas, can be gobbled up by protein-producing microbes. The protein biomass is converted into things like food for farmed salmon or chemicals or other products, according to Ian Shaw, CEO of Calysta Inc., and Josh Silverman, the chief scientific officer. That salmon, of course, is an important source of protein that could serve a growing human population.
Continue reading… “Calysta, Inc. believes natural gas can feed the world”
Marijuana critic, Jake Brown
Seated in a yellow chair, Jake Browne was carefully rotating a marijuana bud between his fingers. “I’m looking for bugs, mildew, things I wouldn’t want to ingest,” he said, leaning forward to hold the nickel-size flower up to the light. He paused, then took a sip of water from a cup with a Miley Cyrus hologram down its side. “This looks clean,” he concluded.
Continue reading… “The life of the nation’s first marijuana critic”
How electrolysis could produce hydrogen as a way to store renewable energy.
There isn’t a cost-effective way to store large-scale solar energy. But researchers at Stanford have developed a solution by using electrolysis to turn tanks of water and hydrogen into batteries. During the day, electricity from solar cells could be used to break apart water into hydrogen and oxygen. Recombining these gases would generate electricity for use at night.
In the U.S., when commercial television made its debut, programmers and brands quickly recognized the medium’s rich marketing value. And so began decades of variations in monetizing TV.
Strategists have increased the scope and complexity of their roles beyond planning.
Many companies have an executive to guide their strategies. The discipline’s professionalization, which began in earnest in the 1980s as it evolved from the chief executive’s domain into a core corporate function, prompted the creation of heads of strategy, strategic-planning directors, and, more recently, chief strategy officers (CSOs). Who better than a professional strategist to help meet the big new uncertainties of the 21st century?
Continue reading… “Rethinking the role of the strategist in today’s world”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
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