Forums

Whend do you think militray units will use dreadnoughts in the battle-fields?

Thu, 17 May 2012 00:38:13 +0000

Dreadnought is the only term I could find on internet to describe these gigantic robots that are often employed in war scenarios in fictional movies about the future. Avatar is one example. When do you think we will see them in the battlefields? What national army will use it first? USA? CHina? Russia? Korea? or even England?

Nvidia chip aims to power fastest supercomputer

Wed, 16 May 2012 18:09:26 +0000

Nvidia chip aims to power fastest supercomputer

Chip maker Nvidia has revealed details of a new graphics processing unit (GPU) which it says will create the world's most powerful computer.

Thousands of the firm's Tesla K20 modules will be fitted to an existing supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, US.

Nvidia says the machine will run nearly eight times faster than at present, carrying out up to 25,000 trillion floating point operations per second.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/18033970

Epic time-lapse map of Europe

Wed, 16 May 2012 17:51:33 +0000

Will we be alive to see rejuvenation treatments?

Wed, 16 May 2012 14:10:15 +0000

Hey all

This is my first post and I was just wondering something,

I am 17 and i love reading about all the amazing new technologies that are right around the corner,

The only thing that frustrates me is that the really amazing stuff like space travel etc. would still be out of my life time. The Idea of extending my life to see some of the amazing new technologies that will be occurring is something I would love to happen even if it’s just by a few decades. I was just wondering if those of you who are more versed in stuff like this think the 'immortality' treatments really are a few years away and if they are, if the public would have access to them.

As an after thought, is there anyone who would not consider extending their lives and if so, why?

Will Western civilization survive the next two centuries?

Wed, 16 May 2012 11:34:52 +0000

The contents of the Timeline are based on one very big assumption: that despite numerous difficulties (peak oil, global warming, overpopulation etc) which are foreseen in the near future, our existing technological civilization will carry on, find ways to adapt and ultimately overcome all such hurdles. What if we do not?

Countless works of fiction, or enlightened speculation, have been written in which modern civilization (call it Western, for the sake of historical simplicity, although it now extends to all continents) falls apart and fades into the past - just as the Egyptian, Classical and Mesoamerican civilizations did.

The best book I've read on this theme is Michael John Greer's The Ecotechnic Future. Greer predicts that the end of cheap fossil fuel energy, coupled with climatic and ecological shifts resulting in huge crop failures, will force a stepwise drawdown of economic activity, population shrinkage, universal political turmoil, gradual disintegration of established nations and massive human migrations. He speculates, among other things, that the hungry population of Japan will disperse around the Pacific rim by boat; that much of the current USA will be overrun by Latin American migrants, and comparatively few of its future inhabitants will speak English; that modern skyscraper cities will become immense scrapyards, with the countless steel beams providing raw material for generations of village blacksmiths. The next millenium or 2 will be a messy transition from a declining Western civilization, through a neo-primitive "Age of Salvage," to emergent "Ecotechnic" civilizations based on renewable and sustainable energy sources; the three stages will overlap each other to a great extent, happening at different times in different lands. The future ecotechnic successor cultures will see our modern world much as we see ancient Rome or Moghul India. Much of our artistic, musical, literary and scientific legacy will inevitably be lost, despite the best efforts of dedicated cultural conservers.

I tend to agree with him, though I still think that new energy sources and industrialisation of outer space may yet save Western civilization from crumbling. Also, I'd say that at least some of us should be able to achieve an ecotechnic-type society without going through the salvage age first.

Of course, there are far more familiar fictional scenarios in which Western civilization is wiped about abruptly by global disaster - such as nuclear war, a mutant super virus pandemic, or a comet impact. As our numbers and technology continue to grow, some would say the chances that a single catastrophe could overwhelm us are diminishing. Others might say that our own dependence on technology and competition for resources are making us more vunerable.

What do the rest of you think?

Patterns of religous growth

Wed, 16 May 2012 03:43:54 +0000

This video makes me wonder how and where world religions will spread and grow/shrink in the future. I think that Islam will eventually grow to be a majority in Europe, while Hinduism could possibly spread westward as well. Christianity will continue to grow in Africa.

Could there be a civil war/war of aggression in Greece.

Wed, 16 May 2012 03:08:23 +0000

Well folks as the crisis deepens in Greece as it hurtles towards an almost certain exit from the Eurozone (unless Holande has convinced Merkel to write another check for nothing). There are now being comparisons drawn between the current state of Greece and the Weimar Republic which lead up to Nazi Germany; unemployment runs rampant, there are out of control fascists, communists, anarchists in the streets, the government is paralyzed, and as an added bonus illegal immigration is taking over the country, it is getting ripe for a meltdown if the country totally collapses as a result of default. Now people are becoming concerned of the potential for a civil war in Greece, and even some (though this is more unlikely) predicting a potential nationalist furor sweeping Greece resulting in a Greco-Turkish, Greco-Macedonian or Greco-Albanian conflict. Do you folks think this is likely, I know a lot of people are somewhat dismissive of the idea but then again just a few months ago a Greek exit from the Eurozone was considered an unlikely and catastrophic scenario but alas here we are barreling towards it.

Another important question, will anyone intervene if all hell does break loose in Greece?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamespoulos/2012/05/07/can-europe-survive-a-civil-war-in-greece/

Do you think in the far future can we have 10 clones of us who acquire knowdlege for our main body?

Wed, 16 May 2012 00:19:08 +0000

A concept
explored in science fiction is the idea of more than one running "copy" of a human mind existing at once. Such copies could potentially allow an "individual" to experience many things at once, and later integrate the experiences of all copies into a central mentality at some point in the future, effectively allowing a single sentient being to "be many places at once" and "do many things at once"; this concept has been explored in fiction. What do you think of this? Do you see it as a possible scenario?

If you could change ten things about your past what these would be?

Wed, 16 May 2012 00:02:41 +0000

Imagine we had a time machine in 2012 and you would have the chance to travel back in time and change 10 things about your life...what those would be ??

Tell here your dreams while sleeping

Tue, 15 May 2012 21:58:04 +0000

I've had many interesting dreams while sleeping,and recently some futuristic ones:

-Ten years ago I dreamed I was in a huge polluted city in the year 2071,I took my father's car to fly a little,I flied the whole city(not the city I live of course),seen the enormous skyscrapers that were crossed my dark smog,the city was very polluted,with too much trash left in the outskirts,but it was very futuristic,along with flying cars robots and AI were everywhere,by the way the police of the city was entirely composed by humanoid robots.It was a very hot day even in autumn,due to global warming and pollution.I got very excited and I accelerated the car by over 200 mph,and then police got after me,I got very anxious and couldn't drive well in such pollution and hundreds of cars in the air.It was a very good dream,I wanted to repeat that;

-Two months ago I dreamed I was in a dense,very high technological city of the year 2192,in Antarctica.the city was basically a complex of hundreds of kilometre-high skyscrapers,with no houses,the city was very compact,a reason for that is environmental destruction reduced living areas in the world by over 60%,and it was in Antarctica Peninsula.In this world,nature was almost entirely destroyed,with almost all population living in cities like I lived in my dream.The world was about 9c degrees hotter than in the year 1990,and it was surrounded by poluted,hot and toxic wastelands.The world was also becoming desert,looking like a Mad Max landscape.Only the high latitudes were adequated for civilisation.

I loved the city I lived in my dream.It was very prosperous,with high technology resolving all problems of the world.I was in my apartment at hundreds of metres high,when my android called me.The android was a very beautiful young man(though I created him 50 years ago),with long light blond hair,light grey eyes and soft and delicated features.He was a (male)beauty.

Then he was flying in an antigravity jet pack and called me saying:-Rodrigo,let's train together,I want to prove who is the strongest android in the city.

-Me an android??

-Of course,you did mind uploading many years ago,and you choosed long hair high cheeks and pinkish eyes.Don't you remember?You choosed to be fully robotic!

-Ah,yeah,sorry!And a little after I created you and three more androids!But you are the most powerful of them!Ok,let's fight!And you are the most agited of them eheheh...

The android said: "No,we aren't gonna use our powers here.Instead,we will pursue each other using antigravity!Very nice,not?Basically I will pursue you all over the city and you will try to get away as fast as you can,right!

-I said:"Why not do that using virtual reality?

-No,I want that here!!

Then we begun our trainment,he was pursuing me all over the city,a good point here is that the city was almost empty,with everyone living in virtual reality.But my android was so spoilt and sttuborn that he wanted to get me even inside the building.Then I was thinking how nature was destroyed and much of the world become wastelands,inclusive my home country,Brazil.

After the trainment,we talked to each other,and then I said:"No matter how much you are rebel and stuborn,I love you very much.You are the only person left in my life:)

Then he said:"I know that,but calm down,people and the other androids will think we are beginning to be boyfriends:(.You aren't telling this just because I'm the most muscular and beautiful one,isn'it?

I said:Of couse,not,I don't know how to explain,but that's the reality.By the way,looking at you and seeing this youthful and girlish look,if it was in the year 2012 none would believe you are 60 years old ahahah!

-My android said-"Why are you talking about this now?"

I said-"Nothing eheheh!Forget about that!Today I complete 200 years old(though having a pretty youthful appearance),we are almost in the 23rd century and we must celebrate!"

This was one of the best dreams I has in my life.I desired to continued it;

But last night I had another strange dream:I was in the moon in he year 2200,I lived in the moon for 8 years,seeing Earth deteriorate from space.The moon had million of habitants,with a network of dense tall cities and conurbations.I was walking in a special trage in the moon far way from the cities.When I arrived home,a busty and very beautiful girl(maybe my wife?!!!)talked to me:Where did you go?You must save Earth!

I said:"W-what?Me save a plaet?!AHAHAHAHAH!You are very funny!!!

The girl said:"No Rodrigo,you must restore Nature to its pre-industrial state!Remember that enormous project using Ai and nanotechnology?Now go!!!

And the dream finished off and I waked up...

AMD unveils Trinity chipsets to challenge Ivy Bridge

Tue, 15 May 2012 20:18:13 +0000

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18048078

Shanghai: 1990 - 2010

Tue, 15 May 2012 14:13:10 +0000

http://i.imgur.com/rtsnq.jpg

2312

Mon, 14 May 2012 15:31:21 +0000

Kim Stanley Robinson - author of the Mars trilogy (my favourite books of all time) - has written a new novel which is due out next week.

http://www.amazon.com/2312-Kim-Stanley-Robinson/dp/0316098124

I, for one, cannot wait to read this.

How stone age man invented the art of raving

Mon, 14 May 2012 13:28:04 +0000

How stone age man invented the art of raving

New scientific techniques reveal how large tribal gatherings swept neolithic Britain

They were the stone-age equivalent of Glastonbury festival. People gathered in their hundreds to drink, eat and party every summer at revelries lasting several days and nights. Young men met women from nearby communities and married them. Herds of cattle were slaughtered to provide food.

These neolithic carousals even had special sites. They were held on causewayed enclosures, large hilltop earthworks built by our forebears after they brought farming to Britain from the continent 6,000 years ago.

This picture of ancient British bacchanalia has been created by researchers led by Professor Alasdair Whittle of Cardiff University and Dr Alex Bayliss of English Heritage. Using a revolutionary technique for dating ancient remains, they have built up a detailed chronology of the first farmers' arrival in Britain and have shown that agriculture spread with dramatic rapidity. In its wake, profound social changes gripped the country, culminating in the construction of causewayed enclosures where chieftains or priests held revelries to help establish their power bases.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/may/13/scientists-stone-age-boom-festivals

What do you think of this song " We are Young FT."Janelle Monáe

Mon, 14 May 2012 11:31:40 +0000

I know it dosent have nothing to do with the future apart from the fact that we all want to remain young in the following years lol, But Do you like this song? How popular is it where you live ? I hear it at least 50 times a day lol