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Ars's Skeptical Take on Wired's NextFest

jamestech writes "Over the weekend, Wired magazine held its 'NextFest' in Chicago, a demonstration of what the future supposedly holds. Arstechnica's Hannibal visited NextFest, and was not impressed. Regarding a dolphin-shaped water vehicle and exoskeletons for the old, he notes, 'if you're being pursued by a senior citizen then you can use the dolphin to escape.' Wired's been more about style rather than tech since the late 90s, but have they finally dropped science in favor of science fiction?"

8 of 138 comments (clear)

  1. Zombie dog is our future by nokilli · · Score: 5, Funny

    Or rather, zombie dog points the way to the future.

    Seriously, the world is so fucked up today that I'm actually considering having myself exsanguinated and pumped full of near-freezing saline solution just for the chance of really seeing the future -- the really cool and distant future -- and not Wired magazine's take on it.

    I'm hoping for a Star Trek spin-off, only with virtual immortality and holodecks with locks on the doors so you can't be interrupted (self-cleaning would be nice too.)

    There may be something like only a one-in-a-million chance of success, but hey, if it works, it would be unbelievably excellent.

    Besides, I figure civilization's chances aren't much better.

    (and If I chicken out, I can alway use the cooling system for my homebuilt PC.)

  2. I for one welcome... by ScaryMonkey · · Score: 4, Funny

    "You do not want to incur the wrath of our robotically enhanced, geriatric overlords." Damn! He beat us to it!

    1. Re:I for one welcome... by ozmanjusri · · Score: 3, Funny

      there was a long line of people waiting to go through that checkpoint and be checked for bomb residue

      Why would you need to check for that? Wouldn't bomb residue just be a big pile of broken stuff and some nasty pink smears?

      --
      "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
  3. Re:Wired 2005 = Omni 1985? - BLASPHEMER! by wowbagger · · Score: 5, Funny

    Do not commit such blasphemy as to compare Omni with that magazine which does not deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as Omni!

    Omni was a magazine of the thinking man.

    Wired always was "Ohh, look at us! We are so tragically hip we cannot see over our own pelvis! Look at this game, which you cannot hope to afford the computer to run! Bow before the computer we use to run it! Look at the trends which shall be cool, because we say they are cool! Spend hours reading our tripe because we hide our vacuousness behind insane color choices and bizarre layouts! You are honored just to pay us money!"

    Sorry, Wired is to a real magazine what MTV is to real entertainment.

  4. Fry, you'll still be just a delivery boy... by refactored · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...and the girls still won't date you.

  5. Re:Yes by bman08 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I find Wired fully relevant, man. There's nothing that makes me feel more at home here in the future than kicking back in my egg shaped acrylic chair wearing a silver jumpsuit with a primary colored chevron on the front and counting the number of times they describe something non-computer related as a 'distributed network'. That, my friends, is not tired or expired... it is wired. yea verily.

  6. As long as they keep promising flying cars... by Junior+J.+Junior+III · · Score: 2, Funny

    As long as they keep promising flying cars, I'll keep buying Wired's vision of the future.

    --
    You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
  7. Yes, but... by BobVila · · Score: 3, Funny

    do the dolphins have lasers?