Ask Slashdot: What Essays and Short Stories Should Be In a Course On Futurism?

1984 by korbulon · 2014-02-25 22:12 · Score: 1

All too easy.

Re:1984 by mwvdlee · 2014-02-25 22:18 · Score: 1

1984 isn't so much a story as it is a manual for government agencies.
I'm surprised the NSA hasn't labelled it as "classified information" yet.

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Re:1984 by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 22:25 · Score: 0

.. or tried to burn every copy
Re:1984 by Mashiki · 2014-02-25 22:44 · Score: 1

Despite all the cries of the NSA, the Brit agencies have taken 1984 almost to it's completion.

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Re:1984 by JaredOfEuropa · 2014-02-25 23:47 · Score: 2

That's good reading for everyone, but for a more recent look ahead on how technology changes the world, I would recommend "The Circle" by Dave Eggers. Instead of a tyrannical government, the book predicts a runaway Google-like company. It's the kind of "tyranny of the public" we can expect if we continue to cheerfully sign away our privacy and the privacy of others to otherwise well-meaning companies.

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Re:1984 by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 23:51 · Score: 0

I'll be fine as long as I buy a Macintosh from Apple Computer, right? Steve Saint Jobs promised!
Re:1984 by TractorBarry · 2014-02-25 23:52 · Score: 3

It's actually a lot closer to Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.

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Re:1984 by flyneye · 2014-02-26 00:09 · Score: 1

Some Kafka , I think.
The Handicapper General prophesied Hillary Clinton and the Repubmocrat party. I bet theres more gold to be found in Kafka.

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Re:1984 by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 00:33 · Score: 0

Wrong book, shouldn't have you said that the book has been rewrited in a more modern language?
Re:1984 by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 02:21 · Score: 0

And this has curtailed your freedom how?
Re:1984 by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 04:55 · Score: 1

Despite all the cries of the NSA, the Brit agencies have taken 1984 almost to it's completion.
It's 2014, to boot. Those bloody wankers can never get anything done on time and under budget.
Re:1984 by davester666 · 2014-02-26 07:40 · Score: 1

They actually paid for an agency-wide license to use the content in any way within the agency.
Fact.

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Soylent Green by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 22:15 · Score: 2, Interesting

Make Room! Make Room! Harry Harrison. A dystopian near-future where overpopulation leads to a struggle for resources. Overcrowding, energy blackouts, food riots and soylent green. Especially look for any passages where the old man, in the main protagonists shared flat, talks about how the world used to be.

Re:Soylent Green by ChunderDownunder · 2014-02-26 01:18 · Score: 1

http://soylentnews.org/
Re:Soylent Green by Grishnakh · 2014-02-26 08:39 · Score: 1

I recommend the TV show "Terra Nova". Except take out the whole bit about finding a gateway to a prehistoric parallel-Earth, and also take out the bit about those fancy domes, and just concentrate on what the world (of the near future) looked like, with people wearing gas masks outside and no living plants left.
Re:Soylent Green by Grishnakh · 2014-02-26 08:43 · Score: 1

I also recommend the movie "Dredd" (the remake starring Karl Urban). It's not that great a movie overall, but its vision of the future was dead-on: 98% unemployment; fascist cops who act as judge, jury, and executioner; drug gangs run amok, etc.
Re:Soylent Green by khallow · 2014-02-26 10:33 · Score: 1

but its vision of the future was dead-on: 98% unemployment; fascist cops who act as judge, jury, and executioner; drug gangs run amok, etc.
Dead on to what? China doesn't have these problems, for example.
Re:Soylent Green by Grishnakh · 2014-02-26 11:13 · Score: 1

Dead-on to the future here, not the preset here or anywhere else. What does present-day China have to do with anything?
Re:Soylent Green by khallow · 2014-02-26 11:43 · Score: 1

What does present-day China have to do with anything?
It was in the future, when the Judge Dread thing was churned out. It's worth noting that the US is actually growing at a faster rate than China is currently and in turn, the growth rate of the US is almost entirely due to immigration - both directly and via elevated fertility of first generation immigrants! We have vastly different population dynamics in the present than were in the Judge Dread stories and movie.
Re:Soylent Green by Hognoxious · 2014-02-26 11:57 · Score: 1

in the Judge Dread stories
Which you've clearly read many many times.

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Re:Soylent Green by Grishnakh · 2014-02-26 12:12 · Score: 1

Did you see the movie? (I mean the Karl Urban one, not the old Stallone one. BTW, it's "Dredd", not "Dread".) I don't see how what's predicted there isn't in the cards for us: giant megacities full of crime and pollution, and a fascist government with massive police brutality due to the high crime, excess population, and high unemployment. What you said goes with that; we have a fast-growing population of mostly uneducated immigrants and their kids. You can't support an advanced economy based on technology with people who have no education or skills beyond working in a fast-food kitchen or doing landscaping work. It's not just them either; if you look at the statistics, the children are mostly being born to people below the poverty line, regardless of race or recentness of immigration, and kids raised in poverty don't usually become scientists or engineers, but are more likely that middle-class kids to become criminals. The pollution is certainly getting worse, and global climate change is going to make the situation even worse than that.
The only thing about the movie (probably also in the original stories, not sure as I didn't read those) that I'm not so sure about is the feasability of building such giant buildings in that timeframe, with the economy going down the shitter, and the fact that we don't see any engineering megaprojects in this country any more.
Re:Soylent Green by khallow · 2014-02-26 12:37 · Score: 1

I don't see how what's predicted there isn't in the cards for us: giant megacities full of crime and pollution, and a fascist government with massive police brutality due to the high crime, excess population, and high unemployment.
The fact that we're not heading that way doesn't enter into your reckoning? Where's the people for these megacities going to come from? Where's the pollution going to come from?

Sure, fascism and such are always going to be a threat.
Re:Soylent Green by khallow · 2014-02-26 12:39 · Score: 1

Not at all. But I have read a few stories years ago.
Re:Soylent Green by Grishnakh · 2014-02-26 12:44 · Score: 1

The fact that we're not heading that way doesn't enter into your reckoning?
Where do you get that idea? Pollution is constantly getting worse (though these days, a lot of it is from China, since we've outsourced a lot of our industry over there, but pollution doesn't respect national boundaries, and travels by air). It's not like we've stopped or even reduced our petroleum consumption. The economy is terrible, and will have a "double dip" before too long. The people for the megacities will come from our rapidly expanding population.
Re:Soylent Green by Grishnakh · 2014-02-26 12:46 · Score: 1

Maybe we'll get lucky, and instead of "Dredd" coming true, it'll be "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1978 version). At least with aliens controlling us, we seem to behave much better and take care of things better.
Re:Soylent Green by khallow · 2014-02-26 13:06 · Score: 1

Pollution is constantly getting worse
Not even close. The developed world pollutes a lot less than it used to.

(though these days, a lot of it is from China, since we've outsourced a lot of our industry over there, but pollution doesn't respect national boundaries, and travels by air
Pollution does respect distance however.

It's not like we've stopped or even reduced our petroleum consumption.

Which turns out to be irrelevant to the level of pollution.

The economy is terrible, and will have a "double dip" before too long.
Nothing to do with my assertions.

The people for the megacities will come from our rapidly expanding population.
Which is not rapidly expanding.
Re:Soylent Green by khallow · 2014-02-26 18:02 · Score: 1

There's a third possibility. Namely, that the rest of the world embraces the careful environmental stewardship that is characteristic of current developed world societies. It is remarkable how unrealistic the Judge Dredd thing has turned out to be.
Re:Soylent Green by Grishnakh · 2014-02-27 01:28 · Score: 1

Namely, that the rest of the world embraces the careful environmental stewardship that is characteristic of current developed world societies.
That's some seriously wishful thinking. China is belching out pollution as fast as it can; it's so bad the smog is visible inside shopping malls. Even next door to us in Mexico, cars don't even have catalytic converters.
Re:Soylent Green by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-27 02:07 · Score: 0

There's a third possibility. Namely, that the rest of the world embraces the careful environmental stewardship that is characteristic of current developed world societies.
It's an unlikely possibility, not much more likely than GP's Dredd or Body Snatchers.
A more likely possibility is that developed world societies gets taken over by leftists, who puts government in charge of fixing pollution (and everything else). As Government Can't Do Anything Right, all the careful environmental stewardship becomes tax wasting disasters which fail to achieve any results.
Another likely possibility is that it is the developed world who will join the rest of the world in abandoning environmental stewardship. After all, environmental stewardship effectively means more regulation, and more regulation is just not what free market capitalism is about.
Yet another likely possibility is that we'll get the worse of both worlds from the above two, because those are the agendas pushed by the Left and the Right. They're both bad, but they're entrenched and the sheeple will keep voting the same bunch of clowns into power.
Re:Soylent Green by khallow · 2014-02-27 11:35 · Score: 1

And yet all these dirty societies are progressing towards the developed world societies. Developed world societies passed through a heavy pollution phase too and got over it.
Re:Soylent Green by RespekMyAthorati · 2014-02-27 17:16 · Score: 1

In 1900, the world pop was 1.5 billion. In 1960, it was 3 billion. Today, it is 7 billion. By 2040, it will be 9 billion.
What the hell would you call "rapidly expanding"?
Re:Soylent Green by khallow · 2014-02-28 02:47 · Score: 1

What the hell would you call "rapidly expanding"?
I notice that you don't answer your own question. But if we continue that trend we get 11 billion in 2100 - most of it in Africa and Asia. It's still growing, but at a far slower rate. We might even hit no population growth by then, depending on what happens in places like Africa. The population doubled twice in the 20th century. It won't come close to that level of growth in the next century.

And the US and the rest of the developed world won't be contributing to that population growth. So unless the US imports a vast number of people, they won't have the population for those megacities of the Judge Dredd stories (for which US based megacities sometimes go as high as 800 million people according to Wikipedia).

The Father Thing by warewolfsmith · 2014-02-25 22:15 · Score: 1

The Father Thing - Philip K Dick

Re:The Father Thing by invid · 2014-02-26 02:50 · Score: 1

The Father-Thing isn't much more than an Invasion of the Body Snatchers story. If you want to add a P.K. Dick story, I would choose Pay for the Printer which explores the consequences of 3D printers (although in this case the printers are alien beings.)

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It's Such a Beautiful Day by warewolfsmith · 2014-02-25 22:17 · Score: 1

It's Such a Beautiful Day - James Blish

None of the above by kamapuaa · 2014-02-25 22:17 · Score: 4, Insightful

Read biographies of people who actually changed the world, and discuss how they did it.

Stop confusing science fiction or science fiction-styled essays with futurism.

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Re:None of the above by PolygamousRanchKid+ · 2014-02-25 22:40 · Score: 2

Read biographies of people who actually changed the world, and discuss how they did it.
On that note, I would nominate The Ascent of Man: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A... , by Jacob Bronowski.
However, when I think it, very few folks in the world today have any appreciation for, or understanding of, how the human species got to where it is today.
It's actually very depressing, when I think about it. But the book is fascinating.

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Re:None of the above by fermion · 2014-02-25 23:45 · Score: 3, Insightful

Reading biographies of individual people implies that individual people have individually changed the world. By and large that is not true. On can read a biography on Edison, but that does not tell you the complex story of how that technology actually came to pass and how it effected the world.
Reading fiction and non-fiction that explores the possibilities or technology, and even the rejection of technology can lead to discussion on the various factors effected the adoption and exploration of technology. For instance Guns, Germs, and Steel puts forward many hypothesis on why some civilizations developed technology, some borrowed it, and some rejected it. It related to the distribution and adoption of technology today and in the future, and how those futurist who think technology is the answer can make it more widely available. On the fiction side, The Difference Engine imagines a world where we had computers in the victorian era. This can lead to a discussion on the differences between an idea, a manufacturing process, and an affordable mass manufacturing process. For instance, was the technology for manufacturing hundreds of identical gears present in the 1800's?
One this I find interesting is that we know have simplified the process of programming computers to the point where an slightly above average kid with an average education can develop an App. This only took 50 years, two generations. This reflects something that we see repeatedly. The spread of technology does not depend on a special person making a technology, rather the development of a process that makes the technology available to greater number of people. For instance, the process to make a precision screw was incredible important to much of what we do today, even if many of the people who have used the screw do not understand what it does.

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Re:None of the above by Sockatume · 2014-02-26 01:06 · Score: 1

Not sure you know what futurism is:
futurism
fjutrz()m/Submit
1.
concern with events and trends of the future, or which anticipate the future.

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Re:None of the above by NotDrWho · 2014-02-26 01:51 · Score: 1

All futurism is just a form of science fiction. Any truly serious attempt to predict the future has to start with the acknowledgement that predicting the future in any meaningful way is impossible. Every attempt in the past has failed, usually quite miserably. Even when a would-be prognosticator gets one or two elements of the future right, they usually miss the true significance or context of those elements completely, and get a million other things wrong.
The future is unknowable. In a form of Socratic ignorance, the more you know about futurism, the more you appreciate how unknowable the future really is.

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Re:None of the above by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 02:09 · Score: 0

Isn't actual Futurism a turn-of-the-century Italian literary genre that featured a lot of people who went on to join up with the Fascists?
Re:None of the above by CrimsonAvenger · 2014-02-26 03:25 · Score: 1

For instance, was the technology for manufacturing hundreds of identical gears present in the 1800's?

Yes. Note that mass production was ongoing then. Note that hundreds of thousands of identical firearms were built in various countries in the mid-1800's, for instance.

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Re:None of the above by kamapuaa · 2014-02-26 04:42 · Score: 1

I mostly agree that individuals don't really change history, but that would be a rather somber tone for a class given to bright-eyed college freshmen about how they can change the world...

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Re:None of the above by Harvey+Manfrenjenson · 2014-02-26 05:26 · Score: 1

One this I find interesting is that we know have simplified the process of programming computers to the point where an slightly above average kid with an average education can develop an App. This only took 50 years, two generations.

I see your point, but I'm confused by your timeline. When did the 50 years begin and end? It seems to me that programming became accessible to the average kid in the 1980s. I don't know that it's gotten more or less accessible to the average kid since then. Maybe a little bit less so, since modern programming languages have a steeper learning curve and it takes more effort to get your feet wet.
Re:None of the above by mcgrew · 2014-02-26 05:34 · Score: 1

Well, that's the thing. They're honestly going to have a college class about fortune telling? What's next, tarot and tea leaves? Futurism is bunk! Nobody seriously envisioned the internet, althogh Asimov had written about "mltivac" and Murray Leinster came damned close to predicting it in 1946, although his PCs were "logics", servers were "tanks", and his internet was heavily censored (in fact, the story revolved around how horrible it would be if a bug in a program overcame the censorship).
Nobody but Roddenberry foresaw cell phones. Nobody I heard of foresaw the end of the analog era. And more telling, the only ones who even came close weren't futurists, but fiction writers. The "futurists" have been wrong every single time. Flying cars? Disney's "home of tomorrow"? The "singularity"? Fusion power? Wrong every single time.
Yet you want to teach a class on it? Amazing.

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Re:None of the above by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 08:25 · Score: 0

Ironically, I think this is one of the contributing factors in people believing that they can't change the world. They're constantly told growing up that this individual or that individual did this one thing that changed the whole world, yet when any of us looks at the real world that isn't how it works at all.
Much less inspiring, but ultimately more empowering, to explain the story of how things really happened. Unfortunately, it seems like (as a species) we don't think this makes for as good of a story.
Re:None of the above by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 08:30 · Score: 0

It's more accessible in the sense that you need to know a lot less to get started and access to the necessary tools is more widely available. But your "average" kid with access to the necessary tools is a whole lot less technically inclined than they used to be (given that the barrier of entry to the tools was so much higher in the past) that it isn't the huge leap forward in numbers that it might appear that it should be.
The way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if the young kids who are playing with their parents' iPhones today will grow up in a world where they can't even develop programs because they've never used a real computer. Incredibly unfortunate.
Re:None of the above by ynp7 · 2014-02-26 08:31 · Score: 1

I prefer my futurism with a healthy dose of Gee-Whiz.
Re:None of the above by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 08:43 · Score: 0

Well to be fair, that is the thesis behind the greatest novel ever written, War and Peace.
Re:None of the above by aix+tom · 2014-02-26 09:23 · Score: 1

In that vein, it might definitely be more interesting to see how past "futurist" have fared.
For example The Distance Learning School, where Kurd Lasswitz extrapolated from telephone/phonograph/televison technology of 1899 how "remote teaching" could look like in 1999.
Re:None of the above by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 10:27 · Score: 0

Stating this from an inherent level of recognition of your own ignorance, not to mention of the presumed ingorance of every other entity you're even unaware of. Wouldn't this imply that due to your ignorance you'd not be able to predict the future in any meaningful way, saying that the future is "unknowable", wouldn't that also imply that in one way or another you simply tried to predict the future? Stating that it is what? Unknowable? And how exactly were you able to determine that? It is almost as if you tried to predict the future, and that you were failing miserably. Sometimes math is almost like predicting the future. You have an algorithm, and each time you run it, the result is conclusive, just in case the math was accurate and sound. This is almost like looking into the future. Man, these were many futures, perhaps I should get my head around it and go back to reading up on logic again, which can occasionally fail as well. Just like ignorance. :E
Re:None of the above by khallow · 2014-02-26 10:34 · Score: 1

Reading biographies of individual people implies that individual people have individually changed the world. By and large that is not true.
So what other sort of people are there than individual people?
Re:None of the above by khallow · 2014-02-26 10:41 · Score: 1

Any truly serious attempt to predict the future has to start with the acknowledgement that predicting the future in any meaningful way is impossible.
So as AC replier noted, you're making a prediction about the future and expecting it to be right. That is self-contradictory.
Re:None of the above by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 22:15 · Score: 0

Well, if you would rather lie to them. Then i guess that's your choice.
Re:None of the above by fermion · 2014-02-27 06:16 · Score: 1

The point was that reading biographies of individuals often focus on their personality and sometimes makes it appear that their contribution was greater than it was, and sometimes does not expose the very real and important research and engineering work that allowed their creativity to flourish.
This is the dichotomy of futurism. The future does depend, to some extent, of a single genius who can integrate all that is in the world in such a way that a novel idea or product can be produced. We see this repeatedly in the sciences. But the single genius is seldom the one to develop the only one involved in developing the concept. It is a convenient short hand to say so and so invented something, but it only a fiction that we create so we can teach a simpler form of history.
By reading about the development of products that changed the world, instead of just the people who received credit, I think we are better able to identify the pieces that some future genius will put together into the next big thing, if that is at all possible. For instance in the late 1970's did anyone know that the proto-spreadsheet floating around and the introduction of the prebuilt Apple computerwould lead to Visicalc and the revolution of how the average person relates to numbers?

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Re:None of the above by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-09 08:19 · Score: 0

Dale Carrico's blog amormundi.blogspot.com is a must-read on the topic of futurism in the sense that OP is using it. Carrico's debunking and deconstruction of futurist discourse reveals the frequently disguised or obscured reactionary political agendas that suffuse much of the self-congratulatory masturbation of futurism as P/R and marketing nonsense. He may sometimes throw out the baby with the bathwater, but I think it is an essential counterpoint to the singularitarian fanboi mindset you find elsewhere.

Dear Slashdot... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 22:17 · Score: 0

I'm supposed to teach others, but I'm too lazy to do my own research. Can you help me?

Re:Dear Slashdot... by camperdave · 2014-02-26 03:35 · Score: 1

I'm supposed to teach others, but I'm too lazy to do my own research. Can you help me?
Why certainly. What you do is write a paragraph explaining what you need, and then post it to Ask Slashdot.

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Disambiguation. You are not talking about Futurism by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 22:19 · Score: 1

First, try to use the right terms for what you are trying to describe. Futurims isn't about "how technology is changing the world", it's not even "about the future" (well, not ours anyway). What you are refering to is Futurology.

Here, take this : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurism
and thos : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurology

Stanislaw Lem by Mitreya · 2014-02-25 22:19 · Score: 2

Stanislaw Lem's The Futurological Congress

Re:Stanislaw Lem by Yetihehe · 2014-02-25 22:54 · Score: 1

Even better: Return from the Stars.

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Re:Stanislaw Lem by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 23:05 · Score: 0

But best of all...
The Cyberiad - Fables for the Cybernetic Age
Re:Stanislaw Lem by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 23:14 · Score: 0

Summa Technologiae - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summa_Technologiae
Re:Stanislaw Lem by dargaud · 2014-02-25 23:41 · Score: 1

Somewhat similar to this, The Forever war by Joe Haldeman

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Re:Stanislaw Lem by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 01:15 · Score: 0

Now the toaster burns everything, due to its jealousy of the relationship the fridge has with the stove.
Re: Stanislaw Lem by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 03:06 · Score: 0

Vernon Vinge - Rainbows End. Gives a realistic portrayal of gow ubiquitous internet and wearable computing transforms society and culture, learning and entertainment, work and people's place in society. A gem!
Re: Stanislaw Lem by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 03:57 · Score: 0

Also, Vinge's The Peace War.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peace_War
Dani and Eytan Kollin's The Unincorporated Man
http://www.theunincorporatedman.com
Re:Stanislaw Lem by hguorbray · 2014-02-26 06:26 · Score: 1

I saw an interesting movie version of Futurological Congress at SF indiefest a few weeks ago

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1821641/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

they sort of tacked on the actress's story line to the original (fairly short) novel, but it actually helped raise additional questions about identity and Intellectual Property in addition to the psychopharmacological future...

-I'm just sayin'
Re: Stanislaw Lem by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 06:47 · Score: 0

Yes, and diLEMmas. Also, Vernor Vinge: Fast Times at Vermont Heights. Plausible near-future.

mAk dem wrte an essay n text-language by captainpanic · 2014-02-25 22:20 · Score: 4, Interesting

yor students shud wrte thR essay bout d evoluation of language, UzN a modern txtN lngwij, lol!
Oh, U ask bout reading, not writiN. ZOMG!

Re:mAk dem wrte an essay n text-language by dltaylor · 2014-02-25 22:49 · Score: 4, Interesting

Sam Clemens (Mark Twain) did it better:
For example, in Year 1 that useless letter "c" would be dropped to be replased either by "k" or "s", and likewise "x" would no longer be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which "c" would be retained would be the "ch" formation, which will be dealt with later. Year 2 might reform "w" spelling, so that "which" and "one" would take the same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish "y" replasing it with "i" and Iear 4 might fiks the "g/j" anomali wonse and for all. Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants. Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi ridandant letez "c", "y" and "x" -- bai now jast a memori in the maindz ov ould doderez -- tu riplais "ch", "sh", and "th" rispektivli. Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.
http://www.design.caltech.edu/erik/Misc/Twain_english.html
Re:mAk dem wrte an essay n text-language by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 22:56 · Score: 0

xank iuo. xat wus gud.
posting ac to avoid karma hit: just wanted to show appreciation for your post.
Re:mAk dem wrte an essay n text-language by Nutria · 2014-02-25 23:46 · Score: 1

wile Year 3 might well abolish "y" replasing it with "i"
Sam Clemens is wrong about the "y".
The vowel form of "y" could be replaced by an "i", but it makes no sense to replace the consonant sound with a vowel sound.

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Re:mAk dem wrte an essay n text-language by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 00:35 · Score: 0

And that's how Dutch was made.
Re:mAk dem wrte an essay n text-language by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 01:48 · Score: 0

Sam Clemens is wrong about the "y".
The vowel form of "y" could be replaced by an "i", but it makes no sense to replace the consonant sound with a vowel sound.
Yup. That's the very reason why the letter 'j' evolved to be a separate letter from 'i': it allowed writer to distinguish between the consonant 'i' and the vowel 'i'. The same thing happened also for 'u' and 'v' that used to be two different ways to write the same letter.
Of course, Twain couldn't take this simple approach as he already decided to use 'j' for the English 'j' that would be better represented with 'dz'.
Re:mAk dem wrte an essay n text-language by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 02:02 · Score: 0

wile Year 3 might well abolish "y" replasing it with "i"
Sam Clemens is wrong about the "y".
The vowel form of "y" could be replaced by an "i", but it makes no sense to replace the consonant sound with a vowel sound.
The "i" comes from Greek, and was known as the "Greek i" in the beginning... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Latin_alphabet.
The original Latin alphabet: A B C D E F Z H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X.
Re:mAk dem wrte an essay n text-language by angel'o'sphere · 2014-02-26 05:14 · Score: 1

In which words does y work as a consonant? Just curious.
btw: in german one would y rather substitute with an U-umlaut (the u with two dots on it).

--
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
Re:mAk dem wrte an essay n text-language by Nutria · 2014-02-26 06:14 · Score: 1

In which words does y work as a consonant? Just curious.
Your.

--
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
Re:mAk dem wrte an essay n text-language by angel'o'sphere · 2014-02-26 06:36 · Score: 1

Strange, how do you speak it?
For me that is a vovel!

--
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
Re:mAk dem wrte an essay n text-language by Nutria · 2014-02-26 07:12 · Score: 1

The leading sound in the word "your" is neither a long or short form of A, E, I, O or U, and is not the long form of Y (seen in words like "why").
"Shy", "sky", "why", "hymn" & "gym" have vowel forms of Y.
"Your", "yell", "yuck" & "yacht" have consonant forms of Y.
Note how in the vowel forms, "y" is in or trails the word and has an "i" sound (long or short), whereas in the consonant form, the "y" is the first letter of the word. (An exception is the Belgian/Froggy word "Ypres", pronounced "eepreh".)

--
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
Re:mAk dem wrte an essay n text-language by angel'o'sphere · 2014-02-26 11:51 · Score: 1

Interesting distinction.

--
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
Re:mAk dem wrte an essay n text-language by Nutria · 2014-02-26 12:13 · Score: 1

It's the same distinction used ever since English grammarians started saying that the vowels are "A, E, I, O, U and sometimes Y" (which has been at least 40 years, and probably back to the Victorian era).
Note also the difference in sound between the words "you" (long "u", homophone of "ewe") and "your" (which is not a homophone of "ewer").
From the fact that you don't seem to have been taught "and sometime Y", I have to ask, "Are you a native speaker of English?"

--
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
Re:mAk dem wrte an essay n text-language by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-27 03:54 · Score: 0

In which words does y work as a consonant? Just curious.
btw: in german one would y rather substitute with an U-umlaut (the u with two dots on it).
yard, yew, conveyor belt, yes, yearn, probably a few thousand more
Re:mAk dem wrte an essay n text-language by angel'o'sphere · 2014-02-27 05:37 · Score: 1

Ofc I'm not a native speaker of english :D
Wow, need to find one who speals "ewe" and "ewer" for me, did not know they are actual words (but found the translation).

--
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
Re:mAk dem wrte an essay n text-language by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-27 07:56 · Score: 0

http://www.spellingsociety.org/journals/j31/satires.php
Looks like Mark Twain didn't wrote it. Amazingly, what W.K. Lessing satirized has actually entered the German language:
> But also from everything I can turn up, it appears that the 'original' behind any of these is the article "Meihem in Ce Klasrum", by a writer named W. K. Lessing (with the pen name of Dolton Edwards). That article has sentences that read very similar to both the 'EU' satire and the "Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling". Here are a few excerpts from "Meihem in Ce Klasrum":
In 1946, for example, we would urge the elimination of the soft "c," for which we would substitute "s." Sertainly, such an improvement would be selebrated in all sivic-minded sircles ...
> For technical terms, the foreign spelling is often retained, for instance ph /f/ or y /y/ in the word Physik (Physics) of Greek origin. For some common affixes however, like -graphie or Photo-, it is allowed to use -grafie or Foto- instead.[2] Both Photographie and Fotografie are correct, but not the mixed variants Fotographie* or Photografie*.[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_orthography#Foreign_words

Bladerunnner by warewolfsmith · 2014-02-25 22:21 · Score: 2

Bladerunner - Philip K Dick

Re:Bladerunnner by Buck+Feta · 2014-02-25 22:28 · Score: 2

I would instead recommend the novel off which that movie is based - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, but Dick's best work is found in his short stories.

"The Electric Ant" is especially pertinent, as is "The Mold of Yancey", "Autofac", and, of course, "Second Variety".

--
I am Audience.
Re:Bladerunnner by RabidReindeer · 2014-02-25 23:59 · Score: 1

I would instead recommend the novel off which that movie is based - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, but Dick's best work is found in his short stories.
"The Electric Ant" is especially pertinent, as is "The Mold of Yancey", "Autofac", and, of course, "Second Variety".
So is "We can remember it for you Wholesale" (a/k/a "Total Recall").
Substitute multiple mutually-ignorant meddling government agencies for aliens and you're all set for a possible near-future reality.
Unless the aliens get there first. Damn secret overlords.
Re:Bladerunnner by Big+Hairy+Ian · 2014-02-26 01:17 · Score: 1

Hey how about Ubik

--
Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.
Re:Bladerunnner by invid · 2014-02-26 02:57 · Score: 1

Ubik is my 2nd favorite P.K. Dick novel, after A Scanner Darkly, which is the one I would recommend for its study of identity and surveillance.

--
The Moore-Murphy Law: The number of things that will go wrong will double every 2 years.

Asimov by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 22:26 · Score: 2, Insightful

The Foundation series is a great set of material where he deals with the difference between an individual's actions swaying the course of history, and the behaviours and trends of large groups over time (psychohistory).

It links in neatly with the 3 laws, and if it's far too long then try some of his short stories.

Re:Asimov by gmuslera · 2014-02-26 00:19 · Score: 1

And is futurism too, predicting and influencing how large groups think and behave, is something that is used today, maybe not at the millenia scale of foundation, but is some of the predictions that is making our everyday lives today, be aware of it or not.
Re: Asimov by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 02:06 · Score: 0

Upvote for Foundation. Especially the part where one of the leading causes of decay is that the complex systems built and understood by the ancestors is no longer understood by the chuckleheads living in present day.
Feels to me that is exactly where we are heading full steam.
Re:Asimov by Confuse+Ed · 2014-02-26 08:04 · Score: 1

Another good suggestion for Asimov is his short story "The Last Question" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T... which succinctly covers a vast timespan.

Check out 365 tomorrows by kav2k · 2014-02-25 22:27 · Score: 1

You should dig around the website 365 tomorrows, which publishes daily science fiction short stories, "flash fiction".
It's frequently quite thought provoking and is exactly about exploring how future can change our lives in form of short peeks into it.

Re:Check out 365 tomorrows by Ellen+Spertus · 2014-02-26 05:48 · Score: 1

Thanks a lot! Both that site and its blogroll look fun and useful.

3 things by VernonNemitz · 2014-02-25 22:30 · Score: 2

"Superiority" by Arthur C. Clarke
"The Power of Progression" by Isaac Asimov
"Time For The Stars" by Robert A. Heinlein, with particular attention to the "Long Range Foundation"

Re:3 things by Ellen+Spertus · 2014-02-26 05:49 · Score: 1

Thanks! I love "Superiority" and will check out the others.

Start with Plato by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 22:31 · Score: 0

continue with the Book of Revelations, the Neo-Platonists, Bacon and enlightenment, early 20th century fascism and communism, and finish with the Soviet and American vision of progress in the 60's-90's. - You'll find a lot of ideas closely related to the futurism of our time.

Banks? by PhilHibbs · 2014-02-25 22:32 · Score: 1

A Few Notes on the Culture.

Re:Banks? by PhilHibbs · 2014-02-25 22:34 · Score: 1

OK, I totally mis-read the article. Too far in the future.

Alvin Toffler by oddtodd · 2014-02-25 22:33 · Score: 1

Powershift - Alvin Toffler
Published in 1990, might be interesting to see how his predictions fared.

The Third Wave - Alvin Toffler
Published in 1980, the second book of the trilogy.

Future Shock - Alvin Toffler
Published in 1970, my introduction to the fact that there were books other than SF worth reading.

I see he has written another, Revolutionary Wealth, which I must now go acquire.

--
I have plenty of common sense, I just choose to ignore it. -- Calvin

Disambiguation, you're not talking about Futurism by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 22:33 · Score: 2, Insightful

I commented about that anonymousely a minute ago and I think Shalsdot ate my comment, so I'll go ahead and repeat myself:
The thing you are describing isn't Futurism. Futurims isn't about "how technology is changing the world" and specifically not about " how [it] might play out". It's about the glorification of early 20th century technology and the way it affected the people at that time.

What you are talking about is Futurology, NOT Futursim. Try not to confuse these, especially if you are teaching people who already know about that stuff. Trying to make the disambiguation early on can be intresting too, since most people tend to abusively use the word Futrism.

Here, take this : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurism
and this : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurology

Harrison Bergeron by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 22:34 · Score: 1

Though it's about social rather than technological developments.

Re:Harrison Bergeron by tpstigers · 2014-02-26 02:00 · Score: 1

Good choice. The lowest common denominator gone taken to an extreme.

My Favorites by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 22:35 · Score: 0

1. Stanislaw Lem, The Futurological Congress, Solaris
2. Roger Zelazny, Songs from the dying earth
3. Larry Niven: Ringworld
4. William Gibson: Neuromancer
5. Neal Stephenson: Snow Crash
6. Fritz Lang: Metropolis
7. Isaac Asimov: Foundation Triology
8. Philipp K. Dick: Just abaut anything
9. Back to the Future Movies

"A Logic Named Joe" by dpilot · 2014-02-25 22:42 · Score: 1

by Murray Leinster, March 1946. If you're going to talk about how our literature predicts the future, it's worth taking a look at how past literature predicted us. "A Logic Named Joe" did a pretty good job of nailing the internet, nomenclature aside, and it did it almost 70 years ago.

--
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.

Re:"A Logic Named Joe" by TDyl · 2014-02-26 01:35 · Score: 1

Seconded. A great, almost-early-enough-to-be-classic-age short story. +1 for dpilot (sorry, no mod points available)

--
Todd: I hope it proves as delicious as the farmers that grew them
Re:"A Logic Named Joe" by Ellen+Spertus · 2014-02-26 05:51 · Score: 1

If you're going to talk about how our literature predicts the future, it's worth taking a look at how past literature predicted us..
Absolutely, that was always part of my plan, although I find it more illuminating to share the stories/articles that were wildly wrong, to teach students a healthy skepticism. I'll check out "A Logic Named Joe" in any case.
Re:"A Logic Named Joe" by dpilot · 2014-02-26 08:54 · Score: 1

I consider one of the saddest examples of inaccuracy to be "2001: A Space Odyssey".
No manned mission to Jupiter.
No HAL-9000. (But maybe that's a blessing?)
No manned base on the moon of any sort, let alone of the scale in the movie.
No pure-space vehicles like the lunar shuttle.
No commercial, civilian, accessible space station.
No common-use picture-phones.
No Pan Am shuttle to the space station.
No Pan Am.

--
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.

Isaac Asimov by Sooner+Boomer · 2014-02-25 22:42 · Score: 1

" Before The Golden Age " vols. 1-4. A series of science fiction anthologies written before 1939 (the beginning of the "Golden Age" of science fiction). A look at how our great/grandparents saw today (their far future).

--
Chaos maximizes locally around me.

students can influence change by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 22:45 · Score: 0

Thank you for ordering the double quarter pounder meal. Out of $10, your change today comes to $2.87.

Futurism? the early C20th art movement? by fantomas · 2014-02-25 22:45 · Score: 5, Insightful

Well if you're going to teach about Futurism you should definitely include some critical consideration of the effect of industrialisation on European and North American countries, consider how art was affected by the experiences of artists in the First World War, and how it influenced the later art movements such as Art Deco, Surrealism, and Dada.

Re:Futurism? the early C20th art movement? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 23:58 · Score: 0

this. all else would just be raping the term futurism.
Re:Futurism? the early C20th art movement? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 23:59 · Score: 0

How timely:
In Thrall to Machines, War and a More Manly Future
“Italian Futurism, 1909-1944: Reconstructing the Universe” runs through Sept. 1 at the Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue, at 88th Street, (212) 423-3500.
You will love it.
Re:Futurism? the early C20th art movement? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 00:48 · Score: 0

THAT. Definitely.
Re:Futurism? the early C20th art movement? by Sockatume · 2014-02-26 01:14 · Score: 1

Words can mean two things. Welcome to English.

--
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
Re:Futurism? the early C20th art movement? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 02:45 · Score: 0

Like the other AC mentioned, the word you are looking for is futurology.
Re:Futurism? the early C20th art movement? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 03:04 · Score: 0

How about "Have Spacesuit, Will Travel"?
Re:Futurism? the early C20th art movement? by Sockatume · 2014-02-26 03:11 · Score: 1

According to Wikipedia, perhaps, but futurism referring to the scholarly study of the futuristic is a pretty widespread usage. (As you'd expect, given that you're just conjugating "futuristic".)

--
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
Re:Futurism? the early C20th art movement? by khallow · 2014-02-26 10:47 · Score: 1

Which is a very English thing to do. I must admit that futurism sounds moderately less embarrassing than futurology. And if the only name collision is an art movement from last century, I have no qualms about it.
Re:Futurism? the early C20th art movement? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 13:54 · Score: 0

The term futurology has been assimilated to other languages directly already. I wasn't aware of the US usage of futurism.
Re:Futurism? the early C20th art movement? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-28 08:47 · Score: 0

Despite your detractors, it would be good for the OP to do a critical analysis of the impact the Theory of Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, the atomic bomb, etc. had on 20th Century culture and the arts to give his/her students a context from which to think about how future discoveries and technologies will transform our creative expressions.

proximal impacts by maxwells+daemon · 2014-02-25 22:47 · Score: 1

Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction An Unnatural History

Ray Bradbury by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 22:48 · Score: 1

I for one was always fascinated by Ray Bradbury's "A Distant Sound of Thunder" when it came to thinking about the future... I always liked the fact that that the future is built on the past, and this short little story put it as clear and obvious as can be. It was good when I first read it in 6th grade, and it's still excellent on many levels.

While not really "Futurism" (My definition has always been the ideal of casting off the past for the future), I do think it presents enough of a look at the cause and effect, plus it's small size even for a short story, that it should bear consideration.

Visit to the World's Fair of 2014 by Buck+Feta · 2014-02-25 22:59 · Score: 1

If there is one piece you must include, it is this. Asimov imagined 2014 in 1964, and he wasn't far off with some of his ideas.

--
I am Audience.

Why The Future Doesn't Need Us by AHuxley · 2014-02-25 23:00 · Score: 1

by Bill Joy (then Chief Scientist at Sun Microsystems) from the April 2000 issue of Wired magazine:
http://www.wired.com/wired/arc...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W...

--
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"

Re:Why The Future Doesn't Need Us by mdenisevich · 2014-02-26 07:08 · Score: 1

I concur with the suggestion for Bill Joy's article. It is well worth reading, and reconsidering over and over as time goes on. Recognizing our fallibilities is important -- and thinking about whether to proceed, and if there will be a way out of what we do is worthy of discussion. We are always prone to thinking we understand it all, or at least enough. On the same lines of 'a cautionary tale' (apologies to Maurice Sendak), please consider Amory Lovins' "How No to Parachute More Cats'. http://www.rmi.org/Knowledge-C...

How can entropy be reversed? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 23:01 · Score: 0

The Last Question by Isaac Asimov.

Birthright: The Book of Man by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 23:02 · Score: 0

By Mike Resnick.

Birthright spans a timeline of nearly 17 millennia, beginning at a very early stage of expansion from Earth and ending with the death of the last humans.

The bad news is, humans are inherently racist imperialist bigots. The good news is, humans will eventually be extinct. Changing human nature is futile; the lesson is to get drunk and forget about it.

The machine stops by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 23:03 · Score: 0

A great short story. A city is controlled by robots, the robots feel like they are in the 1950s. Because of the radioactive dust, during the war, the city is uninhabited. But the robots don't know that. A human goes into the city to try to wreck the master computer so humans can move in. This is a story about how robots need human intervention because every eventually can not be programmed into them, it is against the over reliance upon machines. Machines lack basic judgement.

Re:The machine stops by Gavagai80 · 2014-02-25 23:18 · Score: 1

From what I recall, the humans simply don't care about going out because they're living in little rooms hooked up to the internet teleconferencing with whoever they want to and ordering their food online. It's more of a caution against internet addiction, written in 1909.

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This space intentionally left blank
Re:The machine stops by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 23:43 · Score: 0

While specifically cautioning against Internet addiction, in general the tale cautioned against becoming dependent upon any poorly understood technology. The Machine stopped when the Mending Apparatus broke down because the people had neglected their education and didn't know how any of their machinery worked.
Re:The machine stops by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 00:56 · Score: 0

I was just about to point this out, because it isn't crappy Sci-Fi like most of the other postings here on this subject.
E.M. Forster did not write crappy Sci-Fi. This was a prescient analysis of how people can get so isolated; look at how many posters here have lives that that are so totally centered on a glowing screen a few inches from their noses.
Another really good, and thoughtful, read from the same era is Bellamy's "Looking Backward". From there, you could explore the historical analysis of Marx, and how he got so many of his predictions apparently wrong. But Our Century is still young...
The problem with the question posed isn't that the submitter didn't know enough about the subject, but that they were so thoroughly ignorant that they didn't even know that they were asking such a thoroughly stupid question in the first place.
Re:The machine stops by jeffb+(2.718) · 2014-02-26 01:17 · Score: 1

Excellent choice, although your memory of the plot and basic themes differs greatly from mine.
It's absolutely eerie to read this story and realize it was written over a century ago.
Re:The machine stops by Gavagai80 · 2014-02-26 04:49 · Score: 1

Ah thanks, I remember better now.

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This space intentionally left blank

Primary sources? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2014-02-25 23:05 · Score: 1

How about a collection of primary source material concerning the...neat...capabilities of technology being actively exploited, on a global scale, right now.

Seems to me that lesson #1 for (my best guess about what your course is about) is the fact that 'the future' isn't a tame model organism that you neatly confine to the future tense and clinically examine. It's more like a chestburster embedded in the present tense, your present tense, the stuff you would think is too banal to possibly do a course about, and it's starting to squirm.

In fairness to some of the great visionary essayists and hard sci-fi types, it is quite impressive how far ahead of time they managed to predict, sometimes in fair detail, 'the future', and they deserve all credit for such an accomplishment; but to overemphasize 'future-as-text' is to create the fundamentally misleading impression that 'the future' is like some sort of celestial phenomenon, sitting at a distance while we tell past-tense stories about which authors were the best at manning the telescopes.

It's much, much, more immediate than that. 'The future' is what your students probably don't even notice 90% or more of(not that I claim to, or claim that anybody does: banality and familiarity are the ultimate camouflage) happening right now, and on a screaming ahead on a trajectory of its own.

Re:Primary sources? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 23:22 · Score: 0

Oh, while I'm rambling (no sleep last night, nothing but amphetamines(100% legal, doctor's orders!) between me and empty):

What about touching on a case study of an interesting group of people who, rather nobly, decided to jump on top of emerging technology, given the trajectory of 'the future' a good hard shove, all very inspiring (and often backed by nontrival talent); but whose outcome is the sort of brutal ironic defeat that you usually associate with particularly mean-spirited Greek Mythology.

Remember the 'cypherpunk'? The bold, anti-authoritarian, vision of how the implications of number theory, the structures of math itself, would usher in a new era of strong crypto, surveillance-resistance, anonymity, all sorts of cool stuff, getting classified as a munition by The Man (who couldn't stop you, because your 'weapon' was a concise chunk of pure math, impossible to block), really very inspiring.

Well. Funny story. Y'know what else you can do with strong crypto? Locked down bootloaders. 'Trusted Computing'. DRM. 'Secure Remote Attestation'. powerful, elegant, 'tivoization' of basically every aspect of what used to be the general-purpose computer, the network it connected to, and the parts it was made of. Game. Fucking. Over. This particular coin had two faces (Just like 'Janus' the development codename for WMDRM...), and I think we can all agree which face landed up. I know of no more brutal irony than this in the recent history of computing. Fantastic lesson if you want to teach the kiddies about 'how students can influence change', though...
Re:Primary sources? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2014-02-25 23:32 · Score: 1

Further rambling, I can feel the stims kicking in (though, really, if you can ignore my shitty, disjointed prose 'style', I'm honestly giving you good faith advice here): If you want to talk 'trusted computing' from the perspective of an early, and insightful, worker in the field, look up Mark Stefik's body of writings (some of them take the form of patents, which are pretty damn dry; but there is some human-readible prose as well). He was at Xerox PARC, at least until the mid 90's, not sure when he started, and he did a lot of writing about 'trusted systems', both implementation (note to self: Don't attempt to design a 'rights management/expression' markup language covering all use cases. Just don't. Definitely don't reboot your first attempt with more XML.) and theory/musing on implications.

I certainly don't vouch for all of his work, having not read all of it; but he's an interesting guy, and has some approachable text, as well as some actual techie nitty-gritty (which isn't a bad thing, turning a theory course into 'grovelling through the CS class you would have taken from the CS department if you wanted to take a CS class' is unhelpful and rude; but it's important for students to remember that, as at any point in history, 'material culture' is not something that exists for the future study of historians. It is wrested from the earth, by human ingenuity, craft, and sometimes sheer muscle, and you can only approach it to a certain extent if you insist on viewing it as a bunch of high-level diagrams or artifacts safely behind the museum glass.

The past was what it was because of how our predecessors made it. The present is as it is because of how we maintain and modify it. The future, as it has been since before the dawn of recorded history, will ultimately be dictated by what our descendants(or their Strong-AI agents) sit down and build.

Ok, that's enough for right now. I'm going to stand down for a while.

perhaps? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 23:06 · Score: 0

I think something in the style of Kurzweil's interviews at the end of the chapters of the age of spiritual machines rotos be good. Something along the line of an imaginary interview between an engineering student from today and an engineering student from 2050 on the subject of technology and it's impact broadly on society and specifically in the life of the future student.

Paris in the Twentieth Century by Jules Verne by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 23:11 · Score: 0

The novel tells a story in the city of Paris in 1960 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_in_the_Twentieth_Century (wikipedia)
Why is it interesting: It was writen in 1863. And that is the intresting thing about it. It let your students see what the limits of futurism
are.

Turing Evolved by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 23:16 · Score: 0

Although it is set around 200 years in the future, most of the technology is actually under development today. It's about the point at which artificial intelligence becomes human, though it does examine the technologies developed during the 19th and 20th century and extrapolates it over 200 years into the future.

how to create apps by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 23:20 · Score: 0

So it's a class about being a hipster, is it? Make those apps! Sell out to the highest bidder! Invest your profits in Wall Street! Become a 1%er tomorrow by selling out today!

Maneki Neko by Bruce Sterling by drkim · 2014-02-25 23:21 · Score: 1

Maneki Neko by Bruce Sterling ...which you can read for free right here:

http://www.lightspeedmagazine....

The diamond age is two books ? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 23:28 · Score: 0

Is it me, or is the diamond age like 2 books - the first one, being the first chapter - a terrible terrible shlock scifi and the 2nd being the rest of the book.

I nearly didn't read it as I couldn't get past that first chapter about a guy with a gun mounted in his head..

Peak oil and climate change by BlackPignouf · 2014-02-25 23:28 · Score: 1

If you really want to talk about how technology is changing the world and how the next 40 years might look like, you'll have to mention peak oil and climate change.
http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O...

Re:Peak oil and climate change by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 07:27 · Score: 0

I would suggest you look at the Archdruid Report (blog) by John Michael Greer. He has several books that might be relevant. The blog consists of weekly posts (several years worth, now) on the general topic of the future and the decline of industrial civilization.
Re:Peak oil and climate change by Ellen+Spertus · 2014-02-27 09:03 · Score: 1

If you really want to talk about how technology is changing the world and how the next 40 years might look like, you'll have to mention peak oil and climate change.
I agree 100%.

George Saunders by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 23:41 · Score: 0

George Saunders writes very good (often futuristic/sciencefictiony) short stories. See, for example, Jon [ http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/01/27/030127fi_fiction?currentPage=all ] or The Semplica-girl Diaries [ http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2012/10/15/121015fi_fiction_saunders?currentPage=all ].

ARC - exactly about what you want to discuss by Swoopy · 2014-02-25 23:43 · Score: 1

You may want to have a look at New Scientist magazine's digital futurology spin-off "ARC". They aim to publish 4 a year (2.1 was just released, 2013 saw 4 releases) and it's all about trying to look forward into the future. Short stories, SF restrospectives and non-fictional introspectives, all in a neat little bundle.
http://www.arcfinity.org/

dark matters book of death & debt by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 23:45 · Score: 0

not a short story or work of fiction to rule us by any means http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=nazi%20zion%20book&sm=3 could be nominated as a manual on what to avoid in the 'future' as ours is here now?

If This Goes On by Z00L00K · 2014-02-25 23:46 · Score: 1

If This Goes On/Revolt in 2100 by Robert Anson Heinlein. (The backstory to that story is more concerning the question, where the First Prophet was Nehemiah Scudder, a backwoods preacher turned President (elected in 2012), then dictator (no elections were held in 2016 or later)

You can read Heinlein as adventure stories, you can read his stories as idea experiments and you can also read his stories as reflection on humanity.

Even though the world isn't what Heinlein depicted I still have a feeling that the real life Nehemiah Scudder is waiting around the corner.

--
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.

Ballard by unapersson · 2014-02-25 23:48 · Score: 1

JG Ballard's Billennium is an excellent story about the psychological ramifications of population growth.

Yevgeniy Zamyatin's "We" by ikhider · 2014-02-25 23:48 · Score: 1

That's the book 1984 is based off of. Project Itoh's "Genocidal Organ" is also an interesting read. Essays by Sven Birkerts, who tends to be skeptical about how we use technology to cultivate ideas as opposed to traditional means like the pen and paper. Interestingly, I am taking courses on interface design and my instructors continuously tell us to sketch ideas on paper FIRST before running to the software. Some in class have no idea what a pen and paper is. Stallman's 'Free Software Free Society' essays are very important, as is some of his cautionary sci-fi stories. Orwell wrote some essays about possible futures (not 1984), suggesting that humans in the future might be little more than brains in bottles. Stanislav's Lem, 'His Masters Voice' is a masterpiece, says a lot about humanity. I'd start there abouts...

--
"SO we bide our time, waiting for a purer kick to bloom and the future is still bleak, uncertain and beautiful" -GSYBE

Manna! by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 23:52 · Score: 0

Most decidedly Manna by Marshall Brain

Re:Manna! by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-25 23:56 · Score: 0

Slavery with a side of fries, Aussie style.
Re:Manna! by HeckRuler · 2014-02-26 03:54 · Score: 1

This.
In fact, GO HERE. Now. Manna is telling you that you have 1 minute to open the link and perform a scan of the instructions at hand. Don't think. Just click the link. Manna will do all the thinking for you.

"Manna" by Marshall Brain by JaredOfEuropa · 2014-02-25 23:55 · Score: 2

Another suggestion: read "Manna" by Marshall Brain, a (free) short story that brings up Marx' old question about the ownership of the means to production, in a society that is pretty much completely robotized. Even if you disagree with his view on how such a future will play out, it'll make for some interesting discussion.

--
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...

Re:"Manna" by Marshall Brain by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 00:03 · Score: 0

Americans love drones! The future is now.
Re:"Manna" by Marshall Brain by coldfarnorth · 2014-02-26 01:53 · Score: 1

I second this.

--
Lets start refering to The War Against Terror by it's initials. . .
Re:"Manna" by Marshall Brain by Ellen+Spertus · 2014-02-26 05:54 · Score: 1

Thanks for the suggestion and second. My students (and I) are very interested in issues such as the distribution of wealth.

Back To The Future II by AudioEfex · 2014-02-26 00:04 · Score: 1

I'd show them Back To The Future II - especially appropriate since the future they are visiting is 2015. As our world resembles 1985+smartphones more than the 2015 depicted in the film, it could help temper expectations and demonstrate that no matter what predictions one makes, (and let's face it, nothing in BTTF2 aside from flying cars was really that crazy to believe we would have in 25 years), the only thing certain is uncertainty. Obviously it's a fictional film and was not serious futurist prediction, but it would make the point and give something a little lighter to engage the students.

Re:Back To The Future II by Ellen+Spertus · 2014-02-26 05:55 · Score: 1

I'd show them Back To The Future II - especially appropriate since the future they are visiting is 2015. As our world resembles 1985+smartphones more than the 2015 depicted in the film, it could help temper expectations and demonstrate that no matter what predictions one makes, (and let's face it, nothing in BTTF2 aside from flying cars was really that crazy to believe we would have in 25 years), the only thing certain is uncertainty. Obviously it's a fictional film and was not serious futurist prediction, but it would make the point and give something a little lighter to engage the students.
Agreed (although there will still be a half a year left for hoverboards to be invented). See my fuller response.

The Sun, The Genome and The Internet - F. Dyson by Harry8 · 2014-02-26 00:06 · Score: 1

Forward looking, non-fiction. Will be wrong, obviously it will be wrong, but if any of these wrong future speculations are worth reading then Freeman Dyson's certainly is among them.

Re:The Sun, The Genome and The Internet - F. Dyson by Ellen+Spertus · 2014-02-26 05:57 · Score: 1

Thanks! I love Dyson's Disturbing the Universe but didn't know about The Sun, The Genome and the Internet.

Charlie Stross? by erikjan · 2014-02-26 00:09 · Score: 1

I would consider Accelerando by Charlie Stross, whcih is, I think, a good complement to The diamond age. And maybe have a look at the video's of Robin Hanson for the more "over the top" futurism, very suitable for a critical review and to get to know the more crazy side of futurism (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvjCJE-N34k).

Re:Charlie Stross? by oh2 · 2014-02-26 00:35 · Score: 1

Or, just go with "Halting state" and "Rule 34" by the same author, a lot of the predictions in those two books have actually come true just a few years after publication...

--
Now the world has gone to bed, Darkness won't engulf my head, I can see by infra-red, How I hate the night.

the virtual fall of mt. gox by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 00:10 · Score: 0

very short story,, much hoopla surrounding a speed bump encountered as we race into our new clear options filled future. free the innocent stem cells. feed the millions of starving innocents, mostly kids. make ourselves upside right, so we can move on really far away from our history of genocidal hysteria...... we continue to lament we'll never do 'it' again as the results continue to never vary; rated horrific terror experience; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk9mV8qBiEk

Feed by MT Anderson by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 00:14 · Score: 0

What happens if entertainment and connectivity are the only things that matters? What happens if we lose our humanity?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_(Anderson_novel)

From Amazon "This brilliantly ironic satire is set in a future world where television and computers are connected directly into people's brains when they are babies. The result is a chillingly recognizable consumer society where empty-headed kids are driven by fashion and shopping and the avid pursuit of silly entertainment--even on trips to Mars and the moon--and by constant customized murmurs in their brains of encouragement to buy, buy, buy."

John Brunner by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 00:15 · Score: 0

The Sheep Look Up is arguably the most preescient Science Fiction of the last 50 years. Stand on Zanzibar is also a classic. Both are relevent and extremely thought-provoking.

I also think "Snow Crash" would be a better choice than "The Diamond Age". Although both were good.

Good Article by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 00:21 · Score: 0

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They're Made out of Meat by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 00:35 · Score: 0

http://www.terrybisson.com/page6/page6.html

Because the end goal should remain in sight.

Re:They're Made out of Meat by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 00:39 · Score: 0

poor lonely meat

Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 00:38 · Score: 0

Have to include Vinge if you are discussing the Singularity. Interesting speculations on near future technology and education.

Re:Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge by jeffb+(2.718) · 2014-02-26 01:22 · Score: 1

Or the short-story version, Fast Times at Fairmont High, which appeared in one of the IEEE journals, won a Hugo in 2002, and has since appeared in The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge. It touches on many of the same themes as Rainbows End, but it's a quicker read.
Re:Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge by Ellen+Spertus · 2014-02-26 06:04 · Score: 1

Thanks! I'd read and liked Rainbows End but do need the quicker reads. I'll check it out.

Stranger than fiction by gmuslera · 2014-02-26 00:39 · Score: 2

1984, Brave New World and Little Brother could be too close to comfort for the authorities, probably Foundation too. And I'd say that a lot of Philip K. Dick tales where the official vision of reality is put in doubt won't make it neither.

Asimov's The Feeling of Power, Charles Stross Accelerando, Vernon Vinge's Rainbow's End and parts of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy could give different hints on how the future could develop without too much controversy.

Can't recommend Stephenson's Diamond Age because for me is somewhat the past. It was written before wikipedia and internet, before than even poor children in 3rd world countries had an access to all of it. And those children prefer to access youtube videos and play candy crush over accessing wikipedia.

Re:Stranger than fiction by Sockatume · 2014-02-26 01:20 · Score: 1

Not sure if joking, but I assure you colleges are fine with more-politically-seditious authors than Isaac Asimov and Philip K Dick.

--
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
Re:Stranger than fiction by NEDHead · 2014-02-26 01:50 · Score: 1

KSR's Mars trilogy sucked. I read the whole damn thing and kept on hoping there was a point to the meandering mess. Never happened.
Re:Stranger than fiction by geekoid · 2014-02-26 03:32 · Score: 1

"could be too close to comfort for the authorities,"
You need to get out more.

--
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
Re:Stranger than fiction by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 04:00 · Score: 0

Yeah, right, colleges don't teach Orwell and Huxley. You, of course, know about them because you discovered them in a lost, dark corner of an abandoned library like an HP Lovecraft character, obscure texts that had all but been removed from our cultural memory.

Paul Auster "In The Country of Lost Things" by swb · 2014-02-26 00:40 · Score: 1

Not really science fiction but definitely a great novel about a dystopian future.

Right to Read by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 00:43 · Score: 0

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html

The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 00:43 · Score: 0

The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect

http://localroger.com/prime-in...

(it's free)

I thought it was completely amazing - have read it several times. It's about some folks who create an AI which becomes self-aware, and which then goes on to completely re-write the universe at a sub-atomic level.

Warning: contains graphic sex scenes, violence. Not for the faint of heart.

Re:The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 00:46 · Score: 1

Warning: contains graphic sex scenes, violence
and violent sex scenes.

Thomas Disch "334" by swb · 2014-02-26 00:46 · Score: 2

Another great dystopian future novel, with some science fiction.

Re:Thomas Disch "334" by Required+Snark · 2014-02-26 01:00 · Score: 1

Yes, it's brilliant. Dark humor, and a tangibly real decaying future. I read it when it first came out and still remember it vividly. I'm sure it still has the power to make people uncomfortable after all these years. Read it if you can find a copy.

--
Why is Snark Required?

Flatland is the gateway to new dimensions... by andhar · 2014-02-26 00:50 · Score: 1

Flatland, by Edwin Abbot, is a short and amusing book that describes the lives and trials of two-dimensional beings. It's a social satire, but it also gives one the feeling that our personal realities, and indeed, our present day societies may not be (and should not be) the limit of what we can imagine and/or what we can achieve. For me it seems like the perfect stepping off point for an exploration of the future.

--
Vaya con huevos, my darling.

Most important: That futurism is nonsense by gweihir · 2014-02-26 00:56 · Score: 1

As soon as everybody has understood that this is not something they are doing because it has any worth except as entertainment, you are alls set. Then use anything that is fun and interesting, but never forget that reading tea-leaves is about as scientific as futurism is.

--
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.

Re:Most important: That futurism is nonsense by jeffb+(2.718) · 2014-02-26 01:26 · Score: 1

Nope, there's absolutely no point in thinking about the future, except of course to assume that it'll be just like the present.
Re:Most important: That futurism is nonsense by gweihir · 2014-02-26 06:12 · Score: 1

Meeeep, fail! Item 5 on http://cryptome.org/2012/07/ge...
Sure there is interest in thinking about the future, but "futurism" is to that what homeopathy is to medicine.

--
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Re:Most important: That futurism is nonsense by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 10:04 · Score: 0

Only when you look too far ahead.

Looking back at the rollout of the future... by jpellino · 2014-02-26 00:59 · Score: 1

James Burke's "Connections" and perhaps "The Day The Universe Changed". How small incidents can create massive changes - Napoleon's near defeat at Marengo starts the path to refrigeration, how a botched souvenir production run and an grousing cleric leads to a revolution in printing and religion. Etc. Also "The Second Self" by Sherry Turkle - to see how an emerging thread in technology can have implications elsewhere. Yes, many sc-ifi books have done this predictively, but again it's valuable to see how this plays out as it plays out with a historical record.

--
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."

Re:Looking back at the rollout of the future... by invid · 2014-02-26 03:04 · Score: 1

Connections effected my view on the nature of the world more than any other single work.

--
The Moore-Murphy Law: The number of things that will go wrong will double every 2 years.

Teacher or student? by tgv · 2014-02-26 01:01 · Score: 1

Aren't you supposed to tell us? You're teaching the course, innit? Or is this some kind of reverse open course, where the pupils are in a class room and the teachers are anyone and his dog on the internet?

The Coming Technological Singularity by jrincayc · 2014-02-26 01:09 · Score: 1

I would definitely include: The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era by Vernor Vinge
https://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/fac...

Buckminster Fuller by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 01:09 · Score: 0

No course on futurism would be complete without some of Bucky Fuller's writing. Good luck choosing, he was prolific. Brilliant, broad, incisive, daring thought experiments and ideas.

book recommendations by jsprenkle · 2014-02-26 01:12 · Score: 0

Daniel Suarez "Daemon"
James Hogan "The Two Faces Of Tomorrow "

both are about AI in general terms and are action books that will keep students interested

--
- I've got bad karma because I won't parrot everyone else's opinion

Nassim Nicholas Taleb by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 01:22 · Score: 0

I recommend all of Taleb's books, especially since futurism is terribly fragile against Black Swans.

Niven short stories by Lord+Grey · 2014-02-26 01:25 · Score: 1

A number of Larry Niven's short stories would be excellent examples of futurism:

The Jigsaw Man really stands out as a commentary on how power would be abused when organ transfers became nearly 100% successful (yet very expensive).

The Last Days of the Permanent Floating Riot Club talks about flash crowds.

Cloak of Anarchy deals with, strangely enough, anarchy.

--
// Beyond Here Lie Dragons

Re:Niven short stories by geekoid · 2014-02-26 03:31 · Score: 1

" (yet very expensive)."
That's the problem. Stories like that always need to make the tech more expensive when in reality the better we get at something, the cheaper it gets.

--
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
Re:Niven short stories by Lord+Grey · 2014-02-26 03:45 · Score: 1

New technology typically goes through a phase where it is really expensive when it is first released, and then it gets less expensive, right? The Jigsaw Man is set in that initial timeframe. Breakthroughs in the medical science gave doctors the ability to transplant every organ except the brain and spinal column, but the cost was still very high and only a few could really afford it.
Niven does explore the next phase, where the cost comes down (or the technology is replaced by something less expensive), in his novel A Gift From Earth. I think the novel was written before the story, in fact.

--
// Beyond Here Lie Dragons
Re:Niven short stories by Sir_Eptishous · 2014-02-26 03:50 · Score: 1

Cheaper.
Right, like health care is now... In the U.S.

--
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range

Agreed .... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 01:27 · Score: 0

Technology is not going to save us. Melding technology into our bodies is not going to evolve us as a species. When is this kind of arrogance going to stop? We, as human beings, only use 3 - 5% of our *NATURAL* brain capacity. I for one am not going to take some technological shortcut because I'm to lazy to get to the real truth of everything in a natural way. Oh wait .... everyone here is clueless as to what is really going on anyways, right? We're all too buried with the utter rubbish, cruelty and everything else this world is made of.

WRONG.

Re:Agreed .... by khallow · 2014-02-26 10:38 · Score: 1

Melding technology into our bodies is not going to evolve us as a species.
And why is that consideration important? For example, we might be able to create intelligence that will live much longer than life on Earth has lived to this point. We may have already created various systems that will outlive the Sun. Evolution is not the only way.

The Right to Read by Martin+S. · 2014-02-26 01:37 · Score: 1

The Right to Read by Richard Stallman

How about the past? by khallow · 2014-02-26 01:40 · Score: 1

There are several cases of technology and knowledge development that I think are worthy of consideration. The most important is the development of writing. Often, this rather mundane technology had all sorts of mysticism attached to it, such as the Egyptians' use of it to help the dead transition to their afterlives. Or to turn defeat into victory.

Another example would be the development of modern medicine particularly in the early days when it required numerous cadavers to learn the principles of the medical knowledge of that day. In England and elsewhere, medicine was associated with a nasty black market in human corpses.

Then there's the reactions to modern urbanization and its problems (such as conservatism, environmentalism, and city planning) which often have historical antecedents.

Finally, the technologies of the past shape how we view it. For example, the biggest distinction is between history and prehistory. Make a guess what technology development divides those two periods.

My Book! My Book! by NEDHead · 2014-02-26 01:46 · Score: 1

Make them all buy My Book!

Preventing corruption by InPursuitOfTruth · 2014-02-26 01:52 · Score: 1

History has shown that the strong governments get, the more corrupt they become (power corrupts). Yet, they can hit a point where the people can no longer hold their government accountable (e.g., Stalin). So, how, with technology advancing, and the government having access to it all while the people have limited access, can you prevent corruption in the future?

The Method by Juli Zeh by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 01:54 · Score: 0

Commenting for the first time ever just to recommend The Method by Juli Zeh. Translated from the German, no American version just yet (can buy the English translation on amazon though) but is a dystopian novel about how big data in healthcare can lead to a controlled restricted society where illness is criminalized.
Review here: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-method-by-juli-zeh-7800875.html

Be less optimistic. by SuricouRaven · 2014-02-26 02:02 · Score: 1

The first half of 'Mana.' Or was it Manna? Not sure.

An extract from "Stand on Zanzibar" by david.emery · 2014-02-26 02:03 · Score: 1

One of the best novels about a realistic and mostly dysfunctional future set in 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...

My recommendation.... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 02:07 · Score: 0

... 'cause it has such a delightful ending, would be "The Last Castle" by Jack Vance. I also like "A Canticle for Leibowitz" by Walter Miller. I am a big fan of Philip K Dick, and especially "Ubik," but I don't know if that's what you're looking for, if this is going to be a academic, somewhat realistic look, at the future.

I'm afraid I'm not very optimistic about mankind's odds for getting through the next 100 years... unscathed, so to speak.

Re:My recommendation.... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 02:52 · Score: 0

Agree on pretty much anything by Jack Vance. Especially his short stories as there can be so much packed into such a light read. The World Between discuss bio engineered warfare. The New Prime deals with psychological and behavior traits.
The main issue is what you want to study in Futurism? Do you want to show people the future or get them thinking about how the future will form?
Looking at well crafted science fiction can show people what the thoughts were in the past. This can lead to discussions of how this past thinking has affected the present.
For Futurism, it is not about getting every detail right, but looking forwards to see the possibilities.

Different thinking ..... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 02:12 · Score: 0

The future will unfold however it does. Dragging ones past history along pollutes the present while jumping to the future and how we think it will go removes us from the present and this reality we all live in. Leaving the past where it truly belongs (in the past) and not jumping to the future leaves you in the present moments. In addition to being able to be yourself 24/7 (without the dictates of culture running your life, which no one here seems to be able to do),that is what this life is about. Jumping to the future also removes you from knowing that everything here in this world is impermanent. Nothing lasts forever. Everyone lives and everyone dies. It's a matter of how you do either of those.

Being in the present moment and not living by the dictates of our repressive, ego-driven, judgmental and soul-crushing culture here is not only possible but is a reality. This is one of the keys to the other 95% of the brain that we don't use and that is something technology will never provide us access to.

Skip to the real futurologists by mdragan · 2014-02-26 02:14 · Score: 1

Skip these fakes you mention and go straight to the real futurologists: Nostradamus and Mother Shipton.
"When pictures seem alive with movements free,
when boats like fishes swim beneath the sea.
When men like birds shall scour the sky.
Then half the world, deep drenched in blood shall die."
-- Mother Shipton, predicting the World Wars

I know! by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 02:22 · Score: 0

The Terminator

The Manifesto of Futurism by ljw1004 · 2014-02-26 02:26 · Score: 1

You should include the Manifesto of Futurism. It's quite moving.

1. We intend to sing the love of danger, the habit of energy and fearlessness.

2. Courage, audacity, and revolt will be essential elements of our poetry.

3. Up to now literature has exalted a pensive immobility, ecstasy, and sleep. We intend to exalt aggresive action, a feverish insomnia, the racer’s stride, the mortal leap, the punch and the slap.

4. We affirm that the world’s magnificence has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed. A racing car whose hood is adorned with great pipes, like serpents of explosive breath—a roaring car that seems to ride on grapeshot is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace.

5. We want to hymn the man at the wheel, who hurls the lance of his spirit across the Earth, along the circle of its orbit.

6. The poet must spend himself with ardor, splendor, and generosity, to swell the enthusiastic fervor of the primordial elements.

7. Except in struggle, there is no more beauty. No work without an aggressive character can be a masterpiece. Poetry must be conceived as a violent attack on unknown forces, to reduce and prostrate them before man.

8. We stand on the last promontory of the centuries!... Why should we look back, when what we want is to break down the mysterious doors of the Impossible? Time and Space died yesterday. We already live in the absolute, because we have created eternal, omnipresent speed.

9. We will glorify war—the world’s only hygiene—militarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of freedom bringers, beautiful ideas worth dying for, and scorn for woman.

10. We will destroy the museums, libraries, academies of every kind, will fight moralism, feminism, every opportunistic or utilitarian cowardice.

11. We will sing of great crowds excited by work, by pleasure, and by riot; we will sing of the multicolored, polyphonic tides of revolution in the modern capitals; we will sing of the vibrant nightly fervor of arsenals and shipyards blazing with violent electric moons; greedy railway stations that devour smoke-plumed serpents; factories hung on clouds by the crooked lines of their smoke; bridges that stride the rivers like giant gymnasts, flashing in the sun with a glitter of knives; adventurous steamers that sniff the horizon; deep-chested locomotives whose wheels paw the tracks like the hooves of enormous steel horses bridled by tubing; and the sleek flight of planes whose propellers chatter in the wind like banners and seem to cheer like an enthusiastic crowd.

F.T. Marinetti, Le Figaro (Paris), 20 February 1909

We had stayed up all night, my friends and I, under hanging mosque lamps with domes of filigreed brass, domes starred like our spirits, shining like them with the prisoned radiance of electric hearts. For hours we had trampled our atavistic ennui into rich oriental rugs, arguing up to the last confines of logic and blackening many reams of paper with our frenzied scribbling.
An immense pride was buoying us up, because we felt ourselves alone at that hour, alone, awake, and on our feet, like proud beacons or forward sentries against an army of hostile stars glaring down at us from their celestial encampments. Alone with stokers feeding the hellish fires of great ships, alone with the black spectres who grope in the red-hot bellies of locomotives launched on their crazy courses, alone with drunkards reeling like wounded birds along the city walls.

Suddenly we jumped, hearing the mighty noise of the huge double-decker trams that rumbled by outside, ablaze with colored lights, like villages on holiday suddenly struck and uprooted by the flooding Po and dragged over falls and through gourges to the sea.
Then the silence deepened. But, as we listened to the old canal muttering its feeble prayers and the creaking bones of sickly palaces above their damp green beards, under the windows we suddenly heard the famished roar of automobiles.

Re:The Manifesto of Futurism by Sir_Eptishous · 2014-02-26 03:22 · Score: 1

Marinetti was a douchebag blowhard like the rest of the fascists.

It's interesting how much pent up violence, psychopathy and uber-paternalistic bullshit the early twentieth century engendered.
And yes, there are many famous early twentieth century Americans you can add to that list.

This reads like Mein Kampf...

6. The poet must spend himself with ardor, splendor, and generosity, to swell the enthusiastic fervor of the primordial elements.
What the fuck is that supposed to mean?

I wonder what Freud, another early twentieth century bullshitter, would think of it?

--
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
Re:The Manifesto of Futurism by geekoid · 2014-02-26 03:28 · Score: 1

Which word couldn't you find at Dictionary.com?
Cause it'd pretty obvious.

--
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
Re:The Manifesto of Futurism by jeffb+(2.718) · 2014-02-26 03:42 · Score: 1

Also known as "The Celebration of Cocaine, one Hell of a Drug".
Re:The Manifesto of Futurism by Sir_Eptishous · 2014-02-26 03:58 · Score: 1

Douchebag is the only one I had to look up.

--
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
Re:The Manifesto of Futurism by khallow · 2014-02-26 10:57 · Score: 1

It's how they're used together. Since when do "primordial elements", whatever that shit is, have "fervor"?

Artificial Limits? by Lawrence_Bird · 2014-02-26 02:30 · Score: 2

Shouldn't you also be looking at much earlier authors and comparing what they wrote to the state of events 50 odd years later? Would think there is a vast selection from 'golden age' sci-fi including Asimov,Heinlein, Pohl, etc. You can also find many old PopMechanics and similar magazines from the 40s, 50s, 60s with 'future' editions. How does what they wrote compare to what is being predicted by writers today?

Re:Artificial Limits? by Ellen+Spertus · 2014-02-26 06:00 · Score: 1

I absolutely agree, as I elaborate on in this response. What particularly jumps out to me is how they predict technological change but totally miss social change ("The housewife of the future will do her chores with the press of a button." Students: "What's a housewife?")

First Things First by JimSadler · 2014-02-26 02:40 · Score: 1

In such a course the first thing I would point out is how dismal we have always been at predicting what the future will be like. From my own view point I would suggest that we have at least a 50,50 chance of descending into a dismal and barbaric spiral into oblivion. It is one whopping assumption that the future will be better than life is now. We have a population that just assumes that "they" will find a way to solve our problems. Yet not a single politician will touch the population explosion issue and few will admit that growth is an environmental horror story and that the world economy is based upon growth, Getting drunk, getting high on dope, riding very fast motorcycles, and skipping education entirely might be the best plan of all for modern youth. A fast ending but exciting, short life might be a good goal.

Re:First Things First by khallow · 2014-02-26 11:17 · Score: 1

Yet not a single politician will touch the population explosion issue
I'm puzzled. There's plenty of evidence to the contrary. For example, the US's "Global Health Initiative" has as one of its strategies:

The United States Government Global Health Initiative Strategy Family Planning and Reproductive Health:
Prevent 54 million unintended pregnancies. This will be accomplished by reaching a modern contraceptive prevalence rate of 35 percent across assisted countries and reducing from 24 to 20 percent the proportion of women aged 18-24 who have their first birth before age 18.
There's no word on the time frame over which these goals are to be implemented. But for ten years, that would be 5.4 births prevented per year. At today's roughly 80 million population growth per year, that's almost 7% reduction in the rate of growth. That's a pretty big "touch".

and few will admit that growth is an environmental horror story and that the world economy is based upon growth
Which isn't actually true in either case. I wouldn't expect most people to admit things that aren't true, would you? Growth isn't necessarily population growth. And economics still works even in a world that isn't growing.

By The Waters Of Babylon by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 02:44 · Score: 0

By Stephen Vincent Benet. Written in 1935 or so. A post-apocalypse story written before the nuclear bomb.

publication will also change by bzipitidoo · 2014-02-26 02:45 · Score: 0

One big, deliberate blind spot in nearly every published work of Science Fiction that mentions the subject at all is Intellectual Property. These otherwise excellent works propose ridiculous scenarios in which economic activity has fundamentally changed, and maybe money itself is no longer used, but somehow copyright is still alive and strong.

An example of this is in Dan Simmon's Hyperion. One of the characters is an author. His struggles with publishing are very topical, and not at all futuristic. He fights with a corporate publisher who is interested in money and sales, not art. The one tiny bit of futuristic struggle is the response of AI to his writings. The intelligent computers buy one copy from the publisher, then freely distribute that copy among themselves, making the poor author next to nothing from royalties. The boss of the publishing business in the story comments "copyright doesn't mean shit when dealing with silicon".

Another example is Star Trek, especially the episode I, Mudd. Here and there in Star Trek, money is mentioned as something that technology has rendered obsolete, and is no longer used. But somehow intellectual property is still in force. In that episode, it comes out that Mudd has violated some patents, and perhaps copyrights as well, and has fled the world where this happened. And the penalty for these violations? Death! Yeah, rights holders wish!

It's pretty obvious that where the subject comes up and the authors have not injected such pro-copyright sentiments into their works, publishers have forced it in anyway, out of obvious self-interest and damn the integrity of the plot. It may well be impossible for the publishing and entertainment industries in their current form to produce a work that honestly explores this likely aspect of the future, a future without Intellectual Property.

RMS has essays on this subject. However, he does not advocate the elimination of copyright, but rather the use of it for copyleft, the turning of copyright on its head, to force more openness.

--
Intellectual Property is a monopolistic, selfish, and defective concept. It is "tyranny over the mind of man"

Manna by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 02:45 · Score: 0

How things could and should be....

http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm

The Machine Stops by EM Forster by the_wesman · 2014-02-26 02:52 · Score: 1

Maybe this is not relevant, but I was amazed out how accurately this hundred year old book described modern society.

No one produces anything but they use screens to share ideas. They share with others who may be near or far but never face to face. The screens give a vague approximation of the person on the other end. Everyone is happy until the machine stops working. When it does, they complain about it on their screens.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machine_Stops

--
calling all destroyers

Bill Joy nails it by Sir_Eptishous · 2014-02-26 02:56 · Score: 1

Why The Future Doesn't Need Us.

--
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range

Science Fiction cheers and jeers by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 02:58 · Score: 0

How about Heinlein's "Farmer in the Sky". It is full of assumptions and methodologies that are forward thinking and completely unworkable. Isn't it important to note the failures and the successes of futurism?

"All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace" by mr_mischief · 2014-02-26 03:03 · Score: 1

It's a poem rather than a short story or essay. It's by Richard Brautigan who was the poet in residence at Caltech. It was first published in a volume of the same name, not all of which may be suitable for your audience.

All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace (poem)
All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace (collection)

Re:"All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace" by Ellen+Spertus · 2014-02-26 06:02 · Score: 1

Thanks! I'm so ignorant of poetry that I didn't think to even request it. I'll check it out.
Re:"All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace" by mr_mischief · 2014-03-03 08:07 · Score: 1

I think technologists are often less likely to think about the more abstract arts, which is a shame. Having a poet in residence at a place like Caltech, while apparently at times challenging for the poet, I think is a wonderful idea.
Also, "Urinetown: The Musical" is a comedic Malthusian commentary on mismanaging resources, leading to a dystopian future.
Don't feel bad about not knowing the poem. The poem "All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace" I originally found from music. There's a group, or was anyway, named "Machines of Loving Grace". I found that through a classic bad computer movie (by which I mean a pretty good movie with bad representations of computers) -- they have a song on the "Hackers" soundtrack. I liked the soundtrack a lot, and was familiar with most of the other acts on it. I liked their song "Richest Junkie Still Alive" so much I researched the group, and was intrigued with the name which lead me to Brautigan.

The Cold Equation by Issac Asimov by PeterJamesFoote · 2014-02-26 03:12 · Score: 0

No discussion of the future is complete without a discussion of the impact of Earth's limited resources on humanity and few short stories strip this concept to the bare bones than the good Doctor's story about a teenage girl who surprises her brother by stowing away on his rescue mission to deliver life saving vaccine to a distant planet not knowing that there is only enough fuel aboard to make the course corrections needed to reach the planet with her brother and the vaccines aboard and no extra mass. None. In the precise limited future, her mass, small as it is, is far more than even the worst anticipable problems in flight would require in terms of extra fuel margins. The story and its conclusion open the door to any number of avenues of thematic discussion. Also recommended by Asimov is Nightfall. It discusses the impact of a sudden paradigm shift in a society's fundemental belief system that appears in an incontrovertible and destabilizing manner. Ender's Game has a short story version, by Orson Scott Card. Ethics of war.

--
- I can't help punning, I'm the product of a Jesuit Education. -

Re: The Cold Equation by Issac Asimov by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 05:57 · Score: 0

The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin?
Re: The Cold Equation by Issac Asimov by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 08:17 · Score: 0

This doesn't exist, I checked on kobobooks.com!

The Unplugged by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 03:12 · Score: 0

A small story from Vinay Gupta: http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/004123.html

IT seems to me by geekoid · 2014-02-26 03:26 · Score: 1

That you should look at stuff from 40 years ago and show them how wrong it was.

--
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

Idiocracy by PPH · 2014-02-26 03:38 · Score: 1

Yeah, I know there's no book. But the target demographic is those who wait for the movie.

--
Have gnu, will travel.

Hugh Howey's Wool by Frightened_Turtle · 2014-02-26 03:44 · Score: 1

Hugh Howey's Silo Series, starting with Wool. Granted, it is a dystopian story, but it shows a strongly human side to the collapse of civilization. A lot of dystopian stories tend to focus on the inhumanity and shock value of distorted societies. Howey's collection of novellas makes it much more personal to the reader. I believe it is the uniquely intimate approach to such a story that caused Howey's stories to catch on.

--

Whew! This water sure is cold!

Reach Back a Little Further by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 03:44 · Score: 0

For a course like this it would be very interesting to include Thomas More's Utopia, which I believe is one of the prototypes of Futurist literature in western civilization at least. Much more recently, a book like Ishmael: An adventure of the Mind and Spirit by Daniel Quinn would provide an interesting counterpoint to books like "The Singularity is Near". Either way, sounds like a fun and informative course.

Where's Gibson? by JustNiz · 2014-02-26 03:49 · Score: 1

Pretty much anything written by William Gibson.
The guy is a visionary. He seems to be able to unerringly look 10-15 years ahead and predict the future culture and what tech will be most relevant.

So much of what he writes about seems unlikely at the time, but yet comes true just a few years later.

Most people already know that In his 1984 book "Neuromancer" he basically predicted the future importance and uses of the internet and the existence of portable devices to access it (It was he that coined the term Cyberspace). he also emphasised virtual reality, which back then was somewhat of a niche fad but even now is about to become more mainstream with the imminent release of Occulus Rift, off the back of which there is already a series of similar devices being leaked/advertised.

In 2003 his book Pattern Recognition correctly predicted the forthcoming cultural shift in advertising and new emphasis on marketing and product placement.

More recently in his 2007 book "Spook Country" he not only correctly predicted/emphasised the forthcoming importance of personal GPS/geolocation to the culture, but also what kinds of associated services would arise. he also described devices startlingly like Google Glass, 7 years ahead of their actual invention.

Re:Where's Gibson? by V+for+Vendetta · 2014-02-26 05:35 · Score: 1

Most people already know that In his 1984 book "Neuromancer" he basically predicted the future importance and uses of the internet and the existence of portable devices to access it (It was he that coined the term Cyberspace). he also emphasised virtual reality, which back then was somewhat of a niche fad but even now is about to become more mainstream with the imminent release of Occulus Rift, off the back of which there is already a series of similar devices being leaked/advertised.

Agreed. But for me the most visionary prediction in the trilogy is that corporations have basically taken over the reign of the world. Which nowadays is terribly spot on, unfortunately.
Re:Where's Gibson? by JustNiz · 2014-02-26 10:50 · Score: 1

Yep that too. Even more reason why Gibson should be in the list.

reddit.com/r/Futurology/ has covered this by ChaseTec · 2014-02-26 03:59 · Score: 1

Go to http://www.reddit.com/r/Futuro...

I tried to post the list here but /. helpfully said "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.9)."

--
My Hello World is 512 bytes. But it's also a valid Fat12 boot sector, Fat12 file reader, and Pmode routine.

Re:reddit.com/r/Futurology/ has covered this by Ellen+Spertus · 2014-02-26 06:03 · Score: 1

Thank you so much!

They're Made of Meat by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 04:33 · Score: 0

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/TheyMade.shtml

The Machine Stops by JackAcme · 2014-02-26 04:53 · Score: 1

E.M. Forster's short story, "The Machine Stops," was written in 1909 and seems more prescient by the minute. It would certainly provide a nice contrast to Kurzweil.

Brunner, Dyson, Pohl by StefanJ · 2014-02-26 04:54 · Score: 1

Any number of novels by John Brunner, but Stand on Zanzibar if you have to choose one.

Fred Pohl's short-short "Day Million," about a cyborg spaceman and a transgendered otter-woman meeting, falling in love, exchanging virtual reality sex profiles and never meetin again.

Freeman Dyson's essay "The Greening of the Galaxy."

Re:Brunner, Dyson, Pohl by angel'o'sphere · 2014-02-26 05:24 · Score: 1

Well, the "classic" Brunner example would be "Shockwave Rider", if you like "Stand on Zanzibar" you might like "Sheep Luck(ing?) Up", too.
Perhaps at least mention 'Future Shock' and 'The Third Wave' by Alvin Toffler

--
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.

Daniel J. Boorstin's "The Discoverers" by opentunings · 2014-02-26 05:11 · Score: 1

http://www.amazon.com/Discover...

Daniel Boorstin, Librarian of Congress (1975 - 1987) wrote The Discoverers. It's a book about the people and events surrounding some very early, essential discoveries. Some of the discoveries include

Time (remember, prior to clocks each day had hours of differing duration. The 12 daylight hours were longer in the summer, and shorter in the winter.)

Maps and map coordinates (such as the idea that they should be drawn to scale, or that coordinates were not evil)

the Compass

Money

It's history, not the future view you're discussing, but it does give lots of great insights into the discovery of things that fundamentally changed the world.

Harrison - "Make Room! Make Room!" by mrflash818 · 2014-02-26 05:15 · Score: 1

Might be a bullet point to discuss how technology (fertilizers, vaccines, medicine) may, or has resulted in, a possible overshoot/overpopulation scenario.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M...!

--
Uh, Linux geek since 1999.

Super Sad True Love Story by tankcaptain · 2014-02-26 05:27 · Score: 1

It's longer than you want, put perhaps you could present excerpts from the excellent dystopian novel Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart.

Summa Technologiae by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 05:34 · Score: 0

You can also read Lem's not fiction Summa Technologiae - recently translated to English.

Response from original poster by Ellen+Spertus · 2014-02-26 05:46 · Score: 2

First, thank you, everyone, for the feedback. There are some wonderful stories that I recognize and others that I look forward to reading.

Second, because the solicited essays and fiction will only be a small part of the course, I will have to rely on short stories (including novellas) instead of entire novels. That is part of what makes it hard to research. It's much easier to find out about novels, which have more readers and are better publicized than short stories, especially recent ones that have not yet been widely reprinted.

Third, to those of you who think I am being too lazy to do my research myself, gathering information is part of the research process, and I'd be remiss in not making use of the hive mind if it has useful information that I might not. I would much rather be called a negligent teacher than to be one. Academics study one another's reading lists and syllabi all the time. Believe me, plenty of work remains in deciding what material to include, how present it, etc.

Fourth, thank you for letting me know the history of the word "futurism". The sense I used it ("concern with events and trends of the future or which anticipate the future") is the first one in some dictionaries and is widely used at kurzweilai.net, The Foresight Institute, and other sites I have used, but I will certainly let my students know that some people prefer the word "futurology". For those who are interested, here's a Google n-gram view of "futurism", "futurist", and "futurology".

Fifth, some commenters suggested using primary sources and biography. Agreed. I was already planning to include Turing's Computing Machinery and Intelligence, Vannevar Bush's As We May Think, and the stories of Khan Academy, Iqbal Quadir, Sugata Mitra, and others.

Sixth, it was also suggested that I look at past predictions of the future. Also agreed. I assembled such a reading list for a previous course. It hadn't occurred to me to include in my question what I didn't need, because I'd already assembled it, but I see now that it would be helpful.

Thank you again for the suggestions and even for the criticisms. Soliciting opinions from Slashdot is always a story in itself.

Re:Response from original poster by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 22:12 · Score: 0

Final project: Demonstrate that exponential development is present in ALL technology. Battery, Heat dissipation, everything. Not just airplanes and cell phones.
Re:Response from original poster by NoImNotNineVolt · 2014-02-27 03:01 · Score: 1

I think Kurzweil's "Law of Accelerating Returns" is a great essay that sums up the reasoning behind the singularity. Better than excerpts from a book, I'd imagine.

--
Chuuch. Preach. Tabernacle.
Re:Response from original poster by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-27 07:01 · Score: 0

I agree with Vannevar Bush's paper and several Kurzweil texts. I also like Charles Stross' Accelerando which was suggested earlier. Here's one that seems to have been forgotten by most -- The Phenomenon of Man by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Sometimes ramblings about "singularity" sound a lot like his early concept of "orthogenesis."
-- Dick S.
Re:Response from original poster by NullOne · 2014-02-28 02:56 · Score: 1

Recommend taking a look at David Edgerton's book "Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History Since 1900".

There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 05:49 · Score: 0

Richard Feynman's essay/talk There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom. It's superficially about nanotechnology, but the more important theme that runs through it is refusing to take current techniques and limitations for granted.

Lighten Up... by akpak · 2014-02-26 05:57 · Score: 1

If you want to include some "lighter" fare, or comedy relief, I highly recommend "Machine of Death" (http://www.amazon.com/Machine-Death-Collection-Stories-People/dp/0982167121).

While it's not technology we have, it's a collection that looks at the wide-reaching implications of a single invention that warps basically everything.

Much of it is "funny," but some of the stories are also very serious and thought-provoking. Nearly all of them are object lessons in "unintended consequences," which is a valuable thing to consider when looking at advances in tech.

There's also a sequel called "This is How You Die"

Re:Lighten Up... by Ellen+Spertus · 2014-02-26 09:34 · Score: 1

I love humor. I'll check it out.

A. C. Clarke: "Superiority" by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 06:08 · Score: 0

It's not so much a vision of the future so much as a reminder of how some things will never change: Arther C. Clarke's short story "Superiority" (can be found online at http://www.mayofamily.com/RLM/txt_Clarke_Superiority.html ) would be a memorable addition to the reading list.

Psychofactoids! by Medievalist · 2014-02-26 06:33 · Score: 1

We, as human beings, only use 3 - 5% of our *NATURAL* brain capacity.

Your assignment for today is to find out where this statement originated. Extra credit will be awarded if you can manage to tie in Helena Blavatsky's Theosophy and Cyril Burt's twin studies.

No Kurzweil or Doctorow please by vipvop · 2014-02-26 06:43 · Score: 1

Unless you want to turn the class into a bunch of Luddites who become the next Theodore Kaczynski, don't expose them to Kurzweil and Doctorow's crap. Think of the children.

Re:No Kurzweil or Doctorow please by NoImNotNineVolt · 2014-02-27 03:07 · Score: 1

I was "exposed" to Kurzweil when I was young, and I didn't turn into a Luddite. On the contrary, I went on to intern at NASA and do engineering/development work for the DOD. Although I did grow out some sweet Unabomber-style hair and beard.

--
Chuuch. Preach. Tabernacle.

Maybe a dose of reality would be better? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 06:53 · Score: 0

..

Something Else by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 07:03 · Score: 0

I suggest reading John Michael Greer's "The Long Descent" or "The Ecotechnic Future"

B. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 07:20 · Score: 0

We are The Borg. Resistance is futile.

Italian fascists? by emil · 2014-02-26 07:26 · Score: 1

Why does slashdot have an article about a WWII-era Italian art movement?

Or was this in reference to the Chicago theater?

If this was an article about "singulitarians," then we need to be more specific.

True Names by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 07:28 · Score: 0

"True Names" by Vernor Vinge.

A well written short story, and according to Wikipedia

"one of the earliest stories to present a fully fleshed-out concept of cyberspace, which would later be central to cyberpunk. The story also contains elements of transhumanism, anarchism, and even hints about The Singularity."

Available in PDF format here, copyright terms unclear: http://worldtracker.org/media/library/English%20Literature/V/Vinge,%20Vernor/Vernor%20Vinge%20-%20True%20Names.pdf

The Prefect by Alistair Reynolds by theshowmecanuck · 2014-02-26 07:56 · Score: 1

You should take excerpts from 'The Prefect' by Alistair Reynolds. It does a lot to explore augmented reality, people being interconnected to computer networks, instant voting, etc. as a cultural norm. It takes place in a distant future, but we are already encountering some of these things today.

--
-- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.

Futureland: Nine Stories from an Imminent World by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 08:13 · Score: 0

Representative of the sub-genre, Afrofuturism. As a collection of 9 loosely connected short stories, it's pretty easy to find one to match the tone you're looking for. Angel's Island and En Masse are 2 particular stories from the collection that I remember well.

Ready Player One: E. Cline by jnmontario · 2014-02-26 08:53 · Score: 1

Great story of the not-so-distant-future. While it's a lot lighter than most of the listings above, it's a glimpse of a possible future ruled by megacorporations and greed. Wait - isn't that now?

Technocracy Study Guide by dak664 · 2014-02-26 09:28 · Score: 1

http://www.technocracy.org/stu...

Written mostly during the 1930s by M. King Hubbert of peak oil infamy. Describes a sustainable society directed by science instead of wishful thinking.

Pffft Whatevah by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 09:37 · Score: 0

Sounds like a bunch of hoooey! Do some real research. I can't believe you work at Google and teach in a university. Have you ever taken any classes on education? Do you know what a learning objective is? Have you ever heard of research-based instruction? Do you think teaching is your personal platform? Have you even read any research material ever? On this topic?

Futurism by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 10:36 · Score: 0

Pretty much anything by Kurt Vonnegut. Not for the technology itself, but because of his profound insight that in fact, technology actually isn't helping us at all. Furthermore, technology cannot possibly help us.

Heinlein's "Where to?" by perry64 · 2014-02-26 10:43 · Score: 1

Or any of his "Future History."

I recommend this one in particular because this short essay discusses how to write futuristic stories or make futuristic predictions. One of his basic premises is that any predictions that view technology at advancing at a slowing rate, or even maintaining the "current" rate, will be bound to be too timid. Only predictions that are based upon an exponential rate will have a chance of coming true.

What is the point of such a course? by mtthwbrnd · 2014-02-26 12:23 · Score: 1

Why is it needed? Wouldn't it be more useful to study Medicine, Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Economics etc.. or even a foreign language?

How many jobs are out there where the qualifications includes this course?

Nope by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-26 22:10 · Score: 0

You're not supposed to use college as a platform to spread your religious beliefs.

Facing the Intelligence Explosion by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-27 02:27 · Score: 0

Facing the Intelligence Explosion
http://intelligenceexplosion.com/

"Sometime this century, machines will surpass human levels of intelligence and ability. This event—the “intelligence explosion”—will be the most important event in our history, and navigating it wisely will be the most important thing we can ever do."

"the toilet of tomorrow" by Anonymous Coward · 2014-02-27 06:06 · Score: 0

By Edmund Wells.

Kallocain by Lorens · 2014-02-27 07:11 · Score: 1

Examines government use of a truth drug.

Bonus: Wikipedia links to a full digital English translation

As much as I love Stephenson by MrResistor · 2014-02-27 18:37 · Score: 1

I think other authors have done a better job with postulating advances in technology. A few examples:

Charles Stross - Accelerando - One of the more believable and compelling projections of computer tech that I've read in a long time.

Linda Nagata - Vast - Similar projections for computer tech as above, plus genetic engineering. This was a recent random find in a used book store for me, and apparently the fourth book in a series called The Nanotech Succession. I will definitely be looking for more of her stuff.

Paolo Bacigalupi - The Windup Girl - Definitely the best I've seen for projection in biotech, and it hit me in a similar way as the first time I read Neuromancer a few decades ago. Definitely not for children, though. Pump Six And Other Stories is a collection of short stories set in the same world, but I don't know how well they would hold up on their own without the deeper context that TWG provides.

--
Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.

The Singularity - a documentary by dwolens · 2014-03-03 07:06 · Score: 1

Check out my documentary http://www.thesingularityfilm.... It's been described by the IEET as the "best film about the singularity to date." Just played in Cambridge last week, at Yale Friday night, Santa Fe this past weekend and ASU tomorrow. It's deep but accessible.

Just a thought by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-03 10:43 · Score: 0

Definetely "little brother" by cory doctorow.
I think (please tell me if not). but everything that he plants as fictional have people working on projects to make it happen.
Maybe the line between our reality and that of the book is something reachable but still it is a greeat achievement.

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Ask Slashdot: What Essays and Short Stories Should Be In a Course On Futurism?

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