Here’s another first at VCTB – the first time I’ve bothered reposting something I saw on YouTube.

Being an incorrigible science fiction reader, and leaning toward the harder end of the spectrum, I’ve heard plenty about nanofactories (or ‘replicators’, or ‘fabbers’ as they are sometimes called). But to actually see a visualisation of how one would work was pretty inspirational. Continue reading “A tour of a nanofactory”

Modern communication technologies such as the internet are providing new tools and channels for citizens to use in their interaction with governments – and vice versa. Is it time for citizens and governments alike to accept the changed landscape of politics, and begin opening up the ‘source code’ of democracy to closer inspection?

Continue reading “Democracy 2.0 – Opening the Black Boxes of Government”

Cory Doctorow’s latest column for Locus Online discusses the topical hot potato of copyright, in the context of a world where the electronic distribution of entertainment media is becoming increasingly commonplace; his previous piece had a similar remit. The thing that astonished me most about these two columns was this: the utter lack of public reaction to them from the online sf community.

Continue reading “Has science fiction gone future-blind?”

I love libraries, and not just because I work at one. Libraries kept my brain well fed when I was a kid (as well as providing somewhere to go where a lot of other kids wouldn’t be), and supplied me with dreams, ideas and new experiences. Most libraries today, however, look rather old-fashioned when seen through the eyes of young people raised in a digital age, and are underused by that demographic as a result.

They might not seem so dated were they to have devices like this available, though:

Continue reading “Biblioroll – technology and the future of books and libraries”

This is the first (and, I expect, the last) time I open up with a Biblical quote, but it’s one that I feel has a certain relevance to both science fiction and the world we live in:

[Ecclesiastes 1:9] What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Continue reading “Nothing new under the sun?”

After a week of flim-flam over a real non-story (Pluto will not change shape or size, no matter what it gets labelled as), it’s a real relief to find something in the RSS feeds that really gets your motor running. MIT’s eLens project is just such a thing. Continue reading “The Real World Web – envisioning a future of ubiquitous information”

Sounds good, doesn’t it? I know I’d like to spend less hours with my nose to someone else’s grindstone, and I imagine my American readers feel even more strongly than I do, as studies indicate they work even harder (and longer hours) than we British. Continue reading “The 6 hour work-day”

ADHD is a pretty controversial topic at the best of times; throwing the Singularity into the mix only adds to that. Continue reading “ADHD and the Singularity”

If you read this site regularly, you’ll know that I do tend to be a bit wide-eyed and ZOMG!!! about new technologies and gadgets. I also describe myself as a futurist, which is a word with a highly contentious set of meanings, but can be broadly described as a person who tries to peer ahead into the coming years to see not only where we are heading as a species, but hopefully what obstacles (or power-ups) lie around the next corner, too. Continue reading “Looking beyond the gadgets”

This evening, I’ve got my serious futurismist head on. Let’s talk about the Singularity. Continue reading “Don’t fear the future”