July 03 2008 / by futuretalk
Category: Other Year: General Rating: 8 Hot New
A glance at what life may be like ten millennia from now, by
Dick Pelletier
Of course, nobody can predict exactly how the future will unfold
in 10,000 years, but by tracking technology advances expected in
the coming centuries, we see changes that will transform humanity
into super-intelligent beings focused on developing space,
exploring universes, and traveling through time. 
Imagine if you could peek in on the dinosaurs’ first-hand, enjoy
an exotic vacation thousands of light years from Earth, or jump
into a parallel universe where another you is living a far more
exciting life than yours – and you could stay there if you
like.
For years, scientists around the world have bandied about the
revolutionary idea that future humans could zip across the universe
using wormholes as high-speed portals enabling faster-than-light
travel to explore space, enter other universes, and witness the
past and future.
Wormholes enable travel between its two openings. One end of the
wormhole stays home while the other is carted away at sub-light
velocities to the destination, connecting the two locations through
a tunnel in warped space-time. A person enters the wormhole, and
depending on the connection, exits to a remote destination in
space, another time in the past or future, or into a parallel
universe.
Consensus among most scientists has been that wormholes are so
destructive; people would be torn to subatomic bits if they tried
such a thing. However, a new paper by University of Utah physicist
Lior Burko now raises the possibility that wormholes may not
annihilate all matter, and the potential for hyperspace travel
could one day be realized. (cont.)
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July 03 2008 / by futuretalk
Category: Communication Year: General Rating: 8 Hot New
By Dick Pelletier
Futurist Ray Kurzweil, in his book “The Singularity is near”,
offers the possibility that computers will one day become
self-aware, which will result in the melding of humans and
machines. He sees this process well underway by 2025, as nanobots
begin to surf bloodstreams to combat disease and alter our brains
to increase intelligence. 
In a recent article appearing in The Futurist, “Cybercrime in
the year 2025,” criminal-justice expert Gene Stephens predicts that
computer and Internet use will become seamless, as hands-free,
voice-activated data entry and retrieval becomes commonplace
between 2010 and 2015. By 2020, nanotech will increasingly impact
cyberspace; and as we try to gain the most advantages possible from
our new “wonder-net,” dangerous security gaps will emerge that
could turn into nightmares if not handled carefully.
For example, in 2025, as databots are implanted in users’
brains, secure firewalls must be developed to keep intruders from
hacking into the ‘bots and terrorizing recipients. “Could there be
a more frightening crime than having your brain-stored knowledge
erased or scrambled,” Stephens asks, “or hearing voices threatening
to destroy your memory unless you pay blackmail? Welcome to the
world of mindstalking.”
This brings us to the long-ignored issues of who owns the
Internet, manages it, and has jurisdiction over it. The answer now
is: nobody. Can this powerful socio-politico-economic network
continue to operate at random, open to all, and thus be vulnerable
to bad guys? Attempts to restrict or police the web are met with
idealists who believe that the Internet should always be free from
“big brother’s” interference. (cont.)
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July 01 2008 / by futuretalk
Category: Health & Medicine Year: General Rating: 6 Hot New
By Dick Pelletier
Northwestern University’s Dr. Richard Burt has treated 170
patients with stem cells, and increasingly, others are following
his lead. There are now more than 1,000 stem-cell therapies in
early human trials around the world. 
The majority use cells from patients’ own bone marrow, but some
also use cells from healthy adults, and last year the first patient
was treated with embryonic cells, which have triggered debate in
the U.S. After working its way out of science fiction, stem-cell
therapies are finally becoming scientific fact.
Burt has treated patients with lupus, arthritis and a host of
other disorders. He’s just written up the results of a stem-cell
trial for type-1 diabetes. Three years after treatment, some
patients now have normal blood sugar and do not require insulin.
Trials for Lou Gehrig’s disease and autism are next.
The FDA is fast-tracking stem-cell
therapy for leukemia which could hit the market later this year.
And an approach that has helped congestive heart failure patients
abroad is coming to America. Amit Patel, at the University of
Pittsburgh, has injected 10 patients’ own stem cells into their
hearts and has consulted on 2,000 similar operations worldwide.
Stem cells help the heart by forming new blood vessels.
By the end of the next decade, researchers predict this wonder
technology will create new heart muscle – and even a complete heart
– but this may require the use of embryonic stem cells, which
regulations currently deny government funding. (cont.)
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July 01 2008 / by futuretalk
Category: Space Year: General Rating: 12 Hot New
By Dick Pelletier
Space tourism has come a long way in a short time. The idea was
just a dream in the 1990s, but recently, tourists have shelled out
mega-bucks for a glimpse of the wild blue yonder. 
Though only the rich can afford space travel today, experts
predict prices will drop with new systems under development. Later
this year, Virgin Galactic’s returnable Space-Ship-Two hopes to
provide orbital round-trips for $200,000, and one-day, take
vacationers to the moon.
By 2030, the Space Elevator, a revolutionary system under
development now would climb up a nanotech-ribbon extending 62,000
miles from Earth to space and could transport passengers into the
wild blue yonder for as low as $20,000 initially, then prices could
drop to the $2,000-per-person range when multiple elevators become
available.
As more people become space travelers, they will need a place to
stay. Budget Suites of America owner Robert Bigelow has launched
the first phase of a human-rated habitat module dubbed Sundancer,
to an altitude of 250 nautical miles at an orbital inclination of
40 degrees. Once Sundancer is in position and verified safe,
Bigelow will add more sections creating a full-scale
lodging/industrial complex as early as the middle of next
decade.
Satellite Industry Association President Richard Dalbello says,
“Once hotel companies start to build and operate orbital
accommodations, they will be endlessly improving them and competing
to build more exotic facilities”. We will see hotels that provide
normal gravity for rooms, bars, and restaurants; and gravity-free
areas for recreation and sports activities. (cont.)
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June 30 2008 / by futuretalk
Category: Communication Year: General Rating: 9 Hot New
By Dick Pelletier
In the last two decades, advances in computing technology, from
processing speed to network capacity and the Internet, have
revolutionized our lives. From sequencing genomes to monitoring the
climate, many scientific advances would have been impossible
without an increase in computing power – and now with quantum
computers (QC) 
on the verge of harnessing atoms and molecules to calculate
billions of times faster than silicon-based computers, scientists
predict an even more amazing future unfolding.
In a recent
Fortune Magazine article, writers Peter Schwartz and Rita
Koselka describe a QC world that includes microscopic sensors
embedded in our homes, vehicles, and workplace that monitor our
well-being 24/7; and a thin headband of ultrasonic transducers that
wirelessly transmits information both ways between the Internet and
our brain, and to other headbands.
UVA scientist Stuart Wolf anticipates
that within 20 years, instead of cell-phone conversations we will
have “network-enabled telepathy” – we will ‘speak’ directly to
another person’s headband from anywhere in the world using just our
thoughts.
Several trends drive this future forward. The cell-phone and PC
are already beginning to merge and will eventually be reduced to
mere ‘chips’ on our headband. If you wonder how devices can get
smaller and still be accessible, keep in mind that vastly-improved
voice-recognition software will soon arrive.
While voice technology only works efficiently on fast processors
today, rising bandwidth will one day make this the only way to
communicate with PCs and cell-phones. Goodbye keyboard!
The following scenario portrays what life might be like in this
quantum future:
(cont.)
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June 27 2008 / by futuretalk
Category: Information Year: General Rating: 7 Hot New
By Dick Pelletier
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips will soon be used in
stores at point-of-sale checkout to replace cashiers. Sensors can
detect purchases and automatically charge your ATM or credit card – or direct you to a cash machine.
Merchants eliminate cashiers, and in our competitive world, some of
the savings gets passed on to customers in lower prices. 
Wal-Mart recently ordered 100 of its suppliers to place
RFID tags on pallets and cases. They plan
to start with inventory control, and evolve into this new
technology over the coming years. Target, Home Depot, Kroger,
Safeway, and most other stores are expected to follow soon.
This revolutionary identification system also gives merchants
more security. If a certain Beverly Hills store had installed
RFID tags, a famous actress would not
have been caught shoplifting. Sensors would have detected her
purchases as she walked out the door, and automatically charged her
credit card – no harm no foul.
RFID chips can also be implanted in
our body. Whether it’s your little one’s first day walking home
from the bus stop alone, or the millionth time she’s wandered too
far from the house, a chip under her collarbone reports her exact
location. You chart her every move. This allows her to become more
independent, and it gives you greater peace of mind.
This is not as futuristic as it sounds. Driven by 9/11, the
Department of Homeland Security, in its US-VISIT program, is
testing biometrics in a $15 billion attempt to build a “virtual
border” around the country. This high-priority project will use
facial recognition, fingerprint, hand geometry, and iris and voice
recognition in an attempt to separate bad guys from good guys.
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June 26 2008 / by futuretalk
Category: Health & Medicine Year: General Rating: 10 Hot New
By Dick Pelletier
Scientist and entrepreneur Ray Kurzweil claims that biotech and
nanotech advances expected over the next two decades will be
sufficient for humanity to slow down aging and make a realistic
stab at ending death. 
Kurzweil should not be taken lightly. Called “the ultimate
thinking machine” by Forbes magazine, his enthusiastic fans range
from Bill Gates to Bill Clinton, and a recent Time magazine article
compared him with the genius of Thomas Edison.
Kurzweil believes that unraveling the human genome has enabled
researchers to begin development of powerful technologies that
promise to re-grow cells, tissues, and organs; reverse aging;
correct bad genes; and build nanobots the size of blood cells that
will roam through our bodies keeping us forever young and
healthy.
In his bestselling book, Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to
Live Forever, co-authored with Terry Grossman, M.D., Kurzweil says,
“Whereas some of my contemporaries may be satisfied to embrace
aging gracefully as part of the cycle of life; that is not my view.
It may be ‘natural’, but I don’t see anything positive in losing my
mental agility, sensory acuity, physical limberness, sexual desire,
or any other human ability”.
In a recent interview with CNN’s
Fredricka Whitfield, Kurzweil revealed steps outlined in his book
that bridge the gulf between today, when medical help focuses more
on treating symptoms than cures; and tomorrow, when biotech and
nanotech revolutions promise so many miracles. Kurzweil divides
these steps, which he says anyone can take, into three bridges.
(cont.)
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June 24 2008 / by futuretalk
Category: Energy Year: General Rating: 6 Hot
By Dick Pelletier
Energy is the life-blood of America – it affects our economy,
standard of living and national security. Our prime energy source,
oil, is a product we can no longer afford. Four-to-five dollar per
gallon gas prices, air pollution, and global warming has brought us
to the point where we must find a better energy source. 
Experts predict that by 2030, new energy technologies described
below could drastically cut our oil consumption, and slash reliance
on electricity-producing fossil fuels like coal and natural gas
almost entirely. Added to our portfolio of existing nuclear and
hydroelectric power, these new energy sources could virtually
eliminate our reliance on fossil fuels to run our homes and
economy.
Bio-fuels – in the nation’s heartland, scientists are working to
turn agricultural waste or ‘biomass’ such as switchgrass, wheat
straw, cornstalks and miscanthus into a fuel called cellulosic
ethanol that could be produced commercially. Department of Energy
(DOE) officials believe that by 2030, bio-fuels could meet 30
percent of our transportation fuel needs.
Hydrogen – this new technology stores energy more effectively
than batteries, burns twice as efficiently in a fuel cell as
gasoline does in an internal combustion engine and leaves only
water. It’s plentiful, clean, and capable of powering cars, homes
and factories. The DOE predicts an
all-hydrogen vehicle could become price effective by 2020; and by
2030, this renewable non-polluting energy could power ten percent
of our cars, homes and factories; by 2050, 50 percent. (cont.)
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June 24 2008 / by futuretalk
Category: Technology Year: General Rating: 9 Hot
By Dick Pelletier
Imagine a machine that sets the table, creates and serves
dinner, cleans house, and never complains. This may sound like
something out of The Jetsons, but in labs everywhere, scientists
believe that one day, we will share our homes with loyal robot
servants that enthusiastically tackle mundane chores, freeing us
for more fulfilling activities. 
Carnegie Mellon’s Hans Moravec believes that by 2020, we will
create robots in humanoid form, able to express reasoning and
emotion, and eager to perform household tasks. These “smart”
machines will walk the dog, put groceries away, find and fetch
things, mimic human feelings of compassion and love, and become
friends with family members.
2020s robots will appear amazingly human-like. Moravec suggests
they could be powered by fuel cells that are cooled by a squeeze
pump which beats like a heart while circulating alcohol as a
coolant. They would “drink wine” for fuel, and breathe air like
humans.
Design tricks like these, along with soft “nanoskin” will make
tomorrow’s ‘bots seem uncannily human, encouraging us to perceive
them as friends. Author Ray Kurzweil says tomorrow’s ‘droids could
quickly learn to flesh out positive feelings, which would provide
an allure difficult for humans to resist.
How about robo-love? Jason Nemeth, in his essay,
Should Robots Feel, believes love-companion robots will be
practical in the future and could easily fill the role of a
partner, satisfying our intimacy needs. Nemeth is not sure whether
human/robot love would experience higher success rate than love
between two humans; but he says technologies will unlock the
possibilities, and human curiosity will make it happen. (cont.)
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June 23 2008 / by futuretalk
Category: Other Year: General Rating: 8 Hot
By Dick Pelletier
The World Health Organization describes good health as “a state
of complete physical, mental, and social well-being”. This sounds
like utopia, but what does it actually mean? 
Besides family, friends, a faithful pet, and plenty of clean
air and sunshine, what else contributes to our well-being? We could
add feeling happy, feeling smart, and being in control of our
bodies.
According to a recent article in New Scientist Magazine, most
people enjoy the conveniences in today’s modern homes – air
conditioning, entertainment, appliances, etc. Cars also provide
freedom and joy on the open road; and the Internet empowers us with
easy access to information and new ways to communicate with
friends.
Modern drugs prevent or delay the onset of heart disease,
cancer, and mental disorders, which give us greater control over
our bodies.
But life has not always been this good: 100 years ago, average
lifespan was in the 40’s. Child mortality, malaria, TB,
malnutrition, and warfare were the most common culprits that
brought life to an end. Yet, in spite of living short,
disease-ridden lives, our ancestors survived.
My great grandmother lived from 1855 to 1946. At a young age,
she left her home in Indiana and headed west. She married,
homesteaded a farm, and gave birth to 15 children. This would be
difficult for many, but Grandma was tough. Fortunately for me, she
survived and our lineage continued. (cont.)
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