Seasteading Institute: they want to experiment with new political forms by starting new countries on the high seas. @Beneblog

This is an exciting vision ... cutting edge for sure.

"A newspaper is collection of alphabet in ink on paper that was written yesterday, about today, and is worthless tomorrow."

by Steve O'Keefe

Accuracy of Kurzweils Forcasts http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/ray-kurzweils-slippery-futurism

This article is an interesting item by item evaluation of the forecasts made by Ray Kurzweil over the past few decades. The author's conclusion is that Kurzweil has done very well if the forecasts are interpreted broadly, but not so well if examined for specifics.

Ray Kurzweil (Variations on a theme)

Kurzweil's projections of the future (as I understand them) are based on the assumption of exponential growth ... compounding information ... which is happening in many fields. This results in sharp cost declines and expanding innovation. This growth is often ignored in the early stages of compounding from a very low basis.

The rate of exponential growth is actually accelerating in some instances as the progress in various fields such as AI, Nano technology, and biology increasingly feed into each other. The consequence can be a "singularity" in 2045 when computer based intelligences significantly exceed the sum of human brain power.

Wikipedia donation

Donated $50 today to help maintain this amazing service that I use every day. #keepitfree

Minitrends

This new book by John Vanston is a valuable reference for futurists, both beginners and professionals. Starting with the advise to "follow the money" in chapter 2, he proceeds to provide specifics on how to do just that.

Unfortunately Dr. Vanston gets a bit too academic for my tastes in the last two sections of the book. Oh well, the rest of the book is certainly worth the reading.

Surfing the Singularity

So many interesting things to pursue once I step out of the mindset of making money. Easy to get high with so many goodies available on the internet at no charge. Millions of other explorers contributing their insights and discoveries in real time.