Future Today #048 - Future Thinkers, Global Risks, Natural Machines

Welcome to Future Today!?A newsletter for those curious about social innovation, disruptive technologies and futures studies. In it I share weekly articles, reports and interesting links, and recommendations of books, movies, series, events and courses.

?? The Daily Habits of Future Thinkers. The future thinking muscle — an enlightened brain — requires just as much habitual fitness as lungs might need constant challenge and toning for a marathoner. We asked some of our member future thinkers, what made their 24 hour cycle come to pass when it comes to minting and perfecting their craft.?

?? Natural Machines. The robots, machines and smart systems that human beings have developed over the centuries – and with particular fervor in recent decades – have almost always been inspired by nature. One day, these devices may become so “biocompatible” that we don’t even notice them anymore.

?? David Chalmers: “I’d love to come back every 100 years to take a look”. During the 2020 lockdown, the philosopher David Chalmers, a director at New York University’s Center for Mind, Brain and Consciousness, started to hang out with other philosophers in virtual reality (VR). The eight of them, scattered around the world, still don their Oculus Quest headsets weekly to fly with angel wings in AltspaceVR, play games such as Beat Saber, or deliver lectures.?

?? Virtual Reality adn Metaverses in the 20th and 21st centuries, pioneers and experts of Cyberiada (ES). We are witnessing a new wave of metaverses and virtual reality, "triggered" by the mega presentation of Meta in October of last year 2021, a great exercise in "techno-propaganda", carried out by Mark Zuckerberg himself.

?? The Business Value of Sustainability. Climate trends and social forces are converging to push us into the Next Economy. With a backdrop of the looming threat of ecological collapse, consumers and employees now expect brands to address critical issues like the global climate crisis, social justice, workplace diversity, equity and inclusion.

?? Global Risks Report 2022. In the Global Risks Report 2022 , we share the results of the latest Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS)in the context of the current global outlook, followed by an analysis of growing divergences in the areas of climate transition, cybersecurity, mobility, and outer space.

?? New Brain Maps Can Predict Behaviors. Last summer a group of Harvard University neuroscientists and Google engineers released the first wiring diagram of a piece of the human brain. The tissue, about the size of a pinhead, had been preserved, stained with heavy metals, cut into 5,000 slices and imaged under an electron microscope.

?? The cone of the past. The past imperfect and conditional tenses. In a conversation with Professor Bishop, I did not miss the opportunity to ask him what would happen in reverse. That is, what would happen if historians used the same methods employed in studies of the future to examine the past.?

?? We can’t afford to stop solar geoengineering research. Last month, I attended the American Geophysical Union meeting in New Orleans, where 26,000 geoscientists convened in person and virtually to share the latest Earth and climate science.

?? The James Webb space telescope just detected its first signal. This week NASA released the thrilling news that as the James Webb Space Telescope begins its three-month alignment process, the Webb team saw the first photons of starlight that traveled through the entire telescope, detected by the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam).

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