Future Today #052 - LQVD, Neuralink, CleanTech, Other Futures

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.

?? Lo Que Vendrá Después 2022 (ES) This 2022, from Innuba, we have tried to make a reflection exercise that seeks to glimpse positive horizons. We launched 10 conscious transitions for positive futures on such relevant and complex issues as the ecological transition, mental health, the metaverse or the future of work.

?? The Science Behind Elon Musk’s Neuralink Brain Chip. Neuralink, Elon Musk’s brain chip, recently pushed back on claims that they violated animal welfare laws a few years ago, while testing on monkeys. This year, the company plans to test on human subjects. What does this mean for brain implant science?

?? Introducing Regenerative and Distributive Design. In this tool Kate Raworth introduces the core concepts behind the transformations that are needed to bring about these two design dynamics: from economies that are degenerative to ones that are regenerative by design & from economies that are deeply divisive to ones that are distributive by design.

?? Scientists Propose Permanent Human Habitat Built Orbiting Ceres. A group of Finnish researchers are proposing a permanent human habitat in the orbit of Ceres, a massive asteroid and dwarf planet in the asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter. According to the team, this “megasatellite settlement” could be built by collecting materials from Ceres itself.

?? Could ‘Don’t Look Up’ Have Ended Differently? We solicited alternate — and more optimistic — endings from an international array of climate experts and legends whose specialties range from meteorology to community activism. “I love the idea of climate leaders, activists and scientists showing us how we can, in fact, create a different ending,” McKay says.

?? Imagine Other Futures. Dry forecasts of climate impacts preserve “business as usual” — the extractive capitalist systems that created the crisis in the first place. What we need to imagine are entirely new socioeconomic configurations.

?? Sponge cities as a response to climate change (ES) This model designed by architect Yu Kongjian to absorb rainwater is applied in more than 30 Chinese cities and has been exported to a dozen countries. It is inspired by agricultural traditions for its proposal of sponge cities against floods and as a way of adapting to climate change.?

?? Facebook’s New Camera Glasses Are Dangerously Easy to Use. Facebook is notorios for borrowing ideas from other tech companies, then taking advantage of its massive global platform and its expertise in building sticky apps to bring those ideas into the mainstream.?

?? CleanTech to save the planet. We tend to think of technology as something gray, but, if we were to make a synesthetic effort, we would see that in reality, many of the advances that are being produced and projected today are green. Hydroponic crops, renewable energies, artificial meat...?

?? HSBC to become first global financial services provider to enter The Sandbox. HSBC, one of the world’s largest international banking and financial services providers, and The Sandbox, a leading decentralized gaming virtual world and subsidiary of Animoca Brands, today announced a new partnership that will open up a host of opportunities for virtual communities across the world to engage with global financial services providers and sports communities in The Sandbox metaverse.

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???Read the newsletter in Spanish