Star Trek, along with other science fiction futures, has given us many things, apart from a vision of humanity that is hopefully a little better than we prove to be, but also a taste of what technology can be like when it is integrated so fully into people’s lives that it’s nearly taken for granted. [...]

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the kind of technology and scientific understanding that would need to go into a computer like the one on the Enterprise in Star Trek, and specifically its interaction with people. It’s a computer that can respond to questions in context—that is, you don’t have to restart in every [...]

In the replies to my article about nuclear power, there were statements about the supply of uranium the world can provide and that in the end, nuclear power may not be the panacea we hope it would be. I respectfully disagree. First, let me state my bias: I am an optimist. I almost never buy [...]

In the future, when you have your first humanoid robot servant and you decide to have some fun with it, and you tell it to do something stupid and arbitrary like go stand in the corner for no reason, put itself in embarrassing poses, or anything generally “abusive”, will you feel bad afterwards? Should you? [...]

With this post, I’m beginning a new series or category of bog posts that I’m loosely terming “A Better Future.” I’ve been thinking a lot about the grail of infinite power, coupled with the enormous rise in gas prices this week. While I am all in favor of reducing wasteful consumption, increasing efficiency, and generally [...]