Speculations

September 6, 2011: Augmented Reality

Teaser: 

Pat Rapp will discuss Augmented Reality, the real-time enhancement of our real world with digital information. Pat is a co-founder and Director of the Center for Virtual Worlds Education and Research and Webmaster for the Fairport Public Library. Fire up your favorite augmented reality game and join us in the Community Room at the Pittsford Barnes & Noble at 7pm on Tuesday, September 6.

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Science Fiction Ideas that Came True - ABC News

Submitted by eDave on Wed, 07/28/2010 - 19:05

ABC story discussing tech storied in science fiction that has come to fruition. Click the title for more.

2034: Writing Rochester's Futures - Order Today!

Submitted by eDave on Tue, 11/17/2009 - 11:28

Books have arrived! Order 2034: Writing Rochester's Futures from our online store!

We are pleased to announce that the anthology, 2034: Writing Rochester's Futures, is being published under R-SPEC's own new imprint, R-SPEC Press. The cover price for 2034 is $14.95, and it is a 248-page, "perfect" bound, 6"x9" trade paperback with a nice, glossy, color cover rendered by David Pascal. A launch party is being planned and will be announced.

At this time, we offer you the opportunity to pre-order copies of the book, which makes an excellent gift. Please click the title of this post for complete details and ordering information.

Borders Launches SpecFic Blog

Submitted by eDave on Fri, 06/05/2009 - 09:11

io9 reports that Borders has launched its own blog pitched as a sci-fi blog, but addressing much more as a result of miscategorization of the content creator's works. (Author Kim Harrison is the content creator of the blog.) Click the title for more, including links.

Use Bacteria to Slow Desertification and Create Housing in One Fell Swoop?

Submitted by eDave on Thu, 04/30/2009 - 07:15

Bacterium transforms sand into sandstone in proposal to stop the Sahara's growth. Could the cat be put back in the bag if used? Could this be used to terraform sandy planets? The bacterium in question is all around us and has been the subject of other proposals. Click the title for more.

Eric Scoles: Robots of the Oil Swamp

Submitted by melvin on Sat, 07/14/2007 - 20:59

I could envision great, sealed cities on the edge of seething hydrocarbon swamps habitable only by the most adaptable of organisms, and tended by fleets of fragmentarily sentient fuel-cell powered robots. Eventually, the robots might form their own cities (or be organized into them by a retreating humanity), existing only to tend (and perhaps contain) their swamps.

These robot cultures would evolve; they would not remain static. Evolution would apply to them as it does to us...


Sources

Submitted by melvin on Sat, 07/14/2007 - 21:08

Several sources where one can find informed speculation about the future, and lucid reasons why some of those possibilities are more likely than others.

Robin Learning: Welcome To The Apocalypse

Submitted by melvin on Sat, 07/14/2007 - 21:02

In the Fall of 1992 Professor K. Eric Drexler was summoned to a private meeting with Admiral David E. Jeremiah, Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"Jeremiah was appalled," observed journalist Ed Regis.

Not without reason. Professor Drexler had informed him that a new form of technology was on the verge of development. Nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology had the capacity to take apart any physical object, any amount of physical objects, atom by atom.

In the course of doing so, it could record the structure of any physical object atom by atom, and then, unlike all the King's horses and all the King's men, put it all back together again, atom by atom.

Nanotechnolgy could even put it back together as some other physical object it had thus mapped. In other words it could put together any physically possible object you could imagine.

Nanotechnology would render all of America's defenses completely useless.

...

Audio Rights from Device Readings of Works?

Submitted by eDave on Wed, 02/25/2009 - 09:20

President Alicia Henn posted a link to this (well-written) article by Roy Blount, Jr., addressing the question of whether authors should receive payment for audio rights as a result of Kindle 2 (and other similar devices) converting text versions of works to speech.

An interesting question. My initial impression is that having your device read your book aloud is no different than having a friend read it to you. That seems like a fair use of the product that you have purchased. However, Blount presents a strong case for author compensation as a result of Kindle readings. Click the title to see why.

Site updates underway

Submitted by eDave on Fri, 02/20/2009 - 12:27

As visitors may have noticed, it had been a long time since the site had been updated. There were good reasons for that, but events have transpired that have enabled those of us who can to resume updates. Updates across the board will take some time, but we'll have a bit every week.

 

Huzzah!