Worldchanging ally Charlie Stross is not only a science fiction writer of some reknown, but one of our best thinkers about technology and the future as well. Recently he published the following speech on his blog. It’s a sharp piece of thinking, which informs in new ways all sorts of subjects we’ve covered here before, and he’s graciously given us permission to post it here as well. -Alex Shaping the future Good afternoon, and thank you for inviting me here today. I understand that you’re expecting a talk about where the next 20 years are taking us, how far technology will go, how people will use the net, and whether big shoulder pads and food pills will be fashionable. Personally, I’m still waiting for my personal jet car — I’ve been waiting about fifty years now — and I mention this as a note of caution: while personal jet cars aren’t obviously impossible, their non-appearance should give us some insights into how attempts to predict the future go wrong. I’m a science fiction writer by trade, and people often think that means I spend a lot of time trying to predict possible futures. Actually, that’s not the job of the… (more)
(Posted by WorldChanging Team in Emerging Technologies at 11:04 AM)