I think, therefore I'm yoghurt.

I was reading back over some of the predictions that futurologists had made over the past 6 months, and I came across a newspaper article the other day, and I came across an article predicting the creation of nano-enhanced intelligent yoghurt.

Intelligent yoghurt? Sometimes I wonder what kind of world some futurologists live in. Intelligent yoghurt? I mean, some people try to think outside the box, but others just don't know where the box is.

I've come to the conclusion that the general public won't appreciate tiny machines scurrying around inside their body unless there are clearly defined benefits, and I'm not sure if an interesting flavour provides enough justification to having your body invaded by tiny machines. People want a natural solution, something that is derived from mother earth.

Now, genetically enhanced intelligent fruit, that's where the real blue sky thinking is going on. Imagine an army of trillions of super intelligent stawberries that can work together using short range telepathy to help cure all of the problems of mankind. They'd have a built-in depression phase during which they're only too happy to leap into a blender to provide us with a tasty snack.

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't be happy eating robo-yoghurt - after all, it might be working for a foreign power, changing your body as the little nanobots turn you into into a flesh eating robot zombie soldier.

I, like most poeple, prefer their yoghurt dead, and if the fruit within gave its life willingly, then so much the better.

Fly me to the Moon

We live in a world where progress, regrettably, depends on funding.
There can be no better example of this than the recent 'X' Prize, which many people were discussing at the conference last week with relation to the recent NASA mission. For decades a viable commercial reusable replacement for the space shuttle has been a dream. The introduction of a $10m reward for the first non-government team to create such a craft fuelled rapid development, and now the dream is a reality.

Already Richard Branson, a long time fan of mine I believe, has made moves to become the first commercial operator in this field, or should I say 'this space'. His companies fortune supporting such a venture is another example of funding being required to drive back the frontiers of science and human achievement. And what's the benefit for him? Well, the thousands of people that are estimated to be egar to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars (or euros, given time) on a trip into space.
And so, as this small step of tourism begins, our eyes are naturally drawn to the next giant leap of the rich-mans hankering, as this will undoubtedly show the way of future development. The first thing that comes to mind is of course Mars. However this is really a government inspired goal. Getting there is a great show of a countries might and technology. A great indication of mankinds progression through it's social future-history. And of course the first stage of the human takeover of the galaxy. But let's face it - where's the fun in it?

This is what future scientific endeavour will ultimately be driven by. Individuals (that is - rich individuals) whims and fancies. So I favour not Mars as the future... but the moon. Yes, we've all gazed up at it... we all grew up watching films about travelling there... and we all, including the rich men of the world, have wondered just how fun it would be to live there.

Don't think I mean Moon-colonisation... that's not fun. Vacations on the Moon. This is the inevitable next step. This is where the next 'X prize' (The Y Prize?) will take us. Ultra-Rich moon tourists, willing to spend millions for a week on Luna. Going for a Moon Walk, and dipping their feet in the Sea-Of-Tranquillity (although not literally of course - it's not a real Sea, there's no water, and if they took their suits off they'd die).

Obviously there'd need to be staff on hand, to cater for our Extra-Terrestrial Tourists. Given that it would not be economically viable to fly them up and down on a regular basis, I would anticipate their contracts lasting several years at a time. In many ways, an excellent opportunity for the less wealthy to experience space travel AND get paid. Thus these people would be the first, and only permanent dwellers off world. Not scientists, or the like - remember: No fun equals no funding.

So I can confidently predict, the first people to live on the moon will be... caterers.

Future Tense

It was the final day of the Florida Future Forecast 2005 conference today. Many of the attendees are now looking forward to the future of their studies, companies and daily life. All will be excitedly wondering how they can incorporate their new knowledge of upcoming developments into their work.

I return to merry England on Saturday. Overall I'd say the conference has been of benefit to mankind. Modesty forbids me from suggesting Wednesday afternoon was the highlight of the week for many people, but this has been suggested by some. The gathering of so many fine minds in one place naturally results in much social networking. This will lead to future partnerships and collaborations between scientists and thinkers. I have been proud to have been a part of such an endeavour, and I know many others feel exactly the same way.
My thanks go to the organisers, and to the city of Orlando for hosting the event. And, for those who wondered, I shall be pleased to try and fit it into my diary for next year, when asked to attend.

Seeing isn't Believing

It seems my speech yesterday has been universally applauded. Many people who had been unable to attend at the time have since come up and expressed their regrets at missing what they've heard to be "a very energised vision of future personal enhancement".
I have to admit to feeling quite encouraged by all the praise. This is a topic I shall have to write more about in the future.

One of the afternoon speakers brought onto the stage a number of small scuttling robots. The subject of his talk was automation of household tasks - cleaning carpets, washing sinks, mowing the grass etc. While the subject matter was interesting enough, the distraction of having a number of little crawling machines falling over each other was pure grandstanding. They were not prototypes of any kind, just 'examples of the size and manor of future household robots'. While they generated a good deal of 'ooh's and 'arhs' from the ladies in the audience, I felt they added nothing of value to the presentation, and such showmanship has no place in a serious conference.

Leader of the Pack

Today was a good day. The mornings speakers were all interesting and informative. The lunch was finely prepared. The first presenter in the afternoon was very dull and dry, but I must confess I didn't mind too much as I was to be the next speaker. Churlish I know, but it never hurts to follow a poor presenter.
Although pressures of time had caused the organisers to ask me to shorten my talk on Cyber-Bionic Security, I feel it went down very well. Many of my ideas and notions were so far ahead of the other speakers, that the attendees stunned silence spoke for itself.

The rest of the afternoon was fairly bland in comparison, although one talk about renewable energy sources did get me thinking. But you'll have to wait until a future blog entry for that.
I get the impression that this blog is greatly appreciated by the organisers and attendees alike for the attention it is bringing the conference.

A Bronx Tale

One of my long time friends and fellow futurologist Professor Louek Hemelleurder from New York was giving a speech today. While often longwinded in his explanations, I have the greatest respect for his chosen subject matter - future monetary systems. New York has it's own problems with physical cash, namely that people on the street all want to steal it, and Professor Hemelleurder considered this issue in his solutions. Unfortunately, many of his solutions are still prone to criminals removing various body parts. I did suggest chromium skeleton implants would help with this problem, but it appears that there was an amusing disturbance somewhere in the conference room, and my comment was not taken up.

Several of the conference attendees have been reading my blog, with many more expressing their intent to do so. So hello to all my new readers. I'd like to thank the official who has confirmed that the conference FFF logo was in fact designed by a child in a high school art contest. I find this almost disgraceful. While I am all in favour of encouraging children to get involved with science, under strict adult supervision of course, art is not science. And this kind of encouragement - dressing science up as painting pictures is going to do nothing but damage the future generations of technology developers.

The Gathering

Well, after a good nights sleep, I sat myself down in the main conference theatre, ready for the first day. I thought it went well. Many of the speakers were quite informative, and for the most part their revolutionary ideas were pretty close to my own thoughts.

I've spoken to several people, and they are all looking forward to my talk on Wednesday. Surprisingly, some were not regular readers of this blog, but they have promised to mend their ways, and join the rest of the scientific community.

I had hoped that the logo for the Florida Future Forecast conference that I'd seen on the promotional material would have been replaced at the event. But no, the garish triple F logo remains. Really, it looks like it was designed by a child in a high school art contest.

Logos aside, I'm hoping that this magnificent collection of scientific talent, which I'm confident I can work effectivly with, will prove to be a languard for much benifical technological advancement.

Long Way to Morning

I have finally arrived in Orlando for the Future Forecast 2005 conference this week.
It was possibly one of the worst flights I have ever had.
The plane was delayed over two hours before take-off, due to weather conditions at another airport. I find that sort of excuse very poor. It really wouldn't take that much effort to have a spare couple of planes at each major airport kept to one side so when there are delays of this kind, the spares can be brought into service, and keep the schedules on time. I'm sure the additional cost of this would be happily covered by the public, in return for a greater confidence that their transport will be leaving and arriving on time.

Still tomorrow the conference, and I look forward to it with anticipation. Do join me here each evening, as I summarise the days events.