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Future of technology

Essays and videos on social issues, history, political life and the future

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Illustration of a robotic nanodevice navigating in a blood vessel with red and white blood cells.

essayFuture of technology

Techno-pipe dreams

Thirty years ago, nanotech was about to change everything. Let’s not get tricked again by Silicon Valley’s magical thinking

Philip Ball

Futuristic digital artwork of Earth with two large transparent rings arching over it in space.

videoEngineering

Building a prosperous future demands bold ideas. These are some of the boldest

40 minutes

Enhanced image of Ceres’ surface showing a bright crater and stars in space.

essaySpace exploration

Have they been here?

When we look for extraterrestrials, we often peer into the depths of space. But alien life might be closer than you think

Ravi Kopparapu & Jacob Haqq Misra

Abstract digital art with glowing spirals and spheres on a dark background.

videoComputing and artificial intelligence

A future in which ‘artificial scientists’ make discoveries may not be far away

9 minutes

Painting of passengers in a 19th century bus, featuring men and women in period dress, one holding a basket of flowers.

essayStories and literature

Elegance and hustle

How French modernists from Proust to Mallarmé were alarmed and inspired by the voracious dynamism of the newspaper world

Max McGuinness

Hand-drawn diagram titled “Free-Form Discrete H’Texts” showing a map with two-way links and a flowchart with one-way links.

essayFuture of technology

A linkless internet

In creating anonymous summaries, AI flattens out all the fascinating architecture of thought that makes the internet hum

Collin Jennings

A DNA double helix with overlapping images: lined pages, the printed pages of an old book, and a painted portrait of a woman that is the Mona Lisa, all on a black background.

videoComputing and artificial intelligence

The ‘cloud’ requires heaps of energy to stay aloft. Could synthetic DNA be the answer?

12 minutes

A young woman and a man, both dressed formally, sit at a table with an electronic device in front of them. The woman is engaging with the device, which has several buttons and dials, while the man observes attentively. The setting appears to be an office or classroom. The image is in black and white.

essayTechnology and the self

Tomorrow people

For the entire 20th century, it had felt like telepathy was just around the corner. Why is that especially true now?

Roger Luckhurst

A circular space station with solar panels and lights orbiting above a planetary surface.

videoSpace exploration

Mind-bending speed is the only way to reach the stars – here are three ways to do it

5 minutes

Abstract night scene with vibrant colours; glowing trees line the horizon under a dark sky with a bright, distorted moon.

videoFilm and visual culture

An augmented-reality filter reveals the hidden movements all around us

7 minutes

The International Space Station is seen at an angle through a window against the darkness of space

essaySpace exploration

The skyhook solution

Space junk surrounds Earth, posing a dangerous threat. But there is a way to turn the debris into opportunity

Angelos Alfatzis

Aerial view of a river winding through a lush green valley surrounded by snow-capped mountains with a few red marked spots.

videoComputing and artificial intelligence

A scientist’s poor eyesight helped fuel a revolution in computer ‘vision’

9 minutes

Silhouetted man standing by a large window with a view of Saturn’s rings in a dimly lit, elegant restaurant.

videoFuture of technology

Is this the future of space travel? Take a luxury ‘cruise’ across the solar system

6 minutes

Human figures beneath a glass dome watch the launch of a rocket from the surface of Mars

essaySpace exploration

The final ethical frontier

Earthbound exploration was plagued with colonialism, exploitation and extraction. Can we hope to make space any different?

Philip Ball

Surreal artwork of a woman submerged in water with fish swimming around her, her head inside an aquarium-like structure and her hair flowing upwards.

videoFuture of technology

Artificial ‘creativity’ is unstoppable. Grappling with its ethics is up to us

23 minutes

Image of a Roland TR-808 drum machine with various knobs, buttons, and coloured pads, used for creating rhythmic patterns in music production.

essayMusic

Give the drummer some

As AI drum machines embrace humanising imperfections, what does this mean for ‘real’ drummers and the soul of music?

Jack Stilgoe

Abstract artwork generated by AI with bold swirls and lines in red, black, yellow, blue, and white, creating a dynamic and vibrant pattern.

videoFilm and visual culture

With human help, AIs are generating a new aesthetics. The results are trippy

9 minutes

Photo of a chair and a striped pole, with the overlaid text “IS THIS ART?” and the possible answers “YES NO YES NO NO”.

videoArt

What does an AI make of what it sees in a contemporary art museum?

15 minutes

Illustration of a farm with grazing cows, pineapples, strawberries, tomatoes, banana trees, a river, and a bird in the sky.

videoEcology and environmental sciences

Producing food while restoring the planet – a glimpse of farming in the future

7 minutes

Illustration of a person on a toilet, holding a spade, sitting atop a mound of vegetables with a tractor in the background.

essayThe environment

The power of shit

Our excrement is a natural, renewable and sustainable resource – if only we can overcome our visceral disgust of it

Lina Zeldovich

Abstract digital art of a person drinking while sitting on a sofa, created with glowing orange, pink and purple dots on a black background.

videoTechnology and the self

When an AI rejects him for life insurance, Mitch wonders if he can escape his fate

7 minutes

Aerial view of a concrete area with colourful staggered beams, sections of white paint, and black tyre marks forming circular patterns.

essayFuture of technology

Learn from machine learning

The world is a black box full of extreme specificity: it might be predictable but that doesn’t mean it is understandable

David Weinberger

Landscape painting featuring George Washington standing near modern-day hikers and deer by a lake, with trees, mountains and bright sky.

essayStories and literature

The cliché writes back

Machine-written literature might offend your tastes but until the dawn of Romanticism most writers were just as formulaic

Yohei Igarashi

A woman with red hair speaking into a headset mic on stage wearing a black top and gold necklace against a dark background.

videoComputing and artificial intelligence

Algorithms are sensitive. People are specific. We should exploit their respective strengths

36 minutes