Before this week is over, I wanted to alert you to a video that I just came across, in an article on Robots at a blog site called Open the Future.
This video is of a “packbot” called “Big Dog.” The robot was built by Boston Dynamics. Watch the video, and […]

One of the great thinkers on the future is Ray Kurzweil, author of The Age of Spiritual Machines, and The Singularity is Near. A couple of years ago at a meeting of the World Future Society I heard Ray speak, and after the talk during Q&A, a 90-year old man in the audience […]

In case you missed the news, Nanosolar shipped its first commercial thin-film, printed solar cells in December 2007, to a purchaser in Germany. This is a milestone in the production of solar, in which solar power becomes cheaper than coal. Not only that, but the Nanosolar production plant nearing completion will produce 430 […]

Here is my outlook for 2008, recorded December 21, 2007.

Overview – 2008 will be a year that feels like a whip-saw. Promising innovations. Economic turmoil. Large events
The Economy 2008 - Paradoxes
2008 will be one of paradox, innovation balanced by turmoil. Because of the tremendous interconnectivity of researchers, the availability […]

A week ago I was attending the Forbes/Wolfe Nanotech Forum. You can see the first of two discussions of that event here. The second day focused on “clean technologies” and the convergence of nano and biotechnologies.
The Clean Tech panel was begun, soberly, by Professor Dan Nocera of MIT, who exlained using […]

This episode of Future Talks is on the question of what is Beyond Web 2.0?

In the Future Talks online TV series, international futurists Glen Hiemstra and Gerd Leonhard engage in a conversation with Ralph Simon as he interviews them about the trends shaping the future of media. When discussing what is beyond Web 2.0 Glen […]

Early this week I am in Albuquerque attending the Forbes/Wolfe Nanotech Forum. This very fine two-day conference features programs on developments in nanotech, including the most current research and commercialization activities.
Today, the first day, Steve Forbes was able to present for an hour, and provide a wide-ranging overview of what he believes about not […]

This episode of Future Talks is on Media Megatrends.

In this program in the Future Talks online TV series, international futurists Glen Hiemstra and Gerd Leonhard engage in a conversation with Ralph Simon as he interviews them about the megatrends shaping the future of media. Glen and Gerd highlight such trends as …
The […]

Recently I was in Atlanta to address the annual breakfast gathering called “State of the Region,” which is put on by the Atlanta Regional Commission. This particular year the focus was on introducing a new regional effort called “50 Forward,” which is literally an attempt to imagine the region in the year 2060. […]

I spent yesterday at the Discover Brilliant conference in Seattle. Very nice, long first day. PS Reilly, the conference organizer, made a choice about how to start the conference. She trotted out one of the bigger elephants in the climate change room and let it wander about and break some myths. […]