Humanity

If you could improve your body, would you do it? It seems a simple enough question with a simple enough answer.

But what if that improvement meant incorporating a mechanical device into your body? Suddenly the question isn’t so simple, is it? And if that integration required the prior removal of a limb, say an arm or a hand, that decision becomes even more complex and controversial.

The year is 2032. You have just celebrated your 80th birthday and you have some tough decisions ahead. You can either keep repairing your current body or move into a new one.

The growing of “blank” bodies has become all the rage, and by using your own genetic material, body farmers can even recreate your own face at age 20.

In just 20 years, this is an industry that has moved from the equivalent of Frankenstein’s laboratory to the new celebrity craze, with controversy following it every step of the way.

If you were not at South by Southwest for day #2 of the Interactive sessions, you missed researcher Danah Boyd's truly insightful and thought provoking talk on an issue of critical importance to 21st century society.

Question: As physical books go away, and computers and smart devices take their place, at what point does a library stop being a library, and start becoming something else?

Somewhere in the middle of this question lies the nagging fear and anxiety that we see brimming to the top among library insiders.

People who think libraries are going away simply because books are going digital are missing the true tectonic shifts taking place in the world of information.

"But there are no good targets in Afghanistan."

-Donald Rumsfeld, after being told that the 9/11 attacks came from Afghanistan, instead of some place more fun, such as Iraq

March 1 is the inaugural celebration of future day, and it's got me thinking about urban futures again. On my futurist bookshself at the moment: Aerotropolis, by John Kasarda and Greg Lindsay. It's a business book, really: breathless descriptions of fabulous capitalists and the globetrotting edge cities they build. I'm reading it because South Korea's Songdo is a poster child for this vision of the future.

They are all positive role models. There is a common thread of hard work, humility, and talent for all three men.

The return of uncomplicated heroes signifies an uptick in public mood. After years of expecting (and finding) the worst in everyone, people are ready for a "feel good" story.

In the new book Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler offer a vision of the future that’s truly awesome in both the most traditional and modern understandings of the word; it’s as big as it is awe-inspiring.

When I moved to Hawaii six years ago to pursue a Master's degree in Religion at the University of Hawaii, I did not expect to earn a PhD in Futures Studies. To be honest, I had no idea that one could even pursue such a course of study and become a futurist.