The Television
Will Be Revolutionized: The iPad, Internet TV, and Web 3.0 (The
Metaverse), John Smart, 2010. Excerpt from a talk given at
TEDx Del Mar, June 2nd, 2010. Thoughts on the coming emergence
of internet television, and the role that open media centers and
consumers can play in democratizing and empowering American society.
The Future
of the iPad and Web 3.0 (The Metaverse): How The Television Will
be Revolutionized, John Smart, 2010. A 45-page overview of
trends and issues related to the emergence of internet television
and Web
3.0 (The Metaverse), and political and economic challenges
and opportunities ahead. The next ten years are a very exciting
time for open source, open standards web media, and will bring
continuing creative destruction to incumbent big media.
Evo
Devo Universe? A Framework for Speculations on Cosmic Culture,
John Smart, 2008. In: Cosmos and Culture: Cultural Evolution
in a Cosmic Context, NASA Press, 2009 (V7.1 Aug 2010). A
54-page, 30,000-word overview of three increasingly specific and
powerful ways of understanding predictability and unpredictability
in the universe, and the meaning and implications of accelerating
change for human culture: the Informational Physical Universe
(IPU) hypothesis, the Evo Devo Universe (EDU) hypothesis, and
the Developmental Singularity (DS) hypothesis. If you are pressed
for time and want to get right to the weird stuff, just read the
last 27 pages (pages 26-54), beginning with Processes
of Universal Development. Are these valid systems models
or unsupportable speculation? Time will tell.
Metaverse
Roadmap Overview, John Smart, Jamais Cascio, and Jerry Paffendorf,
2007. A 23 page executive overview of 3D web technologies, applications,
markets, and potential social impacts. Includes the following
Web 3.0
(Metaverse) technologies: virtual worlds, mirror worlds, augmented
reality, lifelogging and pervasive web video. See also Metaverse
Roadmap Inputs, John Smart (Ed.), 2007. 75-page in-depth survey
of industry conditions, trends, plans, cycles, scenarios, issues,
and problems relevant to the 20-year future of the metaverse.
"Beyond "Presenter
View": Dual Monitor Presentations in PowerPoint,"
John Smart, 2006
A brief guide to doing PowerPoint presentations in Dual Monitor
mode, allowing presenters to have readable onscreen notes to accompany
each slide.
"Curcumin: A Powerful
Brain Protection Supplement," and "A
Basic Brain Protection Plan," John Smart, 2006
A discussion of recent research regarding curcumin, an affordable
and very potent brain protection supplement, and an argument that
anyone interested in a better brain should be on it today. Accompanying
this article is another outlining ten key strategies (six dietary,
four non-dietary) to consider in a modern brain protection plan.
"Driving Toward an Electric
Future: Natural Gas, Nanobatteries, and PHEV's (Next-Generation
Hybrids)," John Smart, 2006
A discussion of trends pushing us toward Plug-in Hybrid Electric
Vehicle networks in coming years. The new nanobatteries (5X greater
cycle duty and rapid filling ability) can allow battery refilling
in 10 minutes using high-amperage chargers at tomorrow's filling
stations, and tomorrow's power grids will be much more decentralized
than today's gasoline stations, supporting even greater city densities.
"A Practical Wearable Computer:
How to Make Your Own Tummy PC," John Smart, 2005, 2006
A how-to guide for those, including writers, who might benefit
from using a practical and affordable wearable computer today.
"Underground Automated
Highways (UAH) for High Density Cities: Post-2030 Urban Transportation,"
John Smart, 2005
A framework forecast for one important piece of the future of
urban transportation. It relies on the convergence of several
enabling technologies, such as tunnel boring systems, automated
highway systems, and zero emission vehicle systems, and their
superior efficiencies, safety, and public desirability over other
high capacity transportation options, such as aerial systems.
"Measuring Innovation
in an Accelerating World: Review of "A Possible Declining
Trend for Worldwide Innovation," Johnathan Heubner, TF&SC
2005," John Smart, 2005
Consideration of the reasons behind the apparent decline in global
innovation that has been independently observed by a small number
of technology scholars in recent decades.
"Human Performance Enhancement
in 2032: A Scenario for Military Planners," John Smart,
2005
A scenario proposing mild biotechnology and powerful information
technology developments in the coming generation, and an introduction
to the concept of the valuecosm and basic implications for security
planning.
"What I Believe But
Cannot Prove: Speculations on Evolutionary Development and the
Cosmic Purpose of Accelerating Change,"John Smart, 2004
1,000 word precis of the developmental singularity hypothesis,
one paradigm for accelerating universal change.
"The
Political-Economic Pendulum: The United States Example"
and "Digital
Activism: Youth Education in the Plutocratic and Unilateral United
States of the Early 21st Century," John Smart,
from Thinking
Creatively in Turbulent Times, Howard Didsbury,
Ed., 2004. The first article makes the case that the degree of
centralization seen in political and economic systems follows
a simple pendular dynamic, and that our recent twenty five year
history of increasing political and economic plutocracy in U.S.
society must swing back toward greater democracy when environmental
conditions are ready, as has clearly occurred at least four previous
times in U.S. history. The second article suggests general strategies
for parents to improve youth education in the present environment.
"Considering
the Singularity: A Coming World of Autonomous Intelligence,"
John Smart, from 21st
Century Opportunities and Challenges, Howard Didsbury,
Ed., 2003.
A brief introductory explanation of the implication of accelerating
trends in computer autonomy and intelligence.
"Answering
the Fermi Paradox: Exploring the Mechanisms of Universal Transcension,"
John Smart, from Journal of Evolution and Technology,
June 2002.
"The Coming
Technological Singularity," Vernor Vinge, 1993
The classic article that, in conjunction with the birth of the
world wide web, renewed discussion of accelerating technological
change in the world community.
Humanity
3000 Seminar 4 Proceedings, John Smart, Aug
21-23, 2003 (PDF, 350 pages)
The fourth Humanity 3000 event at the Foundation
for the Future. Every few years the Foundation invites a group
of multidisciplinarians to discuss and debate big picture issues
for the long term future of humanity, in three time frames (25
years, and a much more dubious 250 years and 1,000 years). Seminar
4 involved Dan Barker, Don Beck, Charlie Brass, Angela Close,
Carl Coon, Peter Corning, Paul Davies, Russell Genet, John Hartung,
Ronald Moore, Adriana Ocampo, Gary Schwartz, Seung-Schik Yoo,
myself, facilitated by Sesh Velamoor, Walter Kistler, Bob Citron,
and other members and observers at the Foundation. I made a case
for the importance, nuances, and challenges of adapting to accelerating
technological change.
