We’ll grow in vitro cloned meats in factories that are computerized and run by artificial intelligence. You can just grow the part of the animal that you’re eating. Some people say, “Oh, that sounds yucky.” I say, “Well, why don’t you go visit a factory-farming installation? You’ll find that getting meat from living animals is yucky.” But we’ll need a marketing genius to sell the idea.

Speaking of marketing, what idea about the future do you have the hardest time selling?

People are most resistant to the idea of dramatic extensions to life expectancy, because it affects every decision they make. They have this cycle of life in mind. People sort of wax philosophical–”Oh, I don’t want to live past 100.” I’d like to see them say that when they’re 100.

More at http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2033076,00.html

Gary Westfahls’s 7 fallacies of prediction

All the pessimists that think we’re going to use up all resources and then nuke each other should pay the most attention to #6 The Fallacy of Universal Stupidity.

1. The Fallacy of Universal Wealth. This is the assumption that all governments and individuals in the future will be wealthy, so they can afford any technological advances that they desire. A similar premise with identical consequences — the Fallacy of Infinite Price Reduction — is that all technological advances will steadily become cheaper and cheaper until, finally, virtually everyone can afford them.

2. The Fallacy of Replacement. This is the assumption that, once we develop an advanced scientific method to do something, we will immediately abandon all the old methods.

3. The Fallacy of Inevitable Technology. This is the assumption that if there emerges a new, technological way to do something, it will inevitably be adopted. Thus, while the Fallacy of Replacement falsely posits that the new, improved product will entirely replace older alternatives, the Fallacy of Inevitable Technology assumes more modestly that the new, improved product will at least always be put to use to some extent. But even this modest assumption is not always justified.

4. The Fallacy of Extrapolation. This is the assumption that an identified trend will always continue in the same manner, indefinitely into the future.

5. The Fallacy of Analogy. This is the assumption that a new technology will be adopted and employed in the same manner as a related form of previous technology.

6. The Fallacy of Universal Stupidity. This is the assumption that people in the future will be capable of making incredibly stupid mistakes, and getting into incredible messes, that could have been avoided with even the tiniest bit of forethought.

7. The Fallacy of Drama. This is the assumption that major changes will occur in a quick and noticeable fashion, as a result of a single major event or of the actions of a single individual.

Link

SpaceCollective. Where forward thinking terrestrials exchange ideas and information about the state of the species, their planet and the universe, living the lives of science fiction today.

Great site with lots of fascinating videos at the edge where science fiction joins reality. Want to know what the future has in store for us if visionaries like Richard Branson, Burt Rutan, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, etc. have their way? See this site.

Related:

Transhumanism

The Singularity

Step into one of these robotic exoskeletons and perform super-human feats of strength with fluid and precise human motion. Right now it’s still tethered to a power-source and safety cable, but with a nanomaterial power source we could be bounding up Mt. Everest fairly soon.

Will the music of Charlie Parker and Ella Fitzgerald be heard 100 generations from now? A major gift from David Packard has greatly increased the long odds on that. David’s $150M bequeath, the largest private gift ever to the U.S. legislative branch, launched the just-opened National Audio-Visual Conservation Center (NAVCC) of the National Library of Congress – the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of films, television programs, radio broadcasts, sound recordings, and media collateral. [The Long Now blog]