Feburary 14, 2000
The Leading Edge of Futurism?
Tidbit Archive
| They are space enthusiasts, nanotechnology buffs, UFOlogists, life
extensionists, deep ecologists and advocates of colonizing Earth's oceans,
orbiting space stations, the moon, Mars, asteriods, and distant solar systems
and galaxies. They are scientists, engineers, computer jocks, technicians,
sociologists, philosophers, amateurs, and students (leavened with a few
weirdos and cranks). Their sites are all over the world and all over
the web. Some are linked to one another through rings such as the
Living Universe Foundation ring. Start
searching on technology, future, energy, space, and similar terms and you
will soon find them.
Many of these sites are rich sources of original thinking. Most are created by individuals or small groups rather than established institutions, such as academic research centers, government agencies, or private firms. Unwilling to be bound by conventional wisdom, they transcend the boundaries of current knowledge, mix facts with speculation, opinions, and sometimes wishful thinking. Quite a few of the creators of these sites -- most of whom would probably consider themselves futurists -- have been influenced by science fiction. Some are libertarians. Others are socialists (or libertarian-socialists). Most seem to have little patience for contemporary politics or government. On the whole, theirs are utopian ideas heavily influenced by expectations of where technology may be able to take the human race. Some of the sites one encounters cross the line from visionary to crackpot. There are few guideposts that can tell the visitor what is worth taking seriously and what is not, what is plausible speculation and what is just hot air. Bearing that caveat in mind, exploring these futurist sites can be entertaining, informative, and thought-provoking. |
Links:Josh Kane's "New Millennium" homepage. A collection of information, opinions, and speculation on a wide range of futurist topics, from genetic engineering to interstellar travel. It was an e-mail from Kane that got me started on this tidbit.
Mankind's Future -- a lengthy page of links on space, energy, and future societies.
Skyful of Stars -- devoted to speculation about trends, technologies, and social structure in the near and not so near future.
Boondock -- "a place for dreamers" mostly about space, but also about immortality, cryonics, nanotechnology, and more.
Links to homepages of some members of the Living Universe Foundation.
Windward -- an "eco-village" community of self-reliant individuals in Washington state emphasizing ecology and living simply in harmony with nature.
The World Transformation web space -- "a cornucopia of ideas, resources, connections, information, inspiration and surprises, all aimed at growing, creating or discovering a world that works better for all of us."
Cardigan on space exploration -- not that much on the page (but I like the background, with its twinkling and shooting stars...)
Oceania: the Atlantis Project -- dedicated to the goal of establishing a new country devoted to the value of freedom, which will exist first as a concrete and steel sea city in the Caribbean. (See the picture at the top of the page.)
PERMANENT -- Projects to Employ Resources of the Moon and Asteroids Near Earth in the Near Term.
The Virtual Beanstalk Project -- for a near-space elevator. An "amateur international e-mail design workshop and feasibility study" aimed at exploring the construction of a structure that would extend from ground level 20 kilometers into the stratosphere and thereby allow cheap and easy access to near-earth space.
