Jamais Cascio
Jamais Cascio
Jamais Cascio is a San Francisco Bay Area-based author and futurist...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionWriter
CountryUnited States of America
technology differences one-day
The difference between e-mail and regular mail is that computers handle e-mail, and computers never decide to come to work one day and shoot all the other computers.
running people decision
But here's the ugly truth: nature doesn't care about democracy, or who's right, or what's fair. And because of the slow-change aspect of climate, we can't wait until the worst effects are upon us to make a decision -- by then, it would be far, far too late. The scenario we may be faced with is one where doing something for the wrong reasons, run by the wrong people, may still save more lives than holding out for a more appealing option.
communication messages method
Nearly every communication method we invent eventually conveys unwanted commercial messages.
information easy individual
It's remarkably easy to dig up enormous amounts of information about individuals, without their consent.
mind tools stand-alone
My own suspicion is that a stand-alone artificial mind will be more a tool of narrow utility than something especially apocalyptic.
natural being-natural decades
Nature stopped being natural decades ago.
example action natural
Is there a better example of natural selection in action than 'Project Runway?'
gains awareness form
As our various electronic devices gain more and more sensory awareness, we open up the potential for entirely new forms of interaction. Not just new interfaces - tapping and shaking and whatnot - but a shift in presence.
future ideas work-out
The idea of sustainability can imply there is one perfect, unchanging future, if only we could work out how to get there. Resilience might be more useful, in that it assumes a dynamic environment and that perfection is impossible. You need to design systems to accommodate failure rather than eliminate it. By trying to be perfect, many visions of sustainability are quite brittle
memories space radio
When we developed written language, we significantly increased our functional memory and our ability to share insights and knowledge across time and space. The same thing happened with the invention of the printing press, the telegraph, and the radio.
keys everyday may
Participatory complexity may well be the key descriptor of the 21st century - in our economies, in our politics, and in our everyday lives.
would-be global-warming techno
To be clear, geoengineering won't solve global warming. It's not a 'techno-fix.' It would be enormously risky and almost certainly lead to troubling unforeseen consequences.
should-have environmental degrees
Computer programmers, biotechnologists, environmental scientists, neuroscientists, nanotech engineers - all of these fields, and more, should have at least a course in ethics as part of their degree requirements.
strong thinking long
The biggest potential and actual crises of the 21st century all have a strong, long, slow aspect with a significant lag between cause and effect. We have to train ourselves to be thinking in terms of longer-term results.