In Space

Watch out Space, we're coming.

Two things you need to know about the future - quantum shit everywhere, and everything is in outerspace.

1. Surely you've heard about quantum computing. If you haven't, it's a way of computing that makes regular computers look like an abacus by replacing the binary bit (on or off) with a quantum qubit (on, off, or both). If you're the kind of person who thinks facetime is not much different than a portal to another dimension, then you're simply not prepared to imagine our quantum-computing future.

2. And surely you've heard of outerspace, that's where all of our satellite debris is accumulating, and where in the past few years, the cost of visiting has been reduced to fractions of its old cost, thanks mostly to reusable rockets.

Space is also very cold, and "Quantum" loves cold. Quantum states are really sensitive and can be collapsed by the slightest perturbation. Close to absolute zero, everything is frozen still, so the kinds of particles that can really mess up a good quantum state are no longer a threat. Even the force of gravity by the Earth on a single atom is strong enough to mess this up, so the microgravity of low earth orbit is ideal.

So it is to everyone's satisfaction that a Bose-Einstein Condensate has now been achieved on the final frontier. One of these days, we will be living in quantum states in outerspace. 


Notes:
A Bose-Einstein condensate has been produced in space for the first time
Oct 2018, phys.org

Laws Meta-Physical
2013, Network Address

The Shanzhai Sun

"Shanzhai" means "counterfeit goods," which is China's way of saying "Made In China"

Let's start with the story from a few months ago, where China plans to make artificial moons for nighttime illumination. Mirrors in outerspace that redirect sunlight from low earth orbit. Now they're looking pretty good on the nuclear fusion front, i.e., artificial suns.

Granted, you must take every headline about nuclear fusion as fake news, because we are unlikely to see its boundless surplus of power in our lifetime. Depends on who you ask though. At this point, a Chinese reactor is reaching 100 million degrees, which is way more than the Sun itself, but still only enough to maintain such a nuclear meltdown for 10 seconds.

Regardless of "when," folks like the futurist Isaac Arthur do a good job of explaining how this major shift in energy production can be used to transform our world. Megastructures that surround our entire Earth, or spaceships that span the Milky Way, all these things are possible with nuclear fusion as an energy source (some faster than light travel wouldn't help).

Bottom line, this gives a different meaning to the idea of China Fake. Also wondering what the plans look like for Fake Earth and Fake Humans.

Notes:
China's 'artificial sun' reaches 100 million degrees Celsius marking milestone for nuclear fusion
Nov 2018, ABC News

China is launching artificial moons in urban areas
Oct 2018, Astrononmy.com

Isaac Arthur's Science and Futurism Channel

Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu, 2008
Chinese Science Fiction

China-Fake
2013, Network Address

Hype Things

Deep Thoughts

Smart home device manufacturers are competing to see which is more well-aligned with the scifi surveillance state dystopian future - a home studded with fisheye security cams, or a home punctuated with a thousand ears.

Most of us have been hearing about the Internet of Things (IoT) for quite sometime now. It had a modest peak in its hype cycle less than ten years ago. In fact, IoT was one of the less-hyped segments of the digital revolution, which is unfortunate because it is so related to security concerns. Had we seen this coming we could have been more vigilant about certain aspects of our digital vulnerabilities.

Now it's here. Actually, I'll say that it was here last year just about this time - when every home I visited after the holidays had a new "digital home assistant." It was a very popular gift.

Take this to the next level and you can imagine a not too distant future that combines the sensory system provided by an IoT, and the artificially-intelligent ability to integrate these disparate data channels into a coherent entity and a self like none other.

All these ears and eyes, as well as all the other sensors that we don't even notice so readily, such as temperature or footstep pressure or even our electrical field, will combine into one thing. A planet, a body, hard to categorize, it will see, hear, and feel everything - our entire anthroposphere will be aware. 

Meanwhile, the thought of a building listening to me is way creepier than the thought of it looking at me. And I'm less creeped out about a building that can tell if I'm angry by measuring my body temperature and pulserate, because I just have nothing to compare that to. It's not as invasive only because I have nothing to associate it with.


Notes:
What's next for smart homes: An 'Internet of Ears?'
Nov 2018, phys.org

FBI tells router users to reboot now to kill malware infecting 500k devices
May 2018, Ars Technica

Biohacking
anything that gets implanted into our bodies now has an RFID chip in it, which means it's part of the IoT, which means we're part of the IoT.

Right Angles in Nature

Tabular Iceberg, care of BBC

Although it looks like the future on a planet that is totally colonized by Megastructures and Ecumenopolises, this is a pretty common thing called a tabular iceberg. Nature is short on straight lines and definitely right angles, although Andy Goldsworthy would disagree.

Andy Goldsworthy made this. (Or did he?)

Ice, however, is good for straight lines. I do recall a drawing by a Japanese woodcut artist in a book about Modern Art. It was a frozen lake, just a bunch of straight lines, and predated the more abstract things to come out of the early 20th century.   

Notes:
Nasa photographs rectangular iceberg
Oct 2018, BBC

On Right Angles
Or why we tend to perceive right angles everywhere
Network Address, 2012

You Love Right Angles
AKA I'm Not a Right Angle You're a Right Angle!
Network Address, 2012