Daily Archives: April 27, 2022

With the rising temperatures and its impending doom on planet earth, it is imperative for us to focus on sustainability in tourism. And presenting us with a fitting alternative is the novel Six senses resort in Norway. Touted to be the worlds first net energy positive destination in the world, the property features 94-room in total. It is located at the foot of the breathtaking Svartisen glacier and is slated to open in 2024. The hotel is further perched above the Holandsfjorden fjord via poles to minimize the impact on the surrounding glacial environment.Image Six SensesThe propertys design is inspired by the fiskehjell (an A-shaped wooden structure for drying fish) and the rorbu (a coastal fishermans cabin) and is a modern-day ode to futurism and sustainably. It features the highest energy-efficiency standard in the northern hemisphere and will be able to harvest enough solar energy to go back into the system such that it is independent of the power grid.

Image Six SensesThe hotel will also come with its own waste and water management systems, thanks to its ingenious recycling and renewable infrastructure. Not one that is completely deprived of technology, each room at the resort will boast a non-invasive touchless technology called the Svart Touch. It will be capable of adjusting as per the guests state of mind and health and thereby provide an immersive experience to guests.Further, visitors will also be able to indulge in other purpose-driven initiatives such as the Experience Center, the Alchemy Bar, the Earth lab, and more. They will be invited to dine at The Marketplace, a zero-waste venue, and sample drinking water that is filtered and bottled in-house.

Image Six SensesCommenting on it, CEO of Six Senses Neil Jacobs, in a statement, said, Sustainable properties call for extraordinary creativity, and Six Senses Svart takes us to a whole new level in terms of pushing boundaries.

He further added, The concept has become bigger than the project itself, as it will provide a futuristic showcase for what can be achieved in terms of sustainability and energy solutions, and therefore a blueprint within our hospitality industry and the development sector in general.

Who said luxury always comes at an environmental cost?

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As incredible as it will be, the Six Senses Svart In Norway will be the first net energy-positive hotel in the world - Luxurylaunches

The concept of the nanofabricator presents us a Star Trek version of the future. Need a meal? Push the button on the replicator. Need a wrench? Push the button on the replicator. There is no use for money when anything you want can be instantly manufactured on the spot.

Building wondrous new inventions atom-by-atom was first floated by Richard Feynman in his fantastic lecture, Plenty of Room at the Bottom. The idea gained traction in the 1980s and 1990s, spurred on by the popular and scientific work of K. Eric Drexler. In Drexlers imagination, a foundry for molecules would suck in feeds of raw material and build up objects (like a 3D printer) rather than starting with large masses of material and carving them down to shape. This dream excited futurists and science fiction authors. It also inspired many researchers and students (including, at one time, yours truly) to pursue research in nanotechnology.

As Feynman noted in his lecture, there is no physical law that forbids molecules and even atoms from being assembled in this way. Not only is it plausible, we are the living embodiment of nanofabrication. Cells possess the machinery necessary to use blueprints (DNA) to encode messages (RNA) that provide instructions to molecular foundries (ribosomes).And Nature is no longer the only nanofabricator.

Human ingenuity has created synthetic instruments to operate at this scale. We use microscopes with tiny scanning needle tips to view single atoms. A graduate student running such a microscope can position one atom, or a small molecule though with some difficulty. We also implement complex chemical processes to synthesize large quantities of new chemicals, such as polymer plastics.

Yet, neither of these techniques are practical for nanofabrication. Our industrial production processes are very large and very crude in atomistic terms. The casting, molding, or machining of a small part is a rough treatment of a trillion trillion atoms (in which being within 100,000 atoms of a particular design parameter is a tight requirement).

Our student with the nano-manipulating microscope could mechanically assemble atoms with high precision, but it would take a time greater than the age of the Universe to build the head of a pin. Thus, building anything out of atoms with a giant machine is just too slow and too hard. What we need are tiny machines lots (and lots) of them to assemble substantial quantities of matter from microscopic building blocks.

Drexler engaged in a famous debate with Nobel Prize-winning chemist Richard Smalley over the practical design of a nanofabricator. Smalley, himself a founder of and advocate for the field of nanotechnology, and an admirer of Drexlers ideas, took issue with the application of an industrial engineering approach to the nanofabrication problem.

We generally synthesize molecules via chemistry and not mechanical manipulation. The smaller a molecule or particle is, the more surface area it presents, relative to its volume. Tiny particles become dominated by surface-based forces that cause them to act in ways that large particles dont. Soccer balls dont leap up from the ground and attach themselves to our legs mid-kick with such strength that we cannot rip them off again. Nanoparticles can.

Smalley specifically brought this up in the debate. He called it the sticky fingers problem. When you mechanically manipulate molecules and atoms, they tend to adhere to things. They cannot easily be moved without finding something to stick to, and they cannot easily be dislodged once they do. This applies not only to the apparatus, but to unwanted atoms that happen to be nearby as well.

For example, keeping a free oxygen (O) atom from immediately sticking to another O atom and forming O2 is extremely challenging. There is a reason our atmosphere is made of O2, CO2, and H2O, and our ground is made up of quartz (SiO2), alkali feldspar (minerals with O8 groups), Al2O3, and so many other oxidized compounds that 47% of the Earths crust mass is oxygen by weight. Manipulating an isolated O atom, or trying to assemble something in which you are trying to prevent oxygen from running it, would be very hard.

Smalley raised a second practical issue. A nanofabricator presumably needs tiny mechanical arms to do its assembly work. To effectively grasp an atom, the hands on these arms must be about the size of an atom, or a few atoms at most. To bring two atoms together, fingers holding each atom would be required. Ideally, the fingers would be smaller than the atom they grasp so as to move it with high fidelity. The trouble is that a finger cannot be smaller than an atom, and thus we begin to run out of the room at the bottom. Smalley called this the fat fingers problem.

Assembling molecules with the fat fingers can get even more tricky: the molecules cannot just be smashed together. To bond in the desired way, they must be placed, in certain orientations and under certain conditions, with great care. The chemistry concept is the molecules path along a parameterized reaction coordinate. Following the proper path likely requires more flawlessly operating tiny fingers.

Smalley, an experimental research chemist, then proposed that nanofabricators might instead work via chemistry, like the processes inside cells. This too suffers from substantial flaws, revealed by a deeper investigation of potential chemical approaches. The first approach is a nanofabricator operating with organic molecules contained in an aqueous (water-based) environment. It would manipulate not individual atoms but small catalytic molecules (enzymes) to spur on chemical reactions that assemble larger molecules out of smaller component molecules.

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Even with the help of natural machinery like enzymes, selecting, arranging, and bonding molecules is still tricky work. More fundamentally, these processes are limited to certain types of molecules. Cells fabricate proteins and various forms of natural organic compounds, but they dont construct metallic objects. They dont construct semiconductors that we use for computation, nor do they construct many other high-tech materials. Perhaps the nano-future could be made of organic composites.

If we wish to use chemical methods without operating in water or building upon cellular processes, Smalley argued the effort will require development of a vast area of chemistry that has eluded us for centuries.

Drexler counters that nanofabricators will not work via chemistry but indeed will use mechanical synthesis. He repeatedly describes this effort as an engineering challenge. This reveals a philosophical distinction in the debate over nanofabricators. Drexlers mentality is that of an engineer, believing that once a problem is known to be solvable, it is simply a matter of systematically applying known models until the solution is achieved. Smalleys approach is that of a scientist, arguing that the problem cannot yet be tackled by engineering models because the underlying scientific details are not yet fully understood.

Scientific thinking coalesced around Smalleys positions. This put a damper on the research push for nanofabricators. While the wider field of nanotechnology barrels on, it focuses on smaller goals. But, this hasnt shaken the belief of some futurists in nanofabricators and the tiny nanobots (nano-sized robots) they would produce. Some predictions like scads of nanobots swarming through our bloodstream zapping pathogens or rejuvenating our bodies to help us live forever or infiltrating our brains to make us ultra-smart seem a little silly.

So far, the closest we have come to practical nanofabrication is the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), the crucial invention behind the proliferation of DNA sequencing, infectious disease testing, and criminal forensic investigation. Rather than creating synthetic machinery, we are repurposing cellular machinery to replicate DNA molecules. This molecular photocopying technique generates exponentially more DNA molecules from a few initial ones.

Hence, nanofabrication is certainly possible, though the hurdles are massive. But the revolution it would produce for human civilization means nanofabrication is far too tantalizing to give up on. The reward is worth the cost of patiently funding continued research.

More:
Nanofabricators: a "Star Trek" vision of the future - Big Think

Jane McGonigal is the Director of Game Research & Development at the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, California. She designs games that aim to improve real lives, and solve real problems. For instance, her game SuperBetter has helped more than one million players tackle real-world health challenges, like depression and chronic pain. She has created and deployed games in over 30 countries for partners such as the American Heart Association, the International Olympics Committee, and the World Bank Institute.

Below, Jane shares 5 key insights from her new book, Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for AnythingEven Things That Seem Impossible Today. Listen to the audio versionread by Jane herselfin the Next Big Idea App.

You may be familiar with the saying The future starts now. Catchy as it may be, the future doesnt start now, or tomorrow, or next monthfor professional futurists, it starts ten years from today. Ten years because that is enough time for society, and your own life, to become dramatically different. Its enough time for new technologies to scale up and achieve global impact. Its enough time for social movements to achieve historic victories. Its enough time for big new ideas to take root, gain traction, and change the world.

Thinking on a ten-year timeline will lift the ceiling on your imagination and give you that magical feeling of time spaciousness to achieve transformative change. It will help you open your mind, take in new information, reduce your blind spots, increase your empathy, set more optimistic goals, and see a much bigger picture. Whenever your mind feels stuck or rushed, give yourself a ten-year deadline, make a ten-year resolution, create an event on your calendar for ten years from today, or talk to others about how the world might be different in ten years. It will change how you think and feel today.

At the Institute for the Future, we like to say, Any useful statement about the future should at first seem ridiculous. Its easy to prepare for futures that are similar to today, futures that make sense because they seem normal and reasonable. Its the possibilities that make us say, Thats ridiculous, that could never happen, or I cant even imagine itthose are the possibilities we have to spend time taking seriously. Those are the futures that will be most shocking, disruptive, and challenging if they come to pass.

Imagine if, in late 2019, you had been asked to consider that, in the near future, virtually all nations will shut and lock down their borders. One billion children will stop going to school and do all of their learning at home. Four hundred million jobs will be deemed nonessential and disappear virtually overnight. It will be against the law to hug your grandmother. (Where I live in California, that was true, thanks to social distancing rules for most of 2020.) In 2019, wouldnt these ideas have seemed ridiculous at first? But a few months later, they were reality.

We need to prepare our collective imagination for unimaginable possibilitiesso if they do happen, were not frozen with anxiety or stuck in old ways. Any future scenario that you instinctively dismiss reveals a potential blind spot in your imagination. If something feels unimaginable, thats the tip-off that it is an essential future to start thinking about.

A sculptor works with clay, a computer programmer with code, a chef with ingredientsevery form of creativity has its own raw material. For futurists, the raw material is clues. We collect, combine, and build future scenarios out of clues to how the future might be different. To find future clues, you need to develop a way of observing the world in which you spot weird stuff that others overlook. You must constantly home in on things you havent previously encountered, things that make you say, Huhstrange, and I wonder why thats happening.

You can see signals all around you. For example, the first time I saw a No Drone Zone sign in my local park, I knew it was a signal that drone technology was becoming widespread enough to deserve its own signage. Inspired by this signal of change, I got my own drone and learned more about how drones are being used: journalism, storytelling, activism, art, scientific data collection, urgent delivery services. Finding signals can be as simple as a quick search on news or social media. This week, I searched for future of learning, future of mental health, and future of pets. (That was a particularly fun searchI learned about dinosaur chickens, therapeutic robot cushions, and how dogs on Mars would live.) You can also throw in terms like innovation, experiment, surprising, trend, leading-edge, weird, strange, creative idea, new phenomenon, scientific study.

Make it a habit to find at least one new signal of change every week, or even every day. Let these signals spark curiosity. What would the world be like if these signals of change became more common? Follow the trail of clues wherever it takes you.

This is my favorite way to come up with ridiculous (at first) ideas for the future. If your imagination feels stuck in the present, then rewrite the facts of today. Make a list of up to a hundred things that are true today, then flip them upside-down. Rewrite every fact so that the opposite is true. For example, you could say that libraries are mostly quiet spaces. Flip that fact upside-down: ten years from today, libraries are loud, raucous, wild spaces. Envision it is a vividly as you can. Whats happening in libraries to make them feel and sound so different?

If thinking about the future of democracy, you could say that today theres a minimum voting age. Flip that upside down: ten years from now, theres no minimum voting age, babies can vote. Picture itchildren voting! What does that look like? How does it change politics?

Whatever you come up with, spend time mentally immersed in upside-down worlds. Make sense of why these changes could happen. How does this new reality work? Look for cluesin the news, on social media, and in your own lifethat make these flipped facts seem more plausible. Type your flipped facts into search engines and discover signals of change that you would otherwise have missed. This is a fun, mind-stretching game, but its also profound. Turning the world upside-down can help clarify what changes you want in society and your own life.

Urgent optimism is a highly motivating, resilient mindset made up of three key psychological strengths: mental flexibility, realistic hope, and future power.

Mental flexibility is the ability to recognize that anything can become different in the future, even things that seem impossible to change today.

Realistic hope is a balance of positive and shadow imagination. Its knowing which threats it makes sense to worry about and which new solutions, technologies, and ideas it makes sense to be excited about.

Future power is a feeling of control and agency to directly impact the future, by taking intentional action today.

The good news is that urgent optimism is not a fixed personality trait. It changes throughout our lives and, crucially, its changeablewe can purposefully build more of it through future imagination training.

To listen to the audio version read by author Jane McGonigal, download the Next Big Idea App today:

More here:
Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for AnythingEven Things That Seem Impossible Today - Next Big Idea Club Magazine

Published on April 23, 2022

Augmenting NEXAs value statement of CREATE.INSPIRE.,Maruti Suzuki today launched the All-New XL6. The most premium offering from NEXA, the All-New XL6 with a bolder design, enhanced comfort features, in-built connected technology and Next-Gen Powertrain offers an immersive and indulgent drivingexperience.

Inspiring the future of Indulgence, the All-New XL6 empowers expression of individual identities who aspire for the finer things in life and take out the time to indulge.The All-New XL6 enables the NEXA customer to revel in utmost comfort while maintaining discernible tastes.

Speaking at the launch of All-New XL6, Mr. Hisashi Takeuchi, Managing Director and CEO, Maruti Suzuki IndiaLimited said, The XL6 has been a very successful model for us at NEXA. It has managed to carve a space for itself as the premium MPV in a short period.The evolving customersaspirations for a bolder, feature-packed,premium utility vehicle have led us to introduce the All-New XL6. This premium MPVhas enhanced comfort and convenience features, which are bound to delight the todays modern buyer. Based on NEXAs new design languageCRAFTED FUTURISM, the All-New XL6 has a refreshed design, advanced features and is powered by Next-Generation powertrain withan all-new 6-speed automatic transmission. I am confident that our NEXA customers will appreciate the All-New XL6.

All-New XL6 based on NEXAs Crafted Futurism Design Language

The All-New XL6 is the second model to feature NEXAs Crafted Futurism design language. A work of art inspired by the future, the design language is exclusively crafted to match the refined tastes of NEXA customers. The design philosophy manifests itself upon three major pillars:

Machine-finished two-tone R16 Alloy wheels

3D LED Tail Lamps with light guide & Smoke Grey Lens

New Bold Front Grille with sweeping X-bar element

All-New XL6 |Bold Design

The All-New XL6 embodies the aspirations ofurban buyers looking for a vehicle that matches theirstyle and complements their aspirations. It stands out with its imposing stance, bold front fascia and all-around body cladding with front & rear skid plates along with a host of key design updates, which enhance the bold appeal of the vehicle:

All-New XL6| Indulgent Interiors

The powerful exterior design of All-New XL6 is complimented by its plush interiors, which engulf you in utmost comfort.It builds upon NEXAs key pillars of Global, Innovative & Pampering by offering the perfect blend of style, technology and comfort.

The All-New XL6 is equipped with advanced comfort and convenience features:

Ventilated Seats

Ventilated Seats in the front row,designed to keep you cool and comfortable no matter what the temperature is outside

Enveloped in plush leatherette perforatedseat upholstery, the All-New XL6 features captain seats in the 2ndrow and the reclining 3rdrow seatsto ensure every passenger is left feeling pampered.The roof-mounted AC for rear passengers with multiple adjustable air vents and three-stage speed control ensures that all passengers are comfortable.

Keeping the customers comfort in mind, thoughtfully planned utility spaces such as air-cooled can holders, front row armrest with utility box, smart phone storage, bottle holders in each row and an option of a power socket in each row have been built-in.

All-New XL6 | Enhanced Safety

The All-New XL6 is secured with the NEXA Safety Shield, a host of active and passive safety features for your ultimate peace of mind.

All-New XL6 | Next-Generation Powertrain | Advanced Transmission

With the Next-Gen K-series 1.5L Dual Jet, Dual VVT Gasoline Engine with Progressive Smart Hybrid Technology, the All-New XL6 offers a peak power of [emailprotected] and max. torque of [emailprotected]

Advanced 6-speed Automatic

Transmission

Paddle Shifters

The All-New XL6 is available with the choice of a 5-speed manualand an all-new advanced 6-speed Automatic Transmission with steering mounted Paddle Shifters and offers an incredible fuel-efficiency** of 20.97km/l(MT) and 20.27 km/l (AT)in line with our vision for reduced emissions.

The All-new XL6 is offered in six monotone color options and three Dual-tone Color Options to make a bold statement:NEXA customers with a one-click online convenience, can also personalize their All-New XL6 with dynamic range ofGenuine NEXA accessories

All-New XL6 Prices: (Ex Showroom in INR)

The All-New XL6 can also be owned through Maruti Suzuki Subscribe at an all-inclusive monthly subscription fee starting from INR 25 499/-.

Maruti Suzuki Subscribe is a convenient way to bring home a new car. It allows a customer to use a new car without actually owning it and by paying an all-inclusive monthly subscription fee that comprehensively covers cost of complete registration, service & maintenance, insurance and roadside assistance.

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NEXA Launches the All-New XL6 Time to Indulge - APN News

Express News Service

Art plays myriad roles in our lives. While for some art is a mode to express themselves openly, for others it may be a medium to extend commentary upon what is happening around us. To be called an artist, one does not need to pursue art professionally, harbouring a sense of devotion towards the medium is often enough. Taking their passion for art forward, a few enthusiasts from Delhi-NCR exhibited their artworks at a show titled Art of Story Telling. Presented by Studio avantZgarde, this two-day exhibition comprising works of six artists was inaugurated at the Indian Council of Cultural Relations, Azad Bhawan, IP Estate on Saturday. Curated by mother-daughter duo Sareena Kochar and Avantika Kochar, this exhibition looked at the role art can play in the life of an ordinary individual in responding to various external impulses Some of them [the artists] are not professional artists and are doing this primarily for their passion. This exhibition is all about their depiction of what comes to the mind of the artist and looking at things from different perspectives and showcasing these concepts, shared Avantika Kochar.

A passion for art

A common thread that connects all these six artists is their dedication towards art. Avantika (30), a dancer and a Yogini, exhibited a few charcoal paintings along with others made through acrylic paints. A common thread in her work is the exploration of movement. There is always discovery where there is collaboration. My collaboration is with the moving body and you will see in my work. It is not always nature or its elements but it is the form that really intrigues me, she shared. Sareena, a hospitality professional from Gurugram, on the other hand, exhibited a series of architectural photographs clicked in various cities during her travel pursuits.

Siddhant Bhatia (32), a self-taught designer from Gurugramhe works in the corporate space exhibited four digital illustrations. Exploration of futurism, especially through colours, was central to Bhatias works. I really like pop art, colours that bring out the retro and futuristic element. The fascination has always been about mixing two-three styles together, he explained. Of the five, Yaman Navlakha is the only one who belongs to the creative fieldhe is a professional photographer and a documentary filmmaker. Navlakhas work on display comprised a series of black-and-white portraits. When we talk about character portraits, we only speak of famous people or those who are public figures. My intention was to capture either people I know or the everyday person and sort of bring out their essence through the portrait, he shared. Usha Dyes (79) from Noida uses acrylic on canvas to create artworks that explore nature in all its dimensions. Similar in essence were Saroj Mishras works that explore mythological figures through the same medium as Usha. In its entirety, this exhibition was a novel attempt at letting these aesthetes take forward their work to an audience whod appreciate their attempt and devotion.

Read more from the original source:
For the love of art - The New Indian Express

Dispatch

10:45

by Philip Patrick

Demolition of the Nagakin Capsule Tower has begun

Tokyo

One of Tokyos most iconic buildings, the Nagakin Capsule Tower, is currently being dismantled. The 50-year-old structure, with its 144 cube-shaped capsules and porthole windows, is one of the worlds few surviving examples of Metabolism. This 50s era architectural movement conceived of natural buildings, made up of cell-like components that could be replaced, or added to, giving the structures an organic quality and theoretically almost unlimited lifespan.

The tower is hideously carbuncle ugly it resembes a precarious stack of rusting washing machines but, as an almost unique example of a particular form of retro-futurism, is of undeniable historical and architectural significance. Yet, despite howls of international condemnation, its demise has received barely a peep of protest in Japan. A feeble attempt by the towers few remaining residents to save it got nowhere, and most Tokyoites, it appears, couldnt care less.

But then that is the way of things in Tokyo, a city renowned for being the worlds most transitory megalopolis. Old buildings are not so much cherished here as seen as an embarrassment. The average lifespan of a Tokyo building is just 26 years (the UK is 77). Even the much vaunted temples and shrines are rarely very old like Disney attractions they are quietly knocked down every couple of decades and rebuilt, hence their suspiciously pristine condition.

The traditional reason given for this ultra short shelf life is earthquakes and fires: why build for posterity when a tremor or conflagration could reduce your investment to dust and ashes? But this is a canard; modern building methods can make even the tallest urban structures virtually quake and fire proof. Indeed, Tokyo was named the worlds safest cityin 2017 by the Economist Intelligence Units Safe Cities Index, which gives a high priority to infrastructure.

In truth, there is a simpler explanation for Tokyos continual rebuilding loop its good business. The enormous potential of a construction site city was established by the 1964 Olympics, which saw the grotty, but undeniably characterful, buildings obliterated and remade in a frenzied transformation. Whole neighbourhoods were flattened, and new structures were thrown up in haphazard fashion. This caused immense disruption and serious environmental damage, but reaped gigantic profits for those lucky enough to be in receipt of the almost blank cheque government contracts.

Writer Charles Whiting, who witnessed the almighty upheaval, recalls Tokyo at that time was a cacophonous dusty hell, which tested the legendary Japanese quality of gaman (endurance) to the full. In one famous story, a man was arrested for making love to his wife in the grounds of the royal palace but was let off when he explained it was the only place where they could find peace from the relentless noise.

Tokyo endured and people grew to accept living in a state of permanent impermanence, and even perhaps to revel in the sense of dynamism.It chimed with the Japanese love of newness evidenced by the high status given to shinhatsubai (new products). New shopping centres attracted huge crowds on opening. Even unremarkable ventures, like Krispy Kreme Donuts, could attract two- or three-hour queues months after they opened their first store (now closed) in central Tokyo in 2006.

But so homogenous has much of Tokyos street scene become, with the same chain stores, restaurants and sterile airport terminal atmosphere, that the first emotion that often hits you when exiting any of its 881 stations is to wonder if you hadnt ended up back where you started. Even as a long-term resident I am constantly reminded of the line from MI5s man in Japan in the Bond film You Only Live Twice: I have been in Tokyo 20 years and Im only beginning to find my way around, which rings almost as true today as when Roald Dahl scripted it in 1967.

It is no wonder the Metabolists failed to reorganise Tokyo. The adherents of the movement looked to nature for inspiration, but overlooked two things: that cities have their own DNA that no revolutionary philosophy can ever quite remove, and that human natures most powerful forces is the desire to make a quick buck.

Read more here:
Farewell to one of Tokyo's most iconic buildings - UnHerd