Category Archives: Transhuman News

A future of human progress and prosperity is coming, a futurist has predicted. Peter Schwartz is perhaps best known by the general public for his 1997 prediction that the next 25 years would result in a period of prosperity and technological progression. Of course, those predictions werent exactly on the money, and Schwartz and his fellow futurist Peter Leyden have gotten a lot of flack for it.

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Despite the predictions not panning out, there was a lot about Schwartz and Leydens Long Boom, that could have happened. Outside of the big predictions of the future, the two also offered alternative scenarios like food supply disruptions driven by climate change and a new Cold War between China and the United States.

While these more negative futures didnt happen in full, they did look a bit more prescient when looking back at the report. Now, though, Schwartz says that his mind hasnt changed on what is to come. He still believes that a Long Boom is coming for humanity. His predictions of the future say that there will still be immense progress and prosperity. That humanity will see a golden age again.

Of course, a lot is standing in the way of this kind of prediction of the future coming true. But that is what makes predicting the future so tricky, Schwartz explained in a video. While he believes that 2122 will bring this Long Boom of his, the future is hard to nail down. Instead, its easy to imagine how things will go wrong which is why those negatives played out more closely to 1997s prediction.

But Schwartz says that aiming to get everything right isnt his goal. Instead, he says that the intelligent futurist tests their predictions against multiple scenarios to try to see which are more likely to play out. This is a crucial part of scenario planning, which is also a large part of how futurists predict the future.

Looking for more science news? Scientists recently treated terminal cancer using a modified herpes virus. Plus, a professor rediscovered a miracle plant previously believed to have been extinct for over 2,000 years.

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Futurist predicts what the world will look like in 2122 - BGR

"Anyone telling you that there's a metaverse today that has worked is lying through their teeth."Lonely Road

Metaverse project Decentraland, a sandbox environment that allows users to buy and sell virtual real estate, isn't exactly teeming with people. Despite billions of dollars in valuations, companies betting on a metaverse future simply haven't made much headway.

In fact, according to data aggregator DappRadar, the Ethereum-based world Decentraland only had 38 "active users" over a period of 24 hours a confoundingly low number, especially considering the company has a market cap of a whopping $1.2 billion.

Decentraland pushed back, though, saying that "active users" are defined as unique blockchain wallet addresses that interact with its system. As CoinDesk explains, that means users who simply log in to chat or interact with others aren't being counted.

"DappRadar doesn't track our users, only people interacting with our contracts," Decentraland's creative director Sam Hamilton told CoinDesk, adding that the platform averages around 8,000 users on an average day.

Of course, even 8,000 users on a given day is dismal for something that's supposed to be the future of online communities. And if blockchain is the underlying economic mechanism of the endeavor, it's outright embarrassing if only a few dozen transactions are happening per day.

In short, it's a perfect example of the kind of massive disparity between market value and actual users that has been plaguing the Web3 world for years, and could also be indicative of a serious slowdown in appetite for virtual real estate and other blockchain-related assets, including cryptocurrencies and NFTs.

Decentraland's Twitter account also attempted to do some damage control, writing that the platform saw "1,074 users interacting with smart contracts" in all of September.

All told, though, none of these numbers really amount to much, given the amount of money being poured into metaverse platforms like Decentraland.

And that doesn't bode well for the future of the metaverse.

"Anyone telling you that there's a metaverse today that has worked is lying through their teeth," Sasha Fleyshman, portfolio manager at digital asset investment firm Arca, told CoinDesk.

Headline updated.

READ MORE: It's Lonely in the Metaverse: DappRadar Data Suggests Decentraland Has 38 Daily Active Users in $1.3B Ecosystem [CoinDesk]

More on virtual real estate: This $7.7 Million Miami Mansion Comes With a Metaverse "Twin"

Read more:
$1.2 Billion Metaverse Horrified by Report It Only Had 38 Active Users - Futurism

The Earth isn't the only planet experiencing extraordinary heat waves.

A team of scientists led by James ODonoghue, planetary scientist at the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), was shocked to discover a cataclysmic "heat wave" in Jupiter's atmosphere, reaching scorching temperatures of 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit.

The heat wave stretched for some 80,000 miles roughly the equivalent of ten Earths lined up next to each other racing from the gas giant's poles to the equator at speeds of over 600 mph.

Until now, why Jupiter experiences extreme temperatures even in the absence of surging heat waves has remained a scientific mystery. It only gets less than four percent of the warming sunlight that Earth does, which should suggest that it'd be a lot colder.

In fact,estimates have found that Jupiter's upper atmosphere should be a frosty -99 degrees Fahrenheit. But according to observations, its upper atmosphere is roughly the same temperature as Earth's, sitting at around 788 degrees Fahrenheit.

This discrepancy, nicknamed the "giant planet energy crisis," has been puzzling astronomers since the 1970s but fortunately, we may be getting much closer to an answer.

At this year's Europlanet Science Congress (EPSC), O'Donoghue and his colleagues presented their latest theory as to what may have caused Jupiter's blistering heat wave: its auroras.

Unlike Earth's auroras, which only occur during intense solar wind activity, auroras are a permanent presence in Jupiter's atmosphere.

O'Donoghue and his colleagues previously found that these auroras can get intense enough to heat the regions around Jupiter's poles. Forceful winds then push this heat around the entire planet's surface.

The massive "high-temperature planetary-scale structure," as described in a paperpublished in the journal Nature last year, only added credence to the theory.

"The heat wave is highly likely the result of a recent, large injection of energy to the auroral/polar region," O'Donoghue told Futurism. "We see this at Earth, but this is the first time weve seen it at another planet."

"These heat waves are an extra source of heat in upper atmospheres in general," he explained, "driven by the solar wind."

In fact, Jupiter may not be the only planet experiencing these scorching waves of heat.

"Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are also measured to be hundreds of Kelvin warmer than expected based on the amount of sunlight they receive," O'Donoghue added. "There is evidence that the distribution of auroral heat occurs at Saturn, while we can only speculate that it may also exist at Uranus and Neptune at present."

In short, the Sun could have far-reaching effects on the evolution of not only Jupiter's atmosphere, but other planets in our solar system as well a tantalizing glimpse into what drives the turbulent nature of our largest planetary neighbors.

More on Jupiter: James Webb Captures Jupiter in Glorious Infrared

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A Wave of Incredible Heat Ripped Through Jupiter - Futurism

Sound familiar?Waterworld

A new study published this week in Nature Astronomy suggests that, if life once existed on Mars billions of years ago, the planet could've been host to subterranean microbes that produced methane as a byproduct, known as methanogenic microbes.

And since methane is a climate driver, the scientists say, those microbes may have irreversibly damaged the Martian atmosphere, wiping themselves out in the process.

Today, the Red Planet is a cold and barren desert, but extensive observation and exploration has long revealed that the planet was once flowing with rivers, lakes, and maybe even oceans and therefore was once habitable, too.

According to the study, the abundance of hydrogen in the planet's atmosphere could have sustained the existence of methanogenic organisms four billion years ago, right around the time when the Martian climate was best suited for supporting life.

From there, Regis Ferrire, senior author of the study and professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona, and his team, applied several models to predict temperatures at both the surface and in the crust, and how hypothetical ecosystems would've survived within them.

"Our goal was to make a model of the Martian crust with its mix of rock and salty water, let gases from the atmosphere diffuse into the ground, and see whether methanogens could live with that," Ferrire said in a press release.

"And the answer is, generally speaking, yes, these microbes could have made a living in the planet's crust," he added.

Since the surface would have been too cold, Ferrire said, the microbes would have been most comfortable in the "upper few hundreds of meters" of the Martian crust.

But while these microbes may have been thriving underground, their success was fleeting.

"According to our results, Mars' atmosphere would have been completely changed by biological activity very rapidly, within a few tens or hundreds of thousands of years," said the study's first author Boris Sauterey, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Paris, in the release. "By removing hydrogen from the atmosphere, microbes would have dramatically cooled down the planet's climate."

It's a tantalizing theory that illustrates how much we still have to learn about Mars' history but our search for ancient life is far from over.

More on Mars: Chinese Rover Finds Evidence of Ancient Floods on Mars

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Ancient Life Caused the Destruction of Mars, Scientists Speculate - Futurism

During the early days of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced that the company would be sending thousands of Starlink satellite internet terminals to the embattled country.

Around 20,000 terminals, according to Musk, have already been donated to Ukraine so far.

Now, though, Musk has seemingly had a change of heart, and is asking the Pentagon to foot the bill instead. It's just become too expensive, he says although the real reason may have more to do with Musk's growing sympathy toward Russia.

"SpaceX is not asking to recoup past expenses, but also cannot fund the existing system indefinitely *and* send several thousand more terminals that have data usage up to 100X greater than typical households," Musk tweeted. "This is unreasonable."

The news comes following reports of Starlink outages plaguing Ukraine's attempts to retake ground previously occupied by Russia. According to officials, these outages led to a "catastrophic" loss of communication, as The Financial Times reports.

The terminals allowed troops and civilians alike to stay connected and ended up "saving lives," as vice prime minister Mykhailo Federov argued back in March.

Despite considerable goodwill, Musk suddenly changed his tune. Earlier this month, the billionaire suggested that Ukraine should give up parts of its territories to reach a peace agreement with Russia or else risk starting a nuclear war a shocking Twitter outburstthat had even his own diehard fans appalled.

Ukrainian officials were also unsurprisingly taken aback by Musk's comments, with Ukrainian diplomat Andriy Melnyk literally telling the richest man in the world to "f*** off."

Meanwhile, the Kremlin lauded Musk for his new tack, with Russian presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov saying that it was "actually quite positive" that Musk was, "unlike professional diplomats," seeking "a path towards peacefully resolving the situation."

In yet another tweet, Musk seemed to confirm that he's indeed ending the free service at least in part because Ukrainian officials were mean to him.

"Were just following his recommendation," Musk replied with a shrug emoji, after political strategist Jason Jay Smart pointed out the fact that Musk announced his change of heart just days after Melnyk told him to "f*** off."

At the same time, CNN points out that SpaceX did send a letter to the Pentagon asking for funding before Melnyk's comments.So money may well be a factor as well.

It's an unfortunate new development as the terminals are clearly proving to be a huge help for the people of Ukraine and this kind of vindictive mudslinging isn't going to help anybody.

More on the situation: Elon Musk Fans Horrified as He Suggests Ukraine Give in to Putin's Demands

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Elon Musk Says He Can't Give Free Starlink to Ukraine Anymore After Officials There Were Mean to Him - Futurism

Space settlement proponents and science fiction fans are likely familiar with the Stanford Torus, a gigantic donut-shaped spinning space habitat that could provide Earth-like gravity and climate for as many as 140,000 people.

But youve never seen it like this.

Astronomer and illustrator Dr. Mark Garlick used the 3D computer graphics software Blender to create a stunning fly-though video of a Stanford Torus. He recently shared a portion of it on Twitter:

Despite his comments on Twitter, Garlick shared that he had great fun making this in Blender. It took about 9 to 10 weeks to model, and 48 hours to render the 2160 frames. For those in the know, he used an RTX3090 and an RTX3080ti, with one card in each of two machines.

Just wow. Garlicks realistic graphics make our dreams of a thriving future in space seem real.

Wed highly recommend checking out a video on YouTube Garlick posted that includes more stunning frames of the torus fly-through (including flying through structures!) called The Future of Space Tech (sorry, its not embeddable, so follow this link) which also includes views of asteroid mining, Venus cloud habitats and starships from Earth arriving at an alien planet, among others, along with some awesome background music and sound effects.

Garlick has been a freelance illustrator since 1996 and has written and/or contributed to 15 books on space and astronomy, including The Universe: A travel guide and A Story of the Solar System. Garlick told Universe Today his favorite book he wrote is Cosmic Menagerie, which he describes as a pictorial inventory of the Universe.

Garlick is active on Twitter, where he posts his latest works. For example, heres a look at a flight over Pluto:

He has been doing animations since about 2010, and has a BSc and PhD in astronomy.

Garlick explained the details of the Stanford Torus he used:

The diameter of the overall station is 1.8 km. The interior diameter of the living section is 130 m. The ring section spins once per minute to provide 1g of gravity. Light enters the interior via a series of mirrors. First, a main mirror always facing the Sun at an angle of 45 degrees reflects light down to the central hub. This is in turn surrounded by a ring of mirrors, also at 45 degrees, which then direct that light through the glass roof and down to the surface. So the light is always directly from above. These latter mirrors can be modulated to turn the lighting on and off, simulating a diurnal cycle.

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Check out This Amazing Fly-through of a Futuristic Space Habitat - Universe Today

When Elon Musk attempted to impulse-buy Twitter back in April, he didn't have the money to do it himself; the only way he could or still would be able to put up the cash for the deal is with the backing promised by a group of equity firms and wealthy individuals.

Unfortunately for the Technoking, Insider reports, it sounds like some of those investors may be getting some serious cold feet now that Musk has resuscitated the deal after desperately fighting to get out of it.

"We're all trying to get out of it, to be honest," Andrea Walne, a general partner at Manhattan Venture Partners (MVP) and apparently regretful Twitter buyer, told Insider.

"We talked to the other investors, everyone's trying to get out of it," she continued, claiming that it's unclear whether investors will be held to their financial agreements or not, adding that "no one thinks the company should be valued at $44 billion."

First thing's first: this is an absolutely wild remark to say out loud to the press. Musk and Twitter are still very much in court, battling out the maybe-failed deal amid a sea of bot claims and stupid texts; to be this candid either seems calculated, or Walne simply moves through the world with a next-level IDGAF attitude.

Walne's firm says it handles over $1 billion in assets, which is a minuscule fraction of the $44 billion deal. And to that point, Walne told Insider that she actually thinks Twitter, in this economy, should be valued at something closer to $10 to $12 billion a much easier bill to foot.

But no matter how much Twitter (maybe) sells for in the end, it's not exactly in Musks's best interest to let his backers out of the deal.

"Given how unfavorable the deal now is for the buy-side, I'm sure Musk's buddies are all begging him to let them out," Robert Miller, an attorney who specializes in mergers and acquisitions, told Insider. "The less they put in, however, the more Musk himself must put in."

Everyone's in a bad spot, it seems. But you know what they say: don't hop on a $44 billion bandwagon that may have been launched by a midlife crisis. And unfortunately for Walne, she says she's having a tough time getting in touch with the banking folks on Wall Street who might have some answers.

"They're being very very hush hush about everything," she told Insider.

Which, well, makes sense, because again: court.

READ MORE: One of the investors that agreed to back Elon Musk's Twitter bid says they want out of the deal[Insider]

Read more:
Investors in Elon Musk's Twitter Deal Horrified It Might Actually Go Through - Futurism

It's a big week for Facebook-turned-Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

After a few rough quarters, a dismal public reaction to a glimpse at the founder's Horizon Worlds metaverse, and an allegedly imminent round of mass internal layoffs, the company is finally bearing down on the release of its Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest Pro VR and AR headsets. This stands to be a make-or-break moment for Zuck, who's hinged his company's legacy on his AR-dependent metaverse vision.

And by all accounts not to mention niche sport-related promos Facebook's katana-wielding overlord is thrilled about this product release. But according to The New York Times, there's one very telling group that may not be: the metamates themselves.

Corroborating a leak last week, the NYT reported that Meta has had a difficult time getting its employees on its Horizon Worlds platform. Some company staffers reportedly had to scramble to buy Oculus headsets which, you know, you might expect them to have already owned in response to new mandates that weekly meetings be held in the metaverse, and execs have even turned to threats to actively monitor their game play. Sounds, uh, fun.

"Everyone in this organization should make it their mission to fall in love with Horizon Worlds," read a September commandment, originally obtained by The Verge, from metaverse VP Vishal Shah. "Get in there. Organize times to do it with your colleagues or friends, in both internal builds but also the public build so you can interact with our community."

Shah has a point. It's difficult to drum up public excitement about a piece tech if those building it apparently don't care enough to even own the headset you need to use it.

But the issue, it seems, isn't just that the employees don't likeZuck's metaverse. In an anonymous NYT survey of 1,000 Meta employees, conducted on the popular Silicon Valley app Blind, only 58 percent said that they even understand the strategy he's taking to get there a sure recipe for chaos, confusion, and general unhappiness.

Even more damningly, some employees have reportedly taken to labelling metaverse projects with the acronym MMH which stands for Make Mark Happy (ouch) while Oculus' former technology chief, who still works as a Meta advisor, expressed during an August podcast interview that the many billions of dollars poured into the project made him "sick to [his] stomach." And back in August, the head of the metaverse division resigned.

Zuck, however, appears hellbent on bringing his "North Star" to fruition whether his metamates get it or not.

"Being a cynic about new and innovative technology is easy," A Meta spokesperson told the NYT. "Actually building it is a lot harder but that's what we're doing because we believe the metaverse is the future of computing."

READ MORE: Skepticism, Confusion, Frustration: Inside Mark Zuckerberg's Metaverse Struggles[The New York Times]

More on Zucko woes: Mark Zuckerberg Is in Big, Big Trouble

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Facebook Employees Seem Completely Confused by the Metaverse - Futurism

During his maiden voyage to space, "Star Trek" icon William Shatner had an awe-inspiring experience but it wasn't necessarily positive.

"So, I went to space," reads aVariety-published excerpt from Shatner's new book, "Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder."

After describing the exhilarating launch procedure and beginning of his zero-gravity excursion, Shatner wrote that when he turned around to look into the void of space, he was shocked by the emptiness he found.

"When I looked in the opposite direction, into space, there was no mystery, no majestic awe to behold," Shatner wrote. "All I saw was death."

In spite of his conceptual love of space after all, he played Captain Kirk on "Star Trek" during the beginning of the space race and the mystery it presented, what Shatner was forced to contend with in the real thing was far from what he expected.

"I saw a cold, dark, black emptiness," he wrote. "It was unlike any blackness you can see or feel on Earth. It was deep, enveloping, all-encompassing."

After looking back "toward the light of home," Shatner described an intense homesickness for the planet he had just left.

"I turned back toward the light of home," the "TJ Hooker" star wrote. "I could see the curvature of Earth, the beige of the desert, the white of the clouds and the blue of the sky. It was life. Nurturing, sustaining, life. Mother Earth. Gaia. And I was leaving her."

"Everything I had thought was wrong," he concluded. "Everything I had expected to see was wrong."

Many space travelers have described an experience termed the "Overview Effect," or a sense of euphoria and interconnectedness stemming from viewing Earth from above. Shatner alluded to the phenomenon, but even his takeaway there sounds unusually dark.

"When someone travels to space and views Earth from orbit," he wrote, "a sense of the planets fragility takes hold in an ineffable, instinctive manner."

"The contrast between the vicious coldness of space and the warm nurturing of Earth below filled me with overwhelming sadness," Shatner added. "My trip to space was supposed to be a celebration; instead, it felt like a funeral."

While this is the most detailed description of Shatner's trip to space, it was not the first time the "Star Trek" star had spoken publicly about it.

Shortly after landing from his spaceflight, which took place almost exactly a year ago, Shatner thanked Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos profusely for the trip.

"What you have given me is the most profound experience," he told Bezos through tears. "I hope I never recover from this."

If his memoir is any indicator, Shatner has seemingly kept that hope alive.

More space feels: Scientists Say New James Webb Images Are So Powerful That It Was Emotional Just Looking at Them

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William Shatner Says His Space Trip Left Him With a Feeling of Terrible Grief - Futurism