The Future That Never Was
damage@thedosemag.com
Mass media's best safe crutch on future:
2005 BT Technology Timeline
by Ian Neild, Ian Pearson and BT
http://www.btplc.com/Innovation/News/timeline/TechnologyTimeline.pdf
Indicates global probabilities, desires and 
consumer products we'd love to put our
organs, any organs, into. Including precious
sex and brain meat. From 2006 to 2100.
Disruptive futurism timeline compiled from
insider sources
chats with world experts
the web (however
bad this sounds)
university newsletters
and press releases
sources from countries
with different science
policies and work morale
the preceding BT 
technology timeline
What's likely to happen by Dec31, 2010?
according to the BT timeline
synthetic voices pop band gets in top 20
odour and flavour sensors comparable to a dog
ai chatbots indistinguishable from people by 95% of population
first artificial electronic life
virus aimed at toys released
blood analysis chips
remote control of insects by neural implants
emotion detection used in businesses to select front line staff
network based learning casuses polarisation in classes
chips on food packaging tell when food is at its best
most homes have wireless networks
avatar cosmetic surgery
social log, automatic video capture of personal events, 24/7 audio recording
virtual car races as spectator sports
major social problem caused by email and texting in secret relationships
mobile email reduces productivity due to lack of concentration on task-in-hand
major terrorist attack on company or country via net, mass 'net rallies
war fought over weapon supply
biometric home access
blogs in military use as dominant intelligence technique
movies no longer sold in vhs format
star trek styled commbadge
flexible screens
video tattoos
light emitting fabrics
smell emitting clothes
blogs go wearable

What's likely to happen by Dec31, 2020?
highest earning celebrity is synthetic
most software written by machine
ai students, members of parliament
electronic life form given basic rights
smart bacteria contains electronics and linked to the net
smart makeup
human's own tissues to grow replacement organs
orgasm by email
retina & tooth regeneration, diabetes solved via stem cell research
individual genome part of medical record
oil consumption peaks
traditional pubs use tech to enhance illusion of tradition
vr escapism a social problem
films where viewers can choose who acts in each role
use of bacteria for processing and storage
self diagnostic self repairing robots
corporate cyberwars
ambient intelligence detection of minor crimes & as behaviour


[google them, you're sleeping on lectures anyways]
IAN NEILD
BRUCE STERLING
WARREN ELLIS
disruptive futurologist
SF writer, speaker
      comic book author,
sociocultural commentator
read his BT timeline at
www.btplc.com/Innovation/News/timeline/TechnologyTimeline.pdf
read his thoughts on atemporality at
http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2010/02/atemporality-for-the-creative-artist/
blogs at http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/ 
must-read books: Schismatrix (1985), Holy Fire (1996), Zeitgeist (2000)
blogs at www.warrenellis.com
for future-related comics, see Transmetropolitan, Doktor Sleepless,
Angel Stomp Future and City of Silence... out of many
bottom line: you could predict trends just by browsing 24/7 until your eyeballs bleed (some ppl are bred just for this)
you will act interested now.
and bring a coffee to restless journalist.
yes, now.
let me recap this for you: you are all very young and the future is very, very old.
i am earning journalistic prescription drug money here. bear with patience.
according to the BT timeline
yes, yes, we'll have androids,
10% of population. will not
be able to hump them, though.
officially.
yes, yes, we'll have androids, 10% of the population. will not be able to hump them, though. officially. stephen levy says 2050 is the year when you can throatfuck a dishwasher and get customer loyalty points for doing so.
most books and music sold online
augmented reality overlays used in stores
fully autopiloted cars
mugging by brain state induction devices
emotion control devices
dream link technology
active contact lens
the american dream has collapsed. no flying cars.
Jason Pontin (Technology Review, MIT): SF is nothing but innovation's propaganda literature

Alex Steffen (Worldchanging): refers to everchanging rapidfire changes and clashes of paradigms and ideas
  that renders science portals into tabloid portals - breakthroughs are everyday, yet nothing is revolutionary.
  You are most probably predictable if you're a corporate futurologist or a SF writer.

David H. Wilson (Popular Mechanics): technologies exist, they just appear on the markets decades later 

you don't go clockwork on the future. on the short run we always end up too optimistic, on the long run, way too conservative.
Science fiction's technically accurate prediction was in 1945. 
Arthur C. Clarke's "Extra-Terrestrial Relays: Can Rocket Stations Give World-Wide Radio Coverage?" things you could cover Earth 
with three geostationary satellites. America tries that in 1946 with ballistic V2 rockets, yet it is the USSR in 1957 that harvests success
with the Sputniks. And, oh yes, space travel? Jules Verne did Moon travel in 1865 with "De la Terre a la Lune".
act like the future is passé.
(it is.)
expect the frankenstein mashup.
Sterling: discontent comes from 1, remains and products of the collective intelligence, 2, asynchronous communication platforms and 3, the lack of one single authoritative voice of history.


the frankenstein mashup:
native expression of network culture: elements of past, present and future collided in a collage. tragically easy and cheap to do, not very effective. new stuff can be done from a special perspective  William Gibson calls "pre-distressed antique futurity"
refuse the awe of the future, refuse reverence to the past
don't allow yourself to be hypnotized by the sense of technical novelty
accept that the future is already passé, try to make it news that stays news
"we are approaching a situation where the outlooks and interests of our 
own age make very little sense. they just don't bind to anything in particular.
we don't have a coherent outlook or interest that can enslave us. this means
we are closer to a potentially objective history than anybody has ever been."
and this era will pass too. and there's good chance we could physically outlive 
this era with our own body. in the meanwhile, we could even get wiser.
HAKIM BEY
essayist
read his thoughts on TEMPORARY AUTONOMOUS ZONES at
http://hermetic.com/bey/taz_cont.html
WILLIAM GIBSON
SF writer
he single-handedly throws an idea to the readers in one of his books.
a few weeks later everybody talks about it like it's brand new.
the fact is, it is just recycled antiquity like you haven't seen it before.
omnispace.org
mostly architecture
io9.com
film & technology
mindhacks.com
brain science
grinding.be
bodymod & soc
paramodern.blogspot
essays
warrenellis.com
weird, gonzo and
social commentary
technoccult.net
rave culture revisited
posthumanblues.blogspot
random and gorgeous
planetdamage.com recommends
planetdamage
www.planetdamage.com
damage@thedosemag.com
Interfaces, Not of This World
human/machine interface solutions by 2010 (according to the BT timeline)
e-ink screen advertising billboards
personalized adverts on radio
head up displays for DVD watching
smelly television using chips with small reservoirs of chemicals
voice command interface for home appliances
"minority report" style air displays
3d fingertip tracking
human/machine interface solutions by 2012 (according to the BT timeline)
holographic video advertisements
displays with image quality comparable to paper
separate volume controls for different people in room
projected augmented reality
personalized tv & radio
3d personal glasses displays
full voice interaction with pc
voice synthesis quality up to human standard
human/machine interface solutions later on (according to the BT timeline)
2015:
active contact lens
AR standard in towns/cities
active skin touch sensitive display on body
2017:
holographic display for continuous video
hamster ball with VR for pets
computer link to biological sensory organs
2020-
thought recognition as everyday input means
holographic TV
full direct brain link
trend analysis for 2010
HUDs (Heads Up Displays)
Gesture-based interfaces
Spatial motion interfaces
AR (augmented reality)
Other (neural, voice-based)

video material (your children will laugh hard at it in space with brand new tektite organs)
else mobile commercial
outtake from "johnny mnemonic"
outtake from "the matrix"
outtake from "minority report"
bumptop presentation
natal for xbox360 presentation
perceptive pixel demo
microsoft office vision 2019
bruce branit's "world builder"

http://vimeo.com/3365942
http://vimeo.com/7701822
www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-VokLUANAs
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPPBzmn6Fh4
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwVBzx0LMNQ
www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0ODskdEPnQ
www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2qlHoxPioM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysEVYwa-vHM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvtxupQmRSA