Every modern computer is, in essence, supposed to be a physical implementation of an ideal machine, the universal Turing machine that can compute any computable function. Extremely simple in conception, …
familiarity count
A recent survey of 1,002 adults in England, on topics related to the (and technological) future, yielded answers that are quite interesting. – Although 60% to 72% (depending on the …
scientific mysticism history: tao and physics
Are modern techno-sciences, the technoscientific tools of the bio-informational (capitalist) model, magic? The question, as such, could be considered provocative. In the age of bytes and genes, what could be …
scientific truths
Could radioactivity be less harmful than we think? Wildlife has “returned” next to the concrete shell of the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine, which 30 years ago became a nightmare …
genetic sins
Although the mapping of (still only a tiny fraction of) human DNA and the DNA of other species may not deliver the magical gene correlations and “solutions” desired by marketers …
Alien Aggressor
The Russian engineer and welder (old specialty…) Sergei Kulagin (right) and his friends are assembling a robot they have baptized “Alien Aggressor”, a beast 3 meters tall and weighing 600 …
thalidomide
Thalidomide was introduced in 1957, first in West Germany, as a harmless tranquilizer by the pharmaceutical company Chemie – Grünenthal. The sedative was specifically advertised (among other things) to pregnant …
the politics in dna
… In the past, political scientists were certain that social forces – among them, as the most significant, parents and the immediate environment during childhood – strongly influenced whether people …
How did those living in the late 19th and early 20th centuries imagine the year 2000?
The strong impressions from the technical inventions and applications until then shaped the material of the imagination of those who had the time and inclination to predict the future. From …
“robotic scientist”
The person depicted is Isaac Newton. Now, an algorithm named “Sir Isaac” in his honor is, according to its creators, a small but decisive step toward the “robot scientist.” The …
About paradigm shift
The words paradigm change are used sparingly but steadily in recent decades in international commentary (or babble) when it comes to commenting on some of the changes (sometimes real and …
cyberterritorial history
The evolution of cyberspace is both a quantitative and qualitative perspective that has followed the course of the Internet and network and computer technology almost faithfully. In 1991 the creation …