“Within the community, each person will be allotted just 200 square feet of living space, but apartments will be soundproofed, with Roomba-sized robots that rearrange furniture for different needs and times of day. … Furnishings and possessions not being used will be stored inside 4-by-4-foot boxes that are integrated into the apartment floors and electronically move up and down as needed.”
Category: ideas
Can Pokemon Go Transform Public Spaces?
“The game gives users a heightened appreciation both for public space and the architectural and historical landmarks in their city. Apparently, so many players have flocked to the National Mall in Washington DC that the National Park Service has encouraged rangers to help people find Pokémon, and learn about historical monuments in the process.”
Locavores Love Farms In Theory, But Practice Is Quite Different
“Farmers will continue to rely on off-farm income to pay their bills. They will choose loan payments over savings accounts, chicken feed over dental care. They will face the heartbreaking decision to leave their farms.”
A Neuroscientist Wonders: Could We Upload Our Brains Into The Computer?
As a neuroscientist, my interest lies mainly in a more practical question: is it even technically possible to duplicate yourself in a computer program? The short answer is: probably, but not for a while.
Neuroscientists And Philosophers Debate: Does The World Actually Exist?
Where philosophers have long debated how much we should trust our perception of the external world, neuroscientists operate on the assumption that we shouldn’t trust it much at all. According to neuroscience, it’s pretty much all in your head. Your world, through neuroscience’s empirical lens, is a construct you’ve built from patterns your brain has identified in sensory experiences.
Crime In Most Of The US Is Way Down – Here’s Why So Many Americans Are Still So Fearful Of It
“According to a 2014 Gallup poll, 70 percent of Americans think that the crime rate is increasing, up from 63 percent in 2013. But the reality is that America is getting safer. The national crime rate is about half of what it was at the peak in 1991. … Nnow that crime rates are so low, people have ‘very little direct experience of crime,’ so their perceptions are mainly shaped by news media and entertainment.”
Scientists Release New Improved Map Of The Brain
“Just like regular maps, brain maps are useful points of reference. Scientists use them to agree on what they’re studying in the first place, say, by pointing to something called the “anterior cingulate cortex” and having other people know what they’re talking about. But over time, better data can refine those maps. So a team of researchers have marshaled a huge amount of brain scan data to create a new, precise brain map, published in Nature today.”
How The Greeks Gradually Transformed The Idea Of The Afterlife
“What happens after death? In this, the ancients looked to Hades, god of the underworld, brother of Zeus and Poseidon. But Hades gave no reassurance. … Sympathetic interest in the human condition eventually led the Greeks to adopt new forms of religion and new cults. No longer seen as a joyless fate, the afterlife became more of a personal quest.”
Is Art Made By Computers Even Art?
“Art requires emotional and phrenic investments, with the promised return of a shared slice of the human experience. When we view computer art, the pestering, creepy worry is: who’s on the other end of the line? Is it human? We might, then, worry that it’s not art at all.”
Are You A Good Listener? Here’s What Listening Means
“Good listening is much more than being silent while the other person talks. To the contrary, people perceive the best listeners to be those who periodically ask questions that promote discovery and insight. These questions gently challenge old assumptions, but do so in a constructive way.”