Brooders

Interesting and scary .. predictions of the future in video

Nanotech, fusion reactors, AI, cyborgs, Mars Colonization !!

This is the work of Peter Pesti, who is maintaining a list of which predictions come true or not.

(Via A visual trip through the 21st Century )

Update: – Worth taking a look at the comments from Pesti’s site. Interesting how people are thinking that power and global warming are real issues, and that Kurzweil might be oversimplifying AI and the human brain.

An interesting look at the darker side of Google’s Information Empire.

I like the Irony of sharing a Google Paranoia video on the Google owned Youtube.

Mind you, I can’t imagine not using Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Reader or Google search … not sure what that means about me ?

( Via Infosthetics )

Over at Sydney Morning Herald (Australian Newspaper) they have reported a story Virtual Reality is therapy for injuries. VR really took a dive for the worse in 90s. It promised fantastic worlds and interfaces which never eventuated in any practical sense.

Gibsons “Count Zero” described how Turner was in a VR construct while his body was rebuilt and healed. This idea has been around for a while in fiction. But articles like Wired’s VR Goggles Heal Scars of war talks about similar therapeutic, although psychological, use of this technology. While we may wonder what happened to open standards like VRML, we can at least see that VR serves a purpose somewhere.

Interestingly enough the psychological aspects seem to be the main use of VR. There is research into Pain relief therapy

Twelve patients with severe burns at Harborview reported highly significant reductions in pain levels during physical therapy when in VR compared to no VR (conventional treatment).

So, that leaves me with two questions:

1. What other uses of VR are out there?
2. What were the burn victims watching/experiencing during therapy?