21 August 1960: “In the world of tomorrow, you’ll be able to talk in English and be understood by a Japanese who knows only his own tongue, or by an Ottoman Turk who’s acquainted with his own language and no other,” it says. The picture shows what seems to be a foreign dignitary paying a visit to the White House. He has just stepped off his “vertiplane” which has landed in the garden and is shaking hands with a very formal gentleman carrying the “translator box”. The cartoon was inspired by a machine being developed by the US Air Force, the text explains. “Right now it operates at only 40 words per minute and is bulky and complicated. But miniaturization, combined with magnetic tape, suggests far more dramatic possibilities for the future - a translating box that might listen to one vernacular and instantly relay a verbal translation. Any language would then be usable anywhere, universally!”
PhD course
Strategic Foresight in Engineering
17-21 September 2012
Organisers: Per Dannemand Andersen and Birgitte Rasmussen
Department of Management Engineering , Technical University of Denmark
Venue: DTU, Lyngby Campus, Denmark
Registration deadline: 1 September 2012
Forget Schrodinger’s Cat: The cutting edge of applied quantum science is in a new type of space drive for satellites and probes patented by a 19-year-old Egyptian student.
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of 1962 book “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions”, I’m posting an edited version of my write-up of Kuhn in The End of Science (Addison Wesley, 1996), which draws heavily on my meeting with him. I hope that this profile—which is longer and more critical of Kuhn than “Reluctant Revolutionary,” my May 1991 profile for Scientific American—provides insights into the complicated views of this complicated man.
How to Write a Scenario Fiction, Schroeder, Karl Duane method
1. Determine the themes, trends, disruptions, or other findings that should be featured in the scenario fiction. For what does the story serve as a stand-in? In other words, if we assume that someone will only read the story, and not our reports, what message do we wish them to walk away with?
2. Once we have a preliminary list of the things we want our reader to remember, we can ask the question, for each item, of what makes the idea memorable. In other words, if we ourselves wished to commit this list to memory, what striking details or images might we use to do it? In doing this we are looking for images and ideas that might correspond to story elements such as setting, character, or plot.
3. Take the elements that were identified above section and attempt to construct a narrative that would fall apart without the presence of each one of them. At the very highest level, the ‘elevator pitch’ description of the story should be a mnemonic for the ideas we wish to convey. Expand the ‘elevator pitch’ into a more detailed story outline, eg. a description of what happens in the beginning, middle, and end of the story. In order to ensure that the reader will remember the intended ideas, ensure that the ideas are presented one at a time, and that each idea is
a. presented via striking, bizarre, or ‘cool’ images or events;
b. framed within an otherwise familiar locus (setting) or by ordinary language, such that the reader doesn’t have to work on understanding the context or setting of the imagery.
4. Work to minimize the presence of extraneous story elements, such as character development, emotional stakes, etc., if they do not directly contribute to either a locus or the imagery within one.
“There is no evidence of an increase in life satisfaction of the magnitude that might have been expected to result from the fourfold improvement in the level of per capita consumption,” write researchers led by economist Richard Easterlin in their May 15 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences paper.
He not only introduces a new typology of disruptive surprises but also highlights the promotion of resilience, as both a new guiding image -challenging the existing dominant image of economic growth and efficiency - and keystone systems variable on which much else depends
The number of children [per family] is not growing any longer in the world. We are still debating peak oil, but we have definitely reached peak child.” (Hans Rosling)
Hans Rosling had a question: Do some religions have a higher birth rate than others — and how does this affect global population growth? Speaking at the TEDxSummit in Doha, Qatar, he graphs data over time and across religions. With his trademark humor and sharp insight, Hans reaches a surprising conclusion on world fertility rates.
In Hans Rosling’s hands, data sings. Global trends in health and economics come to vivid life. And the big picture of global development—with some surprisingly good news—snaps into sharp focus
