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Blogging the future

Here is a fake video, produced by the American SCi-Fi network, about a “transformer” car that we will not have to park because it can becomes as small as change. Is this a farfetched dream or a new goal for science?

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Let’s put it like this: if this were real, Mary Poppins would no longer be extraordinary.

In today’s video, a Jeep is “decomposed” like a transformer vehicle until it becomes the size of a piece of chewing gum. The tiny car is then placed inside of the driver’s purse as she walks away. It reminds me of the scene from Disney’s Mary Poppins when she begins pulling large objects, such as a lamp, out of her leather bag.

Yes, plants, clothes hangers…there was room for everything in that bag of hers. But what about an automobile? According to today’s video, although the video itself is fake, it could be entirely possible.

More Info:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt_rLnE5HpY

This cartoon from 1953 brings us on a fantastic tour of the possibilities of television, to the time of “new” media.

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I have always enjoyed revisiting the fiction of the past in order to play one of the most classic games: spot the differences. It is the game that I invite all of you to play today, while watching this video.

In this 1953 MGM cartoon, director Tex Avery and producer Fred Quimby present their whimsical vision for “televisions of the future.” While none of their wild ideas actually exist today, their cartoon is still worthwhile for other reasons. First of all, the video illustrates some of the commonly-held beliefs of the time concerning proper places men and women occupied in society (think of the television inside of the washing machine).

The cartoon is also a great representation of the power technology has to excite the human imagination. At the time this cartoon was made, televisions were some of the newest and most complex pieces of technology everyday people came in contact with. By presenting ideas as to the possibilities of televisions, Avery and Quimby poke fun at the oftentimes overly lofty conceptions people can have as to the ability technology has to better human existence. Still, many of the innovations were very practical and useful for that time period. Whereas the television of the future was able to automatically correct a fuzzy picture, perhaps today’s television of the future will be able to recognize the viewer and automatically pick desired TV shows. We’ll just have to wait and see.

The key to our future and to the development of future generations is the energy revolution. We have to reconstruct the present so that our children will be able to see their future. These are important words, from the President of the United States himself, about our future. Although the video is fake (made by Greenpeace for the launch of their Energy Revolution campaign), it is moving nonetheless.

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In the video that I have chosen for you today, a young President of the United States speaks in front of an attentive audience. He wishes for a different future, and declares his wish to make his country the leader of this evolution. He speaks about the environment. Is it President Barack Obama? No. It is President John F. Kennedy, who, more than 50 years ago, outlined the central theme of today’s global politics: the defense of the environment, and the vision of an energy revolution. Or at least it seems that way.

The altered video was created by Greenpeace for the launch of their Energy [R]evolution campaign. But Greenpeace’s words, which they attribute to President Kennedy, are moving. I leave this message with you: these words deserve some reflection for the time that we have wasted, and for the time that we cannot waste. We need responsible Heads of States with a vision. Today, now, soon.

More Info:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPfM5_g8BIo

Surprise! They are exactly like this, or almost. The automobiles that were imagined in this cartoon from the 1950’s are actually not that much different from our cars today. Is the imagination the first phase of innovation?

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“Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.”

Today I am showing you a cartoon by Tex Avery from MGM on the future of automobiles, made 50 years ago.

The automobile has become such an important part of our lives, that imagining what our future car would be like would almost be like asking ourselves what we will be like in the future. In this video, made 50 years ago, we can see the creativity and intuition of MGM. And with this video comes the desire to ask ourselves what the cars of our future will look like, as if were also cartoon designers, in order to create an outlook of our fantasies.

Try it, if you’d like. Maybe in 50 years we will discover that a lot of what we imagined has actually become a reality. This is the excellent exercise of the imagination that Tex Avery has created. It is something worth thinking about, plus it’s entertaining.

I’m sure that when people first watched this cartoon 50 years ago they either laughed or just couldn’t believe that any of these ideas could actually become a reality. And yet, here we are, with cars that are not that different from some of the automobiles described in the cartoon. Will we look back in 50 years at our projections and feel the same way? Technology has allowed us to evolve so quickly, that perhaps we won’t even have to think that far into the future anymore.

Clothing made of paper is becoming the new frontier of fashion.

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Paper already has many uses, and now it even clothes. And in today’s video, you will be able to see how.

It is called “paper dressing”: Wearable clothing designed and manufactured completely out of recycled and recyclable paper. The versatility of this material guarantees dependable clothing, while demonstrating a new way of making a distinct and eco-friendly statement.

Future perspectives are interesting: think about when we will have personal clothing factories in our homes. A small machine, capable of printing, cutting, and coloring clothing that we design. Every day a different style, and a different outfit. And in the evening, instead of throwing our clothes in the washing machine, we will recycle our outfits in order to make tomorrow’s clothes.

Come tomorrow, the Devil wears paper.

More Info:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbmttNtn6f4

Severn Suzuki is a thirteen year old girl who spoke at the United Nations out of fear for the future and the health of planet Earth. Filmed more than fifteen years ago, her words still resonate with the fears that we still have today.

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“In spite of my fear, I am not afraid to change the world in the way I believe it should be changed”.

These words were spoken by a thirteen year old girl, the spokesperson of an environmental group called ECO, at the United Nations. During her speech, she moved and captivated her audience with her firmness, clarity, and farsightedness. But then we forgot about them. Today, I would like to try once more.

Severn’s speech was political and not technical. It was through this approach that made the whole world stop and think, and it is because of this that her speech is still extraordinary and relevant.

The video speaks about the future. It underlines the fear of a future that could no longer exist, and what we should be fighting for to prevent this from happening. The price of our future, of the technological change, is in the resources that we consume in order to generate wealth. We must first think about the sometimes irreversible changes before we proceed any further. And if we are making our ecosystem pay too high of a price, we should ask ourselves if we need to slow down and think about alternative solutions.

Bob Dylan says in his song, “The Times They Are a-Changin’”, “Come mothers and fathers throughout the land. And don’t criticize what you can’t understand”. I am a father. Like many of you will do, watching this video I imagined my children asking the same questions that Severn posed, and I thought that her response was the best one that we could give: “In spite of my fear, I am not afraid to change the world in the way I believe it should be changed”.

More Info:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbmttNtn6f4