Category: Our World
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Smile: the humanizing power of technology
Recently, Listerine commissioned the creation of an app that allows the blind to “see” a smile. This is an example of how technology amplifies our humanity. And this is just the beginning. What might a future in which technology makes us more human look like?
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Fish populations change as ocean waters warm
Marine ecosystems are changing as ocean temperatures rise according to Global Change Biology. Remember, when thinking about the future, it’s not what happens, but what happens because of what happens. One example of “what happens because of what happens” is the overfishing of marlin and shark off of the California coast. That is what happened. What […]
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The Culture of Blur
According to the Washington Post, On April 15, 2015, Sweden will add a gender-neutral pronoun to its official dictionary . That pronoun is “hen.” It turns out that the Swedish pronoun for males is “han” and for females is “hon.” So, while it’s unfortunate that it sounds like the english word for a female chicken, […]
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Yogaphobia
The practice of yoga has become ubiquitous in our culture. Yoga pants are everywhere. Check your closet. But what is the greatest danger: Yoga or what we westerners will do with it?
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Sundays – a stunning short film
Mischa Rozema released his stunning 14-minute science fiction short film last Monday and created a three-studio bidding war between Warner, Sony, and Fox. By Friday Rozema had closed a deal with Warner. I find it visually compelling. This narrated short film has to me the feel of the Matrix, The Adjustment Bureau, and Inception. Enjoy […]
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Reflections on Easter — Where is the other guy?
This is so important as we approach Easter Sunday– the one Sunday a year in which we remember the reason we gather all those other Sundays. We don’t gather because Jesus’ spirit goes on. (Insert Titanic musical theme here). We don’t gather because Jesus went to heaven (or paradise) when he died. We gather because we ride the wake of the most surprising event in the history of our species…
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Retro Posters about Future Vacation Possibilities
Download the posters from JPL. My friend, Joby Harris, created some beautiful posters for NASA to mark the discovery of habitable worlds. From the CNN source: These posters mark the discovery of potentially habitable worlds. “Rendered in the retro style of classic travel billboards of the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s, the posters depict these distant […]
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The Saddest Trend of 2015
My friend, Greg, sent me an article from a UK News Source, The Telegraph, titled, The Saddest trend of 2015. The article is about the growing popularity of the technology of “mindfulness.” The practice of mindfulness, rooted in Buddhist meditative practice and now a phone app, was so popular in 2014 that it was, in […]
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Welcome to the Anthropocene
Look carefully at the photo. What do you see? Those of you who have experienced the beauty of the California coast line will need to brace yourselves. You’re looking at the floor of the Monterey Bay. A recent study revealed that 33% of the debris on the floor of Monterey is plastic. Over time this […]
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Another Earth
Here’s a quote from today’s Guardian (UK). “A planet with conditions that could support life orbits a twin neighbour of the sun visible to the naked eye, scientists have revealed. The world is one of five thought to be circling Tau Ceti, a star just 12 light years away that is almost identical to the […]
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