Free Republic

It's never easy to predict the future. But as PM's 110th anniversary celebration draws to a close, we've decided to try. Here are 110 ambitious ideas for the decades ahead. (For more about PopMech's brain trust and methodology, read Editor-in-Chief Jim Meigs' introduction. And if you want to try your hand at predicting the future, take our Facebook survey, and see when other readers think the most important events of the next 110 years will happen.) 2012—2022 · People will be fluent in every language. With DARPA and Google racing to perfect instant translation, it won't be long until your...

[Most of these, except for a couple, are very positive achievements. Let’s work for more in 2015, Happy New Year!] The Most Futuristic Predictions That Came True In 2014 By George Dvorsky As 2014 comes to a close, it's time to reflect on the most futuristic breakthroughs and developments of the past year. This year's crop features a slew of incredible technological, scientific, and social achievements, from mind-to-mind communication to self-guiding sniper bullets. Here are 15 predictions that came true in 2014. Technologically-assisted telepathy was successfully demonstrated in humans For the first time ever, two humans exchanged thoughts via mind-to-mind...

The drone needs to be able to fly indoors at speeds up to 45 mph, automatically navigating through complex indoor environments without communication with outside operators, DARPA says.

..........Could this wristband sensor one day be moved to inside the wrist, or somewhere in the hand? It may sound rather far-fetched, but it’s already happening. According to the local.se, Emilott Lantz, 25, from Umeå in northern Sweden, got a microchip inserted into her hand early November. She became a guinea pig during Sime 2014 in Stockholm – a conference about digitalism, the internet, and the future. In line with the goals of the event, participants were offered to get a microchip fitted for free – an opportunity Lantz jumped at. “I don’t feel as though this is the future...

Ever see people shooting their AK's or AR's around the corner without looking? The folks from Tracking Point is making it a reality with their upcoming app that allows you to do this with a pair of Google Glass and Tracking Point Site System attach to your favorite AR, the app binds the two together. I'm not going to go into the nuts and bolts of this, but just know that where you point your gun you would be able to see on the hud of your glasses. If you're technically savvy you can have this on your own...

In the past, this season was marked by a greater interest in divinity, the family hearth and the joy of children. Increasingly our society has been turning away from such simple human pleasures, replacing them with those of technology. Despite the annual holiday pageantry, in the West religion is on the decline, along with our society’s emphasis on human relationships. Atheism seems to be getting stronger, estimated at around 13 percent worldwide but much higher in such countries as Japan, Germany and China. “The world is going secular,” claims author Nigel Barber. “Nothing short of an ice age can stop...

Danielle George, Professor of Radio Frequency Engineering, at the University of Manchester, claims that the under 40s expect everything to ‘just work’ and have no idea what to do when things go wrong...This year’s Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are entitled ‘Sparks will fly: How to hack your home’ she is hoping it will inspire people to think what else they can do with common household objects...Ideas include using a magnifying glass and shoe box to turn a mobile phone into a rudimentary projector; how to use tin foil to make too small batteries fit correctly and how to turn a...

“German researchers have discovered security flaws that could let hackers, spies and criminals listen to private phone calls and intercept text messages on a potentially massive scale – even when cellular networks are using the most advanced encryption now available,” Craig Timberg reports for The Washington Post. “The flaws, to be reported at a hacker conference in Hamburg this month, are the latest evidence of widespread insecurity on SS7, the global network that allows the world’s cellular carriers to route calls, texts and other services to each other,” Timberg reports. “Experts say it’s increasingly clear that SS7, first designed in...

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station needed a socket wrench, so NASA engineers emailed him designs for 3D-printing one.

According to technology expert Vivek Wadhwa, "One of the things that has begun to worry me is the fact that I'm seeing change happening at a scale which is unimaginable before and that it's impacting industry after industry after industry." "Every industry I've looked at I've seen a trend of major disruption happening," says Wadhwa in a new piece for Big Think. Wadhwa is a fellow at Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University, director of research at Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at Duke, and Distinguished Fellow at Singularity University.  Wadhwa tells how manufacturing will be dramatically...

The Obamas open up about raising their daughters, the impact of stereotypes, and what's on the POTUS dance party playlist. Subscribe now for instant access to the exclusive PEOPLE interview! -snip- "I think people forget that we've lived in the White House for six years," the first lady told PEOPLE, laughing wryly, along with her husband, at the assumption that the first family has been largely insulated from coming face-to-face with racism. "Before that, Barack Obama was a black man that lived on the South Side of Chicago, who had his share of troubles catching cabs," Mrs. Obama said in...

I am deeply disappointed that Greenpeace engaged in an action at the sacred Nazca Lines in Peru. We have been hearing from many of you and I share your frustration and anger about this situation. The decision to engage in this activity shows a complete disregard for the culture of Peru and the importance of protecting sacred sites everywhere. There is no apology sufficient enough to make up for this serious lack of judgment. I know my international colleagues who engaged in this activity did not do so with malice, but that doesn’t mitigate the result. It is a shame...

The smart skin, which in photos appears to drape a prosthetic hand like a see-through glove, is made of a soft polymer known as elastomer, and contains pressure, temperature and humidity sensors and stretchable electrodes that stimulate the existing nerves. The researchers were able to demonstrate how the skin could sense pressure from catching a ball as well as the temperature of a cup of hot or cold water. It could tell wet from dry, and the skin's heat sensors responded when it touched a baby doll warmed to body temperature.

It turns out that people aren't eating as many McHamburgers as they used to, which is a big problem if your business is all about slinging meat. So McDonald's is hoping the novelty of its "Create Your Taste" ordering kiosks will lure some customers back in. The machines will be installed in 2,000 of its US outlets by the end of 2015.

Once upon a time, there was a saying among the young: “The answer is more beer. What is the question?” Substitute the word “government” for the word “beer” and you have what could be the rallying cry for academics today. “As for spurring economic growth in general, there is a near consensus among serious economists about many of the policies that are necessary,” MIT economists Erik Brynjolfsson, Andrew McAfee, and Michael Spence wrote in an article which appeared in Foreign Affairs last summer. “ The basic strategy is intellectually simple, if politically difficult: boost public-sector investment over the short and...

India, the world’s largest democracy, has at present the tenth-largest economy. It will, no doubt, surpass the economies of the European nations in a few years and rank among the world’s four largest economies, together with the United States, China and Japan. It is a friend of the State of Israel. It shares with Israel the values and ideals of democratic government. Like Israel, it has a substantial Muslim minority among its population. Since its partition in 1947, it has fought three wars with its neighbor, Pakistan, and to this day faces a security threat from that direction. Terrorist acts...

Gears with teeth are a thing of the pastResearchers Develop a Magnetic Levitating Gear 01-DEC-2014 01:19 PMResumen: Researchers from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) are developing a new transmission mechanism with no touching parts, based on magnetic forces which prevent friction and wear and make lubrication unnecessary. It can be applied in space travel and exploration but has also been adapted for use in other areas, such as the railroad and aircraft industries. This research is being carried out under the auspices of MAGDRIVE, a European research project coordinated by Professor José Luis Pérez Díaz, from the UC3M Instituto Pedro...

Intel CEO Brain Krzanich has announced, in an email sent to employees on Monday, new company plans to merge its loss-making mobile chip unit with its profitable PC business early next year, writes the Wall Street Journal. "The market continues to evolve rapidly, and we must change even faster to stay ahead," Krzanich asserted in the email. It is well known that Intel has struggled to gain a foothold in mobile computing, but even worse for the business its tablet and smartphone chip-making division has lost billions in the recent months. Intel's mobile communication group posted a $1 billion operating...

Are businesses are moving too quickly to robots? Is any job safe? Patrick Thibodeau at Computer World discusses the idea things are moving "too fast" with a review of Nicholas Carr's new book, The Glass Cage, Automation and Us. Please consider Automation Could Take Your Skills -- and Your Job by Patrick Thibodeau. The Glass Cage examines the possibility that businesses are moving too quickly to automate white collar jobs, sophisticated tasks and mental work, and are increasingly reliant on automated decision-making and predictive analytics. It warns of the potential de-skilling of the workforce, including software developers, as larger shares...

I am walking through my north London neighbourhood on an unseasonably warm day in late autumn. I can hear birds tweeting in the trees, traffic prowling the back roads, children playing in gardens and Wi-Fi leaching from their homes. Against the familiar sounds of suburban life, it is somehow incongruous and appropriate at the same time. As I approach Turnpike Lane tube station and descend to the underground platform, I catch the now familiar gurgle of the public Wi-Fi hub, as well as the staff network beside it. On board the train, these sounds fade into silence as we burrow...