Friday, January 1, 2010

OMG 2010

TK writes:
Before I REALLY get into this blog, I should point out that I made a New Year's Resolution video for you here. Okay. On to the coolest blog post this year!

So last night I accidentally the entire keg, and I got to thinking: "It's 2010, where's all the flying cars / invisibility / laser guns, etc?" But then I realized ITS ALREADY HAPPENING OMG THE FUTURE IS NOW
I will now make a bullet list of all the really awesome things science has done in recent years, with references to popular sci-fi movies / TV shows / books to help you understand.
1. Terminator 2 - Skynet: The idea of computers becoming smarter than humans is a real concept, and experts call it "singularity". Experts also predict singularity is just around the corner OMG
2. The Jetsons - flying cars: Many different types of flying cars have been around since the 1940's, but these days the Moller M400 SkyCar is pretty much the industry standard. And for all you hippie / burner / Greenpeace queers who think using fossil fuels is "harmful to the ozone layer", there's even an environmentally friendly flying car coming out next year OMG
3. GATTACA / Brave New World / 1984 - designer babies: We have the technology to create artificial wombs, we have the technology to synthesize sperm from male OR female DNA, and PGD is the most popular method for gender selection OMG
4. Too drunk to think of a movie this is in - longevity: Some scientist named Aubrey de Grey seems to think we're only 20-40 years away from a genetic treatment that will allow humans to live for 1000 years. How can that beard be wrong? He's totally a mad scientist OMG
5. Star Wars (and every other sci-fi movie) - lasers: Bitches don't know about lasers. Lasers on a plane? FUCK YEAH LASERS ON A PLANE. American infantry with lasers in Iraq? It's more likely than you think. Side note: Scientists have used a semiconductor to control the speed of light and make it really slow (38 mph, to be exact). Does this mean they could slow down lasers? Or maybe even freeze lasers mid-beam? Just speculating. Because that sounds a lot like a MOTHERFUCKING LIGHTSABER OMG
6. Star Trek - teleportation: Scientists have already successfully "teleported a quantum state to distant matter". I tried to read this article about a milestone in quantum teleportation, but I started getting a nosebleed. Here's an even more "you're-not-smart-enough-to-read-this" article on the same subject. I don't understand any of it, but as far as I can tell, we're making teleportation progress OMG
7. Hollow Man - invisibility: I saved the best for last here. No bullshit, scientists are making some kind of progress in invisiblity research. Once again the technical aspects are WAY over my head, but here's an article about it OMG

Now if you'll excuse me, my wife and I have an appointment with our fertility specialist to choose the gender of our child, and I'm way behind schedule so I'll take my flying car AIGHT L8

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