Vooruitgang of nieuwigheid?

"So if the future is possible today, why is it still the future?"

Om DJ Shadow te citeren: "It's the money." En de gebrekkige samenwerking tussen apparaten. Aldus Christian Cantrell in 'The future is disappearing: How humanity is falling short of its grand technological promise' (Salon.com). Hij maakt ook een belangrijk onderscheid tussen vooruitgang en nieuwigheid:

Progress is about increasing access to information and media as opposed to imposing artificial restrictions and draconian policies; it’s about empowering the world to do more than just shop more conveniently, or inadvertently disclose more highly targetable bits of personal information; it’s about trusting your customers to do the right thing, providing real and tangible value, and holding yourself accountable by giving all the stakeholders in your business the ability to walk away at any moment. And it’s about sometimes taking on a challenge not only for the promise of financial reward, but simply to see if it can be done, or because you happen to be in a unique position to do so, or because humanity will be the richer for it.

Toekomst, ik kan je bijna proeven

Eerst, nieuws over het eerste synthetische (semi-synthetisch als ik het goed begrijp) blad dat volledige fotosynthese reproduceert:

 

Als dat niet genoeg is om verschillende toekomstscenario's te laten opbloeien is microgolf aandrijving voor de derde keer geverifieerd (let ook op onderhuidse "Chinezen nooit te vertrouwen" sfeer).

British scientist Roger Shawyer has been trying to interest people in his EmDrive for some years through his company SPR Ltd. Shawyer claims the EmDrive converts electric power into thrust, without the need for any propellant by bouncing microwaves around in a closed container. He has built a number of demonstration systems, but critics reject his relativity-based theory and insist that, according to the law of conservation of momentum, it cannot work. 

 Volgens Wired heeft NASA zijn eigen tests gedaan waarna de poëzie van geesten en anti-deeltjes weer opduikt:

"Test results indicate that the RF resonant cavity thruster design, which is unique as an electric propulsion device, is producing a force that is not attributable to any classical electromagnetic phenomenon and therefore is potentially demonstrating an interaction with the quantum vacuum virtual plasma."

This last line implies that the drive may work by pushing against the ghostly cloud of particles and anti-particles that are constantly popping into being and disappearing again in empty space.