Category: Science, Technology & the Future
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Sidebar: Four Scientific Tests a Real Ghost Would Need to Pass
If ghosts are real physical phenomena, they should be able to meet the same standards of observation as any other natural occurrence. Here are four tests science would demand: 1. Mass and Measurement A visible ghost must be made of something. That means it should have measurable weight, displace air, or exert a tiny gravitational…
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What could possibly go wrong?
After only 53 years of deciding that sonic booms over populated areas might be a bad idea, the U.S. has apparently concluded that the future is arriving too slowly. The ban on overland supersonic flight is out, and the dream of a two-hour Los Angeles-to-New York flight is back. What could possibly go wrong? Neighborhoods…
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The Futility of Voice Computing: Why Nobody Wants to Hear You Talk
Every few years, Silicon Valley digs up its old dream and tries to sell it as a revolution: a world where we stop typing and swiping, and instead “just talk” to our machines. This dream birthed Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, Cortana, and a thousand minor imitators. For a moment, it feels plausible—what could be more…
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The Futility of Saving Water in a Closed Loop
Every few months, another well-meaning public service campaign reminds us to “turn off the tap” when brushing our teeth, or to keep showers to five minutes “to save the planet’s water.” The image is compelling: every extra gallon of shower water siphons away from a finite reservoir, depriving fish, forests, and future generations. It feels…
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An Open Letter to the Radiocommunication Bureau of the International Telecommunication Union
To the Director and Staff of the Radiocommunication Bureau, For more than a century, the international telecommunications community has demonstrated that scarce global resources can be managed cooperatively for the benefit of all humanity. The radio spectrum, once considered inexhaustible, is now coordinated through international rules, technical standards, and administrative processes that allow billions of…
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When the Algorithm Becomes the Editor
(or, Why We’re All Writing to a Machine Now) We like to imagine a time when publishing a personal essay or opinion piece meant finding an editor: a human who read your words, pushed back, asked questions, demanded clarity, or caught flaws. That dynamic made writing alive. Today, many of us put our prose into…
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An Open Letter: Replace Data Caps with Fair-Share Networks
To telecommunications providers, regulators, policymakers, and network engineers: The internet has become as essential to modern life as electricity, water, and transportation. Yet many broadband and wireless pricing models remain rooted in an earlier era of scarcity, relying on monthly data caps and overage charges that often bear little relationship to the actual constraints of…
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The $10 Internet: Promise and Peril in a Connected Age
Imagine a world where your internet bill is cheaper than your Netflix subscription. Ten dollars a month buys you a modest but functional connection — 10 megabits per second, enough for Zoom calls, HD streaming, and all the browsing you can handle. For millions, that price would be life-changing. For others, it would be a…
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The Lingering Ghost in the Machine: Why AI-Generated Text Still Sounds Like It Was Written in 1923
Artificial intelligence is already writing your emails. It’s drafting business memos, summarizing meetings, assisting in legal briefs, composing customer service scripts, and even ghostwriting books. But amid all this futuristic promise, one peculiar fact stands out: AI still talks like it’s stuck in a dusty library full of old novels, wartime telegrams, and undergraduate term…
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PONDEROSA – Series Bible
Logline For six generations, the Cartwright family has controlled the largest privately owned tract of land in the Sierra-Nevada frontier. In 2026, as artificial intelligence, climate change, water scarcity, political polarization, and immense economic pressures converge on the American West, the heirs of the legendary Ponderosa must decide whether to preserve their inheritance, transform it,…
