Category Archives: Transhuman News

Futurism Biweekly Journal Presents
What is on the horizon? Whats is on the horizon? What on the horizon what the horizonFrom:circular05Views:1 0ratingsTime:00:39More inFilm Animation

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Futurism Biweekly Journal Presents - Video

Fifty years after they flew by car into the homes of millions, The Jetsons remain in the minds of a many a nostalgic flight back to Saturday mornings on the sofa. They were The Flintstones in space, grappling with the modern family, a dynamic that never gets old because, in their case, it was 2062. So we watched those original 24 episodes on repeat for decades.

To one man, however, The Jetsons were not just a childhood diversion, but one of the most important subjects in a field of history of which he is the founding student.

From his home in Los Angeles, and via his blog, Paleofuture, Matt Novak digs up the past to find predictions for the future, chipping away to reveal visions that reflect as much about our time, hopes and fears as the eternal search for a jetpack.

"It's easy for some people to dismiss The Jetsons as just a TV show, and a lowly cartoon at that," he writes in the introduction to his ongoing series, 50 Years of The Jetsons. "But this little show has had a profound impact on the way that Americans think and talk about the future."

He goes on to call The Jetsons "one of most important pieces of futurism of the 20th century".

The animated sitcom, made by Hanna-Barbera, was one of the first ever colour TV series when it launched in September 1962. It introduced the titular family: George, whose job requires him to push a button for only a few hours a week; his gadget-loving wife, Jane, who stays at home to care for children, Judy and Elroy, their robot maid, Rosie, and Astro, a talking dog.

For Novak, who is too young at 29 to remember if he grew up watching repeats of the 1960s original, or the forgettable 1980s revival (or both), part of the show's appeal and the broader appeal of his work is assessing what predictions of a future world have and have not come to pass. We have flatscreen TVs, robot vacuum cleaners, video-conferencing, moving walkways and tanning beds. Flying cars and 10-hour working weeks? Not quite, but then we still have 50 years to achieve that utopia.

Predictions beyond technology in The Jetsons are less progressive. When George introduces Jane in the title sequence, it's while handing her dollar bills as she heads off shopping while he goes to work (she takes the whole wallet, incidentally). "There are no black people in The Jetsons," Novak adds. "It was a projection of the mid-20th century typical white family into the future. But it wasn't just The Jetsons much of the futurism I look at never challenges social norms."

This is where The Jetsons' legacy reaches beyond the gadgets it imagines (all of which, incidentally, had been imagined elsewhere). Future-gazers, be they animators, novelists or doomsayers, are driven by fear as much as hope or intrigue about the time ahead. By the early Sixties, the rise and promise of post-war consumer culture had collided with Cold War anxiety. The result was the jetpack, the symbol of what Novak calls the golden age of futurism of the mid-20th century.

The makers of The Jetsons (who were, inevitably, middle-class and white) added comedy and parody to create the reassuring yet escapist vision of an "ideal" American family changed only by technology. As Novak says of their automated world, "the largest concern of the middle class was getting 'push-button finger'."

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Back to the future: Why The Jetsons is the most influential TV show of the 20th century

DJ RASP @ FUTURISM WIGAN 2010
turntablist showcaseFrom:Dj RaspViews:0 0ratingsTime:02:19More inEntertainment

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DJ RASP @ FUTURISM WIGAN 2010 - Video

Summary: The future of personal computing is one that is cloud-centric, and utilizes inexpensive, power-efficient and disposable mobile, desktop and set-top devices.

In early 2009 I wrote an article called "I've seen the future of computing: It's a screen." It was a an almost Sci-Fi sort of peice, projecting what I thought the personal computing experience might resemble ten years into the future, in 2019, based on the latest industry trends at the time. It was the second of such pieces, the first of which I wrote in 2008.

In May of 2011 I also wrote another speculative piece about what I thought personal computers would be likein the year 2019.

Late last year, I imagined another speculative and futuristic scene, portraying the shift towards ecommerce and the fall of brick and mortar retail shopping.

Futurist thought exercises such as these are always fun, but inevitably, with any sort of long-range predictions of the future, there are things which are very easy to miss and get so wrong that you fall flat on your face. Futurism never gets everything right, but sometimes it can also be dead-on and flat out uncanny in its accuracy.

Excellent examples of these complete miss and "holy crap, were they right!" type of predictions can be found in classic Sci-Fi movies like Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey(1968) and Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982).

In 2001, Kubrick is way ahead of his time in his depictions of manned and commercial space travel and the colonization of the moon, as well as true artificial intelligence, things which are probably at least several decades away. Still, the technologies to accomplish such feats are definitely within our reach if the world's governments can cooperate and establish clear goals to achieve them.

But in 2001, Kubrick also shows working tablet computers as well as personal video conferencing, technologies which have only recently become more commonplace. In 1968, when the film was first released, the forerunner to the Internet, ARPANET was still being developed at the US Department of Defense, so the concept of a world wide connected computer network that was accessible to the average Joe, let alone the military or academia was not yet a part of the common Sci-Fi vernacular.

Scott's Blade Runner,like Kubrick's 2001, is also very much ahead of its time. Dystopian Futurism is one of the huge themes of the film, depicting flying cars, giant overpopulated and polluted cities with towering 100 story buildings, and genetic engineering gone out of control. 30 years after the film's release, it is still considered to be a SF masterpiece.

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Computing's low-cost, Cloud-centric future is not Science Fiction

SOME 25 art and design enthusiasts converged on the George Town World Heritage Incorporated (GTWHI) office in Lebuh Acheh, Penang, for a delightful experience learning about Modernism and the Modern Movement through Art and Design.

The session conducted by an art historian and senior lecturer from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Dr Sarena Abdullah, lasted more than an hour at the office recently.

The talk attracted locals and foreigners alike as they listened attentively on how modernism has influenced art and design.

Dr Sarena explained various significant movements such as Fauvism, Cubism, Expressionism and Futurism to draw the audiences attention while some were busily jotting down notes.

Those who missed the talk can join the next session titled Malabar to Malaya through the Eyes of SK Potekkatt: The Malayalis of Malaya which will be conducted by J. Devika from the Centre for Development Studies in Kerala, India.

The talk will be held tomorrow at GTWHI office from 5.30pm. Admission is free.

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Enlightening talk on art and design

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Step into the "Gothic Futurism" of the late graffiti artist and hip-hop MC Rammelzee, and there is a world of "Garbage God" heroes and "Monster Model" villains. His creations, now on display here at the Children's Museum of the Arts, use found objects to tell stories, and that is why museum officials thinks they will resonate with children.

The museum is launching a program called the Young Artists' Kollective to try to inspire children to create their own art, ranging from sculpture to stop-action animation. The free program will give sixth to ninth graders the studio space and the materials they need, as well as artist mentors to guide them.

"What we want to do is the really engage a child's mind and take those basic building blocks and go beyond that," said William Floyd, a board member of the Children's Museum of the Arts.

Every week for a year, the museum hopes as many as 250 middle school students will step into its SoHo studio and express their imaginations through whatever artistic medium they please.

"I feel like it allows me to express myself," said Natalie. "And if I'm feeling angry, I can draw something angry, or If I'm feeling happy, I can draw something happy."

"You can really just let your mind go," said Tom Shea. "Having this as a creative outlet and a way to relieve stress and relax is really important, because you can also learn stuff while doing it."

The hope is to give students a lifelong appreciation for art in all its forms and perhaps encourage another generation of Rammelzees.

For more information about the Young Artist's Kollective, visit http://www.cmany.org.

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SoHo Museum Hopes Late Graffiti Artist's Creations Can Inspire Kids