Title:
Soonish : ten emerging technologies that'll improve and/or ruin everything / Kelly and Zach Weinersmith.
Author:
Weinersmith, Kelly, author.
Weiner, Zach, 1982- author.
Publication Information:
New York : Penguin Press, 2017.
©2017
Call Number:
T174 .W543 2017
Abstract:
"From a top scientist and the creator of the hugely popular web comic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, a hilariously illustrated investigation into future technologies--from how to fling a ship into deep space on the cheap to 3D organ printing. What will the world of tomorrow be like? How does progress happen? And why do we not have a lunar colony already? What is the holdup? In this smart and funny book, celebrated cartoonist Zach Weinersmith and noted researcher Dr. Kelly Weinersmith give us a snapshot of what's coming next--from robot swarms to nuclear-fusion-powered toasters. By weaving their own research, interviews with the scientists who are making these advances happen, and Zach's trademark comics, the Weinersmiths investigate why these technologies are needed, how they would work, and what is standing in their way. New technologies are almost never the work of isolated geniuses with a neat idea. A given future technology may need any number of intermediate technologies to develop first, and many of these critical advances may appear to be irrelevant when they are first discovered. The journey to progress is full of strange detours and blind alleys that tell us so much about the human mind and the march of civilization. To this end, SOONISH investigates ten different emerging fields, from programmable matter to augmented reality, from space elevators to robotic construction, to show us the amazing world we will have, you know, soonish."--Jacket.
ISBN:
9780399563829
Physical Description:
358 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 24 cm
Contents:
Introduction: Soonish. Emphasis on the ish -- Section 1: The universe, soonish. Cheap access to space : the Final Frontier is too damn expensive ; Asteroid mining : rummaging through the Solar System's junkyard -- Section 2: Stuff, soonish. Fusion power : it powers the sun, and that's nice, but can it run my toaster? ; Programmable matter : what if all of your stuff could be any of your stuff? ; Robotic construction : build me a rumpus room, metal servant! ; Augmented reality : an alternative to fixing reality ; Synthetic biology : kind of like Frankenstein, except the monster spends the whole book dutifully making medicine and industrial inputs -- Section 3: You, soonish. Precision medicine : everything that's wrong with you in particular -- a statistical approach ; Bioprinting : why stop at seven margaritas when you can just print a new liver? ; Brain-computer interfaces : because after four billion years of evolution you still can't remember where you put your keys ; Conclusion: Less soonisher, or The graveyard of lost chapters.
Added Author:
Personal Author:
Copies:
