The Future!

the door into the

future

is the present

The Thinking of Others:

• Jaron Lanier on the internet and the future of Civilization.
• Daniel Goldin on the origins of Man and the Universe, and the future of NASA.
• Daniel Cloud on the Western Liberal Tradition and the likely future of Russia and China

Technologies that will make the future:

things of the net

digicash's ecash, electronic money impervious to commercial tracking (a "raptor attack")

things of space:

the black horse, and it's commercial version, Pioneer Rocketplane. Fly the plane to altitude, transfer rocket fuel from a tanker, and fly to orbit. The best of the single-stage to orbit ideas. Why? Because it alone has the potential for fast package delivery. Projects that increases the speed or volume of the major terrestial networks (cars, shipping, packages, currency, phone, data) has a good chance of success. Satellite constellations such as Iridium and Teledesic that incorporate inter-satellite communications. These are the future because they are the first commercial embodiments of the idea that sometimes it is easier to work in space than on the ground.

things of political economics:

The Parable of the Lemming by Daniel Cloud, an investment manager of depth. If one truely believes the Western Liberal Tradition is a better and more effective path for humans than are autocratic traditions or the Eastern Liberal Tradition of Communism, then one should believe that Russia presents a better long term investment than China. A bold statement, given the history of the past ten years. But a statement that allows one to put one's money where one's beliefs are. (If you would like to, take a look at Rye, Man, and Gor.

and things of chuztpah:

SeaLaunch. Sheer system integration engineering chutzpah. Rockets by KB Yuzhnoye/PO Yuzhmash of the Ukraine. Upper stage by RSC Energia of Russia. Mutant travelling oil-rig turned launch platform by vaerner Maritime a.s of Norway. Long Beach port and overall systems engineering by Boeing of the USA. Hard to take seriously? The world's number one satellite builder, Hughes Aircraft, has bought in.