Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
What Can Magic Leap Expect From New 'Chief Futurist' Neal Stephenson?
Science fiction author Neal Stephenson has been hired by Magic Leap as their "Chief Futurist.
(Magic Leap's Chief Futurist Neal Stephenson)
Stephenson said he'd been won over by the project after seeing Magic Leap's eye-fooling prototype technology, as well as its plans. "I saw something on that optical table I had never seen before — something that only Magic Leap, as far as I know, is capable of doing," he said. "And it was pretty cool. But what fascinated me wasn't what Magic Leap had done but rather what it was about to start doing. Magic Leap is mustering an arsenal of techniques — some tried and true, others unbelievably advanced — to produce a synthesized light field that falls upon the retina in the same way as light reflected from real objects in your environment."As "futurist" rather than technologist, Stephenson is working with them on a more theoretical level, and he's devoting his time to "thinking about what to do with this tech once it is available to the general public."
So what kind of visionary work has Stephenson already done, that he might bring to Magic Leap?
Here's Stephenson's description of data goggles from his 1992 novel Snow Crash:
He is wearing shiny goggles that wrap halfway round his head; the bows of the goggles have little earphones that are plugged into his outer ears.The earphones have some built-in noise cancellation features. This sort of thing works best on steady noise...
The goggles throw a light, smoky haze across his eyes, and reflect a distorted wide-angle view of a brilliantly lit boulevard that stretches off into an infinite blackness. This boulevard does not actually exist; it is a computer-generated view of an imaginary place.
Let's hope he's NOT working on any of these:
- Cookie-Cutters
Very small (corpuscle-sized) devices that can enter the blood stream and destroy an enemy from within. (From The Diamond Age.) - Rat Thing
A guard cyborg created from a living animal. (From Snow Crash.) - Skullgun
A pistol that is concealed in your cranium. (From The Diamond Age.) - Spine-Clamp
A device that constrains the movements of convicted criminals. (From Anathem.)
Via TheVerge, and don't miss the almost 60 Neal Stephenson technologies and inventions I've gathered here on Technovelgy.com for you.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 12/17/2014)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Display ")
iPhone Air Fulfils Jobs' Promise From 2007 - A Giant Screen!
'... oblongs were all over the floor and surfaces.' - Kazuo Ishiguro, 2021.
Transparent 4K OLED Wireless TV From LG
You will note that HG Wells also figured out the aspect ratio of the future!
DOTPad Braille Device Offers Live Access
Amazing tactile display.
Transparent MicroLED Screen From Samsung
Has Samsung nailed the Look of Things To Come?
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
FTC: Says Ring Employees Illegally Surveilled Customers
'Then she looked up with a smile and moved closer to the camera.'
Switzerland May Cap Population At Ten Million
'The population of Castle Hagedorn was fixed...'
Project Silica Offers 'Long-Term' Digital Storage
'... folios and tapes and playable discs of platinum alloy.'
Can 'Tactical Umbrellas' Shield One From Drones
'... another corner of his mind began to think about the shields.'
Crystalline Structures In Space, You Say?
A massive space borne lifeform from ST:TNG.
Garçon! A Menu For Artemis II, S'il Vous Plaît
'Michel Ardan, as a Frenchman, was declared chief cook, an important function, which raised no rival.'
Amazing Photonic Crystal Light Sail
'That sail will be twenty thousand miles at the wide part.'
Blue Collar AI Goes To Work To Mine Its Own Crypto
Blue collar bot.
Rogue AI Replicated Itself
'Sapiro’s computer just kept dialing at random, hanging up on humans, until it got a fellow computer of the same type as itself.'
HandelBot Helps Two-Handed Robots Learn Piano
'I request that you feed the correlation between those dots and the levers of the panel into my memory banks.'
Woven Fiber Electronic Skin For Robots
'... all the feel and appearance of human flesh and epidermis.'
When AI Takes Its First Breath
Any suggestions?
Chinese Aircar Light And Airy, Not For Blade Runners
Daytime version.
The Morphing Wheel And The Smartwheel
'If you surf over a bump, the spokes contract to roll over it.'
Transporting Antimatter
'...drawing plans for the magnetic tongs and bed plates and relays.'
Polish Turns Your Nail Into A Stylus
'He wrote on it, using the pointed fingernail of his right forefinger...'
