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State of the World 2012

• #168: From Toby Scales (captward) Sun 15 Jan 12 00:51
  Toby Scales, via e-mail:Bruce/Jon,I notice no one's asked about the alarming escalation in Iran the past week-- what's the (real) story there? Is it just more chicken or will the US actually be drawn into it and forced to act? If that's too near a timeframe for comfortable speculation, where do you see this Arab Spring business in 10 years, vi […]
• #167: Brian Slesinsky (bslesins) Sat 14 Jan 12 19:29
  Hmm, or perhaps the occupiers could get some of this gear comped if they promise to wear it while some of those TV-wielding drones are watching. [Read entire topic] […]
• #166: From George Mokray via email (jonl) Sat 14 Jan 12 16:17
  "People don't go into Occupy camps so as to live in tents; they go there to annoy and harass one-percenters. Pursuing a tent-based lifestyle is not some brand-new design problem."People didn't go into Occupy camps to build libraries either but they did and such libraries became important foci of their communities. So much so, that they ar […]
• #165: Bruce Sterling (bruces) Sat 14 Jan 12 06:49
  Of course, if you're REALLY geeked-out circa 2012, you've got your own Chaos Computer Club hacker satellite overhead instead of a mere covert drone.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16367042 [Read entire topic] […]
• #164: Bruce Sterling (bruces) Sat 14 Jan 12 06:39
  Imagine roaming the world with nothing but credit-cards, a ScottEVest, police cargo pants, *and a re-purposed pet police drone.* Maybe with a lethal covert-strike capacity!Man, you'd be hell on wheels. Angle it right, and you wouldn't even need the wheels. [Read entire topic] […]
• #163: Bruce Sterling (bruces) Sat 14 Jan 12 06:35
  *This travel writer circled the earth in the clothes he was standing up in, just to make a point for a vest manufacturer.http://www.rtwblog.com/2011/01/best-of-the-no-baggage-challenge/*The real point is about the power of just-in-time global telecommunications; he just arranges things so that his crew is in place wherever he goes. That way he got to maximiz […]
• #162: Jon Lebkowsky (jonl) Sat 14 Jan 12 06:30
  Occupy the Sky with citizen drones: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/01/occupy-drones/"Having thoroughly figured out how to cover giant events from ground level, they are now exploring ultra-cheap alternatives to the hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollar news choppers used for aerial reporting of big events like protest marches and police clashes. In the […]
• #161: Bruce Sterling (bruces) Sat 14 Jan 12 06:21
  *Dematerialized technomad wanders the planet in nothing but high-end sports gear. Plus Apple internet and cell access, of course.http://www.grist.org/list/2012-01-04-this-guy-only-owns-15-things 1. Arc*teryx Miura 30 backpack 2. NAU shirt 3. Mammut rain jacket 4. Arc*teryx tshirt 5. Patagonia running shorts 6. Quick Dry towel 7. NAU wool jacket 8. Toiletry k […]
• #160: Bruce Sterling (bruces) Sat 14 Jan 12 06:14
  *The Economist suggests that we'll soon have so many drones in the sky that they'll have to have "deconfliction" anti-crash hardware installed, so they don't bash into one another and tumble into the civilian streets.American drones will, naturally, be hovering in a cloud of American lawsuits.http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/20 […]
• #159: From Kenny Mann (captward) Sat 14 Jan 12 03:18
  Kenny Mann via e-mail:"These guys would have been biding their time somewhere out of sight, since 1953"*Yeah man, the good old days, like Boris Vian reviewing the first album by Serge Gainsbourgh.It's just a reboot. The kids are alright, back at home, in the rest of the story -- rocking -- while our hero is lost out there in K.C., checking his […]