future warnings
Anders Sandberg, futurist, neuroscientist, transhumanist and science director of the Swedish Eudoxa think tank studying the cultural impact of emerging technologies, wrote an article for the Lifeboat Foundation in which he explores possible warning signs by which we might see ourselves surrounded in the future: non-standard spacetime, antimatter, self-replicating device, ubiquitous surveillance, memetic hazard, etc.
The article also describes a threat-level classification based upon the logarithm of the number of threatened people. More interestingly the author also speaks of an ‘outrage scale’:
“to show just how outraged people will be if something goes wrong. Maybe this could be marked with a series of symbols or icons, denoting for example that if you mess up this particular thing, the damage is going to involve new technology, children, chronic effects and personal responsibility.”
The warning signs offer an interesting visualization and trigger tool to explore future developments. It somehow reminds me of some of our FFWD>> entries, which – less technologically inclided – described societal changes leading to changes in street signage.
Via: PlausibleFutures.com
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