Prevail and Progress
We try and stay out of partisan politics here at the Prevail Project, because nobody is right on the internet and everybody goes home with their feelings hurt. The Democratic […]
2012
Why Decline to Accept the End of Man?
There are at least two clearly distinct ways of interpreting the word “end” in William Faulkner’s statement “I decline to accept the end of man.” “End” could mean something like […]
Six reasons why firefighters are the most respected profession, and what this means for politics
Science policy scholars huddled in brownstone buildings, occasionally on the verge of hyperventilation, frequently express disbelief that firemen are more admired and respected than professional scientists, especially in the United […]
Celebrating the Independence of Rip Van Winkle
Independence Day celebrates the discord of jangling souls with dissonant convictions airing a racket of reasons in the tumultuous din of democratic fora. It isn’t discord per se that is […]
Breaking News: Jaron Lanier Called to the Witness Stand in London to Discuss the Future of Hip-Hop Music
Tomorrow, Google is sponsoring a debate in London called “Hip-Hop on Trial” to consider the proposition that “Hip-Hop Doesn’t Enhance Society, It Degrades It.” The event will be streaming live […]
Pilobolus’ Seraph: Dances with Robots
Robot choreography! Now we’re talkin.
Rio +20 and the (UN)canny Future of Human Sadness
In 2011 Ray Kurzweil made headlines for pointing out that solar energy technologies had been subject to the Law of Accelerated Returns for the past two decades. “It is amazing […]
From Consumerism to Makerism with Neil Gershenfeld
MIT professor Neil Gershenfeld talks about the future of digital fabrication technologies via global Fab Labs. At the recent Emerge conference at Arizona State University, Neil’s brother Alan Gershenfeld coordinated […]
The Center for Science and the Imagination
Gentle Readers, For the past year, Arizona State University and best-selling science-fiction author Neal Stephenson have been working together on a plan to use science-fiction to reignite America’s ability to […]
Technological Determinism, Human Decisions
We’ve all heard the stories of inevitability: more and more transistors per square centimeter, with momentous leaps to new computing hardware whenever material capacity reaches its limit. While massively parallel, one-to-many molecular […]