I'm Futurist Dr. Stan Schatt --Ask Me Anything!

Hello Stan,

In your view of the semi-immediate future, what do you see in the evolution of the internet and how will we interface the world wide web? Do you foresee implantable "chips" in our brains that can be used to access the web, or even DNA manipulation to form access points within our brains formed at our birth? Could we be connected to the world, computers, satellites and to each other 24/7? I would like your views on this.

Thank you, Stan, for coming here and listening to us.

NF

a reply to: ColeYounger
I'm not ignoring you :-) because it's a good question. I've read so many UFO books over the years, but I can't pinpoint the authors I respect the most because, to be honest, they kind of blended together. I know the one I hated the most --it was the Project Bluebook report--I think it was Colonel Ruppert? I read that as a teenager, and even then I thought of it as BS.

originally posted by: StanSchatt
a reply to: TzarChasm
Yes, that's possible. Imagine if all the AI on this planet ever interconnected and developed a consciousness. Here's another wild idea. What if we ever developed spiritually enough to establish contact with Gaeia-- al the living things on this planet. Then we would have a hive mind of sorts. We're starting to see SF writers write more and more about aliens with hive minds. They make terrifying foes because of the power behind that kind of mental ability.

would you consider a hivemind to be a hyper-democracy or an autocracy?

a reply to: NightFlight
I've answered some of this earlier. I do see implants with constant net access. I wrote an SF novel once that I never published entitled "A Thousand Voices in My Head". I speculated that as we approach retail stores, the stores' computers would recognize our IP address and match it to our accounts and broadcast customized appeals and sales directly to us as we drew within range.

One fascinating idea you bring up that is implicit in what you suggest is the possibility of hackers hacking into our implants since in effect they would be access points.

a reply to: TzarChasm
I would think it would be a hyper-autocracy because otherwise it never would decide on anything. I wonder in such a situation whether certain brains would become more specialized so that autistic peoples' brains focused on some of their savant functions while "artistic" brains focused on aesthetic issues.

Is it possible for mankind to progress beyond this point without some major cataclysm, pestilence or war? If so, how?

Do you think how the Africa Bushman or some modern day Amazon tribe is really advanced man and how we should live, considering that technology seems to be a by-product of over population?

And aout UFOs, is it true that the cia used E.t ufos to cover up experimental craft being tested?

a reply to: StanSchatt

Hello Stan, thank you for doing this. My question is, with futurists like Ray Kurtzweil predicting the singularity and the incoming disclosure, do you think the two are interconnected? How would disclosure or first contact influence the singularity, and do you think the "visitors" are from a post singularity society? after all, maybe going through the singularity was necessary for them to survive distances in space? Basically, how would disclosure or first contact change the possible outcomes of the singularity?

a reply to: graceunderpressure
You could argue that we've been doing some of this for years like engineering customized dog breeds; now some of these animals have difficulties because they can't perform normal functions without pain and they are short-lived. I know we have a seed-bank where we're trying to preserve seed stock in part in case of a disaster, but also in case our genetic manipulations get out of control. I'm concerned about how we've changed wheat germ over the years. Sometimes I'm afraid we do things simply because we're able to without considering the consequences. So, if it's more economical to engineer a new strain of rice or wheat, what happens if that also makes these strains more prone to a specific disease?

Thank you for your time and for being here. Welcome! Will man survive climate change?

a reply to: StanSchatt

Well said. We're playing God and the problem is that our vision is incredibly myopic.

a reply to: Shadow Herder
The question you raise is one scientists and SF writers frequently raise--- can we make it over the technological hump where we have the power to blow up the planet and move past that point? I'm inclined to think we can and that primitive man is not our ultimate state of being, particularly because many tribes have to spend their time just fighting to survive. On Maslow's scale, they're way down there. Still, it will be a challenge to feed billions of people and provide enough fresh water and land.

You mentioned technology as a byproduct of technology. That's an interesting concept, but let's think about it. The first technology was probably a sharpened rock used to kill and cut. Was that created because of overpopulation or because it made it easier to survive? I'd suspect the latter.

I know the CIA is trying to take credit now for UFOs as a way to cover up their experimental craft. I'm not inclined ever to believe the CIA. I'm more likely to assume that they are trying to minimize the importance of UFO reports. How could the tens of thousand recent UFO reports all be linked to secret crafts? We'd have to have an awful lot of planes in the air. :-)

a reply to: data5091
I think humanity is like the cockroach, we're adaptable. I think our children and grandchildren will curse the memories of those climate change naysayers who prevented us from acting quickly enough.

a reply to: StanSchatt

Hello,

How do you like your coffee?

Do you have trouble sleeping at night thinking a lot?

Do you typically keep your ideas to yourself amongst friends and family?

How young were you when you started thinking "ahead" of others?

a reply to: SpaceOverlord I believe very much that the Singularity is coming just as I believe very much that disclosure is coming. Are the two interconnected? The only way I could see that is if the Singularity represented a key stage in a race's evolution and one that represented a graduation of sorts. In that case, the aliens might invite themselves to our commencement and maybe even make a speech welcoming us.

Would an alien first contact change our march toward the singularity? Hmmm. What if the alien race we meet is far advanced spiritually and points us in that direction rather than toward the physical?

a reply to: eisegesis For what it's worth:
with almond milk
I dream virtually every night and very vivid, detailed dreams
they wouldn't be friends if they didn't listen. I'm selective in my political discussions, though.
I wrote my first SF effort in eighth grade.

a reply to: StanSchatt

Hey thanks!

Almond milk rocks!

a reply to: StanSchatt

Stan in what way do you think we will be able to communicate with aliens?

It would hardly be spoken language, so whaddya think it'll be?

a reply to: SecretKnowledge
Yeah, it's a question well worth asking and one that I discussed in my book. The real problem is that a different evolutionary pattern likely would result in a creature very different from ourselves. How would they see reality? A bat sees the world in terms of a series of echoed shapes as an example. We could make certain assumptions like an alien must have a series of physical attributes (tool making ability, circumlocution, vision, etc.). I'm not a big fan of telepathy even though it would make things easy. I also discuss the difficulties of using pictures because of cultural associations that would be lost on the aliens. Even science and math might not be quite as universal as we would hope.

The best hope is that the aliens observe us first since they are visiting us and not the other way around. Hopefully they can figure out our language patterns. Otherwise, we would have to take an approach much like the one Carl Sagan proposed in Contact and begin with basic math. By the way, Robert Sawyer does an excellent job of describing the process in a novel entitled Rollback.

One word of caution. We as a species have never even been able to decode a language if we didn't have the equivalent of a Rosetta Stone. There are many languages like Etruscan that defy translation. Also keep in mind that we have three different types of alphabets --the aliens might have something completely different.

Cool! I am a futurist.

I personally believe there is already contact, but we need to become a united planet before we can be officially accepted.

It's a curious thought, but suppose the "war in heaven" was a real off planet war for control of earth. Suppose there were 2 plans. One of free will and one of control. Suppose free will was selected, but given a timeline. If we don't control ourselves within that timeline --- the control plan takes effect. Just a thought.

QUESTION: is the real world power group attempting to equalize world economy? Seems to me 3rd world economies are being built up, while countries like USA are being destabilized.

originally posted by: StanSchatt
I dream virtually every night and very vivid, detailed dreams they wouldn't be friends if they didn't listen.

But couldn't it also be said that to know one's enemy, first one has to study them and keep your friends close and your enemies closer?