As our ability to understand and manipulate the workings of the brain improves, we are approaching a revolution in human affairs as fundamental as those which followed the invention of printing or the steam engine. Because I believe it is so important, this is a subject I keep returning to in my fiction: my first published story was about the…[Read more]

I suspect that, as is so often the case, the main obstacles to an Antarctic hotel are legal and political. There’s no mechanism for property ownership there, which means it’s very hard to assemble the proper financing to build one.

Having said that, I’ve thought of a way around that problem. Take a leaf from the gambling industry, which has…[Read more]

Even with graphene bricks, your lifting component is going to be bulky. Air has a mass of about 1 kg. per cubic meter, which would presumably be the “lifting power” of vacuum. That’s not very different from the lifting power of hydrogen. So a graphene airship would still be Zeppelin-sized, though probably a lot more durable.

I hope you don’t think I don’t like Wall Street guys. But they have to operate in the real world of making a profit and obeying the law. Isn’t it just a matter of the First World regulatory environment being too […]

With all due deference to Mr. Sterling, I think he’s still asking the wrong question. Looking for a group, government, or mogul with enough bucks for a big, thrilling project is Industrial Age thinking. Get a big […]

Sounds like a cool idea. How big?