This guy is trying too hard to sound like his boss (“let’s dive into this exponential technology”), but it’s a good summary of the state of the play on a technology that’s often been portrayed in SF since an Asimov story in 1941.

Short version is that it’s currently prohibitively expensive to send up the large satellites that would be required, so we need the capacity to build them out of materials that are already in space.

Originally shared by Singularity Hub

Why the Future of Solar Power Is from Space

https://suhub.co/2Qe6ysN

Asimov was optimistic in his timeline, but pretty accurate in general outline in this article from 1984.

(I’m reading a book about him and some other SF “greats” at the moment. They were not wonderful people.)

Via Keith Wilson.

Originally shared by Filippo Salustri

35 years ago, Isaac Asimov predicted what 2019 would be like.

https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2018/12/27/35-years-ago-isaac-asimov-was-asked-by-the-star-to-predict-the-world-of-2019-here-is-what-he-wrote.html

Originally shared by Winchell Chung

Stability of a rotating asteroid housing a space station

Today there are numerous studies on asteroid mining. They elaborate on selecting the right objects, prospecting missions, potential asteroid redirection, and the mining process itself. For economic reasons, most studies focus on mining candidates in the 100-500m size-range.

Also, suggestions regarding the design and implementation of space stations or even colonies inside the caverns of mined asteroids exist. Caverns provide the advantages of confined material in near-zero gravity during mining and later the hull will shield the inside from radiation.

Existing studies focus on creating the necessary artificial gravity by rotating structures that are built inside the asteroid. Here, we assume the entire mined asteroid to rotate at a sufficient rate for artificial gravity and investigate its use for housing a habitat inside. In this study we present how to estimate the necessary spin rate assuming a cylindrical space station inside a mined asteroid and discuss the implications arising from substantial material stress given the required rotation rate. We estimate the required material strength using two relatively simple analytical models and apply them to fictitious, yet realistic rocky near-Earth asteroids.

https://arxiv.org/abs/1812.10436

Via Raja Mitra, a long, well-written, interesting piece on identity and the ways it’s tracked. Key takeaway for me: the ideal system would allow users to prove eligibility for a specific service (for example, confirming their age when buying alcohol) without revealing anything else about them.

Originally shared by John Hagel

Who controls your identity? The control of the state may be eroded as the ability to unbundle identities increases but there are far more dystopian outcomes as well

https://econ.st/2Q3gyFs

Samuel Smith, this reminds me of what we were discussing on my other post yesterday.

Originally shared by Singularity Hub

Educating the Wise Cyborgs of the Future

https://suhub.co/2SYOvbS