“Unfortunately, the makers of technology are generally not encouraged to be introspective or reflect too deeply on what they are making, and this really worries me…Reading science fiction is like an ethics class for inventors, and engineers and designers should be trying to think like science fiction authors when they approach their own work… I feel with great urgency that we need to very thoughtfully consider what we build as well as encourage that same thoughtfulness out in the world.”

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/09/why-todays-inventors-need-to-read-more-science-fiction/279793/

Via poor ginger living in a trailer park.

Originally shared by Thomas Frey

Hidden under your feet is an Internet-like information superhighway that allows plants to communicate and help each other out. It’s made of fungi.

http://www.impactlab.net/2016/05/03/under-your-feet-is-an-information-superhighway-made-of-fungi/

Via MrsA Wiggins.

I should note that there’s currently an SFF anthology with the theme of refugees seeking submissions, for charity, but paying pro rates. Check on The Submission Grinder – I think it’s called “Welcome”, but “refugee” is in the name as well.

Originally shared by N.R Dewi Nurmayani

http://www.dezeen.com/2015/11/23/refugee-camps-cities-of-tomorrow-killian-kleinschmidt-interview-humanitarian-aid-expert/

Good stimulus for steampunk or fantasy stories.

Originally shared by The Public Domain Review

One of the many designs for hydraulic automata created by the first-century-AD engineer Hero of Alexandria. Many involved elaborate networks of siphons that activated various actions as the water passed through them, especially figures of birds drinking, fluttering, and chirping. Read more in our latest essay “Frolicsome Engines: The Long Prehistory of Artificial Intelligence” by Jessica Riskin — http://bit.ly/1W9hZTR