The future is already here — it’s just not very evenly distributed. – William Gibson
I love that quote so much that I have it inscribed on my wallet; it’s custom work done by Moxie & Oliver.
I want to try an experiment, I want to live in the future. To do that, I’m trying to find those pockets of the future that exist today, and try them for myself. These are things that could be mainstream in 5-10 years but are niche today. I’ve already written a post about the Amazon Echo. I’m also trying the Apple Watch, and some lightbulbs controlled by an App.
Now I’m looking for ideas. What else can I do to live in the future. Here are some that I’ve thought of.
- 23andMe – Map my genome. Not sure what to do with it, but mapping it will probably be common in the future.
- Smart home stuff – Philips Hue, Amazon Echo, and maybe a Nest, though they aren’t really practical for apartment living in NYC.
- Soylent – I am not really a believer in this, but I may give it a try.
- Tesla – I want to rent one for a road trip and see how the charging stations really work.
What else? Well, I’m hoping you’ll tell me. What other experiments should I be running?
Great idea Lucas! If you’re going to go down the rabbit hole that is Soylent, check out Keto Chow (and how some people have blogged about this stuff: https://www.thebairs.net/)
More importantly, please report on how it has affected your appetite for basic NY grub after the experiment 😉
May want to check out NYC born and bred Astro Labs for some modern smart-apartment living.
Other thoughts:
1) Quantify and optimize your life. Activity, sleep, weight, intake.
2) Migrate to online only apps – try using only a Chromebook or similar for a while
3) Automate your home with IFTTT (I do this one personally – love it)
Or you could…..
4) Go off the grid (if you subscribe to the Mad Max inspired future)
5) Smash your TV (the Winston Smith approach to the future)
6) Promote reading (the Guy Montag approach)
Use Uber to go everywhere. Simulate the driverless car. Or convince Google or Cruze to let you ride their driverless cars.
Use services like Clara.ai, Viv, Skype’s real-time translator, and other that leverage the latest machine intelligence.
Get robotic surgery (this is admittedly extreme), be telepresence via Beam or Double Robot, get a few Roombas for the house, visit the all-robot hotels in Japan or the semi-robot assisted hotel in the Bay (A-Loft) or robot assisted hardware store (Orchard Supply), and tour the robotic Tesla factory.