Doctor Recommended

Arcologies named Swanny

I was over at Slashdot and noticed this thread which talks about Future Inventions. Actually, it's about a Futurist project (Immortalizer Technologies) created by the DaVinci Institute in which a group of creative/innovative futurists think up new inventions to be invented by inventors (sounds like the Flying Cars by 2000 predictions in the '50s). Anyways, you can submit your own idea for an invention and have it named after you in their encyclopedia.

Before I discuss one of my ideas, you might enjoy (for both laughs and food for thought) reading up on Extropians, TransHumanists and Singularitarians. About a year ago I bumped into a fellow by the name of BJ Klein who is the founder of the Immortality Institute. Yea, some pretty esoteric stuff, but it was pretty original and a world apart from what I was studying (Renaissance and Reformation history). I originally bumped into him after reading an essay by a self-proclaimed Extropian, Max Moore.

Anyways, extropianism is a type of transhumanistic philosophy which promotes long lasting (immortality) life, economic growth, etc. Singularitarians believe that with the exponential growth in advances of technology, there will be a culmination point in which several things happen, namely you and I cease to exist in our current humanity. It's not that we will go crazy and rip limbs off one another; we can do that already (and do). It's that we become more integrated with our artificial creations, namely computers and automated, self-replicating devices (nanobots).

My thoughts on the whole matter are a bit more pessimistic then Mr. Klein or Anissimov or Kurzweil.

Yes, computing technologies are advancing arithmetically (some exponentially) every few months and years. Yes, certain electronic components are becoming cheaper and follow us around in our daily lives (cell phones, PDAs, laptops, etc.). Yes you and I will live longer than our Hobbesian ancestors of yesteryear. But one cannot conclude that within 60 years man and his machines will be one entity.

Ceteris Paribus you say? If politicians and regulators had their druthers, they would continue to gain (at the expense of everyone else). And as such, all firms under their purview would find themselves with stringent barriers to overcome in order to innovate and grow.

Taxation (coerced philanthropy) reallocates wealth in the same manner that wars reallocate and redistribute wealth. The more regulations and "laws" there are, the more capital is diverted inefficiently to other industries (like subsidies) and the less capital that can be reinvested in research & development.

So, in addition to promoting what could happen if the State is nice, they should also promote how everyone benefits with freer trade and freer markets.

And that leads me to my invention. It's actually a mixture of several ideas. First, you take an Arcology (from SimCity 2000). An arcology is basically a gigantic building which is self-sufficient, like an advanced bio-dome, only you can comfortably fit tens of thousands of people inside them (one huge apartment complex) who can then eat, sleep, play and work all in the confines of the colossal structure.

Next, you levitate this arcology off the ground. The reason this is important is so that earth quakes, floods and bears won't damage your building. A side bonus is that because it is levitating off the ground, it could move from one location to the next. So, you can live by the beach during the winter and move on up to the mountains in the summer (though it won't matter once you see my next perk). Yes, I understand that what I'm proposing would require astronomical amounts of energy, but remember, this is The Future (tm) similar to a cartoon where anything can happen.

And that's not all. Instead of having normal rooms with carpet and walls, each room is Hologramized thanks to Trekkies (Holodiction anyone?). Want to live in a forest tonight? No sweat. Want to live in a 12th century castle? No sweat. Want to live in the Playboy mansion? Lots of sweat.

Not only would men like this setup (as they wouldn't have to worry about spills or lawnwork) but women would too, because they could create their own Hawaiian beach house or prim & proper Victorian mansion or their own rendition of a projects apartment from Compton.

Best of all, nothing short of an asteroid hitting the planet would destroy these things. And, in case that happens, you could strap a few futuristic propulsion systems onto it and launch it into space.

What's there not to like about them? You get to live close to thousands of friends and family, you can create your own Role-Playing Game (imagine playing EverQuest or Star Wars with your buddies each and every day -- and you are the characters) and you get to freely and guiltlessly partake in recreational activities that would otherwise create offspring.

If nothing else, it's the ideal fantasy of a 20-something year-old male in the 21st century.

And we'll call it a Swanny for short.

A possible exchange between friends (using webdings, the language of the future):

JoeFuture (no more spaces in names, too inefficient):

Translation: Dude, I live in the coolest Swanny around.

JoePiscapo:

Translation: Really? Which Swanny is that?

JoeFuture:

Translation: JoeMamma’s Swanny!

Comments & suggestions welcomed, be gentle. (And yes, I'm fully aware of the fact that it's really not an invention like a widget, it's a multi-faceted concept).

Posted by Tim at April 11, 2003 07:27 PM | TrackBack