Insights April 15th, 2016

Each week Nikolas Badminton, Futurist Speaker, summarizes the top-5 future looking developments and news items that I find to be inspiring, interesting, concerning, or downright strange. Each day he reads through dozens of blogs and news websites to find those things that we should be aware of.
In Future Trends: Facebook Wants it All we look at the trends that we should be aware of today, April 15th, 2016.

Facebook’s Roadmap Has Everything

I have to say that I am actually quite excited with what Facebook is coming up with (even though previously I became less than a fan).

See more from Mr. Zuckerberg right here:

Revolutionary: Germany Builds A Solar City That Produces Four Times More Energy Than It Consumes


The Sonnenschiff and Solarsiedlung cities located in Freiburg, Germany are modern, planned habitations that were worked upon with solar power in mind. Literally meaning Solar Ship and Solar Village, the Sonnenschiff and Solarsiedlung cities were specifically designed and built to be solar cities, balancing size, accessibility, green space, and solar exposure. Each of the fifty-two homes along with some commercial buildings is fitted with large rooftop solar panels that double-up as sun shades. The panels are perfectly aligned to point in the right direction of the sun, and the buildings follow the Passivhaus standards of green building technology.
The cities have been designed by architect Rolf Disch. Together with the latest photovoltaic technology for the panels that make them highly efficient, and use of phase-change materials and vacuum insulation for the walls of the buildings that provide optimum thermal performance, the cities are able to generate four times the power which they consume.
Via The Logical Indian

Canada’s new assisted suicide law is trying to prevent “suicide tourism”

Canada’s law legalizing physician-assisted suicide — which allows doctors to help terminally ill patients end their own lives — will only apply to people who live in Canada, according to the Associated Press. That means terminally ill Americans who live in one of the majority of American states that doesn’t allow physician-assisted suicide won’t be able to travel to Canada to end their lives.
When Canada’s Supreme Court legalized assisted suicide for patients who have a “grievous and irremediable medical condition,” it led to speculation that the country would become a destination for people from elsewhere looking for aid in dying comfortably.

By limiting aid in dying to Canadian residents, the Canadian laws, which are scheduled to be announced Thursday, make it much less likely that the country will get an influx of “suicide tourism.” And the spread of aid-in-dying laws in the US means they might not need to. After California legalized physician-assisted suicide in October, one in six Americans now lives in a state where it’s legal for doctors to help terminally ill patients end their own lives.
Via Vox

John Carmack receives the BAFTA Fellowship

John D. Carmack is an American game programmer, aerospace and virtual reality engineer. He co-founded id Software. Carmack was the lead programmer of the id video games Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, Rage and their sequels. And now, the UK’s foremost film and TV institution, the BAFTA’s has invited him in. A big day for the gaming industry.

Via BAFTA

The Modern Futures Podcast – Ep006: Coworking, Community, and The Future of Work with Denise Brennan

In this episode Nikolas interviews Denise Brennan who owns and operates The Studio at Creative Coworkers, a coworking space for mostly creative professionals in Vancouver’s Railtown district. With an educational and professional background in social networking, open source community building and labour activism, she’s passionate about the connection between the near future evolution of work and labour rights, and the potential for coworking to facilitate progress and change in that process.

See the last 4 week’s Future Trends articles here:

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Nikolas Badminton is a world-respected futurist speaker that researches, speaks, and writes about the future of work, how technology is affecting the workplace, how workers are adapting, the sharing economy, and how the world is evolving. He appears at conferences in Canada, USA, UK, and Europe. Email him to book him for your radio, TV show, or conference.
 
 

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Futurist Keynote Speaker and Consultant - Nikolas Badminton

CEO of EXPONENTIAL MINDS and an award-winning Futurist Speaker, researcher and author. His expertise and thought leadership will guide you from complacency to thinking exponentially, planning for longevity, and encouraging a culture of innovation. You will then establish resiliency and abundance in your organization. Please reach out to discuss how he can help you, and read on to see what is happening in the world this week.

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