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 I read through dozens of blogs and news websites to find those things that we should be aware of.
Top-5 Futures for November 6th – Facebook’s Unbelievable AI talks about Facebook’s Artificial Intelligence, CRISPR, mobile medical, cyborgs and cryogenics.

Facebook Em – Unbelievable Artificial Intelligence

Yann LeCun is Facebook’s Director of AI Research and in this video he shows an incredible AI that analyses imagery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_Wgc1JOsBk
 

CRISPR Gene Editing to Be Tested on People by 2017

The biotechnology startup Editas Medicine intends to begin tests of a powerful new form of gene repair in humans within two years.
Speaking this week at the EmTech conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Editas CEO Katrine Bosley said the company hopes to start a clinical trial in 2017 to treat a rare form of blindness using CRISPR, a groundbreaking gene-editing technology.
If Editas’s plans move forward, the study would likely be the first to use CRISPR to edit the DNA of a person. Here is a video outlining what CRISPR is:

Via MIT Technology Review

MobileODT diagnoses cervical cancer with a smartphone and a 3D printed case

Fighting cancer with your smartphone? That is exactly what an initiative by Israeli startup MobileODT is trying to do. With the help of a 3D printed accessory called the Mobile Colposcope, MobileODT has developed a method for making ‘cervix selfies’, magnified photos of a cervix that enable doctors to easily detect and prevent the development of cervical cancer. It’s a simple and affordable initiative that will enable doctors to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of patients across the developing world, where other diagnostic tools cannot be afforded.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm5ogJT-M9k
Via 3Ders.org

Reddit, Conde Nast Launch ‘Cyborg Nation’ Documentary Series

Conde Nast Entertainment and Reddit are launching six-part documentary series “Cyborg Nation,” exploring the bleeding edge of human-technology interfaces, in the discussion community site’s first entertainment deal.
The series is slated to premiere Wednesday on Wired’s channel on The Scene, CNÉ’s digital video hub. Each episode, about 5 minutes in length, is hosted by Derek Muller, creator of the YouTube Veritasium science channel.
Topics for “Cyborg Nation,” including profiles of bionic-legged rock climber Hugh Herr and SynTouch, the first company to produce a mechanical sensor that replicates human touch (pictured above), were recommended by members of the r/Futurology subreddit, according to Alexis Ohanian, Reddit’s co-founder and executive chairman.
 
Via Variety

‘New’, a Movie About a Future With Cryogenics

An elderly couple, revived from cryonic preservation, face the joys and challenges of a second life in the distant future. “Critic’s Award for Excellence” for Best Short Film at FilmFest Twain Harte, 2014. Starring Jared Abrahamson, Joslyn Jensen, and Jennifer Lafleur. Written and directed by John Harden. For more information, please visit NewTheMovie.com.
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See the last 4 week’s Top-5 Futures here:

• Top-5 Futures for October 30th – Stop Eating Bacon

• Top-5 Futures for October 23rd – Humans in 1000 Years

• Top-5 Futures for October 16th – Bikinis and Killer Mosquito Swarms

• Top-5 Futures for October 9th – The Future of Wearables

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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.