My first encounter with email was through Kermit. The year was 1994 and Kermit was a black-and-white interface, not particularly appealing, but a computing protocol that was effective at transferring files and text from one computer to another.
Columbia University brought Kermit to life in 1981 and ceased hosting him in 2011. Looking back, it would have been impossible to predict the extent to which something like Kermit would impact us and future generations.
Hindsight is good, foresight is hard. But there are different levels of “hard”. It’s possible to imagine, for example, what the world will look like in 2030, when universal internet access is achieved. Predicting this merely involves extending our understanding of today's reality into the future, and should therefore be relatively straightforward.
What is much harder is predicting exactly what will emerge from this shift in global consciousness and hyper-connectedness. And in tandem, how we develop effective policies and regulations that ensure that people do not hurt one another or the planet – or worse.
Anticipating the implications of innovation can often be the difference between life and death
As science fiction author William Gibson put it: “The future is already here, it’s just unevenly distributed." So, with that logic, something we can do is simply extend our research networks and seek information from folks with very different views and experiences than our own, in the hope that they know something that we don’t.
One such person to look at would be Robert Boyle, a scientist and inventor of the 1600s. He penned an insightful list of 24 then-unthinkable technologies and discoveries. These included prolonging life, unsinkable ships, organ transplants, sleeping pills and other things, both important and trivial, many of which we nowadays take for granted. All but two of the items on the list have been created or realised in the 300-plus years since.
Today, modern researchers are having another stab at his project. The Royal Society, a fellowship of eminent scientists that was founded by Boyle and his contemporaries, recently centred its attention on animate materials. These materials would have “magical” properties, being able to self-assemble, self-heal and respond to the environment.
First, it's important to know that, in their ultimate form, they don’t exist yet – they won’t for many more years, even decades. They will very probably exist in the future though, because they may offer important solutions to our consumption conundrums. Animate materials matter because they could help us address an increasing problem in the modern world: what to do with the stuff that we don’t need anymore? If we discovered the secret to this technology, things like plastic bottles could be scheduled to disassemble into their constituent molecules and re-assemble into, say, a toothbrush. Building roads or telephones with animate materials would allow these objects to repair themselves. Imagine a scenario in which bridges, car parts or pacemakers could self-assemble.
They would be materials that we could programme, in ways that we don’t yet understand, to carry out certain functions, much like a machine can execute an algorithm when commanded to do so by computer software, or how a living organism is programmed through its DNA.
With solutions come new challenges and the first one we face with animate materials is pretty straightforward: bringing them into being. For now, they don't exist.
The second challenge is imagining what life in the future, let's say in 2100, will be like once animate materials become as common as plastic bags, telephone chargers or shampoo.
The third challenge is deciding the kinds of policies and regulations we should create to ensure that animate materials do not take over the world, do not become living organisms and only do what we need them to do. Unsurprisingly, we don’t yet possess the knowledge or language to do this. Or rather, we lack sufficient evidence about the future. That is a dangerous shortcoming.
At the dawn of the industrial revolution in the late 1700s, would you have been able to anticipate that the energy that was set to run machines, automate manufacturing and make transport ubiquitous, would also cause climate change? Think of how impossible it would have been to convince others – investors, workers, politicians – to listen, understand and take preventative action against the negative consequences that would plague world 200 years down the line.
This is not a theoretical or trivial matter. There are moments in history when individuals hold key information that will shape the future. Anticipating the implications of innovation can often be the difference between life and death.
What we lack in specific knowledge and evidence, we can make up for with imagination. And so, we come back to the science fiction genre. It’s not that these authors know the future – it's more that they help us imagine possibilities about what's in store for us, and therefore prepare. These are precisely the types of ideas that we explore at the Museum of the Future.
As much as I love Kermit – the friendly technology that accompanied me in the early days of my emailing career – I believe that inspiration on how to address the future challenges that are posed by technological development should come from sci-fi, not The Muppet Show.
Dr Patrick Noack is the executive director of future, foresight and imagination at the Dubai Future Foundation
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Your Guide to the Home
- Level 1 has a valet service if you choose not to park in the basement level. This level houses all the kitchenware, including covetable brand French Bull, along with a wide array of outdoor furnishings, lamps and lighting solutions, textiles like curtains, towels, cushions and bedding, and plenty of other home accessories.
- Level 2 features curated inspiration zones and solutions for bedrooms, living rooms and dining spaces. This is also where you’d go to customise your sofas and beds, and pick and choose from more than a dozen mattress options.
- Level 3 features The Home’s “man cave” set-up and a display of industrial and rustic furnishings. This level also has a mother’s room, a play area for children with staff to watch over the kids, furniture for nurseries and children’s rooms, and the store’s design studio.
Scores in brief:
Boost Defenders 205-5 in 20 overs
(Colin Ingram 84 not out, Cameron Delport 36, William Somerville 2-28)
bt Auckland Aces 170 for 5 in 20 overs
(Rob O’Donnell 67 not out, Kyle Abbott 3-21).
2024%20Dubai%20Marathon%20Results
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Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
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Company%20Profile
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New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
SPECS
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Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
Tips for used car buyers
- Choose cars with GCC specifications
- Get a service history for cars less than five years old
- Don’t go cheap on the inspection
- Check for oil leaks
- Do a Google search on the standard problems for your car model
- Do your due diligence. Get a transfer of ownership done at an official RTA centre
- Check the vehicle’s condition. You don’t want to buy a car that’s a good deal but ends up costing you Dh10,000 in repairs every month
- Validate warranty and service contracts with the relevant agency and and make sure they are valid when ownership is transferred
- If you are planning to sell the car soon, buy one with a good resale value. The two most popular cars in the UAE are black or white in colour and other colours are harder to sell
Tarek Kabrit, chief executive of Seez, and Imad Hammad, chief executive and co-founder of CarSwitch.com
Players Selected for La Liga Trials
U18 Age Group
Name: Ahmed Salam (Malaga)
Position: Right Wing
Nationality: Jordanian
Name: Yahia Iraqi (Malaga)
Position: Left Wing
Nationality: Morocco
Name: Mohammed Bouherrafa (Almeria)
Position: Centre-Midfield
Nationality: French
Name: Mohammed Rajeh (Cadiz)
Position: Striker
Nationality: Jordanian
U16 Age Group
Name: Mehdi Elkhamlichi (Malaga)
Position: Lead Striker
Nationality: Morocco
The Vile
Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah
Director: Majid Al Ansari
Rating: 4/5
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
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Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week
A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
