Life imitates art again. This time it’s Bruce Sterling’s cyberpunk vision that’s coming to fruition. Those who wonder what I’m talking about should read his darkly comic and cautionary “Our Neural Chernobyl” from his collection Globalhead (1992). We should not so facilely greet with glee this gesture toward garage gene-hacking. One of this group’s “projects” is “Synthetic Biology for Artists and Designers” using the MIT parts registry. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

cantcopewontcope:

(Mobile Phone Field Microscope)

“Ever wondered how to turn a simple webcam into a microscope, safely cultivate GFP bacteria, hack DVD burners to make your own nano and bio experiments, or how to use other cheap, easy to come by material in order to build an hydrometer…

Oh, the futures that never were. I’m about to start having a fugue à la “The Gernsback Continuum” by William Gibson. It’s bad enough life in the Midwest is starting to imitate Bruce Sterling’s Heavy Weather.

markcoatney:

generalelectric:

Selenium was traditionally one of the principle ingredients in solar cells. This chamber purified the selenium used for early photovoltaic cells. We found it in our archives, but can’t shake its uniquely futuristic look. (Taken with instagram)

In which we learn that GE invented the Big Daddy…

Ooh, one of my favorite cyberpunk authors is featured on the Cyborgology blog.

icancstructures:

In his Beyond the Beyond blog (hosted by WIRED magazine), cyberpunk author Bruce Sterling recently made some comments on my post, “Cyborgs and the Augmented Reality they Inhabit.”