fact or fiction

Is it science fact or science fiction? Futurism presents both sides to determine the truth.

The Dead Zoo: Dilophosaurus
The way some hipsters talk about bands, hardcore paleo fans talk about fossils. “Oh, you only heard of mosasaurs because of Jurassic World? I was into those aquatic lizards back when they were eating sailors in The Land That Time Forgot.” It’s not necessarily charming behavior, but it happens. And I admit that when the cinematic version of Jurassic Park debuted in 1993, I felt a little swell of pride at already being a big fan of the movie's noxious double-crested dinosaur.
By Brian Switek9 years ago in Futurism
What Is Time?
This article was written by a friend of mine and I. What is time? Why does our life revolve around it? And why are we always running out of it?
By Mo Darasi9 years ago in Futurism
Are We Becoming Robots?
What about old-fashioned mutual voice-into-ear communication then? I thought to myself having spent the best part of an hour tricking the phone network provider’s labyrinthine system to put me through to an actual person to pay a bill that had gone astray.
By Jemima9 years ago in Futurism
Striving Toward the Answer
One way to describe humanity is by their imperfections. Some believe God to have created all that is in existence, and others believe the universe to have been created by chance. Either way, everyone now knows (through magnificent advances in technology) that humanity is not the centre of the universe.
By Mo Darasi9 years ago in Futurism
Why ET Contact Sucks
The alien abduction narrative has been a part of popular culture for a long time, and the UFO narrative has countless allegations by experiencers of alien abduction and contact. Initiated by some intelligent Other, those meetings flow along a spectrum from kind and benevolent visitations to abusive and violent kidnappings. Two general camps arise in the abduction enigma; the benevolent spiritual meeting, generally, but not wholly, accepted as “contact,” and the cruel malevolent snatching of a person, typically known as “abduction.”
By MJ Banias9 years ago in Futurism
The Dead Zoo: Triceratops
Triceratops always seemed like a friendly dinosaur to me. I’m not exactly sure why. It couldn’t have been because of Uncle Beazley. That dinosaur was before my time, and I didn’t encounter him at the National Zoo until after I was already grown up. Jurassic Park couldn’t have been it, either. I wish I could have given the sick Triceratops a hug just like Alan Grant did, but I was already ten before I dragged my family to see the epic cinematic dinosaurs. There must have been something else.
By Brian Switek9 years ago in Futurism
Technology, and the Future of Criminal Justice
A recent New York Times article highlighted a system and part of the criminal justice system that most people aren’t aware of; Risk Management Systems and their use in sentencing convicted offenders, predicting recidivism rates, and even working to the likelihood of children to become criminal offenders later in life. Tools such as these are based in the sciences of Predictive Analytics, Behavioral Analysis, Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning.
By James P.9 years ago in Futurism
Bizarre Creatures that Would Look Totally Normal In a Sci-Fi Movie
When people think about all the different animals that have been discovered on Earth, it's hard to pin down a standard "earth look" that we should expect of creatures. That being said, we definitely can tell when an animal looks alien to us.
By Ossiana Tepfenhart9 years ago in Futurism
Are You Aware Of What's Out There?
This world has so many secrets, stories untold, and only a small few can see into those secrets well enough to explain one hundred percent what is truly going on. Is it a mind game? Is it truly happening? How do I make it stop? If these are your questions, I can give you answers.
By Olivia Colley9 years ago in Futurism
Memories and "State"
One of my personal reasons for staying awake most nights is down to the fundamental question of "Do Atoms have memory function?" We know they have a 'state', but how far does that 'state' or memory capacity go?"
By Denise Gregory9 years ago in Futurism
Why Time Travel Is So Enjoyable
Time travel is my favorite kind of science fiction – precisely because it’s almost certainly impossible. Not like travel to other planets, which makes great science fiction, but we're already beginning to do in reality. Or artificial intelligence and robots, which also makes for great science fiction, but we're also already beginning to do, a least little. But time travel is different because it's so likely impossible – as far we know, we're not doing any of it today, and have never done it. As far as we know, no one from the future has yet to pay us a visit. And because time travel is so likely impossible, seeing how time travel stories can work, can make sense, anyway, is a special kind of fun.
By Paul Levinson9 years ago in Futurism
The Fourth Dimension
The science of Time! Long before H.G. Wells penned "The Time Machine" man has always been intrigued by it's concept. From DiVinci, Nostradamus, to Newton, to Einstein all have implied that the existence of a fourth dimension does exist. In many ways, Wells's narratives of his novels actually have come into existence. Like Jules Verne, science fiction of the 1800's has become today's reality.
By Dr. Williams9 years ago in Futurism