Social Rundown: Moon dust, BlackBerry could make a comeback, and Bar Etiquette
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Mood Dust
Scientists at Texas A&M University are working to grow crops for food production in a lunar simulant, which is the moon's equivalent of dirt. Now, moon dust lacks essential elements like nitrogen and microbes, which are necessary for crop growth. So who knows, maybe one day we'll have plants and crops outside of Earth.
Blackberry phones
Back in the day, in the 2010s, BlackBerry phones were the hype, and now Gen-Z is hopping on the trend to bring the nostalgic telephone back. Could smartphones soon be a thing of the past?
Bar etiquette
A story by The New York Times shows that Gen Z does not want to start a bar tab; instead, they would much rather pay as they order. Others, including bartenders, not so much, as they explain that it's more convenient to keep a tab open, especially if they are ordering a drink that takes multiple steps to make. What do you prefer doing?
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While Deep Future is about audacious thinking and enormously challenging technology, much of Holman's thinking illustrates a skill I call 'brutal simplicity.' It's an approach we can all use. Here are three questions to help you do so: The first question seeks clarity before seeking solutions. Do we really understand the problem? The second tests whether we have the right problem in mind. The third question challenges us to seek as simple--though not necessarily easy--a solution as possible. Consider one of Deep Future's examples. Problem: How can we generate clean, reliable electricity at scale? Blast solar panels into space and beam the power back to Earth. Eh, voila: Virtus Solis. Ignore The Boogeymen: Build Anyway Big ideas attract bigger anxieties. Holman devotes a chapter to our habit of telling 'boogeyman' stories about new tools—nuclear, psychedelics, AI, you name it. His advice? Research, experiment, invent—then regulate the real risks we discover. 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