Star Power

Deep Future Thinking

by Kimberly Chapple

It is said that, as a group, Native Americans regularly consider how the impact of their actions will affect those who will be born "two lifetimes from now." However, as most people in this industry work to speed technology along while cutting costs and increasing profit margins, the thought of imagining our world 100 to 150 years into the Deep Future may seem unfathomable. But someone's got to do it...

Employees of Starlab, a private, blue-sky research laboratory with campuses in Brussels and Barcelona do just that. Promoting itself as "a place where 100 years means nothing," more than 60 high-profile, wildly inventive engineering and science professionals representing 30 countries work to bring entrepreneurship to science and science to entrepreneurship in their self-described quest to "make a difference." Often compared to the MIT Media Lab, Starlab research and business teams work to commercialize the scientific knowledge of its workforce through spin-off companies, by setting up think tanks to serve the public and private sectors, and by creating joint-venture consortia. Starlab offers a platform of innovation without going into product development. It is the companies' task to take Starlab results and transfer the technology into market applications.

Dr. Alex Hum at work on Starlab's i-Wear project.

The office functions as a high-tech playground for Dr. Alex Hum (Singapore) shown here working on the i-Wear project, Starlab's first consortium. Hum is world-renowned for infusing wireless technologies into high-tech haute-couture and everyday devices. i-Wear is intelligent clothing that creates, in a sense, a second skin. Partners include manufacturers like Siemens, Energizer, Philips and W.L. Gore, as well as Adidas and Levi Strauss.

Prof. Hugo de Garis (UK/Australia) heads Starlab's artificial brain research group, part of a larger effort at Starlab to understand the basis of thinking. de Garis is pioneering the construction of an artificial brain, which will contain 100 million neurons (see "Robokoneko," Technology Spotlight, Designfax, Sept. 99). Like Mark Tilden, profiled in this issue's Redefining Robots article on page 42, he is a controversial media figure. de Garis is especially outspoken concerning the issue of species dominance, warning of conflict between those for and against artificial intelligence in a superhuman form.

Sound interesting? Starlab lists openings for "crazy engineers" on its website. If your expertise matches the company's BANG (Bits, Atoms, Neurons, Genes) charter, you might want to delve into the Deep Future. Part-timers need not apply.

For more information, Circle 521 - Starlab or connect directly to their site via our Online Reader Service Program at http://www.OneRS.net/102df-521