The Adjacent Possible

This is the first of three parts as we explore possibilities that are just around the corner. Or, as we like tsay, one room over. This is a follow-up to an earlier show on possibility.

The Future and Unlimited Possibility

The adjacent possible is a kind of shadow future, hovering on the edges of the present state of things, a map of all the ways in which the present can reinvent itself.

 Potentially Adjacent Possibilities

Cure for Aging

Controversial claim: “Elizabeth Parrish, CEO of Bioviva USA Inc., has become the first human being to be successfully rejuvenated by gene therapy, after her own company's experimental therapies reversed 20 years of normal telomere shortening.”

Cure for Obesity

Fusion Power

Maybe finally adjacent?

MIT Researchers Say Nuclear Fusion Will Feed the Grid “in 15 Years”

Self-Driving Cars

The technology is not adjacent; it’s already here and rapidly improving. What’s adjacent is a world where autonomous vehicles are in widespread use / on course to replace most or all human-driven vehicles.

Compare to:

Electric cars. Also adjacent.

Flying cars. Deep.

Other Possibilities:

Robot Lawyers

Robot doctors

Post-employment

Conversational User Interface

Next time: The Deep Possible

WT 415-728

Eternity Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) | Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License | creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0