The Future: A 360° View

The world may be beset with catastrophic problems, but The Future: A 360° View suggests that science might solve many of them with visionary ingenuity. Collected on two discs, this 10-episode series offers mind-boggling evidence (and tantalizing conjecture) that we're all on the brink of an amazing tomorrow. Among the subjects covered are smart houses, floating cities, transportation advances (favoring personal jet-packs over cars); metropolitan electricity generated by pedestrians wearing special foot pads, and desktop computers with the power of billions of brains. Naturally, both practical and ethical questions arise: will humans be secondary to machines, for instance? After all, the machines will be increasingly self-aware, and already new generations of robots are more and more like us. Other fun stuff here includes a look at 3D printers, aquatic cars, and new technology for stopping asteroids. Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (T. Keogh)