Listen up! We need something from you — your thoughts. We’ve entered December and that means we’re: (a) waving goodbye to the Future of Food and (b) saying hello to a new conversation focused on the future of music and all things sound.
Check out our introduction to the topic for details about what we’re doing this month and (more importantly) what we’d like you to do. As always, we want to be part of a bigger conversation with our readers. That means if you have an idea you think would work for what we’re calling “Fast Forward,” hit me with that writing stick: ian@howwegettonext.com.
Fast Forward: Sound, Listening, Music
Ian Steadman, How We Get To Next
December is all about the future of music. To join the conversation, click to see the questions we’re posing. [3-minute read]
The Future of Music: A Reading List
Duncan Geere, How We Get To Next
Get yourself up to speed on the many different viewpoints about music’s fate with the best writing on the subject. [variable read length]
Change Your Diet, Change Your Future
Ian Steadman, How We Get To Next
We spent a month exploring the future of food—specifically, how what we eat will change who we are. Here’s what we found. [4-minute read]
Harvesting Cities: Farms of the Future?
Steven Johnson, How We Get To Next
Turning cafes into farms could herald a greener, more sustainable food culture. In this video, Steven Johnson visits a cafe in London’s East End pioneering the concept. [3-minute watch]
The Secret to Health Isn’t the Food on Your Plate
Yiannis Baboulias, How We Get To Next
Some people in Mediterranean countries live so long they seem like they “forget to die.” Is it the food they’re eating? Or is it that they’re not eating alone? [6-minute read]
Nigeria’s Instagram Advice Column
Duncan Geere, How We Get To Next
African women take to Instagram and get personal, South Korea’s Air Force is 3D printing jet engines, and the residents of Kolkata explore their city’s past in augmented reality. This and more of what’s happening outside your news bubble. [3-minute read]
Snowbot Wars — Can Robots Dig Us Out?
Duncan Geere, How We Get To Next
Autonomous lawnmowers are a relatively common sight in America’s backyards, so why aren’t robotic snowplows? Turns out the logistics are harder to solve. [3-minute read]
How to Save Humanity
Multiple Authors, basics.is
What are the biggest threats facing humanity and what can you do about them? This collection of essays offers answers to those questions from a host of top thinkers. [60-minute read]
The Telharmonium Was the Spotify of 1906
Ella Morton, Atlas Obscura
The world’s first streaming service launched in 1897. It transmitted live music—performed 24 hours a day—from the entire floor of a building in central Manhattan. Dial in from your telephone and you could listen at home. [4-minute read]
Time Travel
Simon Wills, Intelligent Life
Back in 1914, travel was slower than today. This wonderful map plots how long it took people to journey around the world. For comparison’s sake, here’s a similar map from 1886. [2-minute read]
Nature Has Lost Its Meaning
Ross Andersen, The Atlantic
To solve climate change, we need to reimagine our entire relationship to the nonhuman world. Jedediah Purdy wrote a book on the subject; this interview tells its story. [23-minute read]
Circuit Tattoos Are the Ultimate Wearable
Piotr Boruslawski, Designboom
A software firm is working on tattoos made with conductive ink that integrates technology into your skin. But what happens when you need to upgrade? [2-minute read]
