The Future of Cities

This is a conversation starter first, a video second.

Lions for Lambs

Three stories told simultaneously in ninety minutes of real time: a Republican Senator who's a presidential hopeful gives an hour-long interview to a skeptical television reporter, detailing a strategy for victory in Afghanistan; two special forces ambushed on an Afghani ridge await rescue as Taliban forces close in; a poli-sci professor at a California college invites a student to re-engage.

Confessions of a Time Traveler: The Man from 3036

A main claiming to be from the future explains what we can expect from the next decades, in a frightening glimpse of what's to come.

Nostradamus

A dramatic retelling of the life of Michel de Nostredame, from his early work as a plague doctor to his time at the court of Catherine de Medici, after he became famed for his prophetic almanacs. Stars Rutger Hauer and Julia Ormond.

Entre deux vagues

Ambition

A young apprentice (Aisling Franciosi) struggles to master nanotechnology on an alien world and prove herself to her enigmatic master (Aidan Gillen). Will her herculean goals remain tantalizingly out of reach, or will she fulfill them and in the process, change life as we know it? Tomek Bagiński’s short film Ambition is a collaborative project between the European Space Agency and Platige Image highlighting Rosetta, ESA’s real mission to rendezvous with, escort and land on a comet.

Holy Land: Startup Nations

With the most tech startups and venture capital per capita in the world, Israel has long been hailed as The Startup Nation. WIRED’s feature-length documentary looks beyond Tel Aviv’s vibrant, liberal tech epicenter to the wider Holy Land region – the Palestinian territories, where a parallel Startup Nation story is emerging in East Jerusalem, Nazareth, Ramallah and other parts of the West Bank, as well as in the Israeli cybersecurity hub of Be’er Sheva. And we will learn how the fertile innovation ecosystem of Silicon Wadi has evolved as a result of its unique political, geographical and cultural situation and explore the future challenges – and solutions – these nations are facing.

The Age of Transitions

The cutting edge group known as transhumanists see a beautiful future brought about by artificial intelligence, life extension, and cybernetics. What one must realize before getting carried away with such utopian dreams is that transhumanism was born out of the elitist pseudo-science eugenics. This documentary provides vital information on the history of eugenics and its new cutting edge transformation.

Takumi: A 60,000 Hour Story on the Survival of Human Craft

There is a popular theory that it takes at least 10,000 hours of focused practice for a human to become expert in any field. In Japan, there are craftspeople who go far beyond this to reach a special kind of mastery. These people are called Takumi and they devote 60,000 hours to their craft. That's 8 hours a day, 240 days a year, for over 30 years. It's an almost superhuman level of dedication to a life of repetition and no shortcuts. This film asks the question: Will human craft disappear as artificial intelligence reaches beyond our limits?

Supervolcano: Yellowstone's Fury

For over a century, tens of millions of visitors have marveled at the natural beauty of Yellowstone National Park. But, beneath all this beauty lurks a beast. Yellowstone sits directly above one of the largest volcanic systems on Earth. For the past two million years, this supervolcano has erupted roughly every 600,000 years. The last major eruption occurred 640,000 years ago. So, is it overdue for another eruption? There have been disturbing signals... Supervolcano: Yellowstone's Fury examines the cataclysmic effect an eruption would have on the world. It would be the largest natural disaster in recorded history. NYU Earth Scientist Michael Rampino warns, "An eruption like Yellowstone could trigger the end of civilization as we know it." For experts, the question is not if there will be another eruption, but when. University of Toronto geologist John Westgate agrees: "There will be a very large-scale supervolcanic eruption from Yellowstone. That's a fact."

You Vs. Wildgnorance

TimeWave Zero

Terence McKenna gives us a detailed description of his TimeWave concept and a demonstration of the software Terence originated in his early exploratory period of deep study with the I Ching, the ancient oracular Chinese Book of Changes. He proudly takes us on a biographical tour of our culture from his personal library in the early 80's to what he saw the TimeWave project to 2012. Terence describes the Time Wave as his "only original work". The first part of this piece is the first visual description of Terence's unique theory. The second chapter of the tape astounds the viewer with the display of the the historical resonances that demonstrates how the last 4000 years are compressed into the increasingly speeded up, drawn and squeezed collective thoughts of the "Gaian matrix". Terence McKenna partnered with Sound Photosynthesis' media magicians Faustin Bray and Brian Wallace at the helm to create the visuals that dance and spiral with Terence's every suggestion.

But Beautiful

In his new film, Erwin Wagenhofer is looking for the good and beautiful in this world.

THE HUMAN FUTURE: A Case for Optimism

What is the future of humanity? It might seem bleak, but the case for optimism is strong. Humanity has what it takes to reach transcendent futures.

Sophia & Han - Robots

Two robots, Sophia and Han, debate the future of humanity in this entertaining conversation from RISE technology conference 2017. Moderated by Ben Goertzel, renowned researcher and author in contemporary AI.

Containment

Every nuclear weapon made, every watt of electricity produced from a nuclear power plant leaves a trail of nuclear waste that will last for the next four hundred generations. We face the problem of how to warn the far distant future of the nuclear waste we have buried --but how to do it? How to imagine the far-distant threats to the sites, what kinds of monuments can be built, could stories or legends safeguard our descendants? Filmed at the only American nuclear burial ground, at a nuclear weapons complex and in Fukushima, the film grapples with the ways people are dealing with the present problem and imagining the future. Part observational essay, part graphic novel, this documentary explores the idea that over millennia, nothing stays put.