Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Futurism.
The All New Episodic 'Tremors' Reboot Set to Star Kevin Bacon Has Been Canned!
It was the news that all us old-school sci-fi fans were overjoyed to hear. Tremors,the cult classic movie from the 90s was not only returning to the screen but was returning with Kevin Bacon, the original star, and it was to release as an episodic TV series.
Tim HortonPublished 6 years ago in FuturismPrisca Theologia
Prisca Theologia The concept of Prisca Theologia is that there is one theological truth that can be found within every religion.
Peter RosePublished 6 years ago in FuturismA New Featurette Has Dropped for 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' and It Is Explosive (& Informative)!
As we ramp up the hype for Solo: A Star Wars Story, Director Ron Howard has dropped an all-new featurette that showcases more of the upcoming movies locations, characters and plotlines.
Tim HortonPublished 6 years ago in FuturismThe Name Game
The photo above is an old shot of Willy Shoemaker, the jockey, and Wilt Chamberlain, the basketball player. Willy is not a dwarf of any kind. He is 4'11" tall. Wilt is not a giant. He is 7'1" tall. There is no argument—they are both Homo sapiens. What if you found their bones at an anthropological dig site? If you knew nothing about humans, you might think they represented two distinct species. After all, their skulls would have different volumes, and their postcranial bones would appear quite different from each other. This is what researchers face. Variation in a species can be enormous. There are so many classifications of hominins that it boggles the mind. Here is a list of some: Homo habilis, rudolfensis, antecessor, ergaster, erectus, heidelbergensis, floresiensis, neanderthalensis, gautengensis, cepranensis, naledi, tsaichangensis, rhodensiensis, georgicus, Denisovans, and Red Deer Cave People. This is not a complete list. There are many reasons that the taxonomy (classification) of Homo is so complicated. Some species coexisted, but they also cross mated, making all of these early hominins blends of each other. Each researcher has his own idea of who begat whom, and what makes a fossil Homo. Everyone has an opinion and no one agrees with anyone else. There is no standard among scientists, and the entire naming process is getting out of hand. Anyone who finds a fossil these days is claiming to have found our oldest ancestor, the oldest Homo, or the "missing link." Just look at the situation that recently occurred in South Africa. Last year, Lee Berger proclaimed Homonaledi, a fossil found by his son, to be this ancient Homo who was already a member of our genus while Australopithecuseines like Lucy were running around. You could hear the laugh go around the paleo world when the fossils were found to be a mere 250,000 years old.
Monica BennettPublished 6 years ago in Futurism'Annihilation' Review
Very little was known about Annihilation when previews started to be shown before other movies. Even going into the theater to see it, I was not fully sure what the movie was about. However, there were several things in the preview that had me curious, so I decided to give it a try.
Vanessa Cherron RiserPublished 6 years ago in FuturismReview of 'The Crossing' 1.5
A pivotal episode 1.5 of The Crossing last night, in which a big piece of the back story is revealed, and the stakes are dramatically raised for the near future.
Paul LevinsonPublished 6 years ago in FuturismKorean Paleoanthropology
Rudyard Kipling once said, “There is too much Asia and she is too old.” He was right, from a paleoanthropological point of view. Asia is huge and trying to find vastly scattered remains of hominids is daunting. If you take the Koreas, however, they are a nice piece of a big pie that can be searched for delicious tidbits of knowledge. There are problems with paleoanthropology here, as exists in all countries, but the Koreas present some that are unique. Many descriptions and papers from here are written in Korean, which makes their availability for Westerners unaccessible. South Korean soil and climate are just not conducive to the preservation of bone fossils. It also lacks in tectonic activity (volcanos) which limits the ability of time dating fossils. The good news here is other methods of dating are surfacing. North Korea, unfortunately for all, has most of the Korean caves and limestone geologic structures. Information of any finds here are not forthcoming, and what little we have gotten is highly suspect. There are four theories of the peopling of Asia:
Monica BennettPublished 6 years ago in FuturismReview of 'Timeless' 2.7
Timeless is nicely mixing it up this session, putting villains on the team with our heroes, where they so far have performed remarkably well. Flynn is now almost admired, if not yet quite trusted by everyone except Wyatt, and in 2.7, Emma joins our team.
Paul LevinsonPublished 6 years ago in Futurism- Top Story - May 2018
14 Standalone Star Wars Stories That We'd Love to See Come to Life
Rogue One has been an absolutely smashing success amongst fans and critics and is likely to become another huge hit. The film was risky seeing how it’s technically the first big budget Star Wars film that doesn’t feature Jedi or any member of the Skywalker family. But what it does show that there is an audience that is desperately hungry to see new portions of the Star Wars universe explored?
Isaac ShapiroPublished 6 years ago in Futurism Review of 'Westworld' 2.2
One of my favorite of Marshall McLuhan’s concepts (he called them “probes”) for exploring our relationship with media is “Narcissus Narcosis”: the Greek youth Narcissus was so in love with his own reflection that all he wanted to do all was stare at in a lake, wanting to reach out and embrace it, having no idea it was him. This, McLuhan noted in Understanding Media back in 1964, was us, we humans, looking at television. And this is what William said to young Delores last night in the sparkling city in episode 2.2 of Westworld: “You’re not even a thing, you’re a reflection” of me—i.e. William—who goes on to note that everyone loves their reflections. Clearly William, i.e. the writers of Westworld, know their McLuhan.
Paul LevinsonPublished 6 years ago in FuturismThe Air Apparent
All things sometime must turn into dust, but nothing ever becomes nothingness. Preface to the Modern Era In a time of long ago, the people of the planet used jars for all sorts of things. The very first ones were made of a primitive earthen mixture. It is a matter of intrigue how those coarse but creative beings discovered and experimented with different types of earth, and water, and fire, until they got it right … and then, the container was invented.
Paleoanthropology in India
The country of India is truly unexplored when it comes to hominin fossils. As can be seen from the photo above, it must have been a major corridor in the migration of hominids from the Arabian Peninsula to South East Asia and beyond to Australia. But where is the evidence? If the truth is told, there is a paucity of evidence that has been found in India. The most famous, and nearly the only fossils found are those from the Narmada Valley, located at nearly mid-point north, south, east, and west. The fossils are calvaria (skull caps) and a few postcranial bones. The remains indicate that these were a small pygmy type hominin, possibly the ancestors of the enigmatic Andaman Island group of "Negritos" or perhaps Homo floresiensis. The Andaman Islands are populated by Negritos who are very small. It is not known when the Islands were first inhabited by anyone. Estimates go from 70kbp to 2kbp, but it is possible they are older than some think. At least one island has kept intruders out completely. Answers are not forthcoming yet, and genetic evidence is only available from islanders accepting of researchers.
Monica BennettPublished 6 years ago in Futurism