ecopolis

Humans have 23 years to go
Global Extinction Awareness System starts the countdown for Homo sapiens.

PALO ALTO, CA — Based on the results of a year-long supercomputer simulation, the Global Extinction Awareness System (GEAS) has reset the “survival horizon” for Homo sapiens – the human race – from “indefinite” to 23 years.

“The survival horizon identifies the point in time after which a threatened population is expected to experience a catastrophic collapse,” GEAS president Audrey Chen said. “It is the point from which a species is unlikely to recover. By identifying a survival horizon of 2042, GEAS has given human civilization a definite deadline for making substantive changes to planet and practices.”

According to Chen, the latest GEAS simulation harnessed over 70 petabytes of environmental, economic, and demographic data, and was cross-validated by ten different probabilistic models. The GEAS models revealed a potentially terminal combination of five so-called “super-threats”, which represent a collision of environmental, economic, and social risks. “Each super-threat on its own poses a serious challenge to the world’s adaptive capacity,” said GEAS research director Hernandez Garcia. “Acting together, the five super-threats may irreversibly overwhelm our species’ ability to survive.”Garcia said, “Previous GEAS simulations with significantly less data and cross-validation correctly forecasted the most surprising species collapses of the past decade: Sciurus carolinenis and Sciurus vulgaris, for example, and Anatidae chen. So we have very good reason to believe that these simulation results, while shocking, do accurately represent the rapidly growing threats to the viability of the human species.”

GEAS notified the United Nations prior to making a public announcement. The spokesperson for United Nations Secretary General Vaira Vike-Freiberga released the following statement: “We are grateful for GEAS’ work, and we treat their latest forecast with seriousness and profound gravity.”

GEAS urges concerned citizens, families, corporations, institutions, and governments to talk to each other and begin making plans to deal with the super-threats.

An official quote from AFP:

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) – China claimed success in its pre-Olympic battle against Beijing’s pollution, as strong winds helped

clear the thick smog that has hung over the Chinese capital this month.

Pollution levels have fallen by at least 20 pct since the first of a raft of short-term measures began at the beginning of July, Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau deputy director Du Shaozhong told reporters.

Despite visible signs of heavy smog that had pervaded Beijing in recent weeks and some branches of China’s state-run press highlighting the pollution problems, Du insisted there had been 25 days of “clean air” in July.

“We have seen comprehensive measures implemented already and we have seen that they have had comprehensive results,” he said.

Nevertheless, Du confirmed that further emergency measures were being planned if pollution was a concern during the Games, which start on Aug 8.

and a declaration by Australian Olympic Committe:

Australian Olympic officials have told athletes they can withdraw from events in Beijing with no repercussions if they are concerned about pollution levels, it was reported Tuesday.

Australia’s deputy head of mission Peter Montgomery said athletes would not be forced to compete, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Montgomery emphasised that he expected the country’s 433 team members would choose to compete but any decision not to would be respected.

“It is extremely unlikely an athlete will not compete, most athletes train for 10 years for this moment,” Montgomery said.

“For us, the athletes’ attitude to the event is paramount. If they don’t want to compete, that is fine. They will be under absolutely no pressure to compete if they feel uneasy or don’t want to compete.”

Nevertheless, Du confirmed that further emergency measures were being planned if pollution was a concern during the Games, which start on August 8.

“If we still don’t have ideal air quality for the Games, we will take more measures, and they will be measures that are similar to what has already been taken but to a higher degree.”

and here a report and a video by Wall Street Journal about pollution in China.

BBC Two and Philippe Starck are teaming up for a brand new TV series to find the next great British designer.

Internationally renowned designer Starck will be heading up a specially created School of Design in Paris.

Ten aspiring designers with the talent, drive and vision to create the next ‘must have’ products of the 21st Century will be given the unique opportunity to learn and work alongside Starck and his team over a period of several months.
Selection

A shortlist of the most promising applicants will be invited to Paris to be interviewed by Philippe, after which he will select the ten who will be offered a place at the school.
Opportunity of a lifetime

At the end of the series Philippe Starck will decide whom he wants to become part of his ‘tribe’ – the chance to stay on in Paris working in his office for a further six months.
What we are looking for

Production Company Twofour Broadcast is looking for applications from people from all walks of life; you don’t have to have had any formal training, it’s all about catching Philippe’s eye and convincing him your designs can change the way we live – for the better. A background in drawing or a creative industry could be helpful – but we are just as interested in hearing from people who are passionate about design or have a strong visual sense.

Iscriptions here.

Radical Software Group (RSG) has recently developed a multi-player online game called Kriegspiel based upon Debord’s second best known work, Le Jeu de la Guerre (The Game of War). The game consists of a board of twenty by twenty-five squares divided into Northern and Southern territories with pre-determined obstacles (such as a mountain range, mountain pass, two arsenals, and three fortresses). Game pieces include cavalry, infantry and cannons that can be moved up to five spaces per game, with the resulting play somewhat akin to a chess/RISK hybrid. When The Game of War was first produced in a limited edition in 1978, Debord expressed great confidence in its potential, writing in his text Panegyric, “It might be the only thing in all my work– I’m afraid to admit — that one might dare say has some value.”

Now the Radical Software Group has developed the game into a massively two-player online which can be freely downloaded and played locally and globally.
Debord was particularly influenced by the Prussian military general and strategist Carl von Clausewitz, a general whose approach to militarism was informed and shaped by broad philosophical and cultural forces’s strategies akin to Debord’s own revolutionary theories.

nfortu! nately, Debord’s widow and collaborator, Alice Becker-Ho seems to have felt differently, and issued ‘cease and desist’ letters to the artists and a number of supporting institutions, citing “exploitation of the exclusive rights belonging to Mrs DEBORD and, furthermore, is a version far removed from the intentions of the creator of the game.”

via Rhizome.

Have you ever wondered what’s behind a perfect Tetris-wall?
Have you ever freed a 3D world from terrorists?
Have you ever made polygon friends in networked fantasy realms?
And do you know what happens when these games never end?

The richly illustrated texts in “Space Time Play” cover a wide range of gamespaces: from milestone video and computer games to virtual metropolises to digitally-overlaid physical spaces. As a comprehensive and interdisciplinary compendium, “Space Time Play” explores the architectural history of computer games and the future of ludic space. More than 140 experts from game studies and the game industry, from architecture and urban planning, have contributed essays, game reviews and interviews. The games examined range from commercial products to artistic projects and from scientific experiments to spatial design and planning tools.

“Space Time Play” is not just meant for architects, designers and gamers, but for all those who take an interest in the culture of digital games and the spaces within and modeled after them. Let’s play!

Song: Viva la Vida
Band: Coldplay
Clips from: kh-vids

Developed by Sony Computer Entertainment’s Santa Monica divisionGod of War is the second action-adventure video game for the Sony PlayStation 2, based on Greek mythology.

At the start of God of War II, Kratos is the God of War after defeating Ares but not being released from his torment made his sorrow boil into hatred. He turns to his mortal army of Sparta to wage war on cities across the land, which raises the anger of Zeus and the other gods. Soon, he finds he is betrayed by Zeus and reduced to a mortal. Kratos must travel to the Sisters of Fate to exact revenge and destroy Zeus once and for all.

Most of the common enemies that Kratos faces are based on mythological creatures including several that return from the original God of War; these include the undead, skeletons, wraiths, harpies, nymphs, gryphons, minotaurs, Gorgons, Cyclopses, Cerberus hounds, Sirens, satyrs, juggernauts, and the armies of the Fates.

David Jaffe hints at the future of the series. “God of War explains, or ultimately will explain, why there are no more Greek myths”, He said.

IGN – the multimedia news, and reviews website that focuses heavily on video games named God of War as the greatest PlayStation 2 game of all time, on their Top 25 PS2 Games list.