Posthuman

Higher resolution:  Link.

Basilisk Images

Exerpt from the comp.basilisk FAQ:

5. How does a basilisk operate?

The short answer is: we mustn't say. Detailed information is classified beyond Top Secret.

The longer answer is based on a popular-science article by Berryman (New Scientist, 2001), which outlines his thinking. He imagined the human mind as a formal, deterministic computational system -- a system that, as predicted by a variant of Gödel's Theorem in mathematics, can be crashed by thoughts which the mind is physically or logically incapable of thinking. The Logical Imaging Technique presents such a thought in purely visual form as a basilisk image which our optic nerves can't help but accept. The result is disastrous, like a software stealth-virus smuggled into the brain.


6. Why "basilisk"?

It's the name of a mythical creature: a reptile whose mere gaze can turn people to stone. According to ancient myth, a basilisk can be safely viewed in a mirror. This is not generally true of the modern version -- although some highly asymmetric basilisks like B-756 are lethal only in unreflected or reflected form, depending on the dominant hemisphere of the victim's brain.

- David Langford

Rescue Pod

Click for more detailed image.

Also more sketches by Evgeny Buryat Onutchin for the Core77 sketch contest.

Tangible Holograms

A little something for the deckers and Virtual Adepts out there:

Holograms with physical interaction made possible through motion capture technology combined with precisely focused ultrasonic sound waves to stimulate the sense of touch.


More via Core 77.

Premium Coffin Hotel

I'd only read about coffin hotels (ie. "capsule hotels") in fiction, but apparently they're a real phenomena sweeping the globe since the late 1970s. Pictured above a model with swank amenities recently designed by Masaaki Hiromura and Takaaki Nakamura as part of the 9h building.


Via The Design Blog, via Dvice, via Superfuture.

Terrain Adventurer

Futuristic off-road capable truck designed by Patrick Clark of Diseno Art.


Link via The Design Blog.

Giacattoli Ray Guns

Sean Michael Ragan provides an insightful commentary the toy ray gun designs of Edision Giacattoli. Some great pictures of beautifully designed futuristic weaponry here. Check it out:

Link.


Via Boingboing.