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Some people's futures are determined by popular vote: American Idol contestants, class presidents, and people who want to get gay married in California. But what if every aspect of our lives was determined by our reputation and popularity? Would our futures be better, or would the tyranny of the popular spin us into dystopia? More »
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If you wished you could live off your sterling reputation, like the people in Cory Doctorow's Down And Out In The Magic Kingdom, then rejoice — the Whuffie Bank has arrived. More »
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"I am actually a deep Whuffie sceptic. The problem is the same as with cash economics, the lack of social mobility and a winner-takes-all economy. It is also powerfully normative and punishing of minority viewpoints... Pretty much all transformational ideas are challenging to the status quo. A society that doesn't protect unpopular ideas is one that is probably doomed." — Cory Doctorow on "Whuffie," the reputation capital system he invented, in the Guardian. More »
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Don't get ripped off by unscrupulous intergalactic exchange bureaus! Consult our guide to alien money, including exchange rates with the U.S. dollar. Click through for a listing of currencies from Dune, Red Dwarf, Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica and others. More »
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Science fiction is terrific at helping you imagine how you'd enhance, hack, and upgrade your own body — especially your eyeballs. Humans have been trying to improve on the sense of sight since 1300, when spectacles were invented. What comes next? Take a look at our list of some of the vision enhancement tools that science fiction has offered up. It goes way beyond seeing more clearly or getting a glimpse of the infrared side of the spectrum. More »
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