Future Possible

How do you begin to write an art history and what are the vital questions to ask? Which marks are most prominent in the visual culture of a particular place, and which are nearly invisible? In Future Possible (a riff on an Andy Jones monologue about how Newfoundlanders talk about their future, an attitude which he describes as "Future possible, possibly horrible"), Mireille Eagan and writers and artists such as Heather Igloliorte, Lisa Moore, Andy Jones, and Craig Francis Power navigate the tangled histories and cultures of Newfoundland and Labrador to investigate the visual output and to write the narrative that it has created. The result is an ambitious volume, arising from a two-part exhibition of the same name at The Rooms, that provides a multi-vocal, multi-faceted history spanning pre- and post-Confederation Newfoundland. Lavishly illustrated with 180 images of art and objects from the province's visual history, Future Possible features essays by curators and artists on topics such as pre-Confederation art; contemporary art, craft, and Indigenous culture; and outsider and folk art. This intriguing volume places artifacts from the province's history and work by iconic Newfoundland and Labrador artists such as David Blackwood and Helen Parsons Shepherd in conversation with works by contemporary artists like Jordan Bennett and Kym Greeley. Together they explore how history is told and retold through objects and images and how these objects and images, and the power structures that preserve them, define an understanding of place.

Future epidemics are inevitable, and it takes months and even years to collect fully annotated data. The sheer magnitude of data required for machine learning algorithms, spanning both shallow and deep structures, raises a fundamental question: how big data is big enough to effectively tackle future epidemics? In this context, active learning, often referred to as human or expert-in-the-loop learning, becomes imperative, enabling machines to commence learning from day one with minimal labeled data. In unsupervised learning, the focus shifts toward constructing advanced machine learning models like deep structured networks that autonomously learn over time, with human or expert intervention only when errors occur and for limited data—a process we term mentoring. In the context of Covid-19, this book explores the use of deep features to classify data into two clusters (0/1: Covid-19/non-Covid-19) across three distinct datasets: cough sound, Computed Tomography (CT) scan, and chest x-ray (CXR). Not to be confused, our primary objective is to provide a strong assertion on how active learning could potentially be used to predict disease from any upcoming epidemics. Upon request (education/training purpose), GitHub source codes are provided.

In this blockbuster novel, young protagonist Patrick Wu visits a future world - Vancouver in 2032 - brimming with innovation and hope, where the climate crisis is being tackled, the solar revolution is underway and a new cooperative economy is taking shape. Dauncey's "brilliant book shows solutions to the climate crisis that offer a future rich in opportunity and joy" - scientist and award-winning broadcaster David Suzuki. Scientists, activists and politicians are enthusiastic in advance praise for Guy Dauncey's ecotopian novel, Journey To The Future. From Elizabeth May, NDP MP Murray Rankin and UK Green Party leader Caroline Lucas, to activists Tzeporah Berman, Angela Bischoff and Bill McKibben, and scientists David Suzuki, Andrew Weaver and Elisabet Sahtouris, the endorsements for Guy Dauncey's new book are united: Journey To The Future is a gamechanger that must be widely read. In this blockbuster novel, young protagonist Patrick Wu visits a future world - Vancouver in 2032 - brimming with innovation and hope, where the climate crisis is being tackled, the solar revolution is underway and a new cooperative economy is taking shape. But enormous danger still lurks. David R. Boyd, co-chair of Vancouver's Greenest City initiative, says Journey To The Future is "an imaginative tour de force, blending science, philosophy and fiction into a delightful story about how we can and must change the world." About the author, Guy Dauncey Guy Dauncey is a futurist who works to develop a positive vision of a sustainable future and to translate that vision into action. He is founder of the BC Sustainable Energy Association, and the author or co-author of ten books, including the award-winning Cancer: 101 Solutions to a Preventable Epidemic and The Climate Challenge: 101 Solutions to Global Warming. He is an Honorary Member of the Planning Institute of BC, a Fellow of the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland, and a powerful motivational speaker.

Every queer person lives with the trauma of AIDS, and this plays out intergenerationally. Usually we hear about two generations—the first, coming of age in the era of gay liberation, and then watching entire circles of friends die of a mysterious illness as the government did nothing to intervene. And now we hear about younger people growing up with effective treatment and prevention available, unable to comprehend the magnitude of the loss. But there is another generation between these two, one that came of age in the midst of the epidemic with the belief that desire intrinsically led to death, and internalized this trauma as part of becoming queer. Between Certain Death and a Possible Future: Queer Writing on Growing up with the AIDS Crisis offers crucial stories from this missing generation in AIDS literature and cultural politics. This wide-ranging collection includes 36 personal essays on the ongoing and persistent impact of the HIV/AIDS crisis in queer lives. Here you will find an expansive range of perspectives on a specific generational story—essays that explore and explode conventional wisdom, while also providing a necessary bridge between experiences. These essays respond, with eloquence and incisiveness, to the question: How do we reckon with the trauma that continues to this day, and imagine a way out?

An inquiry into the limits of the possible. Our problems on Jupiter, Mercury, Venus - conquering Time - transport in the future - overcoming gravity - communications across space - benevolent electronic brains. The range of this enthralling book is immense: from the re-making of the human mind to the vast reaches of the universe. Newly revised, even the remarkable events of the last decade have affected few of the exciting speculations by Arthur C. Clarke - a scientist whose expert and wide knowledge is matched only by his brilliant imagination.

The first hopeful book about climate change, The Future Earth shows readers how to reverse the short- and long-term effects of climate change over the next three decades. The basics of climate science are easy. We know it is entirely human-caused. Which means its solutions will be similarly human-led. In The Future Earth, leading climate change advocate and weather-related journalist Eric Holthaus (“the Rebel Nerd of Meteorology”—Rolling Stone) offers a radical vision of our future, specifically how to reverse the short- and long-term effects of climate change over the next three decades. Anchored by world-class reporting, interviews with futurists, climatologists, biologists, economists, and climate change activists, it shows what the world could look like if we implemented radical solutions on the scale of the crises we face. What could happen if we reduced carbon emissions by 50 percent in the next decade? What could living in a city look like in 2030? How could the world operate in 2040, if the proposed Green New Deal created a 100 percent net carbon-free economy in the United States? This is the book for anyone who feels overwhelmed by the current state of our environment. Hopeful and prophetic, The Future Earth invites us to imagine how we can reverse the effects of climate change in our own lifetime and encourages us to enter a deeper relationship with the earth as conscientious stewards and to re-affirm our commitment to one another in our shared humanity.

Pakistan is the world’s second-largest Muslim nation; it is strategically located and armed with nuclear weapons. It is also in a precarious position: its economy is collapsing to the point of bankruptcy, and many factors other threaten its stability as well: terrorism, ethnic uprisings, unsustainable population growth rate, water scarcity, illiteracy, and poverty. Even so, author Tausif Kamal points to country’s nationalism, resiliency, and survival instincts as things that could ensure Pakistan’s viability and continuity as a nation-state. In Pakistan: A Possible Future, Kamal traces the country’s constitutional history and holds its two most respected institutions responsible for the disruption of the rule of law and the instability that resulted from the disruption. For future survival and progress, Pakistan must strive to become a non-revisionist, non-violent, peaceful, tolerant, market-oriented, modern state. To accomplish that goal, Kamal proposes tough, pragmatic, and achievable measures the nation to ease its problems and begin the process of reforming itself. Focusing on the future of Pakistan, this unique, wide-ranging study offers an unflinching analysis of the nation’s predicaments, both foreign and domestic, and provides practical suggestions for overcoming them.