fact or fiction
Is it science fact or science fiction? Futurism presents both sides to determine the truth.
The Thousandth Happy Haunt
They say that Disneyland is the happiest place on Earth. Even the ghosts in the Haunted Mansion are happy, being called the “happy haunts”. According to the ghost host, the disembodied narrator of the attraction, there are nine-hundred and ninety-nine of them in residence, but he assures everyone, day after day, that there is room for a thousand – he even asks for volunteers. Paul Frees provided the voice of the Ghost Host, delivering dialog such as, “Your cadaverous pallor betrays an aura of foreboding,” which many agree could only have been written by legendary Imagineer X. Antencio. An unintended consequence of his writing, however, is that since November 2, 1986, the Haunted Mansion's Ghost Host truly became a voice from the beyond, with the death of Paul Frees.
By L. Christopher Bird9 years ago in Futurism
Alien Down!
It was on the morning of January 18th, 1978, when New Jersey State Police requested entry onto McGuire Air Force Base. Along with the adjacent Fort Dix Base, UFOs had been reported earlier in the evening. But what the police said they were looking for was far stranger than just lights in the sky.
By Ryan Sprague9 years ago in Futurism
Five Experiments That Show Your Universe Is Weird, Really Weird
We take our reality just like we take our tax preparers: solid and dependable, with an aversion to surprises. Experiments during the last few years, however, seem to indicate that our reality is less like a nerdy accountant buried in piles of 1040 forms and more like the half naked, fully drunk performance artist who thrives on not just surprising, but shocking the ever-loving crap out of us.
By Matt Swayne9 years ago in Futurism
Not a Story
You all know, for the past several months, I’ve been mulling over the subject of supernatural – paranormal, unexplained phenomenon; events, happenings, strange observations that defy basic logic as well as most laws of physics or advanced mathematics. Well, it seems I’ve been poking around in all the right places; for something happened yesterday that neither bares any conformance with any of the governing laws that are in action to make this universe exist, nor with any of my own inner spiritual, intellectual as well as logical evolution that I have carefully, so slowly nurtured and aggregated with time. I will share something here with you all; although – I don’t know how or what you all will make of it. Or how, each one of you would choose to explain it with all different concepts.
By Protik Gobinda9 years ago in Futurism
Animare
From the Diary of the Imagineer, December 16, 1966: It's like he knew. He knew we would need him, but I have to wonder if we are up to the task. When we recreated Lincoln, we worked with what history had left us, from his life mask to his writings. It is the most accurate recreation of the human figure ever seen, but what we have been tasked with at Ayefive will make that seem like a wind-up toy if we are successful. He left us with volumes more than what history recorded of Lincoln, but right now our project is impossible. We don't even know what we will have to invent to see it to completion. But like he said, doing the impossible – it's kind of fun.
By L. Christopher Bird9 years ago in Futurism
My Out of Body Experience
My out-of-body experience happened when I was four years old. I nearly died in the hospital. I saw no angel. No Jesus. No Moses. I did encounter a light. It had a voice without words. Was it my mother's essence? I wondered as I grew older and learned of possibilities. I spoke with the light and it told me to stay on Earth. I wasn't finished yet. I needed to do some work. I needed to tell my story. I complied. I'm still here.
By Bennett Litwin9 years ago in Futurism
Artificial Intelligence Research Today
We’ve all encountered artificial intelligence on the internet. Those AI programs are bots that are designed to mimic human behavior and make you feel more at ease with your decisions. As the programs became more advanced, it was shown that they could in fact influence your behavior. Artificial intelligence research today is nearing a tipping point that could unleash a world of morally ambiguous issues.
By Lindsie Polhemus9 years ago in Futurism
Sheperding In The Black Budget Sheep
As I sat down for a relaxing evening cup of tea and some social networking nirvana, I honestly wasn't expecting much. But suddenly, I found my Facebook page, Twitter account, and email completely flooded with messages from those who I have grown to call friends in the “UFO community”. Apparently, while I was at work, the C.I.A had disclosed the truth behind the secret military installation known the world over as Area 51.
By Ryan Sprague9 years ago in Futurism
Still Searching for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)
Irrespective of Hollywood's perspective on the implications of alien contact, the dialogues that would inevitably follow an actual encounter are enormous, almost too staggering to conceive. Imagine the questions we could ask a visiting extraterrestrial: Do you have a cure for cancer? Is there life after death? Are the physical laws in your part of the universe the same as in ours? Is there a way to overcome the burden of gravity, prolong youth, exceed the speed of light...? Think of the things we could learn, among them, as Carl Sagan put it, how "possibly to avoid the dangers of the period of technological adolescence we are now passing through."
By James Lizowski9 years ago in Futurism
