5 cool things we experienced at FutureFest

9 months ago

The innovation charity Nesta are hosting FutureFest this weekend, and on the first day it seems to have done its job and made people feel a little more optimistic about the future. The message is that the future isn’t something that happens to us, it’s something we have a say in.

There were big talks from people such as Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, the human rights lawyer, who spoke to us about democracy and her reasons as to why she thinks it’s not working – mainly our economic model.

The author and journalist Jon Ronson was also there, talking about his new book “So, You’ve Been Publicly Shamed”. He puts across the idea that we now have the power to publicly shame individuals, via social media, that was taken away in the 18th century for being too “brutal”. He used the case of Justine Sacco, who you may have heard of, to put forward his idea that “we are doing to other people, daily, the most terrible thing we worry will happen to us” – Twitter shaming.

It’s not just a weekend of people talking at you though.

In the “immerse” room there was plenty to experience, and experience we did.

1. Mi.Mu Gloves

Okay, so have you ever pretended to compose an orchestra with your hands in your living room while listening to something? Just us then… These gloves allow you to make the music with your movements. You decide the sounds you create with the software and, like magic, it appears as you move.

2. The bacon clock

Nobody likes the sound of their alarm. In fact, you hate your alarm so much you shudder when someone’s phone goes off and their ringtone is the same as your alarm.

But we bet you love bacon. Vegetarian? Then what about strawberries? Using just an app and a small device that plugs into the headphone jack of your iPhone, you can be woken up to the smell of food each morning rather than your annoying alarm.

You’ll just have to hope you don’t end up shuddering at the smell.

3. Neurosis Thrill

As we walked into the room to see the first person lucky enough to get a go on the Thrill Laboratory Neurosis ride, it looked like some guy was having an acid trip with a virtual reality headset on.

The ride is controlled by your own brain activity, if you’re the one with the virtual reality headset on. It creates an audio-visual world where psychedelic patterns move all around you (watched by the rest of us on the big screen). What you see and hear then changes your neurological patterns. All in all, it looked wildly fun.

4. BitterSuite

These guys experiment with ways to make you experience classical music using as many senses as possible. While violinists perform, they blindfold you and proceed to touch you using a whole different bunch of stimuli. They even put food in your mouth.

Amazingly, everyone has the same expression of awe when the blindfolds are removed at the end of the performance. It’s like they’d been shut off from the rest of us watching and were only aware of the barrage of information coming through their senses.

5. Blind Robot

We were invited to sit in front of a pair of robot arms and let them tentatively explore our face. It’s meant to recall what visually impaired humans do when they identify other people, and everyone seemed to enjoy being touched by a strange robot.

The point was lost on us slightly, but the technology was cool nonetheless.