In a few years, buying a robot might feel like buying a car, you go to Tesla (or another brand), pick your model, sign the contract… and a shiny humanoid rolls into your house ready to work, dance, cook, or clean, powered by serious AI. But that’s only half the fun. The real chaos starts when people begin “modding” these robots the way gamers mod PCs. Picture this: you order a legit humanoid robot from Tesla, then jump on Alibaba at 3 a.m. and fill your cart with random “upgrades”, extra sensors, weird robotic arms, laser pointers, microphones, 3D-printed grippers, maybe a sketchy camera module that ships with no manual and broken English in the listing then you go to YouTube, search “How to add a third arm to Tesla Bot,” and follow a 27‑minute video from a guy in his garage who swears “this is totally safe, I’ve only blown the fuse twice.” You open access panels, plug in mystery cables, zip-tie brackets where they definitely weren’t meant to go, then flash some community-made firmware that unlocks hidden features the official company doesn’t want to support. Now your “normal” home robot has a DIY arm that hands you snacks, controls your smart lights, or sprays water at your friends when they walk into your room.This future would create a new culture. People flexing their modded robots in videos the way they flex custom keyboards, communities running robotics build nights where everyone brings their bots and weird Alibaba parts. A black market of “do not try this at home” mods coming soon! -Jordi Lopez

My work involves lots of digital signal processing, frequency-specific filters and whatnot, and occasionally machine learning. I was looking at cepstrograms, and wondering if there's another way to look for oscillations layered on oscillations. I finally found some documentation on wavelet transforms, generalizing the Fourier transform by leaving some uncertainty in both frequency and time, with band resolution varying by frequency. Wavelet techniques are popular for image compression, and now recognition, as machine learning algorithms decompose images in order to identify important components. A popular neural network for such tasks is the convolutional neural network (CNN), which adjusts scalar weights to extract information from images in order to assign labels to the input. There was a beautiful insight in recent years to use the cascading structure of a CNN to iteratively apply filters to different regions of the signal, namely decomposition by wavelet convolution. Different layers of scalar 'neurons' correspond to different categories of resonances in the input signal, and more weights per layer yields sharper resolution. Remarkably, neural networks were originally developed to model human thought. This effectively means that the most efficient algorithm for time-frequency analysis is based on an abstraction of how people think. So, I've been thinking about the duality of time-frequency analysis and its applications, and considering the possibility that a mind, regardless of its material substance, could have varying levels of awareness of different components of reality. It is conceivable that such a cascading process could occur emergently in some natural systems, and perhaps can't not emerge. That is, the mechanical equivalent of thought may come to exist in systems we wouldn't consider sentient, much less alive. Neither the material substance nor the dimensional presence need be constant throughout such an experience; I think of the CKM or PMNS matrix. It sounds trite, by way of spiritual awareness and relationship with the Divine, but to understand the way broadly is to see it in all things.

Humans are like living organic filters. We breathe in air, eat food, and take in information, then quietly transform all of it into energy, feelings, ideas, and actions. Now there is a new layer on top of that. AI helps sort, clean, and reshape the huge flow of information around us, so we do not have to start from raw chaos every time. But the final step is still human: choosing what to trust, what to ignore, and what to turn into something meaningful and alive. And maybe the whole universe it is just another filter of something even greater. -Jordi Lopez

Optogenetics—a breakthrough neuroscience technique—has already shown that light can control brain activity in animals. In mice, researchers have used pulses of blue or purple light to trigger neurons responsible for emotions, hunger, or even specific memories. The method works by genetically engineering brain cells to respond to light, allowing scientists to “turn on” or “off” precise circuits in the brain with optical fibers.While these findings are meant for medical research—helping to treat conditions like depression, Parkinson’s, and addiction—they also raise ethical questions. In theory, if similar control could be extended to human neural networks, it might be possible to influence emotion, motivation, or even perception remotely. Some experiments have already shown that stimulating certain brain areas can evoke false sensations or memories in animals. Human brains pose additional challenges, including scale, ethical constraints on genetic modifications, about turning humans into “zombies” via purple or blue light controlled at a distance overstate what has been demonstrated; even in mice, behavioral control is partial, context-dependent, and requires surgically implanted hardware and prior genetic targeting. Ethical and regulatory frameworks in neurotechnology explicitly flag optogenetics as a high-risk domain where invasive genetic and neural interventions must be tightly controlled and consent-based. Discussions in neuroethics emphasize that coupling powerful stimulation methods with sophisticated AI-based decoding raises concerns about mental privacy, autonomy, and potential coercive uses. However, both the technical pathway (genetic modification, surgical implantation, individualized calibration) and existing governance structures make indiscriminate, remote, light-based, AI-driven mind control of human populations implausible with current or near-term technology. GOD save US 🙏🏻

In a world that is moving faster every day, technology is evolving at a speed our hearts can barely follow. While AI, automation, and digital worlds transform how we live, work, and connect, one thing becomes more valuable than anything else: our emotions. The future will not be defined only by data, code, or machines, but by how deeply we understand, protect, and express what we feel. There will come a time when authenticity, empathy, and vulnerability are rare treasures. In that time, every “thought from the future” will matter—every vision, every reflection, every question about who we are becoming. These thoughts are not just ideas; they are signals, reminding us to stay human in an age that can easily make us forget. This is what “Thoughts from the Future” stands for: a space to imagine tomorrow while honoring what makes us alive today. A place where we talk about progress, but also about fear, love, hope, and connection. A community for people who believe the future is not something that happens to us—it is something we shape with our minds and protect with our hearts. If you feel the world is changing fast and you don’t want to lose yourself in the process, you’re not alone. Here, your ideas matter, your emotions are welcome, and your vision of the future can inspire others. Because in the end, the most advanced thing we will ever create is not technology—it is the courage to remain human in a world that could easily forget how.