October 8, 2007

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TECHNOLOGY

In 2017, robots will care for the elderly, your car will drive itself, and your house will talk. A short history of the near future.

Unlike most stories about the future, this isn’t science fiction. The focus here is on what life will actually be like in 2017. And nobody, at least nobody with any credibility or a research grant, is predicting flying cars or a robot-ruled world in 10 years.

INTERVIEW

'Trying to follow the Bible, you realize how much you sin during a day. You tell so many lies just to keep conversations going.'

A. J. JACOBS TALKS WITH KATE FILLION ABOUT HIS YEAR OF TAKING THE BIBLE LITERALLY, AND WHAT HAPPENED WHEN HE STONED AN ADULTERER

MAIL BAG

I FOUND this week’s cover of Maclean’s featuring President Bush depicted as Saddam Hussein to be highly offensive. It is entirely appropriate to have a free and lively debate about the situation in Iraq. But equating President Bush, who is committed to democracy and freedom throughout the world, to a dictator who was tried and convicted of the mass murder of his own people is reprehensible and should be below Maclean’s standards.