The Four-legged Mince of Progress

Do you get disappointed that life in the 21st century isn’t quite as last millennium’s sci-fi promised? Here are 3 videos I’ve seen recently, which suggest that we’re getting there.

First, Boston Dynamics’ BigDog robot:

Next, Microsoft’s Photosynth (which you can try for yourself here), as demonstrated by Blaise Aguera y Arcas:

Finally Direct Note Access from Melodyne:

The cover of the book Huge Numbers by Richard Elwes
Huge Numbers
(Basic Books, April 2026)