Check out Bruce Sterling's 2 latest speeches online!

Bruce Sterling, I can attest, is an amazing speaker. Probably even better than he is a writer, and he's an extremely good writer. He gave two speeches recently that are well worth checking out.

The first, at the O'Reilly Emerging Technologies Conference, was all about spimes- objects that can be tracked through time and space, online. An Internet of Things, he calls it. That's an eyebrow-raiser, isn't it? Here's what the man has to say about it:

Why would we want to do such a weird thing? Mostly so that we can engage with objects better during their lifecycle, from the moment of invention to their decay. That's the technical reason, the design reason: but the real reason would be because of how that would feel.

"The primary advantage of an Internet of Things is that I no longer inventory my possessions inside my own head. They're inventoried through an automagical inventory voodoo, work done far beneath my notice by a host of machines. So I no longer to bother to remember where I put things. Or where I found them. Or how much they cost. And so forth. I just ask. Then I am told with instant real-time accuracy.

"I have an Internet-of-Things with a search engine of things. So I no longer hunt anxiously for my missing shoes in the morning. I just Google them. As long as machines can crunch the complexities, their interfaces make my relationship to objects feel much simpler and more immediate. I am at ease in materiality in a way that people never were before."

The rest of the speech is chockful of visionary design concepts and ideas so go ahead and read a transcript or, if you've got the time, listen to an edited MP3 of his speech.

The second speech, a keynote address at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival, was on the more general topic of The Future- where we're heading and how to create a better world. WorldChanging sums it up nicely thus:

The challenge, Bruce says, is that the worst people in the world -- genocidal ethnic mafiosos, fundamentalist fanatics, Washington lobbyists -- are running the show, American government has become the new Soviet Union (ossified, corrupt and widely perceived as illigitimate by the rest of the planet) and things are not good in much of the world. That said, if you look honestly at the world, you see a new story emerging, with millions of smart, dedicated people locked in a struggle to steer us towards a better future using every tool in their power, and that "that's a big story!" Finally, he reminds those of us who are part of that story of the motto of the old Soviet-era Eastern European dissidents: "Make no decision out of fear."

I listened to the MP3 last week and damn if it wasn't the best speech the man's ever given- alternately heady, intellectual, passionate, moving and powerful. ! I've been waiting for someone to put up a transcript and a blogger by the name of Sean Harton has kindly obliged- though you really, really should listen to his entire speech. It's just that good.