Vrulum FAQ

What is Vrulum?

Vrulum tracks emerging technology by what has been shown to work, what has only been reported, and what is still just an idea. It is written for curious readers, inventors and entrepreneurs, students and researchers. The aim is to make clear which statements rest on evidence and which do not. See the about page and the methodology page.

What are the four parts of Vrulum?

The technology profiles describe individual technologies. The "How far away are we?" horizon pages set out what still stands between today's results and a working product. The breakthroughs feed lists notable results, each stating what was tested, under which conditions and with which caveats. The speculative product ideas combine emerging technologies into possible products, each with its technical blockers and an experiment that could test it. Claims carry evidence labels, so readers can judge how much support a statement has.

What do the claim labels mean?

Every claim carries one of six labels. Demonstrated means shown in a published experiment, test or shipping product. Reported, unverified means stated by a company or team but not independently confirmed. Proposed means a design or plan that has not yet been built or tested, and speculative means an idea or possible use that is not evidence of anything.

Disputed means the claim is contested by other credible sources, and superseded means it has been replaced by newer evidence.

What are the maturity stages?

Maturity stages place a technology in a broad band rather than giving a single number. The stages are Theory, Lab demonstration, Research and prototypes, Pilot and early commercial, Commercial, and Not assessed. Broad stages are used because a single readiness number rarely fits a whole field.

What are the radar ratings?

Vrulum rates readiness, evidence quality and momentum separately, each on a scale of 1 to 5. Every rating comes with a dated written rationale, so readers can see the reasoning behind it. Potential impact is written as a hypothesis rather than a rating.

Why is there no combined score?

Vrulum deliberately does not add readiness, evidence quality, momentum and impact into one score. Readiness, evidence quality and momentum are rated separately, and potential impact is written as a hypothesis.

What is TRL?

TRL stands for Technology Readiness Level, a NASA-style scale running from 1 to 9. Vrulum uses it only when a level can be justified for a specific application, and the reasoning is published alongside it. Where that justification is not possible, the TRL is shown as "not assessed" (methodology).

Why is TRL often left blank?

A TRL belongs to a specific application, so the same technology can sit at different levels for different uses. Vrulum will only give a level when it can justify one from the evidence. Where a level cannot be justified, the TRL is shown as "not assessed" rather than a guessed number.

What are the "How far away are we?" horizon pages?

Horizon pages measure the futures people talk about against the evidence. Each page breaks the journey into steps, shows which ones have been completed, and lists who has made forecasts and when. Pages are grouped by how far away the goal is: Science unproven, Science demonstrated, Engineering prototypes, Pilots, Scaling up and Widespread (How far away are we?).

How does Vrulum check its sources?

Sources start with primary research, such as peer-reviewed papers, government and university laboratory reports, and standards. Preprints are labelled as preprints so readers know they have not been peer reviewed. Every significant factual statement links to a specific source, along with its publication date and the date it was last checked (methodology).

Do grants and patents show that a technology works?

No. A grant shows that work is planned, and a patent shows that an idea is protected, but neither shows that the technology performs as described. Vrulum treats both as signs of planning or protection only. Evidence that something works has to come from experiments, tests or shipping products.

How are company announcements handled?

A company announcement is treated as a reported claim until someone else confirms it. Until that happens, the claim is labelled as reported and unverified. This stops a press release from being read as proof of performance.

How is AI used on Vrulum?

AI agents help find leads, retrieve sources and draft profiles. Every AI-drafted record goes through an automated check against its sources, and then through human editorial review. Drafts are never shown on the live site, so readers only see material that has been reviewed.

How does the editorial workflow run?

Each record moves through a set sequence: discovered, deduplicated, sourced, fact checked, drafted, editorial review, approved, published and monitored. A person carries out the editorial review before a record is approved. Drafts stay off the live site at every stage before publication.

How does Vrulum handle speculation?

Speculative ideas are marked with the speculative label and are described as ideas or possible uses, not as evidence. The speculative product ideas are kept separate from the profiles that report what has been shown. Vrulum does not make claims about commercial potential, market size or patent novelty.

How are corrections handled?

Each profile keeps a revision history, so changes can be followed over time. Material corrections are logged on the corrections page. This gives readers a record of what changed and when.

How do I report an error?

If you think a claim is wrong, out of date or misrepresents its source, tell us which page and which statement, and link to the evidence. A public reporting form is planned but not yet available (corrections).

Is there a newsletter?

A short weekly note is planned, covering a handful of new results, what they did and did not demonstrate, and links to the original papers. Sign-up is not open yet, while we build up the archive of reviewed profiles (newsletter).

Who is Vrulum for?

Vrulum is written for curious readers, inventors and entrepreneurs, students and researchers. Each of these groups can use the same claim labels and maturity stages to judge how much evidence sits behind a technology.