The first step toward creating an improved future is developing the ability to predict, imagine it. Successful people are mostly big visionaries; imagining what the future could be and then working every day toward that distant vision. Our vision is what we become in life.
Throughout the human history, many scientists tried to predict the future. Predicting the next few years, let alone a century into the future, is a daunting task. “Physics of the Future,” a book by Michio Kaku, examines what life might be like at the end of this century. Mr. Kaku is a theoretical physicist, born in 1947 in California to Japanese immigrant parents. He has written several books about physics, makes frequent appearances on TV.
”Physics of the Future” (2011) stayed on the New York Times Bestseller List for 5 weeks. For the book Mr. Kaku interviewed more than 300 scientists in areas like computer, artificial intelligence, medicine, nanotechnology, energy, space travel, wealth and humanity. In this post, I would like to share some parts of the book that I find inspiring:
By 2100, when we walk into a room, we will be able to mentally control a computer that in turn will control things around us. Moving heavy furniture, rearranging our desk, making repairs, etc., may be possible by thinking about it. This could be quite useful for workers, fire crews, astronauts, and soldiers who have to operate machinery requiring more than two hands. It could also change the way we interact with the world. We would be able to ride a bike, drive a car, play golf or baseball or elaborate games just by thinking about them.
While washing your face, hundreds of hidden DNA and protein sensors in the mirror, toilet, and sink silently spring into action, analyzing the molecules you emit in your breath and bodily fluids, checking for the slightest hint of any disease at the molecular level.
Leaving the bathroom, you wrap some wires around your head, which allow you to telepathically control your home: you mentally raise the temperature of the apartment, turn on some soothing music, tell the robotic cook in your kitchen to make breakfast and brew some coffee, and order your magnetic car to leave the garage and be ready to pick you up.
The previous century was the age of electricity. Because electrons are so easily manipulated, this has opened up entirely new technologies, making possible radio, TV, computers, lasers, MRI scans, etc. But sometime in this century, it is likely that physicists will find their holy grail: room temperature superconductors. This will usher in an entirely new era, The Age of Magnetism.
It might be possible to slow down the aging process via a variety of therapies, for example, stem cells, the human body shop, and gene therapy to fix aging genes. We could live to be 150 or older. By 2100, it might be possible to reverse the effects of aging by accelerating cell repair mechanisms to live well beyond that.
The future is ours to create. Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground!
Hakan Erdogan 