IF WE COULD go back to the year 1900 to visit our grandparents, how would they view us? Back then, life expectancy hovered around 40, people were largely dirt farmers, and life was short and brutal. Viewing our rockets, jet airplanes, TVs, computers, and Internet, they would see us as sorcerers and wizards.
But if someone from 2100 could visit us now, how would we view them? Probably like the gods of mythology. They would command everything around them by wishing for it. They would have perfect and ageless bodies. And they would ride across the universe in magical chariots. In the past, we feared the gods of mythology. In the next 100 years, we will become them.
Based on interviews with 300 of the world’s top scientists, I’ve put together some predictions for what that world, 100 years in the future, will look like. This is not a work of science fiction, since prototypes of these inventions already exist, and all of them obey the laws of physics. Just a few of the predictions in my book Physics of the Future include:
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1. The Internet will be in your contact lenses. Imagine blinking and then instantly going online, accessing your home office or home-entertainment system anywhere or anytime. We will be able to download any movie, song, website, or piece of information off the Internet directly onto our Internet-enabled contact lenses. These lenses will also be able to identify people’s faces, translate their comments, and provide subtitles, so that we will always know exactly with whom we are speaking and what they are saying in any language. We will live in a cross between The Matrix and real life.
Tourists will love this, for example, since they will be able to see the glory of the Roman Empire resurrected in their contact lenses as they walk among the ruins of Rome. Artists and architects will love it, as well, since they will be able to create great works of art by simply moving their hands in the air. People suffering from illnesses, like diabetes, will love it, too, because they will have immediate readouts of their heart rates, insulin levels, and other important conditions within their own bodies.
2. Computers will disappear, as will cell phones, clocks, watches, and MP3 players. Chips, costing less than a penny apiece, will be hidden by the millions in the environment. We will be able to command these hidden computers telepathically, directly via the mind. Computers will interpret the electrical signals emitted by our brains, decipher them, and carry out our wishes. When we walk into a room, we will be able to mentally control a computer that in turn will direct the many things around us. Moving heavy furniture, rearranging desks, and brewing a cup of coffee may be possible just by thinking about it. So we will be like the gods of mythology, mentally manipulating the world around us. We will also be able to conjure up almost any object just by wishing for it.
This will be done via “programmable matter,” which will consist of millions of microscopic computer chips that will be intelligent and capable of being programmed to suddenly rearrange themselves into any shape or object on command, so that we will be able to create almost anything we can imagine. (This is very similar to the replicator from Star Trek).
3. Cars will be driver-less, using GPS to navigate without the help of an alert human behind the wheel. These cars will also fly (finally!) by floating on a cushion of magnetism. With room-temperature superconducting magnets, our cars and trains will glide effortlessly in the air, without bumps or potholes to worry about since the crafts hover above the treacherous road. Traffic jams and accidents will be a thing of the past as a central computer will be able to track the motions of all the cars on the road (or in the air), while each car will use radar in its fenders to sense obstacles and take emergency measures as soon as it senses an impending accident. Best of all, we will hardly ever need to fuel up, since there will be almost no friction to slow us down. This will also solve the energy crisis, since most energy is wasted, strangely enough, on overcoming the friction of the road.
4. Doctors will be able to grow ‘spare parts’ for our organs as they wear out. This will create a “human body shop.” We will never need organ donors and will never die of organ failure. Even the typical doctor’s visit will change. For a routine checkup, we will talk to a robotic software program that will have a complete record of our genes. This robotic MD will be able to correctly diagnose up to 95 percent of human ailments. If the robot can’t help, then the patient will move on to a living and breathing doctor who can help figure out rarer diseases that take a more refined and sophisticated mind. By mid-century, doctors and scientists may be able to construct an entire organism using its genome alone. As this genome science progresses, researchers may be able to carry a small kit around with them and, in mere minutes, sequence the entire genome of any life-form they encounter. We will then be able to resurrect extinct life-forms, such as the mammoth, dodo bird, and even the Neanderthal. (There are ethical concerns with the Neanderthal. As one scientist asked me, “Do we put them in a zoo or put them through college?”)
In the movie Jurassic Park, scientists extracted DNA from dinosaurs and inserted it into the eggs of reptiles. Although usable DNA from dinosaurs has yet to be found, there is evidence that in the future this dream might become a reality. That means by the end of this century, our zoos may be populated by creatures that ceased walking the surface of the earth millions of years ago.
5. The human life span will be extended. Aging will be slowed down by attacking it at the molecular and genetic level. We may be able to “cruise” at the age of 30 almost indefinitely by growing new organs as they wear out or become diseased, ingesting a cocktail of proteins and enzymes, using gene therapy to alter genes that may slow down due to aging, and following the old adage of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Genetic engineering will also allow us to create “designer children,” so parents can choose the physical (and perhaps even intellectual) characteristics of their children. (Laws will have to be passed to regulate this powerful technology.) Some of these children will be designed to have “superhuman abilities” or become stronger, more intelligent, and happier than people are now.
6. Molecular ‘smart bombs’ circulating in our blood will home in on, zap, and kill cancer cells. Nanoparticles the size of molecules will seek out cancer cells and destroy them years before they become a problem, by either poisoning or rupturing them. We will view chemotherapy as we now view bloodletting and leeches, a painful relic of our ignorant past. Cancer will not be cured: There are too many types of cancers that mutate too quickly, so the disease will persist; however, doctors will be better equipped to diagnose cancer early and treat the disease successfully.
7. Our toilets and bathroom mirrors will contain DNA sensors, capable of detecting proteins emitted from perhaps a hundred cancer cells in a cancer colony, 10 years before a tumor forms. We will have a complete medical checkup every time we go to the bathroom, which will contain more computer power than a modern hospital. The word “tumor” will disappear from the English language. Even our clothes will contain these cancer-finding chips, but these chips will also multitask, and will be able to independently call for an ambulance in the case of an accident, upload our medical history to nearby hospitals, and sense irregularities in heartbeat, breathing, and brain waves. In the future, it will be difficult to die alone.
Today’s huge MRI machines that peer into the body will be reduced to the size of cell phones, like the tricorder from Star Trek. When this tricorder is passed over the body, it will immediately detect signs of any illness and project a 3-D image of the internal organs for doctors to examine. However, diseases will not be eradicated, since they tend to mutate faster than we can cure them, and will still do so even in 2100.
8. The robot industry will dwarf the size of the current automobile industry. Robots will be everywhere, performing dangerous and tedious tasks. They will have emotions. They will be friendly, polite, helpful (and with fail-safe devices to prevent accidents). Many robots won’t be human-shaped but will be hidden from view, the size of snakes, insects, and spiders, and will undertake various unpleasant and dangerous tasks in place of humans. They will also be used as cooks, surgeons, musicians, pets, store clerks, and so forth. By the end of the century, robots will be nearly as smart as humans and may replace many jobs. Among the worse off will be blue-collar workers who perform repetitive jobs that are easily replaced by robots.
9. Tourists will soar into outer space via space elevators. We will push the “up” button and the elevator will climb a long carbon-fiber cable that will extend thousands of miles into space. This will open up the solar system to wealthy tourists and the outer-space-obsessed. The key is to use nanotechnology to create superstrong cables made of carbon. In addition, scientists will be preparing the first starship capable of leaving the solar system and visiting the nearest stars. New propulsion systems, perhaps involving antimatter or fusion engines, will take us there. By the end of the century, we may have a small outpost on Mars, but an overwhelming proportion of the human race will still be on earth. For decades to centuries to come, space travel will be for astronauts, the wealthy, and maybe a handful of hardy space colonists.
10. With advanced technology also will come advanced dangers, especially biological warfare, nuclear proliferation, and global warming. Science is a double-edged sword. One side can cut against poverty, disease, and ignorance, but the other side can cut against people unless it is properly controlled. Global warming will become even more disastrous, as rising sea levels inundate many American coastal communities, and some cities, such as New York, take refuge by surrounding themselves with seawalls.
Biological terrorists will get more sophisticated and most likely will be able to make viral diseases, like AIDS, airborne. Since chips and robots will replace a wide variety of products and occupations, millions could lose their jobs, and the economy could be thrown into turmoil. Silicon Valley, for one, may become a dead zone as the chip is replaced by smaller and smaller prototypes, eradicating the area’s jobs and upending the nation’s economy.
By Michio Kaku, based on his book Physics of the Future. Story originally appeared in the New York Post. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
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