Driverless cars; Internet glasses; space tourism. Ten years ago, that was the stuff of science fiction. And yet in 2015 (the “future” year of ‘Back to the Future, Part II’) these things are very real today. Much of what science
Driverless cars; Internet glasses; space tourism. Ten years ago, that was the stuff of science fiction. And yet in 2015 (the “future” year of ‘Back to the Future, Part II’) these things are very real today.
Much of what science fiction has presented over the last century to our minds as fantastic “wouldn’t-that-be-cool” concepts have been transformed by people who found a way to make them into reality (i.e. the movie “Galaxy Quest”), often against impossible odds!
Just google the origin of the cell phone and see how often “Star Trek” comes up as the inspiration. The tablet computer? See “2001: A Space Odyssey!” So when renown physicist Michio Kaku penned a book entitled “Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100,” naturally much of what current science fiction expounds upon finds discussion in this very interesting and entertaining exercise in predicting how the rapid growth of technology will affect all of us in very profound and personal ways.
Kaku, through his easy-to-follow prose, interviews hundreds of scientists in all the different fields to gain a perspective of how current prototypes that exist today will be common everyday things of tomorrow. Try to think what life was like before the internet or cell phones, when those were merely futuristic ideas!
Kaku examines the futures of computers, robots and artificial intelligence, medicine and health, nanotechnology, new and better ways of generating energy, and even explores space travel! Who would have believed we would have cloaking technology now (“Star Trek”), but we do!
As with many things, it can be difficult for even the experts to accurately predict the future, but it is always fun to imagine the possibilities, and that’s what really creates the future! Perhaps Santa really does time travel!
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Ed and Cynthia Justus are the owners of The Bookstore in Hanapepe.
