Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st Century » (1 ANCHOR)

Michio Kaku is the Henry Semat Professor of Theoretical Physics at the City College of New York.  Cofounder of string field theory, he is the author of the critically acclaimed and bestselling Hyperspace, as well as Beyond Einstein (with Jennifer Thompson), Quantum Field Theory: A Modern Introduction, and Introduction to Superstrings.  He hosts an hour-long weekly radio science program that is nationally syndicated.

In Visions, physicist and author Michio Kaku examines the great scientific revolutions that have dramatically reshaped the twentieth century—the quantum mechanics, biogenetics, and artificial intelligence—and shows how they will change and alter science and the way we live.

The next century will witness more far-reaching scientific revolutions, as we make the transition from unraveling the secrets of nature to becoming masters of nature. We will no longer be passive bystanders to the dance of the universe, but will become creative choreographers of matter, life, and intelligence.

The first section of Visions presents a shocking look at a cyber-world infiltrated by millions of tiny intelligence systems. Part two illustrates how the decoding of DNA's genetic structure will allow humans the "godlike ability to manipulate life almost at will." Finally, VISIONS focuses on the future of quantum physics, in which physicists will perfect new ways to manipulate matter and harness the cosmic energy of the universe.

What makes Michio Kaku's vision of the science of the future so compelling—and so different from the mere forecasts of most thinkers—is that it is based on the groundbreaking research taking place in labs today, as well as the consensus of over 150 of Kaku's scientific colleagues. Science, for all its breathtaking change, evolves slowly; we can accurately predict, asserts Kaku, what the direction of science will be, based on the paths that are being forged today.

A thrilling, unique narrative that brings together the thinking of many of the world's most accomplished scientists to explore the world of the future, Visions is science writing at its best.

Publishers Weekly

Exhibiting a rare clarity of scientific thought and exposition, this brilliant futurist catalogue from the renowned physicist and author of the much-praised Hyperspace (1994) convincingly predicts where the next hundred years of technological advancement will take us. Science, for Kaku, is on the verge of a new age in which the once separate "Three Pillars of Modern Science"quantum physics, computer science and biotechnologywill converge, creating a startling synergy. The outcome will affect us right down to our DNA. We will make a technological and conceptual transition "from being observers of the dance of nature to becoming active choreographers" in a world of seamless human-computer interactions, where damaged, cancer-causing genes are repaired by molecular machines and where cyborgs will grow their own chips. But Kaku moves far beyond the usual futuristic fare of gadgets and gizmos, offering up the hard science principles and soft science social impact of the advances he describes. If there is one flaw here, it is that Kaku writes with a scientist's nearly unbounded optimism for the future. A careful reader will discern moral questions and responsibilities that Kaku fails to address adequately (for instance, whether immortality is in fact a worthy goal). Based in part on interviews with more than 150 scientists, many of them Nobel laureates, the book nevertheless offers a coherent and fully realized picture of our increasingly mediated future lives. It succeeds in drawing a time line for the appearance of everything from "wearable" computers to the tenth dimension, and it does so with clear-sighted analysis and a contagious sense of wonder. (Oct.)