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The Future is So Clear … It’s Invisible

The Toronto Star is running an excellent article entitled ”Science has seen the future ... and it is invisible,” which profiles noted physicist, Michio Kaku—the author of the new book, Physics of the Impossible; A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation and Time Travel.

I’ll let the article speak for itself, but I want to highlight two quotes of Kaku’s because they fit quite nicely with the final chapter of my own new book, Jump the Curve. The chapter is entitled “Doing the Impossible” and it explains how exponential advances in technology will soon allow mankind to do a great many things which are today deemed “impossible.”

To this end, Kaku is quoted as saying ”In my own short lifetime, I have seen the seemingly impossible become established fact over and over again.”

He goes on to say that ”science is doubling 10 years.” Now, fans of Ray Kurzweil and exponential growth immediately understand the implications of this statement; but many people do not. So let me spell it out for you in more vivid terms: It’s is saying that everything we know today—about physics, biology, chemistry, the human body, etc—will represent just a fraction of what we will know in the year 2050.

(Here’s how you should think about it: Due to this doubling of knowledge, in 2018 everything we know today about science will represent just half of our future knowledge. In 2028, due to our continued accelerated understanding, what we know today will comprise only 25% of future knoweldge. In 2038, it will again be split in half (to 12.5%) and ten years after that our existing base knowledge (i.e. what we know today in 2008) will comprise just over 6% of future knowledge.

The implication of this is that as a result of all of this new found scientific knowledge, it is inevitable that we will be able to do many things which today seem impossible. Or to paraphase (and twist) the words of that 1980’s hit classic song, “The Future is So Bright, I’ve Got to Wear Shades,” the future will, in fact, be very bright but our technology—including invisible light-cloaking devices—will be so advanced no one will even need to know you’re wearing shades.

Interested in some other implausible ideas about the future? Check some of these past posts by Jack:

Voiceless Communication: It’s Coming and It’ll Augment Human Intelligence
The Robot Will See You Now
Operate on Yourself
57 Years is Now 41 Days
Death’s Slow Death
Self-Driving Cars
Do the Impossible
Enlarge Our Minds to a Space Elevator
Pong & The Future of the President’s Brain
Could You Really Love a Robot?
Do the Impossible: A Case Study

Jack Uldrich is a writer, futurist, public speaker and host of jumpthecurve.net. He is the author of seven books, including Jump the Curve and The Next Big Thing is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business. He is also a frequent speaker on future technology and future trends, nanotechnology, innovation, change management and executive leadership to a variety of businesses, industries and non-profit organizations and trade associations.

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