Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100

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Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100

3.92 of 5 stars 3.92 · rating details · 3,319 ratings · 374 reviews

Imagine, if you can, the world in the year 2100.

In Physics of the Future, Michio Kaku—the New York Times bestselling author of Physics of the Impossible—gives us a stunning, provocative, and exhilarating vision of the coming century based on interviews with over three hundred of the world’s top scientists who are already inventing the future in their labs. The result is th...more Imagine, if you can, the world in the year 2100.

In Physics of the Future, Michio Kaku—the New York Times bestselling author of Physics of the Impossible—gives us a stunning, provocative, and exhilarating vision of the coming century based on interviews with over three hundred of the world’s top scientists who are already inventing the future in their labs. The result is the most authoritative and scientifically accurate description of the revolutionary developments taking place in medicine, computers, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, energy production, and astronautics.

In all likelihood, by 2100 we will control computers via tiny brain sensors and, like magicians, move objects around with the power of our minds. Artificial intelligence will be dispersed throughout the environment, and Internet-enabled contact lenses will allow us to access the world's information base or conjure up any image we desire in the blink of an eye.

Meanwhile, cars will drive themselves using GPS, and if room-temperature superconductors are discovered, vehicles will effortlessly fly on a cushion of air, coasting on powerful magnetic fields and ushering in the age of magnetism.

Using molecular medicine, scientists will be able to grow almost every organ of the body and cure genetic diseases. Millions of tiny DNA sensors and nanoparticles patrolling our blood cells will silently scan our bodies for the first sign of illness, while rapid advances in genetic research will enable us to slow down or maybe even reverse the aging process, allowing human life spans to increase dramatically.

In space, radically new ships—needle-sized vessels using laser propulsion—could replace the expensive chemical rockets of today and perhaps visit nearby stars. Advances in nanotechnology may lead to the fabled space elevator, which would propel humans hundreds of miles above the earth’s atmosphere at the push of a button.

But these astonishing revelations are only the tip of the iceberg. Kaku also discusses emotional robots, antimatter rockets, X-ray vision, and the ability to create new life-forms, and he considers the development of the world economy. He addresses the key questions: Who are the winner and losers of the future? Who will have jobs, and which nations will prosper?

All the while, Kaku illuminates the rigorous scientific principles, examining the rate at which certain technologies are likely to mature, how far they can advance, and what their ultimate limitations and hazards are. Synthesizing a vast amount of information to construct an exciting look at the years leading up to 2100, Physics of the Future is a thrilling, wondrous ride through the next 100 years of breathtaking scientific revolution.(less)

Hardcover, 389 pages

Published March 15th 2011 by Doubleday (first published 2011)

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Apr 17, 2013 Cheryl in CC NV marked it as skimmed-reference-dnf · review of another edition

Couldn't finish the audio version. The narrator was fine, but new chapters and new sections were insufficiently marked and I kept losing track of the context and sequence of the discussion. Also, he blames historians for not effectively predicting the future in past books, and says that he and his fellow scientists will be more accurate. But that's a one-sided effort, too. To most accurately predict the future, one would need to consult scientists, developers of technology, and historians, and p...more

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Nov 03, 2012 Pamela (slytherpuff) rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, ebook, library-book

See more of my reviews at Bettering Me Up.

I was really disappointed in this book. I was expecting more information on physics (darn the title for misleading me!) and was instead presented with a book about the future of technology. Which is cool, since that's my field of expertise and I've seen some of the things that Kaku mentioned in the book.

There were some glaring omissions (where is Virgina Tech's CHARLI? And no DARwin? He's the RoboCup champ, for goodness sake!) in the AI section, though i...more

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Sep 01, 2011 Colin Bendell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Wow. I'm super excited about the future! Michio Kaku connects work being accomplished the labs with the applications in the future. This isn't about imagining some mythical utopia, but looking at the discoveries and inventions that exist today and how they can be combined and utilized in the future once the economies of scale and mass production are flushed out.

For example: We already can remotely control micro robots and we have the ability to analyze cells on a single micro chip. In the futur...more

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May 12, 2013 Leon rated it 3 of 5 stars

...more

Imagine, if you can, the world in the year 2100.In Physics of the Future, Michio Kaku—the New York Times bestselling author of Physics of the Impossible—gives us a stunning, provocative, and exhilarating vision of the coming century based on interviews with over three hundred of the world's top scientists who are already inventing the future in their labs. The result is the most authoritative and scientifically accurate description of the revolutionary developments taking place in medicine, computers, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, energy production, and astronautics.In all likelihood, by 2100 we will control computers via tiny brain sensors and, like magicians, move objects around with the power of our minds. Artificial intelligence will be dispersed throughout the environment, and Internet-enabled contact lenses will allow us to access the world's information base or conjure up any image we desire in the blink of an eye.Meanwhile, cars will drive themselves using GPS, and if room-temperature superconductors are discovered, vehicles will effortlessly fly on a cushion of air, coasting on powerful magnetic fields and ushering in the age of magnetism.Using molecular medicine, scientists will be able to grow almost every organ of the body and cure genetic diseases. Millions of tiny DNA sensors and nanoparticles patrolling our blood cells will silently scan our bodies for the first sign of illness, while rapid advances in genetic research will enable us to slow down or maybe even reverse the aging process, allowing human life spans to increase dramatically.In space, radically new ships—needle-sized vessels using laser propulsion—could replace the expensive chemical rockets of today and perhaps visit nearby stars. Advances in nanotechnology may lead to the fabled space elevator, which would propel humans hundreds of miles above the earth's atmosphere at the push of a button.But these astonishing revelations are only the tip of the iceberg. Kaku also discusses emotional robots, antimatter rockets, X-ray vision, and the ability to create new life-forms, and he considers the development of the world economy. He addresses the key questions: Who are the winner and losers of the future? Who will have jobs, and which nations will prosper?All the while, Kaku illuminates the rigorous scientific principles, examining the rate at which certain technologies are likely to mature, how far they can advance, and what their ultimate limitations and hazards are. Synthesizing a vast amount of information to construct an exciting look at the years leading up to 2100, Physics of the Future is a thrilling, wondrous ride through the next 100 years of breathtaking scientific revolution.

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Apr 22, 2013 Riki H. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100
Michio Kaku
Non-Fiction
389 Pages

This book was about how Michio Kaku the author who is a scientist thinks how technology will be in the future. It talks about a variety of technology ranging from computer to nanotechnology. The book often talks about items from Star Trek, a science fiction film with all sorts of futuristic gadgets. Michio Kaku says that those gadgets will come true. For instance, he sai...more

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Apr 14, 2013 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, technology, science, medicine, physics, artificial-intelligence, space-travel, bioengineering

Lot of thrilling stuff here in one competent package from a scientist who puts on a futurologist’s hat to give us a tour of how far science will advance and change society over the next 100 years. His topics cut a broad swath with chapters on each of the following: computers, artificial intelligence, medicine, nanotechnology, energy, space travel, wealth, and humanity’s stages of civilization. It’s fun to hear from a knowledgeable writer just how likely it is we will achieve many of the themes o...more Lot of thrilling stuff here in one competent package from a scientist who puts on a futurologist’s hat to give us a tour of how far science will advance and change society over the next 100 years. His topics cut a broad swath with chapters on each of the following: computers, artificial intelligence, medicine, nanotechnology, energy, space travel, wealth, and humanity’s stages of civilization. It’s fun to hear from a knowledgeable writer just how likely it is we will achieve many of the themes of science fiction.

Ordinarily, I digest technological progress in little blips of news pieces or brief magazine features that tend to bounce off my mind. I know from my own experience how science accomplishments get hyped and distorted in the media. For these reasons, it was very satisfying to get updates and reasoned projections on a wide variety of fields of work

The doubling of computer processing power each year has gone on for decades, conforming to Moore’s Law. Continued shrinking of transistor size driving this progression will soon reach a limit based on quantum limits to how small circuit templates can be etched. Still, before that limit is reached, computing capacity will be astounding and cheap processing power will be emdedded everywhere imaginable. Some of you will have played with the Android mobile phone voice interface Siri. I asked it "Why is There Air?", and in seconds it gave me a link to the Bill Cosby routine video from 1964. Pretty handy power already here. The recent release of Google glasses points the way to where portable computing combined with wireless Internet access might take us. Kaku projects that the only screen we will need in the future will a transparent one within contact lenses. Circuits with microlasers are under way that can beam data or video images right on the retina.

Computing power readily translates into great success in playing chess, which is based on picking the best move from projecting zillions of possible responses of the opponent. However, true artificial intelligence (AI) progress is stuck in a rut. Attempts to program in autonomy are stymied by barriers in achieving performance based on common sense, and pattern recognition is barely at the level of the mosquito. But “bottom up” approaches for robots learning from errors are beginning to hold promise, and simulations based on brain circuitry are becoming a focus. On the question of when computers with advanced articifical intelliegence will achieve self consciousness (“singularity” in sci fi parlance), Kaku doesn’t know whether to side with those that say 20 years, others who say 100 years, or still others who say never. Unlike the Termnator scenario with Skynet starting a machine-human war, the author thinks we will make sure our robots are kind, addressing the contradictions possible in Asimovs 3 laws and avoiding the temptation to automate Predator drones in warfare.

The medicine section of the book was fun for me due to my background in biomedical science and recent work on telemedicine programs. Having a computer interface through contact lenses and wireless voice control should prove pretty effective in medical care and emergency medicine. Kaku book predicts that within 100 years humans will to be able to control computers with their mind. Already we have paraplegics with scalp sensors linked to computer controls that they can write email and play 3D games. Next will be mind-controlled arms and legs for such patients. So maybe we won't have war with machines like Terminator movies make hay with. Biotechnology fused with nanotechnology has a lot of room for speculative scenarios. And if the genetic folks look like they are headed toward bringing back the mammoth, should we try to recover the Neanderthal? Would we put them in a zoo or Harvard? Are we on the way to being able to make a Jurassic Park? Though DNA is too degraded, maybe we can make a generic dinosaur by interpolating between bird and lizard genomes to recreated the ancestral genes. If the snake retains the genes for legs in a suppressed state, maybe some ancient genes are already in there.

Nanotechnology’s promise of “making something from nothing” is still far from achieving machines that can carry out molecular assembly from raw materials. Still Kaku does a good job in covering early stages in progress along these lines and the technical issues involved. He has a nicely concentrated discussion over the implications of a future society where jobs and work are largely unneeded. The worker’s mantra of “each according to his ability” will change into “to each according to his desire.” Similar to many sci fi renderings, many believe that:
…without the motivating factor of scarcity and money, it could lead to a self-indulgent, degenerate society that sinks to its lowest level. Only a handful of the most artistically motivated will strive to write poetry. The rest of us, the critics’ claim, will become good-for-nothing loafers and slackers.

For the future of energy, he is deft and informative about progress on initiatives such as hydrogen powered cars, fusion plants, solar energy plants in orbit, and frictionless transportation using magnetic lifting driven with superconductivity. For the future of space travel, he seems reasonable in his projections for colonies on the moons of Earth and other planets and exploration of asteroids. Serious work is going on the dream of a space elevator, but prospects for massive production of materials strong enough to sustain such a device are unclear. Kaku favors the likelihood of detecting an alien civilization, but he is pretty cautious in predicting the sci fi dream of spaceships with “ramjet” engines scooping up hydrogen as fuel for a fusion engine or with antimatter drives. Instead he seems to favor unmanned interstellar exploration by tiny craft with self-replicating miniature robots, possibly in the form swarming nanobots that can join up in various ways to morph into diverse machines.

The book is an easy read for people with only modest scientific literacy. For sci fi fans, it should whet their appetite even more for wonders of the future.
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Apr 02, 2013 Zach Edelman marked it as to-read

Shelves: 3rd-review

In the past 200 years technology has grown exponentially. we’ve went from the first bicycle to the sports cars of today, and will proceed forward to the self driving cars of tomorrow. The rate at which technology is advancing is incredible and scientists and physicists are dreaming and building the ideas of tomorrow. I for one am amazed by the rate at which technology is improving and am forever thankful I picked up this book. In Physics of the Future, Kaku plays journalist and interviews over 3...more In the past 200 years technology has grown exponentially. we’ve went from the first bicycle to the sports cars of today, and will proceed forward to the self driving cars of tomorrow. The rate at which technology is advancing is incredible and scientists and physicists are dreaming and building the ideas of tomorrow. I for one am amazed by the rate at which technology is improving and am forever thankful I picked up this book. In Physics of the Future, Kaku plays journalist and interviews over 300 of the world’s top scientists in microtechnology, medicine, chemistry, biology and many other fields. To make sure the reader is not overwhelmed Kaku blends the insights from the other scientists with the his own to create a deeper understanding of the topics that he can truly connect to the reader with.
Physics of the Future is truly brilliant. The author walks you through really advanced topics and ideas in a couple pages and leaves you with a good understanding of what you just read. An example of this would be Kaku explaining Moore’s law, which states that computer processors double in power every eighteen months. Kaku’s book explains what technology’s advancements and impact on society is all about. The book’s main sections cover what life will be like in the 2000-2030s near future era, and how advancements today precede it, what life will be like in the 2030-2070s midcentury era and how advancements today will precede it, and what life will be like in the 2070-2100s distant future era and how ideas today will precede it. Kaku speaks very fast paced and makes it easy for people with absolutely no experience in the fields of engineering, science, or computing to understand what he is talking about.
The author’s craft was very speedy and direct. Kaku used little figurative language and absolutely no symbolism. Kaku did allude to a lot of things in science fiction tv shows and movies like the voyagers and space-tools used in Star-Trek. Kaku wrote great for the audience that would be reading the book because he answers all the questions and moves at the same pace you do. This book is absolutely great and a must read for anybody who wonders about how the trends of today will forerun the inventions of tomorrow.
Physics of the Future is a book published in 2011 by Doubleday. Kaku’s book is theoretical nonfiction, meaning that based on the current scientific data it is assumed to be fact. This book fits great in the theoretical nonfiction genre because it explains a lot about the current scientific community's views on what the future of technology will be like and how trends will affect the human creation process.
Michio Kaku is an American theoretical physicist, a futurist, and a communicator and popularizer of science. He is a well known author in the scientific community, he often makes appearances of radio, television, film, blogs, articles, and other books. He has written several books about physics and topics relating to physics. Some books he has written are Parallel Worlds and Physics of the Impossible. Of his books, Physics of the Future comes second to Physics of the Impossible. The audience for which this book was written would most likely be young adults to adults because the book talks about complex laws and theories of physics like “String Theory” and “Multiverse Theory” that would be way too difficult for many kids our age and younger. If you are very into science and inventions, you should start reading this book the first opportunity you can because it talks about some of the coolest inventions I have ever heard of and how they will affect our lives in the future. I would recommend this book to anybody who has any interest in science and the future and understands physics at least a little bit because you will learn a lot and your mind will simply be blown.

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Feb 26, 2013 Joanne rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was such a fascinating read for me. As a teenager, I'm very excited to see lots of this technology in my life time.

If I'm honest I don't have a great understanding of physics, but this explained the concepts and ideas of the future in a way that is very accessible and relevant.

I really liked how 'Physics of the Future' feels relevant. Kaku explains how everything in this book can happen and in many cases is already happening. There is also a good incorporation of the history of physics and...more

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Feb 06, 2013 Marty Essen rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is probably not a book some hard-core science fuddy-duddy is going to enjoy. But if you are just fascinated by learning new things or contemplating the future, this soft-core science book is for you.

For me, any book that makes learning fun is a good one. Just think of how many people will pick up Professor Kaku's book that haven't read much more than a science-related newspaper article since high school!

My favorite sections of Physics of the Future were the chapters on the Future of Energy...more

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Jan 20, 2013 Nate Huston rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Kaku's work is intriguing. As opposed to Kurzweil ("The Age of Spiritual Machines"), Kaku cast a wide net to create the foundation for his book, which is essentially a collection of observations and predictions about the future of technology in various fields such as medicine, finance, space travel, nanotechnology, etc. The list of scientists consulted is impressive, and it results in a number of very compelling predictions, while at the same time acknowledging the frustration and risk with rely...more

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Dec 30, 2012 Iceman rated it 3 of 5 stars

Michio Kaku, professor catedrático de Física Teórica, lança-nos uma visão do futuro próximo no que concerne à tecnologia que estará disponível.

Sempre baseado na ciência, aliás, o autor é rigoroso nas suas descrições, não só pela sua formação como também porque entrevistou mais de trezentos cientistas, é-nos aqui apresentados uma série de factos que, mais do que meras hipóteses ou utopias, são já certezas face ao desenvolvimento em vários laboratórios.

Partindo do pressuposto de como se sucederá a...more

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Dec 03, 2012 Jenny williams rated it 5 of 5 stars

After reading this selection I strongly believe Michio Kaku is one of the brightest minds in his field. Physics Of The Impossible was an amazing book and this one blows it out of the water. I can't determine if I am so fond of it because of how advanced our technology will be in the near future or if I am truly fond of his writing. I know one thing for sure, some of the different advancements in technology is going to change the way we live life in way too many ways. What I mean by that is the a...more

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Aug 16, 2012 Jan Ryšavý rated it 4 of 5 stars

The topic is extremely interesting for all of us... Who does not care about the future (they are actually some people that don't, but they usually don't end up very well)? The information given by this book is completely awesome and stunning and I am eager to see or even use those things. I especially liked the last chapter named "A Day in a Year 2100" which sort of summarized the whole point of the book.

I disliked 2 things. In my opinion, it's not as interestingly (or let's say funnily) written...more

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Mar 09, 2012 Joe rated it 4 of 5 stars

Capitalizing on the runaway success of his last book on the cutting edge of science, Physics of the Impossible, theoretical physicist Michio Kaku has returned with Physics of the Future, a broader treatment on the future of technological innovations and the effects he expects them to have on our world and daily lives in the next hundred years. To give you an idea about the kind of person the theoretical physicist was as a young man, as he recounts early on in the book, he once asked his mother i...more

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Feb 06, 2012 John Harder rated it 4 of 5 stars

According to Michio Kaku over the next century via nanotechnology our bodies will be chock full of tiny computers which will keep us healthy and happy. Imagine that, no longer do you have to download prurient photos of Betty Crocker (and who hasn't) and be compelled to have this becoming image filtered through your cornea – by golly you might download Betty and her muffins directly to the appropriate body part.

We will have flying cars and computers in our contact lenses. We will be able to stop...more

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Nov 25, 2011 Robert Kroese rated it 3 of 5 stars

I got this book out of the local library because I heard the author on NPR and the book sounded interesting. I'm doing research for a near-future sci-fi novel and this sounded right up my alley.

First of all, the title is a misnomer. This book should be called Technology of the Future, as it's only tangentially about physics. The prose is painfully bad at times, tending toward cliches and mixed metaphors. Consider this gem, for example:

"Like a kid in a candy store, he delights in delving into unc...more

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Oct 29, 2011 Jeffrey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-and-religion

A fascinating look at how the world might change in the future, while also giving some good basic information on various subjects - for example, Kaku breaks down how gene therapy works, and also what it could lead to. Kaku's style of writing is informative and accessible, and the only time I found myself starting to lose focus was during the fictional narrative covering a typical day in 2100. In a way, that section suffers from a lack of imagination in what people would be like, despite having w...more

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Sep 25, 2011 Dave rated it 2 of 5 stars

It's not bad, it's just not great either.

I quickly got tired of the tone, which seems melodramatic. He talks incessantly about reclaiming the power described of ancient gods like the Greeks'.

It also takes a while to get going, and to understand the structure, which takes an area of technology and then explores it near, mid, and long term future.

After all of that, I felt like I had heard of most of the technologies he talks about before. The most interesting parts are where he projects farthest o...more

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Jun 24, 2011 Jorge rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: science

Physics of the Future by Michio Kaku

"Physics of the Future" is a fabulous, thought-provoking, engaging and accessible book on the physics of the future. What sets this book apart, is Dr. Kaku's prodigious knowledge and his innate ability to convey complex topics in an engaging conversational manner. This fantastic 416-page book is composed of the following nine chapters: 1. Future of the Computer: Mind over Matter, 2. Future of AI: Rise of the Machines, 3. Future of Medicine: Perfection and Bey...more

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May 18, 2011 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars

When I was little I had a book about what would happen in the future, and it was one of my favorite things. Heavy on illustrations. I remember that the pictures were of people in floating cars, buildings under water, that sort of thing. Fanciful and mostly just made up, but tons of fun to think about. I am wishing right now I knew where it was. I guess there's no way that book or anyone could have imagined what actually has happened! Much more impressive in many ways. Hell, the internet came out...more

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May 05, 2011 Jimmy Ng rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is very much like Visions, another book written by Kaku published in the 1990s. In both books, he attempts to predict technological advancements and its implications to people living in the future. What sets this book different than so many others is that Kaku calls himself an "insider" (Kaku is a world renowned theoretical physicist who works on string theory). With his connections, he is able to actually interview and get input from the scientists and engineers who actually make tech...more

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May 01, 2011 Gendou rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: futurism, fiction

This books is more about the TECHNOLOGY of the future than the physics thereof.
Really, if you've kept up with Tech news, you can just skip reading this book...
I counted no fewer than 34 references to "God" or "gods", a bad sign on it's own.
There is more time dedicated to ancient mythology than to actual physics!
The most annoying is the indicative future used without proper qualifiers.
For example, he says something "will happen", instead of examining the LIKELIHOOD that it will happen.
This is Kak...more

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Apr 01, 2012 Kim Pallister rated it 1 of 5 stars

This was a horrible book. I gave up on it a third of the way through. I'm not sure why people give the author high marks. Perhaps his earlier works are better and he phone this one in.

The book claims to look at scientific advances in a number of fields (computers, biology, etc), and drawing from interviews with hundreds of leading scientists, make predictions about the next 90 years.

What it does instead is the worst kind of pop-science futurism. The author picks and chooses from science that sup...more

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Jul 23, 2011 David rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

Entertaining and very readable, Dr. Michio Kaku gives the account of a physicist's point-of-view towards what we can expect in scientific advancements in the next 100 years, focusing heavily on the increased development of robotics, use of magnetism, cellular and software technology, and nanotechnology. The author deals with genetic research, the facts - not the moral arguments. There are nine chapters followed by an entertaining epilogue dealing with a day in the life of 2100. This 2011 release...more

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Jul 06, 2011 Amber rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is an interesting book about how technology--I suspect some chemists and biologists would quibble with everything described in the book being called physics--is likely to change the world over the next 100 years. The author's experience in writing for broad audiences is clear, and he does a very good job describing these technologies in plain terms. Interestingly, most of this technology has already been developed, it "only" needs to be commercialized in the years to come.

Some of his theori...more This is an interesting book about how technology--I suspect some chemists and biologists would quibble with everything described in the book being called physics--is likely to change the world over the next 100 years. The author's experience in writing for broad audiences is clear, and he does a very good job describing these technologies in plain terms. Interestingly, most of this technology has already been developed, it "only" needs to be commercialized in the years to come.

Some of his theories:
--that microchips will become like paper, embedded in everything walls (functionally screens), contacts, etc.
--that nuclear fission will produce power within the next 100 years. As he describes it, this technology seems achievable, but as he notes, it has seemed relatively close for decades now.
--that cars of the future likely will hover above a magnetic track, which will drastically reduce the energy required for propulsion, since the vast majority is used to overcome friction.
--that nanotechnology is likely to be the foundation for major technological progress. This was interesting to me because it's something that you hear a lot about at Rice, but I never understood especially well.

He also has a scarily prescient paragraph on the potential for a nuclear accident eerily similar to what happened at Fukushima.

In general he is very dismissive of resource exporting as a path to development and/or economic success; this certainly has been contradicted during the last 5-10 years but may be true in the long run. He cites Japan as a successful economy without domestic energy production, but the rising cost of energy imports has been a real headwind to Japanese growth of late. Of course, technological breakthroughs that render economies more efficient would limit the impact of these rising costs--as would breakthroughs in production costs or resource access that render energy less expensive. He is very dismissive of the latter as well, arguing that oil production costs are skyrocketing, bordering on "peak oil"-type arguments--while prices skyrocketed in 2008, there is a lot of potential for high-cost production that has barely been explored or tapped. I will be quite surprised if this turns out to be the case. Much more likely, in my opinion, is the former argument, that energy prices will fall because we use less of it.

He also makes lots of mythology references; it's clear that this is an interest of his, but it can drag for those without the same passion. I also found the chapters on space travel less interesting, because they seem so much less practical, and moreover, useful. He also tended toward somewhat simplistic arguments that more money spent on any kind of research=good, rather than any sort of delineation about what areas might yield the best investments. (Surely, not space travel.)(less)

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Mar 27, 2012 Nick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Good fun. Kaku is a brilliant guide to the gizmos, gadgets, and lifestyles of the future. He keeps it light and entertaining, for the most part, but manages to make a few serious points along the way about the environment, jobs, and lifespan. Kaku has gone to a lot of trouble to make intelligent predictions about the future, and he quite rightly critiques the efforts of many who have gone before him. But I couldn't shake the suspicion that in the end he was making the same mistakes as his forebe...more

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Oct 14, 2011 Marks54 rated it 2 of 5 stars

The book was extremely informative about current trends in science (and some technology). It lives up to its title in discussing physics of the future. The author is a skilled writer who is gifted at communicating highly abstract and obscure ideas.

So why only two stars?

I did have some issues with the overall books and how this project was carried out. Some were more troubling than others. The major issues include:

1) Too much scientific triumphalism -- The clear storyline in the book is that scie...more The book was extremely informative about current trends in science (and some technology). It lives up to its title in discussing physics of the future. The author is a skilled writer who is gifted at communicating highly abstract and obscure ideas.

So why only two stars?

I did have some issues with the overall books and how this project was carried out. Some were more troubling than others. The major issues include:

1) Too much scientific triumphalism -- The clear storyline in the book is that science will render most of the troubles of life either moot or less relevant. Diseases will go away, aging will be suppressed, and immortality lies around the corner! Hovercraft will be developed, robots will be everywhere and solve our problems, and traditional issues of scarcity re health and food will go away. I suspect that this technological paradise is being oversold, just a bit. Lifespan has been extended, but arguably more by prenatal and care for newborns, coupled with public health measures such as mass inoculation coupled with the aggressive combating of traditional killers like smallpox. We still haven't figured out much regarding the flu or the common cold! Yes there has been progress, but is heaven really that near? Have we proven ourselves worthy of godlike status?

2) There is very little on economics throughout the book. The author has apparently read some of Thurow's futurist work but not much else. Science and technology need to be brought to market and commercialized before they can hope to revolutionize our lives. Perhaps the government will do it all?? Well the government might fund defense research and NSF grants but last I heard it still did limited work on commercialization.

3) What about politics? The twentieth century brought amazing advances in science and technology but also rule by thugs, gangsters, and murderers that applied technology to the extermination of millions. Oh Brave New World . . . . !

4) The author pushes his futurist motivation -- using a near future, mid future, and far future framework, but in the end it comes down to extrapolation between two poles - heaven or catastrophe, with the chance of catastrophe severely discounted. Not much of a choice!

5) The author raises the need for education in science and technology, suggesting that they have read Goldin and Katz, but only talk about it in the context of H1B visas and information intensive jobs that go wanting. What about the increasing numbers of people in the US who are almost completely left out of the new age because of their poor education and training? Kaku may be setting up the world of Wells' Time Machine without knowing it. How can we move into a scientific and technology heaven, when most people are fit to work at Wal-Mart at best? What will all the dummies do once the robots take over our jobs? . . . which negative utopia comes to mind? the Matrix??

6) This could be partially excused, since no author is perfect and the book is informative. What is more troubling about the book is that it is two or three chapters too long and the extra chapters detract from the book's value. Once the author moves from the descriptive and commentary and mild extrapolation in most ot the book to a more normative tone when he discusses the evolution of a planetary civilization, he loses me completely. He takes a framework by Kardashev to identify civilizations we might encounter from space and order them by energy use (???) and applies it to how our civilization might develop. Note here, we are using a framework with absolutely no data or experience behind it, with the exception of the sci-fi movie genre, and turning it into the summary framework for a book purporting to provide an update to general readers on the state of research in physics!! Needless to say I was not convinced and was chuckling - for the wrong reasons -- as I worked through the end of the book. This appears to be a common problem in big reach synthesis boos -- Ian Morris' book on why the West rules comes to mind, although the latter is a much better book overall.

5) By the end of the book, I was wondering if there were particular reasons why Kaku appeared to have "lost it" when he just should have stopped writing fifty pages sooner.

6) Overall, I don't regret reading it. I just regret finishing it.(less)

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May 01, 2012 Sam rated it 1 of 5 stars

I read a couple hundred pages on an airplane, and I regret having made an impulse-purchase of this book in the airport bookstore. Like others, I was disturbed by the poor writing (annoying tone, repetitive and useless allusions to mythology, weird Star Trek obsession...). And as others stressed (and which if I'd had more time before my flight I might have realized by skimming more thoroughly before purchasing), this book has practically no physics in it. At some point I might go back and read so...more

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Aug 25, 2012 Alison Dellit rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

A good, speculative fun book that gives a solid idea of the main areas of significant research funding and progress. A bit like a series of good Discovery Channel specials in tone and content. Kaku is focused on the science -to the extent that he talks about social issues, he sees them flowing from the science. Issues of social power and organisation do not feature significantly. Like many physicists I know, Kuku assumes that if you can solve the physics, everything else flows from that. ( I thi...more

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Feb 28, 2012 Brian Clegg rated it 3 of 5 stars

Michio Kaku is a great science writer (as well as being a physics professor), but futurology is a difficult subject to make interesting and all too often what you get is lists of 'in the future you will have an X that will do Y,' which gets dull fairly quickly.

Where Kaku's approach is good (which is to base his ideas on physics) is in the future of energy. His chapter on space exploration is good too - he is a great enthusiast for this, and that comes across strongly here. The only proviso is th...more

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About Michio Kaku

Dr. Michio Kaku is a theoretical physicist, best-selling author, and popularizer of science. He’s the co-founder of string field theory (a branch of string theory), and continues Einstein’s search to unite the four fundamental forces of nature into one unified theory.

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Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel

Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the Tenth Dimension

Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos

Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st Century

Beyond Einstein: The Cosmic Quest for the Theory of the Universe

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“‎By 2100, our destiny is to become like the gods we once worshipped and feared. But our tools will not be magic wands and potions but the science of computers, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and most of all, the quantum theory.” — 12 people liked it

“To understand the difficulty of predicting the next 100 years, we have to appreciate the difficulty that the people of 1900 had in predicting the world of 2000.” — 2 people liked it

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