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The Sun, the Genome and the Internet: Tools of Scientific Revolutions
In this visionary look into the future, Freeman Dyson argues that technological changes fundamentally alter our ethical and social arrangements and that three rapidly advancing new technologies--solar energy, genetic engineering, and world-wide communication--together have the potential to create a more equal distribution of the world's wealth.
Dyson begins by rejecting the idea that scientific revolutions are primarily concept driven. He shows rather that new tools are more often the sparks that ignite scientific discovery. Such tool-driven revolutions have profound social consequences--the invention of the telescope turning the Medieval world view upside down, the widespread use of household appliances in the 1950s replacing servants, to cite just two examples. In looking ahead, Dyson suggests that solar energy, genetics, and the Internet will have similarly transformative effects, with the potential to produce a more just and equitable society. Solar power could bring electricity to even the poorest, most remote areas of third world nations, allowing everyone access to the vast stores of information on the Internet and effectively ending the cultural isolation of the poorest countries. Similarly, breakthroughs in genetics may well enable us to give our children healthier lives and grow more efficient crops, thus restoring
the economic and human vitality of village cultures devalued and dislocated by the global market.
Written with passionate conviction about the ethical uses of science, The Sun, the Genome, and the Internet is both a brilliant reinterpretation of the scientific process and a challenge to use new technologies to close, rather than widen, the gap between rich and poor.
Dyson begins by rejecting the idea that scientific revolutions are primarily concept driven. He shows rather that new tools are more often the sparks that ignite scientific discovery. Such tool-driven revolutions have profound social consequences--the invention of the telescope turning the Medieval world view upside down, the widespread use of household appliances in the 1950s replacing servants, to cite just two examples. In looking ahead, Dyson suggests that solar energy, genetics, and the Internet will have similarly transformative effects, with the potential to produce a more just and equitable society. Solar power could bring electricity to even the poorest, most remote areas of third world nations, allowing everyone access to the vast stores of information on the Internet and effectively ending the cultural isolation of the poorest countries. Similarly, breakthroughs in genetics may well enable us to give our children healthier lives and grow more efficient crops, thus restoring
the economic and human vitality of village cultures devalued and dislocated by the global market.
Written with passionate conviction about the ethical uses of science, The Sun, the Genome, and the Internet is both a brilliant reinterpretation of the scientific process and a challenge to use new technologies to close, rather than widen, the gap between rich and poor.
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
9 people are currently reading
485 people want to read
About the author
Freeman Dyson
70 books391 followersFreeman Dyson was a physicist and educator best known for his speculative work on extraterrestrial civilizations and for his work in quantum electrodynamics, solid-state physics, astronomy and nuclear engineering. He theorized several concepts that bear his name, such as Dyson's transform, Dyson tree, Dyson series, and Dyson sphere.
The son of a musician and composer, Dyson was educated at the University of Cambridge. As a teenager he developed a passion for mathematics, but his studies at Cambridge were interrupted in 1943, when he served in the Royal Air Force Bomber Command. He received a B.A. from Cambridge in 1945 and became a research fellow of Trinity College. In 1947 he went to the United States to study physics and spent the next two years at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., and Princeton, where he studied under J. Robert Oppenheimer, then director of the Institute for Advanced Study. Dyson returned to England in 1949 to become a research fellow at the University of Birmingham, but he was appointed professor of physics at Cornell in 1951 and two years later at the Institute for Advanced Study, where he became professor emeritus in 2000. He became a U.S. citizen in 1957.
The son of a musician and composer, Dyson was educated at the University of Cambridge. As a teenager he developed a passion for mathematics, but his studies at Cambridge were interrupted in 1943, when he served in the Royal Air Force Bomber Command. He received a B.A. from Cambridge in 1945 and became a research fellow of Trinity College. In 1947 he went to the United States to study physics and spent the next two years at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., and Princeton, where he studied under J. Robert Oppenheimer, then director of the Institute for Advanced Study. Dyson returned to England in 1949 to become a research fellow at the University of Birmingham, but he was appointed professor of physics at Cornell in 1951 and two years later at the Institute for Advanced Study, where he became professor emeritus in 2000. He became a U.S. citizen in 1957.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
October 26, 2020
Rating: "A/A+" -- another excellent essay collection by Dyson.
The Sun, the Genome, and the Internet covers scientific revolutions, technology and social justice, and the exploration and colonization of space -- familiar Dyson topics all, and delivered with his usual grace. The three items in the title comprise Dyson's hope for generating wealth in the world's poor villages: the sun for cheap solar power, genetic engineering for better crop plants, and the Net to end rural isolation.
For example, he presents the hope of engineering "trees that convert sunlight to liquid fuel and deliver the fuel directly... to underground pipelines." A neat solution to declining oil reserves, if it works. Dyson cheerfully admits his record as a prophet is mixed, but "it is better to be wrong than to be vague."
Fresh and unexpected insights are a frequent pleasure in this and other Dyson books. For instance, he describes his mother and aunts -- prosperous British matrons all -- who, in the interval between the World Wars, accomplished such things as opening a birth-control clinic, managing a large hospital, winning an Olympic medal, and pioneering aviation in Africa -- "it was considered normal at the time for middle-class women to do something spectacular." They were able to do this only with the support of a large servant class. The introduction of labour-saving appliances helped to emancipate the servants, but left middle-class women less free than before, a general pattern, says Dyson: "the burdens of equalization fall disproportionately on women."
Dyson is a lifelong space enthusiast, though things haven't gone that well lately for space fans: "we look at the bewildered cosmonauts struggling to survive in the Mir space station. Obviously they are not going anywhere except, if they are lucky, down." But in the long term, prospects are brighter, as we await the finding of a cheap way up and out of the gravity well (another enduring Dyson insight). He reports recent successful tests of a laser-launcher and a "ram accelerator," the latter a proposed 750-foot gas-gun -- and a direct descendant of Jules Verne's cannon-launched spacecraft in From the Earth to the Moon (1865). As in all cheap launch methods, the trick is to keep the fuel on the ground, not in the spacecraft. With cheap spaceflight, people will spread out into the solar system and beyond. Why? "Because it is there" -- some folks just have itchy feet. Others will belong to unpopular religions, or be on the run, or... any of the countless other things that have always motivated emigrants.
Dyson, unusually for a theoretician, has always been more "tinker than thinker." He cites Thomas Kuhn's classic Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962, revised edition 1970) as an example of a fellow-physicist with the opposite bent, emphasizing ideas over things. Of course, both are important; but some of Kuhn's followers put forward the idea that science is about power struggles, not new ideas. Dyson once upbraided Kuhn about this at a conference. Kuhn reacted angrily: "One thing you have to understand. I am not a Kuhnian!"
Freeman Dyson is my favorite scientist-writer. I know of no one else who combines his clarity of thought, graceful use of language, big ideas expressed modestly, and sense of history. If you haven't yet read Dyson, The Sun, the Genome, and the Internet would be a fine place to start.
[Review written in 1999, for SF Site]
The Sun, the Genome, and the Internet covers scientific revolutions, technology and social justice, and the exploration and colonization of space -- familiar Dyson topics all, and delivered with his usual grace. The three items in the title comprise Dyson's hope for generating wealth in the world's poor villages: the sun for cheap solar power, genetic engineering for better crop plants, and the Net to end rural isolation.
For example, he presents the hope of engineering "trees that convert sunlight to liquid fuel and deliver the fuel directly... to underground pipelines." A neat solution to declining oil reserves, if it works. Dyson cheerfully admits his record as a prophet is mixed, but "it is better to be wrong than to be vague."
Fresh and unexpected insights are a frequent pleasure in this and other Dyson books. For instance, he describes his mother and aunts -- prosperous British matrons all -- who, in the interval between the World Wars, accomplished such things as opening a birth-control clinic, managing a large hospital, winning an Olympic medal, and pioneering aviation in Africa -- "it was considered normal at the time for middle-class women to do something spectacular." They were able to do this only with the support of a large servant class. The introduction of labour-saving appliances helped to emancipate the servants, but left middle-class women less free than before, a general pattern, says Dyson: "the burdens of equalization fall disproportionately on women."
Dyson is a lifelong space enthusiast, though things haven't gone that well lately for space fans: "we look at the bewildered cosmonauts struggling to survive in the Mir space station. Obviously they are not going anywhere except, if they are lucky, down." But in the long term, prospects are brighter, as we await the finding of a cheap way up and out of the gravity well (another enduring Dyson insight). He reports recent successful tests of a laser-launcher and a "ram accelerator," the latter a proposed 750-foot gas-gun -- and a direct descendant of Jules Verne's cannon-launched spacecraft in From the Earth to the Moon (1865). As in all cheap launch methods, the trick is to keep the fuel on the ground, not in the spacecraft. With cheap spaceflight, people will spread out into the solar system and beyond. Why? "Because it is there" -- some folks just have itchy feet. Others will belong to unpopular religions, or be on the run, or... any of the countless other things that have always motivated emigrants.
Dyson, unusually for a theoretician, has always been more "tinker than thinker." He cites Thomas Kuhn's classic Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962, revised edition 1970) as an example of a fellow-physicist with the opposite bent, emphasizing ideas over things. Of course, both are important; but some of Kuhn's followers put forward the idea that science is about power struggles, not new ideas. Dyson once upbraided Kuhn about this at a conference. Kuhn reacted angrily: "One thing you have to understand. I am not a Kuhnian!"
Freeman Dyson is my favorite scientist-writer. I know of no one else who combines his clarity of thought, graceful use of language, big ideas expressed modestly, and sense of history. If you haven't yet read Dyson, The Sun, the Genome, and the Internet would be a fine place to start.
[Review written in 1999, for SF Site]
June 13, 2011
I was surprised by this book. I thought it would just be all "wow, technology, cool." But it was actually about how to thoughtfully and ethically use technology to bring about social justice. Technology shouldn't just be about making new toys for the rich, but it should be about developing ways to level the playing field for everyone in the world. One thing I found that was very interesting was the accounts of how technological advances will often liberate one group of people while taking away the freedom of another group. One example given in the book was the rise of househould appliances in the early twentienth century. The servant class was done away with (in those days, middle class families might have multiple servants), but middle class women then lost much freedom when they had to return to household duties.
Dr. Dyson, a physicist, sees solar energy, genetic engineering, and the Internet as the tools to bring about this social revolution. I would be interested in seeing an updated version of this book because this was written over ten years ago, and a lot has changed since then. Internet access still isn't freely available everywhere, but it sure is better than it was in the late 90's.
Dr. Dyson, a physicist, sees solar energy, genetic engineering, and the Internet as the tools to bring about this social revolution. I would be interested in seeing an updated version of this book because this was written over ten years ago, and a lot has changed since then. Internet access still isn't freely available everywhere, but it sure is better than it was in the late 90's.
June 17, 2016
Drawn from a series of public lectures, this is the mind of Freeman Dyson at its most fertile. The book bubbles with creative ideas even if my instinct throughout was to treat it as yet another item of that curious genre - speculative science faction.
He writes clearly and, very unusually amongst the top level of scientists let alone applied mathematicians, his genius is capable of understanding history and society. Indeed, I suspect that he would have made a very fine historian if he had taken a very different route in life.
However, a decade and a half on from the lectures, very little of what he has predicted (all of which I have no doubt is feasible) has come to pass. He seems to have been looking in the wrong direction more than once. His speculations are more than a little utopian.
This is a little odd because he has a highly intelligent approach to the effect of politics on technological investment. There are some very acute observations on failures to be cost-effective. One might have expected him to have been a little more cautious on that ground alone.
While mildly stimulated, I did not get a great deal out of the book because it was simply not grounded enough in the world I think that I am living in. He was persuasive, as a Kuhn-sceptic, on one thing though - that technique and tools drive science as much as concepts and models.
His argument for scientific development as a craft process with many incremental changes and cross-fertilisations, with investment by scientists themselves in the machinery that enables discovery, is well taken. It made me rethink how thought and application exist in close dialectic.
But there is so much material here, so much inventiveness, so much intellectual creativity and so many leaps that the book leaves one wondering precisely what one has learned that is useful. That may be unfair but one wanted not more ideas but clearer thread for those already offered.
Like contemporary science fiction, speculative science faction throws so much at the reader that the tale often spins away far from the credible and the useful - and the human. That so little of the implicit prediction appears to be materially present today seems to confirm a lack of groundedness.
Oh, we poor mortals - unable to deliver what our intellectual gods demand of us!
August 4, 2014
The finer technical details are absent in this book as it is a series of transcripts but the concepts are solid.
The optimism herein is overwhelming and well asserts that, given sufficient altruism and purpose, the progress of humanity has no definite limit. Had the various powers that be heeded this man's advice, the world would surely be a more comfortable place than it is right now. Luckily, it is still possible to get better.
The optimism herein is overwhelming and well asserts that, given sufficient altruism and purpose, the progress of humanity has no definite limit. Had the various powers that be heeded this man's advice, the world would surely be a more comfortable place than it is right now. Luckily, it is still possible to get better.
March 29, 2023
This is really three different short writings based on lectures, with an incredibly powerful epilogue.
It was incredibly interesting to learn about failures and successes of science in the past and see how they translate to modern times, as well as how his predictions unfold. Some ideas seem outlandish (but not without logic) but even where he falls short, it seems he was generally on track.
The section on science and social justice was a phenomenal read on how new technology can provide new means of equity as well as cause further divides.
The epilogue talks of AI and the future of humanity's integration with technology. It was by far the most powerful part of the whole book. I've re-read the 4 pages multiple times already. He warns of the threat to the dignity of humans and the computer addictions of children. If we do not move forward with an ethical and philosophical understanding of history, science, and technology to integrate ourselves with the technology we create, we are doomed to become cogs in the lifeless machine we create.
There were also wonderful points about how to navigate the coming revolutions in technology around the sun, genome, and internet and how they can be used to greatly improve the world. The main example is using solar power and new types of plants to provide electricity and crops to locations which do not have the infrastructure to build up quickly. This also can mitigate damage to local ecosystems by allowing communities to be connected through satellite internet. You can have the advanced technology of the 21st century while still maintaining small, even remote, communities and continue to preserve the beauty around us. Like I said, it was a few short writings, this being one part of the book.
Overall it was incredibly optimistic but it also warns that without humility and knowledge, humanity could fall victim to our own hubris.
Dyson was one of the great physicists of the 20th and 21st centuries and I hope his legacy propels science forward through the better angels of our nature.
It was incredibly interesting to learn about failures and successes of science in the past and see how they translate to modern times, as well as how his predictions unfold. Some ideas seem outlandish (but not without logic) but even where he falls short, it seems he was generally on track.
The section on science and social justice was a phenomenal read on how new technology can provide new means of equity as well as cause further divides.
The epilogue talks of AI and the future of humanity's integration with technology. It was by far the most powerful part of the whole book. I've re-read the 4 pages multiple times already. He warns of the threat to the dignity of humans and the computer addictions of children. If we do not move forward with an ethical and philosophical understanding of history, science, and technology to integrate ourselves with the technology we create, we are doomed to become cogs in the lifeless machine we create.
There were also wonderful points about how to navigate the coming revolutions in technology around the sun, genome, and internet and how they can be used to greatly improve the world. The main example is using solar power and new types of plants to provide electricity and crops to locations which do not have the infrastructure to build up quickly. This also can mitigate damage to local ecosystems by allowing communities to be connected through satellite internet. You can have the advanced technology of the 21st century while still maintaining small, even remote, communities and continue to preserve the beauty around us. Like I said, it was a few short writings, this being one part of the book.
Overall it was incredibly optimistic but it also warns that without humility and knowledge, humanity could fall victim to our own hubris.
Dyson was one of the great physicists of the 20th and 21st centuries and I hope his legacy propels science forward through the better angels of our nature.
November 5, 2017
A bit of an interesting exercise to see how visions of the future can change in just 20 years. So far bioengineering hasn't done quite so much as Dyson had hoped, but he was right about the internet - in fact he almost underestimated its impact. He underestimated AI, as it had reached a temporary lull in the late 90s and people were beginning to doubt it again, but it's definitely making its comeback. Progress on solar energy has been fairly disappointing. As a quick little time capsule of the state of some technologies at a point in time, not a bad read.
March 21, 2011
This books is actually a group of 3 lectures given by Freeman Dyson compiled into a book. They cover really 3 interesting topics: the nature of scientific revolutions, technology as a means of promoting social justice, and humanity's future in space.
Dyson, opposing Kuhn's idea based revolution, believes in instrument based revolution, and that availability of cheap scientific instruments is what really drives scientific revolutions. He uses the example of steam engines, telescopes, and other devices to support his argument. He also compares the Human Genome Project, the Apollo Missions, and the Sloan Digital Sky survey to show how high and low costs can differentiate between sustainable and sustainable technologies. To conclude, he explains how a cheap gene sequencer and a cheap protein imager could lead to a biotech revolution.
The next essay deals with how technology can be used as a means for making for a more equitable future. He uses the example of how appliances essentially removed the servant class in Britain. However he also points out technology can lead to negative social effects, such as how appliances essentially forced middle class women back into the home during the mid 1950's-1960's. With this in mind, Dyson suggests that the the sun, genetic engineering, and the Internet would reduce poverty. The sun would serve as a cheap source of power, genetic engineering would allow for the creation of "factory" trees- biologically engineered trees that could produce anything from plastic to computer chips. Finally, the Internet would provide a access to information and markets. All this together would remove property.
The final essay deals with life in outer space, and how we can become a part of it. He discusses the possibility of fish on Europa and how we should look for freeze-dried fish and bacteria as evidence of life on other planets. He also looks at 3 alternatives for getting into space: laser propulsion (shooting a laser at a surface, causing it to propel upwards), ram accelerator (a long pipe of various volatile gases for shooting things into space), and a slingatron ( a device that spins object into high speed, and then launches them upwards). These quixotic idea have their pros and cons, but are possible alternatives to chemical rockets. He finally looks at man's future in space with genetically enegineered warm blooded plants and factory trees.
These lectures contain madness, but their is method in it. Freeman has a reputation as a bit of a rebel, and a lot of these ideas do go against the common mind. But his sheer creativity and study of such original ideas makes this book something of a scientific wonderland, filled with sights, sounds, and inspiration for a young scientist.
Dyson, opposing Kuhn's idea based revolution, believes in instrument based revolution, and that availability of cheap scientific instruments is what really drives scientific revolutions. He uses the example of steam engines, telescopes, and other devices to support his argument. He also compares the Human Genome Project, the Apollo Missions, and the Sloan Digital Sky survey to show how high and low costs can differentiate between sustainable and sustainable technologies. To conclude, he explains how a cheap gene sequencer and a cheap protein imager could lead to a biotech revolution.
The next essay deals with how technology can be used as a means for making for a more equitable future. He uses the example of how appliances essentially removed the servant class in Britain. However he also points out technology can lead to negative social effects, such as how appliances essentially forced middle class women back into the home during the mid 1950's-1960's. With this in mind, Dyson suggests that the the sun, genetic engineering, and the Internet would reduce poverty. The sun would serve as a cheap source of power, genetic engineering would allow for the creation of "factory" trees- biologically engineered trees that could produce anything from plastic to computer chips. Finally, the Internet would provide a access to information and markets. All this together would remove property.
The final essay deals with life in outer space, and how we can become a part of it. He discusses the possibility of fish on Europa and how we should look for freeze-dried fish and bacteria as evidence of life on other planets. He also looks at 3 alternatives for getting into space: laser propulsion (shooting a laser at a surface, causing it to propel upwards), ram accelerator (a long pipe of various volatile gases for shooting things into space), and a slingatron ( a device that spins object into high speed, and then launches them upwards). These quixotic idea have their pros and cons, but are possible alternatives to chemical rockets. He finally looks at man's future in space with genetically enegineered warm blooded plants and factory trees.
These lectures contain madness, but their is method in it. Freeman has a reputation as a bit of a rebel, and a lot of these ideas do go against the common mind. But his sheer creativity and study of such original ideas makes this book something of a scientific wonderland, filled with sights, sounds, and inspiration for a young scientist.
November 1, 2024
Scientific paradigm’s shift on technologic plates. Is it more so the scientific tools or the political science driving this progress? Well, that is to misunderstand and conflate the issue worse than the postmodernists or poststructuralists.
Maybe Freeman Dyson, so outspoken at the peak of the dot com bubble, is failing to see the economic impact of scientific technology. He’s right that before WWII, science was in fact a middle ground between big corporations and craftsmanship.
Today it’s all big corporations and neoliberalism. To split hairs over the militarization of surveillance spending, as it applies to common forms of social technology, is to be properly observing the point, and yet to miscommunicate it.
As Dyson does aptly consider. It’s biology before it is physics. But all informational paradigms are first and foremost observational, representational, and therefore phenomenological. That is, science is structural, before it is operationalized as a tool on the battlefield of thoughts or political territories.
Sure tools can act like the brain of science, but political signification is the neck and the rest of the body. Signification decides what scientific problems we look at, when we use that good looking cyborg brain, and how soon we figure we need it done by.
“The virus is a tool, not a theory. And it is a tool for the practice of medicine as well as for the advancement of science. Sixty years of brilliant work by experimental virologists have taught us a great deal about the structure of viruses. We know pretty well what viruses are made of. We know much less about their function.”
Dyson is on the right track here. The question from the 60s to about the 2000s being about whether form follows function or the opposite. Which is like asking whether its nature or nurture. It’s negating the entire point. A virus exploits the signification of structure in specific ways. Function and structure define themselves structurofunctionally by way of each other.
Observations operationalize themselves toward functional ends. And functional ends lack the kind of representational permanence political scientists might hope to reify and exploit. It’s never all one way or the other.
It’s hard to debate that our observational tools, our perceptions, are not politically driven. Social Darwinism being more of a functional illusion than an objective reality at more than one temporal location. The first human tools were invented to gain some kind of evolutionary advantage not permitted to previous environmental species of sustainability.
“Only by speciation can evolution move fast. The technology of reprogenetics will be a variation played by humans on nature's theme, allowing evolution to move faster by a creative use of genetic isolation…The immune system must mutate rapidly to respond to invasive bacteria and viruses...When we have mastered the technology of reprogenetics, we shall be creating our own genetic barriers, not in opposition to nature, but enabling natural processes of human evolution to continue.”
Hmmm, well that’s terrifying!
Maybe Freeman Dyson, so outspoken at the peak of the dot com bubble, is failing to see the economic impact of scientific technology. He’s right that before WWII, science was in fact a middle ground between big corporations and craftsmanship.
Today it’s all big corporations and neoliberalism. To split hairs over the militarization of surveillance spending, as it applies to common forms of social technology, is to be properly observing the point, and yet to miscommunicate it.
As Dyson does aptly consider. It’s biology before it is physics. But all informational paradigms are first and foremost observational, representational, and therefore phenomenological. That is, science is structural, before it is operationalized as a tool on the battlefield of thoughts or political territories.
Sure tools can act like the brain of science, but political signification is the neck and the rest of the body. Signification decides what scientific problems we look at, when we use that good looking cyborg brain, and how soon we figure we need it done by.
“The virus is a tool, not a theory. And it is a tool for the practice of medicine as well as for the advancement of science. Sixty years of brilliant work by experimental virologists have taught us a great deal about the structure of viruses. We know pretty well what viruses are made of. We know much less about their function.”
Dyson is on the right track here. The question from the 60s to about the 2000s being about whether form follows function or the opposite. Which is like asking whether its nature or nurture. It’s negating the entire point. A virus exploits the signification of structure in specific ways. Function and structure define themselves structurofunctionally by way of each other.
Observations operationalize themselves toward functional ends. And functional ends lack the kind of representational permanence political scientists might hope to reify and exploit. It’s never all one way or the other.
It’s hard to debate that our observational tools, our perceptions, are not politically driven. Social Darwinism being more of a functional illusion than an objective reality at more than one temporal location. The first human tools were invented to gain some kind of evolutionary advantage not permitted to previous environmental species of sustainability.
“Only by speciation can evolution move fast. The technology of reprogenetics will be a variation played by humans on nature's theme, allowing evolution to move faster by a creative use of genetic isolation…The immune system must mutate rapidly to respond to invasive bacteria and viruses...When we have mastered the technology of reprogenetics, we shall be creating our own genetic barriers, not in opposition to nature, but enabling natural processes of human evolution to continue.”
Hmmm, well that’s terrifying!
April 8, 2021
这本书是作者有关科学、社会、技术发展的一些杂谈。太阳、基因和互联网分别是作者心目中在新世纪最重要的三件事物。太阳带来能量，基因带来物种发展，互联网传播资讯。本书分为三个部分，第一部分从二战催生了英美的一代大物理学家讲起，涉及科学界和社会等诸多方面。这三件事物到了第二部分以后才被提出来。第三部分涉及到探索宇宙、人类的生物学进化等科幻领域。
简单说我印象中的三个有趣之处。
第一是说，当代科学具有旧时代手工制造业中，匠人师徒传承的特征。学生继承导师的手工艺，并制造自己的新设备和理论。这些设备和理论，有时又会被已经工业化的传统制造业所吸收，投入量产。
第二是说，物理学的发展并不只是库恩主义式的范式演化；它也是物理学工具的进化。没有新的实验和观测工具，不可能探测大自然，检验理论。范式演化还会被用于意识形态斗争等社会领域，因而光辉灿烂，掩盖了厚重扎实的后者。
第三点是，社会解放并不是单调上升的。作者说，在二十世纪前半叶，他家族中父母一代人属于中产阶层，需要四个（非全职）佣人才能完成洗衣、做饭、清洁、带孩子等家务。存在专门服务于人的仆人阶层。后来有了洗衣机、电烤箱等家电之后，中产渐渐不再需要佣人。仆人阶层因为技术进步而消失，他们中有些人的子女接受良好的教育，也进入了中产阶层，后者迅速壮大。但这些家电仍然需要人去操作，这通常落到了女性的肩头。作者家族中父母一代的女性在各领域大放异彩，有社会活动家、医院领导层、奥运银牌、飞行员、演员等，并且大多育有子女。但到了二十世纪后半叶，中产女性的这些社会成就显著减少。家电的发明，解放了仆人阶层，但束缚了妇女。作者认为总的来说社会是进步了，并寄希望于技术进步能再次解放妇女。
还有大量其他方面的论述，比如太空探测有探索宇宙和商业化这两个目标，航天飞机混淆了两个目标导致失败，等等，不一而足。站在作者的时代来看，可谓鞭辟入里。但也因此显得冗杂，长篇单口论述令人疲惫，削弱了可读性。
简单说我印象中的三个有趣之处。
第一是说，当代科学具有旧时代手工制造业中，匠人师徒传承的特征。学生继承导师的手工艺，并制造自己的新设备和理论。这些设备和理论，有时又会被已经工业化的传统制造业所吸收，投入量产。
第二是说，物理学的发展并不只是库恩主义式的范式演化；它也是物理学工具的进化。没有新的实验和观测工具，不可能探测大自然，检验理论。范式演化还会被用于意识形态斗争等社会领域，因而光辉灿烂，掩盖了厚重扎实的后者。
第三点是，社会解放并不是单调上升的。作者说，在二十世纪前半叶，他家族中父母一代人属于中产阶层，需要四个（非全职）佣人才能完成洗衣、做饭、清洁、带孩子等家务。存在专门服务于人的仆人阶层。后来有了洗衣机、电烤箱等家电之后，中产渐渐不再需要佣人。仆人阶层因为技术进步而消失，他们中有些人的子女接受良好的教育，也进入了中产阶层，后者迅速壮大。但这些家电仍然需要人去操作，这通常落到了女性的肩头。作者家族中父母一代的女性在各领域大放异彩，有社会活动家、医院领导层、奥运银牌、飞行员、演员等，并且大多育有子女。但到了二十世纪后半叶，中产女性的这些社会成就显著减少。家电的发明，解放了仆人阶层，但束缚了妇女。作者认为总的来说社会是进步了，并寄希望于技术进步能再次解放妇女。
还有大量其他方面的论述，比如太空探测有探索宇宙和商业化这两个目标，航天飞机混淆了两个目标导致失败，等等，不一而足。站在作者的时代来看，可谓鞭辟入里。但也因此显得冗杂，长篇单口论述令人疲惫，削弱了可读性。
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 15, 2018
Um bom livro sobre tecnologia, mas um pouco envelhecido.
O autor é genial, levando-se em conta a idade do livro.
Aventura-se a fazer previsões, no século passado, a respeito de IA, Astronomia e alterações genéticas.
Mostra as formas de propulsão de foguetes na época e o custo alto para o homem aventurar-se em outros planetas, mas estima que em 2085 o homem enviará os primeiros colonos para outros astros.
Vale a leitura para ver que a IA que lograra derrotar Kasparov (Xadrez) dava seus passos incipientes e que áreas como Genoma penavam em contraste com a astronomia, posto que na biologia, poucos pesquisadores desenvolviam seu próprio software.
O autor é genial, levando-se em conta a idade do livro.
Aventura-se a fazer previsões, no século passado, a respeito de IA, Astronomia e alterações genéticas.
Mostra as formas de propulsão de foguetes na época e o custo alto para o homem aventurar-se em outros planetas, mas estima que em 2085 o homem enviará os primeiros colonos para outros astros.
Vale a leitura para ver que a IA que lograra derrotar Kasparov (Xadrez) dava seus passos incipientes e que áreas como Genoma penavam em contraste com a astronomia, posto que na biologia, poucos pesquisadores desenvolviam seu próprio software.
January 27, 2025
In my view, proteins serve as the platform, genes function as the network, and Earth (Gaia), composed of organic matter, operates as the system. Gene interactions, interspecies dynamics, neurotransmission signals, and neural networks in the brain can be seen as particles drifting at the molecular level. This book offers valuable insights into these concepts and is an excellent read for fostering innovation. Highly recommended!
December 8, 2019
Based on the title, you think the book would be pretty focused, but it ended up being about 100 pages of meandering from one topic to the next, covering whatever interested Dyson in the moment. That's still pretty cool, since Dyson has such interesting thoughts, but it didn't feel cohesive at all. It did feel vaguely inspirational, and made me feel good about science and the future.
April 2, 2024
Short reading. Its a collection of essays written awhile ago, so it was interesting to see the past opinions of the future by an expert. But it wasn't a very exciting read and some things were a bit too technical.
January 14, 2026
I was surprised by this book. I didn’t know what I was expecting. But it resonates with me how it talks about technology and our responsibility, to make sure that we reach a future that is good for all of us.
March 23, 2021
Review in English and Spanish / Reseña en Inglés y Español
____________________________________
[ENGLISH]
This is one of the few essays that I have read on the subject, it should be noted that although it is a fairly old book (1999) and that it is written from a point of view in which the author intuits what technological advance could be, It was interesting to realize that in many respects he was well on the way to being right on almost every point.
The fact of being a look at what technology and science were at that time and being able to compare it to today made its reading very interesting, in addition, it touched on topics that are very important in science; for example, the history of some pioneers in certain scientific areas, as well as their discoveries and the different points of view of scientists regarding the development of both theoretical and empirical science.
I think that although the book is outdated due to the date it was published, it is an excellent read to delve a little deeper into the scientific area and explore its past.
____________________________________
[ESPAÑOL]
Este es uno de los pocos ensayos que he leído de la temática, cabe destacar que si bien es un libro bastante viejo (1999) y que está escrito desde un punto de vista en el que el autor intuye lo que podría ser el avance tecnológico, fue interesante darse cuenta que en muchos aspectos estuvo bien encaminado a tener razón en casi todos los puntos expuestos.
El hecho de ser un vistazo a lo que era la tecnología y la ciencia en ese entonces y poder compararla a hoy en día hizo que su lectura fuera muy interesante, además, tocó temas que en la ciencia son muy importantes; por ejemplo, la historia de algunos pioneros en ciertas áreas científicas, así como sus descubrimientos y los diferentes puntos de vista de los centíficos en cuanto al desarrollo de la ciencia tanto teórica como empírica.
Creo que si bien el libro está desactualizado por la fecha en que fue publicado, es una excelente lectura para internarse un poco más en el área científica y explorar el pasado de la misma.
____________________________________
[ENGLISH]
This is one of the few essays that I have read on the subject, it should be noted that although it is a fairly old book (1999) and that it is written from a point of view in which the author intuits what technological advance could be, It was interesting to realize that in many respects he was well on the way to being right on almost every point.
The fact of being a look at what technology and science were at that time and being able to compare it to today made its reading very interesting, in addition, it touched on topics that are very important in science; for example, the history of some pioneers in certain scientific areas, as well as their discoveries and the different points of view of scientists regarding the development of both theoretical and empirical science.
I think that although the book is outdated due to the date it was published, it is an excellent read to delve a little deeper into the scientific area and explore its past.
____________________________________
[ESPAÑOL]
Este es uno de los pocos ensayos que he leído de la temática, cabe destacar que si bien es un libro bastante viejo (1999) y que está escrito desde un punto de vista en el que el autor intuye lo que podría ser el avance tecnológico, fue interesante darse cuenta que en muchos aspectos estuvo bien encaminado a tener razón en casi todos los puntos expuestos.
El hecho de ser un vistazo a lo que era la tecnología y la ciencia en ese entonces y poder compararla a hoy en día hizo que su lectura fuera muy interesante, además, tocó temas que en la ciencia son muy importantes; por ejemplo, la historia de algunos pioneros en ciertas áreas científicas, así como sus descubrimientos y los diferentes puntos de vista de los centíficos en cuanto al desarrollo de la ciencia tanto teórica como empírica.
Creo que si bien el libro está desactualizado por la fecha en que fue publicado, es una excelente lectura para internarse un poco más en el área científica y explorar el pasado de la misma.
September 7, 2009
This slim book has some of the finest science writing I've read yet. It elegantly and concisely talks about three complex scientific revolutions that will drive technology this century. A little dated since it came out 10 years ago but Dyson -- a friend of Feynman's and himself revered in the science community -- has a reverence for applicable science that makes it thrilling even to the lay person. His subtle (and not so subtle) lessons on the social impact of technology enrich the story further.
Eye-opener: Technology does not equal social justices for all. History may show technologies becoming famous for who it frees but not for whom it enslaves. One example, home appliances in the early-mid 1900s freed the servant class (allowing their next generation to go the college) while enslaving the educated, middle-class mom. Another example, Gutenberg's printing press = books = more schools = more students allowed to attend schools, freeing those who were confined to seeking knowledge in the monastery except women who weren't allowed in schools but now could no longer get a good education through the church.
Snoozer: The last 10 pages on "reprogenetics", i.e. Gattaca. Between the movie and further breakthroughs in cloning and stem cell therapy in the last decade, his contribution here is overdone and overscaled in terms of centuries where new species will be created based on our newfound ability for conscious selection. A little too much extrapolation for my taste.
Eye-opener: Technology does not equal social justices for all. History may show technologies becoming famous for who it frees but not for whom it enslaves. One example, home appliances in the early-mid 1900s freed the servant class (allowing their next generation to go the college) while enslaving the educated, middle-class mom. Another example, Gutenberg's printing press = books = more schools = more students allowed to attend schools, freeing those who were confined to seeking knowledge in the monastery except women who weren't allowed in schools but now could no longer get a good education through the church.
Snoozer: The last 10 pages on "reprogenetics", i.e. Gattaca. Between the movie and further breakthroughs in cloning and stem cell therapy in the last decade, his contribution here is overdone and overscaled in terms of centuries where new species will be created based on our newfound ability for conscious selection. A little too much extrapolation for my taste.
December 22, 2010
Another quick and engaging read. Basically a collection of lectures reformated into prose, this book lists a few of Dyson's predictions for the 21st century (it was published in 1999). Some of his predictions are spot on, like the success of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (which is in it's 3rd iteration now), some missed the mark slightly, like his prediction that the Human Genome project would take much longer than planned (it had it's first great success 2 years ahead of schedule), and some, mainly his predictions for the developments in genetic engineering around the end of the century, are quite wild, though theoretically plausible, so you never know. Dyson's own clear writing and direct admission that he, like most who attempt to predict the future, is likely wrong both make the more outlandish prediction go down smoothly and make the whole thing enjoyable to read.
February 5, 2013
It is a short read, only 118 pages, informative, and easy to understand. Published in the year 1999, the author/scientist gives realistic hope, relevant to this day, as to the advancement of society and technology as a whole. Freeman J. Dyson does seem very well grounded in the aspects of solar energy, and has some interesting views on space expeditions, including very frozen fish circling Saturn. In my opinion, the book has a good amount of thought provoking insight.
Read
May 1, 2009The Sun, the Genome, and the Internet: Tools of Scientific Revolutions by Freeman J. Dyson (2000)
December 11, 2009
Dyson Freeman really thinks out of the box and aiming at practical advances in technologies for humanity.
Read
April 14, 2012Great book. I think Dyson would revisit some of his assertions in light of new developments.
July 2, 2012
It was good, relatively interesting perspective, but a bit dated by now.
September 9, 2012
An imaginative journey of how solar energy, genetic engineering, and the internet are going to change the world we live in. (Published in 1999)
February 15, 2008
short and to the point. relevant stuff
Read
August 18, 2017This was interesting, but I ran out of steam halfway through. Declaring half-finished-book bankruptcy. :)
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