The Future of Humanity: Terraforming Mars, Interstellar Travel, Immortality, and Our Destiny Beyond Earth

by Michio Kaku

Geneticists have noticed the curious fact that any two humans have almost identical DNA. By contrast, any two chimpanzees can have more genetic variation between them than is found in the entire human population. Mathematically, one theory to explain this phenomenon is to assume that, at the time of the explosion, most humans were wiped out, leaving only a handful of us—about two thousand people.

Perhaps our fate is to become a multiplanet species that lives among the stars.

History reveals that scientific revolutions come in waves, often stimulated by advances in physics.

In other words, our destiny is to become the gods that we once feared and worshipped. Science will give us the means by which we can shape the universe in our image. The question is whether we will have the wisdom of Solomon to accompany this vast celestial power.

By 1966, an astounding 5.5 percent of the U.S. federal budget was going into the lunar program.

even on a normal plane ride across the United States, we receive an extra millirem of radiation per hour in the jet—the equivalent of a dental X-ray every time we take a cross-country flight.

In time, settlers on Titan might begin to feel emotionally and physically distinct from their earthbound counterparts and might even prefer to sever all social ties.

A four-year-old child intuitively knows more about the physics, biology, and chemistry of the world than the most advanced computer.

The problem of killer robots can largely be eliminated by preventing anyone from programming them to have objectives harmful to humans.