Saturday, April 19, 2008

I Wish I Were Going to be Around for This Stuff

Teleportation and forcefields possible within decades, says Professor Michio Kaku - Telegraph: "Teleportation and forcefields could become scientific realities within decades, and time travel will also be possible in the future, according to one of the world's leading physicists.

Professor Michio Kaku of City University in New York has studied a range of scientific 'impossibilities' and concluded that most will almost certainly be achieved as our knowledge expands.

Applying the rule that unless something breaks a law of physics 'then it's not only possible, it is sure to be built someday', Prof Kaku has established a hierarchy of 'impossibilities', separating those phenomena that are sure to remain science fiction from those which are likely to become reality at some point in the future.

Teleportation, telepathy, forcefields and invisibility are Class 1 impossibilities, meaning they are likely to be realisable within a few decades or at most a century."

10 comments:

Doc Quatermass said...

How exciting! I almost crashed my flying car when I got this over the videoscreen. I'm skeptical of the decades prediction.

One futurist some years back predicted that with cell phones, fax machines, and portable computers as ways to stay in touch with the office, doctors would begin making house calls. Yeah right. Only if doctors are androids or holograms. Another predicted the human hand would evolve to favor the thumb in pushbutton technology. I think voice activated technology will outstrip the slowness of human evolution.

"Ay, caramba!" There's a fly in my teleportation chamber!" BZZZZZZZ...

Unknown said...

I'm skeptical, too, but even decades is too long for me, I'm afraid.

Joan Reeves said...

Sign me up for the teleporting package. I can imagine the commercials: "Can you see me now?"

Anonymous said...

Bill, given life expectations these years, even given all the glum events among family and friends (some of whom are, after all, dealing with stuff that was impossible to survive not too long ago)...you might not be gone too early. Perhaps we'll see.

Unknown said...

Well, if it's merely decades, I might have a chance, but, like Doc, I'm skeptical of that.

Doc Quatermass said...

> I can imagine the commercials: "Can > you see me now?"

Good one.

I have several tomes on the future as it was perceived/hoped to be by those in the first half of the last century and hope to some day do a book on it myself. I've joked for years with my doctors about "when are they going to have tricorders like on Star Trek to scan me and actually know what's wrong with me?"

http://www.news.com/Researchers-make-tricorder-a-reality%2C-sort-of/2100-11395_3-6162786.html

From my Sig Quote Graveyard:

"For a list of all the ways technology has failed to improve the quality of life, please press 3." ~ Alice Kahn

I have always wished that my computer would be as easy to use as my telephone. My wish has come true. I no longer know how to use my telephone. ~ Bjarne Stroustrup, computer science professor, designer of C++ programming language (1950- )

The more people are reached by mass communication, the less they communicate with each other. ~ Marya Mannes


Correct me if I'm wrong - the gizmo is connected to the flingflang connected to the watzis, watzis connected to the doo-dad connected to the ding dong. ~ Patrick B. Oliphant


There are three roads to ruin; women, gambling and technicians. The most pleasant is with women, the quickest is with gambling, but the surest is with technicians. ~ Georges Pompidou

Before we work on artificial intelligence why don't we do something about natural stupidity? ~ Steve Polyak

Joan Reeves said...

Love the quotes, Doc. How about what Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM, 1943 said: I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.

I'm waiting for the day when the promise of the 3-day work week materializes. I saw that in a Disney program in the 1960s.

Doc Quatermass said...

Remember the promise of the paperless office.

*****

640K ought to be enough for anybody. ~ Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, 1981

Computers save time like kudzu prevents soil erosion. ~ Al Castanoli

I find sitting at a specially equipped desk in front of some pretty ugly plastics and staring at a little window is a very unnatural event. ~ Harold Hambrose

There are only two enterprises that refer to their customers as users, and one is illegal. ~ Michael Hammer

Joan Reeves said...

Back at you, Doc! Popular Mechanics Magazine, 1949:
Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.

Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM commenting on the microchip, 1968: But what is it good for?

Ken Olson, Pres. & Founder of Digital Development Corp. 1977: There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.

Doc Quatermass said...

Good ones, Joan

A New York Times editorial sometime back in the early part of the the last century declared man setting foot on the moon an impossibility.

''I was promised flying cars. I don't see any flying cars! Why?'' ~ Avery Brooks

*****

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/computer.asp

http://www.philcooke.com/forecasts