Saturday, August 3, 2019

The Future of Humanity - Michio Kaku



   2018; 307 pages.  New Author? : Yes.  Full Title: The Future of Humanity: Our Destiny In The Universe.  Genres : Non-Fiction; Science; Cosmology.  Overall Rating : 9½*/10.

    There comes a time when you just have to pack things up and move.  We’re not talking about selling your house, we’re talking about leaving planet Earth at some point in the future.  It might be because of a nuclear holocaust, a plague, rising ocean levels, or an impending head-on collision with a killer asteroid.  Any of these scenarios could happen in the not-too-distant future.

    Relocating on the moon is a quick but futile answer, but Mars is a logical choice.  We’ll just get out the shovels, build space colonies, and terraform the climate there.  Alas, even that may not be the final solution.  Someday our sun will go supernova and scorch all the inner planets, including both Earth and Mars.

    We’ll then have to relocate to another solar system around some nearby star.  That’s a bigger undertaking, since the closest one is four light-years away and might not have any habitable planets for us.  Even worse, our Milky Way galaxy is on a course to crash into the neighboring Andromeda galaxy, so there may come a day when we might have to relocate to a different galaxy.

    Whew, we’re a long way from being able to do that, but even then we might not be done relocating. Someday our entire universe use up all its energy and just go dark and cold.  Then what?

    Let’s hope that by then we’ve figured out how to go hopping around to those parallel dimensions those quantum physicists having been telling us about.

What’s To Like...
    I read Origins, by Neil deGrasse Tyson a few months ago (reviewed here), which dealt with the chronological order of “births” in the Cosmos, in descending order of magnitude:  the Universe, the Milky Way Galaxy, our Sun, the Planets, and lastly life here on Earth.  In Michio Kaku’s The Future of Humanity that order is reversed, dealing with the “deaths” of each of those entities.  One hopes it is also in chronological order, since escaping each demise is an increasingly difficult technological challenge.

    The Future of Humanity is divided into three sections, namely:
        Part 1: Fleeing to other Planets (chapters 1-6)
        Part 2: Fleeing to Nearby Stars (chapters 7-9)
        Part 3: Fleeing to Faraway Stars and other Galaxies (chapters 10-14)

    The central premise of the book is that sooner or later humanity is going to be faced with every one of these emergencies.  To stay means to perish, and the author is too much of an optimist to resign us to that fate.  Each chapter starts with one or two relevant and witty quotes.  There are a couple diagrams and graphs scattered throughout the book, and a handy index in the back.

    Michio Kaku writes in an easy-to-understand style.  Even if you’re not an astrophysicist, you’ll be able to grasp what he’s talking about.  Numerous references to science fiction books, movies, and TV series help you visualize future technology.  But these are only cited if they are grounded in real-world physics.  If you’re hoping to be “beamed up” via a Star Trek transporter, you’ll be disappointed.

    The book is a treasure trove for all sorts of scientific trivia.  I learned the secret to living longer (caloric restriction), the mechanics of schizophrenia, and the multiple methods used to discover and examine planets revolving around distant stars.  String Theory is simplified to where it actually makes some sense, and the wonders of wormholes, anti-matter (we’ve already made some!), and graphene are detailed.  You’ll even learn what extraterrestrials are most likely to look like.  Take that, Fermi’s Paradox!

    We are obviously a long way from having the technology to do anything more than walk on the moon, but Michio Kaku gives you the most promising ways to accomplish the various astral journeys.  To achieve energy-efficient space flight, we can build “space elevators”.  To get to the nearest star, we can go “comet-hopping”.  To get to distant stars and other galaxies, we’ll probably use “nano-ships” and “transhumanism”.  The book details these and other options, giving the pros and cons of each.

Excerpts...
    Astronomers suspect that the Oort Cloud could extend as far as three light years from our solar system.  That is more than halfway to the nearest stars, the Centauri triple star system, which is slightly more than four light-years from Earth.  If we assume that the Centauri star system is also surrounded by a sphere of comets, then there might be a continuous trail of comets connecting it to Earth.  It may be possible to establish a series of refueling stations, outposts, and relay locations on a grand interstellar highway.  Instead of leaping to the next star in one jump, we might cultivate the more modest goal of “comet hopping” to the Centauri system.  This thoroughfare could become a cosmic Route 66(pg. 107)

    Unlike our sun the Milky Way galaxy will die in fire.  About four billion years from now, it will collide with Andromeda, the nearest spiral galaxy.  Andromeda is roughly twice the size of the Milky Way, so it will be a hostile takeover.  Computer simulations of the collision show that the two galaxies will enter a death dance as they orbit around each other.  Andromeda will rip off many of the arms of the Milky Way, dismembering it.  The black holes at the center of both galaxies will orbit around each other and finally collide, merging into a bigger black hole, and a new galaxy will emerge from the collision, a giant elliptical galaxy.  (pg. 295)

Killer asteroids are nature’s way of asking, “How’s that space program coming along?” (pg. 54 )
    It’s tough to come up with anything to quibble about in The Future of Humanity.  I still have trouble comprehending Quantum Mechanics, despite a section devoted to it near the end of this book.  Unfortunately, any solution to intergalactic travel is going to require using it.

    Similarly, Michio Kaku waxes philosophical when discussing hopping to a parallel dimension.  But let’s face it, trying to discuss the technology needed for that is kinda fruitless since we’re not even sure the multiverse exists.

    9½ Stars.  Overall, The Future of Humanity was a delightful read, detailing the “cosmic relocations” we might someday be forced to make, the technology needed to successfully make those moves, and the best-guess timetable to overcoming the astrophysical challenges.  Colleagues have been recommending Michio Kaku’s books to me for quite some time, and I'm bummed I didn't follow up on their recommendations sooner.  I was captivated by the author's effervescent optimism as well as his keen scientific insight.  I'll be reading more of his books in the near future..

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