The future is here.
(Read an excerpt fromPhysics of the Future.)
He spoke with theAARP Bulletinabout a few of the innovations that will revolutionize and extend our lives.
You say we will find evidence of extraterrestrial life in the next 50 years.
So when we look at the night sky, it makes sense that someone is looking back at us.
You also say that we’ll be able to listen in on their conversations.
Yes, we may be able to receive signals that have been sent our way.
Earth has only had radiotechnology for 50 years, so they will not hear us yet.
What else will we discover in outer space?
In the next 50 years we’ll find evidence of a parallel universe.
I believe we exist in a multiverse of universes.
There isa new satellite called LISAthat will pick up radiation from the instant of the big bang.
Many people think that our universe is a bubble of some sort.
So LISA may give us the first hard proof of the existence of other universes.
Let’s talk about space travel for us.
Will the cost go down?
A.Space tourism is coming pretty fast now.But it’s still expensive, $200,000 for a ticket.
It will go down.
If you want to go to the space station, it costs $20 million.
Space travel will be for the wealthy for a long time.
Until we get the space elevator.
Our grandkids may have that, later in the century.
You’ll go into an elevator, hit the up button, and go into outer space.
The key thing is nano-fibers, which will extend like Jack and the Beanstalk up to the heavens.
Centrifugal force will hold the stalk in place.
Day-to-day interactions with an animated doctor can be done via your rig screen on the bathroom wall.
Now, more delicate things like surgery and cancer treatment will need to be done at a hospital.
We’ll also have handheld MRI machines to analyze our bodies at home?
Yes, the tricorder medical scanners fromStar Trekwill be a reality very soon.
Soon they will bring it down to the size of a cellphone, called a tricorder.
We’ll be able to scan right inside your body.
How will cancer care change?
Both cancer treatment and cancer detection will be unrecognizable from today.
The word “tumor” will disappear from the English language.
Because we’ll treat cancer cells before they grow into a mass?
How will doctors treat these early cancers?
We’re now experimenting with what are called nanoparticles.
There are several different groups now experimenting with them.
In one study they were up to 90 percent effective against cancer cells.
And they leave healthy cells untouched?
