NationStates Jolt Archive

The Discovery Channel is currently airing 2057, a special on futurism. After the show, the associated website (http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/future-file/futurepast/futurepast.html) will be hosting a live chat with the host, Japanese-American physicist Michio Kaku (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michio_Kaku).

The chat starts at 11PM EST (4AM GMT). To join, click here (http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/2057/chat/livechat.html). Go ahead and ask all your burning questions about the future of... oh, whatever you can think of. :cool:

EDIT: System requirements are Internet Explorer 5.0 or Safari 1.2, but I'm trying it with Firefox now.

EDIT 2: What the shite? It asks you for an age, and it rejected me (I'm 18). Anybody else getting any luck?

THRICE: I tried with IE, and it rejected a birthday of Jan. 1, 1990. So, if you want to participate, put something really high.

(I may not be a futurist, but I know that silly age restrictions are not the direction we should be moving in. :rolleyes:)

We all know none of that will come about by 2057, and I only watched the commercials. The rate of development of technology may make it possible, but the interests of people, monetary interest of corporations, and disinterest,commitment, and technological acceptance of the governments cannot keep up.

The only thing I'm interested in is cybernetics and augmentation.

The only thing I'm interested in is cybernetics and augmentation.

Seconded, although self-aware machines and simulated reality are also important. Ideally, I plan to replace my biological parts over time and eventually just mind-transfer myself in to a computer or full-robotic body once it becomes possible.

Seconded, although self-aware machines and simulated reality are also important. Ideally, I plan to replace my biological parts over time and eventually just mind-transfer myself in to a computer or full-robotic body once it becomes possible.

I don't think that'll happen in our lifetime. But I hope for artificial organs. I mean, how hard can it be to make an artificial liver? It's just a glorified filter!

I don't think that'll happen in our lifetime. But I hope for artificial organs. I mean, how hard can it be to make an artificial liver? It's just a glorified filter!

I'd say in the next decade or so we'll see artificial forms of most major bodily organs, and in the years following that they'll move from strictly medical to augmentation purposes. Other things like mentally-controlled prosthetics will also become widely available in the same timeframe.

Other technologies, mainly nanotech stuff, is probably a while away still due to the fact that we're still at an early level of development.

Peak oil.

Peak oil.

Eh, we've faced worse.

Well, I hit the gold mine. I just kept bombarding the poor guy with questions, and managed to get three of them answered. Here's my transcript of the exchanges (a full transcript will be available on Discovery's website later in the week):

Rhaomi asks: How can American-style suburbia survive without cheap oil? Cities can use alternative energies, bit suburban sprawl and its economic model is dependent on a steady flow of petroleum.

Dr. Kaku: After WWII, the introduction of cheap oil created the suburbs and collapsed the inner city. However, in the future, if we have a hydrogen economy, then hydrogen will replace oil at the fas pumps or the refueling station. When the oil-fired car was first introduced, critics claimed that car accidents would engulf cars in flames, and that we would have to have a fas pump at every corner. The critics were horrified. Both horrible predictions have come to pass. The same applies to a hydrogen economy. Hydrogen is volatile and car accidents with hydrogen cars could be fatal. But we're used to that idea now, and we may have to have electric refueling pumps everywhere, but we already have that in an oil economy. So the suburbs will still exist, even if we gradually convert to a solar/hydrogen economy.

Rhaomi asks: Do you think humanity will ever be able to expand beyond Earth, to other planets or other star systems?

Dr. Kaku: [I didn't get to transcribe the first part; he said something about people not realizing that space travel is very expensive]. For instance, sending something into orbit costs $10,000 per pound. That is the cost of gold. Imagine John Glenn made out of solid gold, and you know the cost of putting John Glenn into orbit. Imagine all the astronauts made out of solid gold, including their spaceships, and then you understand why each shuttle mission costs half a billion dollars. To go to the moon would require several hundred thousand dollars per pound. To go to Mars would require several million dollars per pound. The space elevator, if it can be created, might reduce costs by a factor of 1000, making outer space accessible for the first time in history. But nobody knows for sure if we can crate a space elevator. I personally believe that in the future we should become a 2-planet species. We should inhabit Earth and another spare planet in case we botch up one of them. But this is centuries away. To terraform Mars would require hundreds of years of Martian exploration. So the colonization of outer space, I think, is inevitable but is centuries to millenia away.

Rhaomi asks: Do you think China will be able to survive its explosive economic, industrial, and population growth?

Dr. Kaku: Historically, one of the main problems of China is warlordism. Throughout Chinese history there has always been the Emporer, but many rebellions take place, creating chaos and warlordism. This is what the Chinese government fears the most. However, I think the current government is very wise to concentrate on economic development without beating their chests, without developing a superpowerful military. So far, the Chinese leadership has decided that peaceful methods and only a self-defense force is the best path toward modernization. But in the future, we face a problem and that is if ever Chinese wants to live like the Americans they see in Hollywood movies, it would put a vast strain on the resources of Earth. There are not enough hamburgers, french fries, oil, and automobiles for all the Chinese and the Indians to live like middle class Americans. Therefore, in the future, I think we have to reinforce the idea that developing nations and people in the developed world should conserve their resources and their energy or else we may exceed the carrying capacity of the planet Earth.

Anybody else try to participate?

EDIT: The final comment:

Discovery: Dr. Kaku, thank you for being here tonight, and for sharing your insights. Do you have any final comments to add, before we have to close?

Dr. Kaku: Our future is not yet written. We have within ourselves the democratic power to mould this technology in any way we desire. I am a scientist. We scientists create these wondrous technologies, hoping that they will elevate the human condition. However, ultimately it is the people who will decide how this technology is used and this will be done democratically. In the future, we will have the power of a Greek god - the power over life, the power to animate the inanimate, but will we have the wisdom of Solomon to go with the power of a god? This is where you, the audience, comes in. You will decide democratically how this technology will mature in the coming decades. This is your job.