What the Future Looks Like: Scientists Predict the Next Great Discoveries - and Reveal How Today's Breakthroughs Are Already Shaping Our World

by Jim Al-Khalili (Editor)

Overview

Science fact, not science fiction, on the cutting–edge developments that are already changing the course of our future

Every day, scientists conduct pioneering experiments with the potential to transform how we live. Yet it isn’t every day you hear from the scientists themselves! Now, award–winning author Jim Al–Khalili and his team of top-notch experts explain how today’s earthshaking discoveries will shape our world tomorrow—and beyond.

Pull back the curtain on:

• genomics
• robotics
• AI
• the “Internet of Things”
• synthetic biology
• transhumanism
• interstellar travel
• colonization of the solar system
• teleportation
• and much more

And find insight into big–picture questions such as:

Will we find a cure to all diseases? The answer to climate change? And will bionics one day turn us into superheroes?

The scientists in these pages are interested only in the truth—reality–based and speculation–free. The future they conjure is by turns tantalizing and sobering: There’s plenty to look forward to, but also plenty to dread. And undoubtedly the best way to for us to face tomorrow’s greatest challenges is to learn what the future looks like—today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781615194704
Publisher:	The Experiment, LLC
Publication date:	04/17/2018
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	1,101,581
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Theoretical physicist, author, and broadcaster Jim Al–Khalili’s numerous other books include Quantum and Paradox. In 2016 he received the inaugural Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication.

Table of Contents

Introduction Jim Al-Khalili 7

The Future Of Our Planet: Demographics, conservation, and climate change

1 Demographics Philip Ball 12

2 The biosphere Gaia Vince 25

3 Climate change Julia Slingo 37

The Future Of Us: Medicine, genetics, and transhumanism

4 The future of medicine Adam Kucharski 52

5 Genomics and genetic engineering Aarathi Prasad 63

6 Synthetic biology Adam Rutherford 75

7 Transhumanism Mark Walker 85

The Future Online: AI, quantum computing, and the internet

8 The Cloud and "Internet of Things" Naomi Climer 100

9 Cybersecurity Alan Woodward 111

10 Artificial intelligence Margaret A. Boden 122

11 Quantum computing Winfried K. Hensinger 133

Making The Future: Engineering, transportation, and energy

12 Smart materials Anna Ploszajski 146

13 Energy Jeff Hardy 156

14 Transportation John Miles 168

15 Robotics Noel Sharkey 178

The Far Future: Time travel, the apocalypse, and living in space

16 Interstellar travel and colonizing the solar system Louisa Preston 190

17 Apocalypse Lewis Dartnell 203

18 Teleportation and time travel Jim Al-Khalili 215

Further reading 225

About the authors 228

Index 235

Editorial Reviews

"The predictions and impacts are global. . . [and] the book contains far more fascinating information than can be covered in this review."

Choice

"This book is filled with essays from experts offering their informed opinions on what the science and technology of today will look like in the future, from smart materials to artificial intelligence to genetic editing."

Popular Science

"Fun is an understatement. This is a great collection to get the summer book season started."

Forbes.com

"In this collection, eminent writers flesh out the future of science and technology, from genomics to robotics to synthetic biology."

The New York Times Book Review

"A collection of mind-boggling essays that are just the thing for firing up your brain cells."

Saga Magazine

In this collection, eminent writers flesh out the future of science and technology, from genomics to robotics to synthetic biology.” —The New York Times Book Review

“The predictions and impacts are global. . . [and] the book contains far more fascinating information than can be covered in this review.”—Choice

“This book is filled with essays from experts offering their informed opinions on what the science and technology of today will look like in the future, from smart materials to artificial intelligence to genetic editing.”—Popular Science

“Fun is an understatement. This is a great collection to get the summer book season started.”—Forbes.com

“The focus on sincere, factual presentation of current and future possibilities by leading experts is particularly welcome in this era of fake news and anti-science rhetoric.” —Library Journal

“Covers an array of cutting-edge scientific developments and attempts to solve intractable problems. Al-Khalili's team of experts discusses genomics, robotics, interstellar travel, and more.”—Publishers Weekly

“A collection of mind-boggling essays that are just the thing for firing up your brain cells.”—Saga Magazine

From the Publisher

04/01/2018
This collection of essays edited by quantum physicist Al-Khalili (Paradox: The Nine Greatest Enigmas in Physics) focuses on domain futurology; where discoveries in rapidly changing industries appear to be taking us. The contributors consider both the promises and perils of new discoveries in their respective fields, from biology to energy, demography to genomics. The increasing overlap among these fields, and the complexity and rate of change within them, make accurate long-term predictions extremely difficult. Several chapters, such as those on cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and transport are intensely topical and describe environments that have recently exploded into the public consciousness following various technological synergies. Other chapters, such as those on climate change and apocalypses, explore preexisting existential threats that are no less worthy of coverage despite their greater familiarity. VERDICT The focus on sincere, factual presentation of current and future possibilities by leading experts is particularly welcome in this era of fake news and anti-science rhetoric. Younger readers surveying career options in the sciences will find much inspiration here, while the most widely read science generalists will be sure to learn something new.—Ricardo Laskaris, York Univ. Lib., Toronto

Library Journal