10 things to take away from Physics of the Future
According to theoretical physicist Michio Kaku and other researchers, by the year 2100...
The Internet will be right before our eyes - Special contact lenses and glasses will allow images from the Internet be displayed directly on our retinas, filling our vision with semi-transparent blocks of information of just about anything.
Universal translators will greatly ease international communication - Two people will be able to communicate easily even though they are speaking two different languages - through these special lenses, glasses, and other devices, an ongoing conversation will be translated, word for word.
Cancer can be detected years before it strikes - Hundreds of hidden DNA sensors in our bathrooms will scan our bodies for signs of illness of any kind and can be treated immediately before becoming serious. Cancer cells can be detected and destroyed before a tumor forms.
Magnetism will be prevalent in our everyday lives - Cars will essentially hover on roads magnetized by superconductors and will require almost no fuel (in theory, a trip from New York to San Francisco for example, would take almost no energy - gasoline is used to overcome the friction of roads). Tiny supermagnets will also be placed in everyday objects and will allow them to move with minimal physical force.
We will be able to control objects simply by thinking - Tiny computer chips will be installed in just about every household object which would allow us to move and interact objects with our mind given special wires (think electrodes) that we would connect to our head. Examples of actions include: raising or lowering house temperature, rearranging furniture, or giving commands to house-keeping robots.
Robots are everywhere - Robots cooking breakfast, robots cleaning the house, robots greeting people at stores, robots repairing the infrastructure of cities, robots exploring the moon; menial tasks such as these, that would pose danger to a human are relegated to robots. Robots however, would still be limited to their programming, and not develop an autonomous intelligence, at least by the end of the century.
Avatar (blue people) will be reality - Combining the last two points, we will be able to control robots or some kind of "avatar" that would be operating in deep sea, lunar environments, or any environment too dangerous for an unprotected human, while we control it with our bodies safely from an earth station on ground level.
The Space Elevator will be constructed - Tens of thousands of miles from earth into space, the space elevator would ease satellite construction and would even be allowed for use by tourists.
Holograms will allow one to be at two places at once - If you can't make it to the office for a meeting, no problem - you can represent yourself holographically (example).
People will be living on Mars - Space exploration would still be relatively costly, but humans will eventually explore beyond the solar system and colonize the nearby planets. The majority of humans will stay on earth however, something not projected to change for centuries to come.
Many more changes will affect humanity, but there are some things, such as culture and tradition, that will stay the same.
