Which Of These Science Ideas Will Change Our World Most?

MessageToEagle | July 1, 2013 | Technology | No Comments

MessageToEagle.com – We live in world that is changing fast. If you are interested in science and technology, you often read about interesting futuristic ideas that could have a great impact on our world.

There is no doubt that all of these below mentioned ideas would change not only our planet, but also us as human beings. Our values and views of the environment would definitely become quite different, and one can wonder which of these science ideas will change the world most.

Escaping our planet and colonize an alien world

We are curious about the Universe. We want to learn about new planets, various astronomical objects and we keep wondering if we will ever encounter extraterrestrial species.

Putting our curiosity aside, there is a more important matter we should deal with, namely our own survival as a species.

In our article A Look Into The Future: Can Planet Earth Support 10 Billion People? we discussed how experts say we can solve Earth’s and humanity’s problems, but it seems that many people doubt the “massive behavior change” solution to be a realistic approach. We need something stronger, something more convincing.

Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking says that humanity is doomed. According to Hawking we have 1,000 years to leave Earth and colonize another planet.

“We must continue to go into space for humanity,” Hawking said at a medical conference in Los Angeles recently. “We won’t survive another 1,000 years without escaping our fragile planet,” he added.

“Spreading out into space will have an even greater effect. It will completely change the future of the human race and maybe determine whether we have any future at all,” Hawking said.

Becoming Immortal

There are several scientists who work on various immortality projects. Just recently, a group of scientists interested in studying the subject announced the Immortality Project at UC Riverside awards $2.4 million to study all aspects of eternal life.

There are scientists who want to upload your brain into a hologram to keep you alive forever, and there are also people who are willing to die in their quest for immortality. One of them is ‘ Kenneth Hayworth, neuroscientist at the Harvard University.

Ray Kurzweil, a leading American futurist has along with a number of other scientists suggested that humans could become immortal very soon. With help of nanotechnology, scientists believe we could not only extend our mental capacities but also, most important reverse ageing and ultimately live forever. According to Kurzweil biotechnology revolution will allow us, in the next 15 to 20 years, to reprogram our genes to resist both aging and disease. By mid-century, we may all be kept healthy and young by billions of nanorobots inside of our bodies. Ultimately will be able to live forever, Kurzweil predicts.

Computers will identify us by reading our thoughts

In the future you will only need to think your password, instead of typing your password, according to researchers at the UC Berkeley School of Information. For authentication, the computer must be able to accurately and consistently distinguish our brainwave patterns from someone else’s. But accuracy isn’t enough. If a system is a pain, people will refuse to use it, no matter how accurate it is.

Solving the energy crisis

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency “world leaders need to take action on the energy crisis that is taking shape before our eyes. Oil prices are soaring and it looks less and less likely that this is a bubble. The price of coal has doubled. Countries as far apart as South Africa and Tajikistan are plagued by power cuts and there have been riots in several nations because of disruptions to electricity. Rich states, no longer strangers to periodic blackouts, are worried about security of energy supply. In the developing world, 1.6 billion people- around a quarter of the human race have no access to electricity.” The International Energy Agency (IEA) says the world’s energy needs could be 50% higher in 2030 than they are today.

One way of solving the problem is with help of commercial fusion reactors which Dr. Michio Kaku believes we could have by 2030 or 2040. Fusion is the power of the sun, the possibility of using ordinary seawater to create unlimited amounts of energy due to thermonuclear reactions on the Planet Earth.

Such fusion reactors “are going to be gigantic objects that consume tremendous amounts of seawater, purify the seawater by extracting certain chemicals from the seawater, fusing the tritium deuterium to create electricity and the electricity than goes in to your fuel cell, goes into your electric battery to energize modern society. So this is the hot fusion approach,” Dr. Kaku explains.

What is most important to planet Earth?