There are two ways to see the future, as science fiction or science facts. The book is a series of essays that try to predict the future with scientific facts we know today, the trends that already exist and the new doors that they will open.

The essays range from the near future to the very distant one, and are divided by themes:
• The future of our Planet
• The future of us
• The future online
• Making the Future
• The distant future


These new technologies will allow us to live in a different way, but will also change our social norms and patterns. This is why sometimes its impact is difficult to predict.


We need to know the difference between the needs of someone who lives in a metropolis and someone who lives in rural areas. After all, greater interconnectivity does not imply greater inclusion. And although the internet has opened access to information and democratized it, it also has the potential to do just the opposite: isolate ourselves in our groups and tribes, and amplify our prejudices and preconceived ideas such as confirmation bias or polarization bias. .

The truth is that before social networks and smartphones we had not realized how narcissistic we were and how much we need to escape from our reality; how much we hated opinions contrary to ours and how nasty anonymity could turn us when we attacked someone.

#WhatTheFutureLooksLike #NetGalley

Jim collects a very interesting collection of solution for the main issues that humanity will face in now and in the future. The solutions are presented as a realistic perspective and creative perspective of these challenges of the modernity. In addition to these elements, the author provides additional reading and good documentation to support the chapters. Excellent choice to use for Philosophy classes especially Ethics.

I wouldn't mind seeing this being included as compulsive reading at schools, given the insight into the incredible advancement in technology, the rate it grows, and how it continuously aids is in our daily lives. What The Future Looks Like is an exceptional study piece for anyone even remotely interested in being at the frontlines of what's going on in the world other than politics.

This was an interesting book. The views on the future were thought out, argued and presented in an beautiful manner. I especially loved the diversity in the presenters, it is not often one find an almost equal amount of male and female researchers in a book like this.
If you have an interest in how the future might look like in different fields, take a look at this book. What "scares" and intrigues me the most is how near we are to the science fiction future.

This is an interesting collection of essays if you want a realistic look at where science and technology will likely take us in the next 20-50 years and beyond. A lot of it is nothing new if you've been paying attention, however, it's comprehensive: climate change, medical advancements, and even time travel.

<i>Thanks to NetGalley and The Experiment for a digital ARC. All views are my own.</i>

WHAT THE FUTURE LOOKS LIKE

It’s always fun to prognosticate about the future. This is especially true for science and technology, and how the two are poised to shape the world of tomorrow. What the Future Looks Like, a compendium of essays edited by Jim Al-Khalili, describes the possible futures that may lie in store given current trends in science and technology.

The book is divided into five possible futures, each containing chapters authored by a writer steeped in much of the literature pertaining to the topic at hand:

- The Future of our Planet: in which the effects that demographic trends, the changing biosphere, and climate change will have for life on earth are explored.

- The Future of Us: which considers the future of medicine, genomics and genetic engineering, synthetic biology, and transhumanism.

- The Future Online: containing essays on cloud computing and the Internet of Things, cyber security, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing.

- Making the Future: exploring the possibilities that lie ahead in the energy and transport sectors, not to mention those owing to breakthroughs in smart materials and robotics.

- The Far Future: in which the exciting prospect of interstellar travel, the bleak possibility of worldwide apocalypse, and the always alluring idea of teleportation and time travel are given due attention.

Admittedly, there is some degree of variability in how the chapters are written given that each is the work of a different contributor, not to mention the fact that some topics are inherently easy to grasp (like the fact that it’s possible to insert the entire works of Shakespeare–and similar messages–into someone’s DNA; the latter is just code, after all) than others (like quantum mechanics, for obvious reasons). Nevertheless, for the science-oriented, What the Future Looks Like serves not just to whet the palate for what may lie ahead but also to present the current state of knowledge and research on a variety of interesting topics.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

The book is a collection of different essays written by several authors. It focuses on how the future of humanity might look like in terms of technological advances. The future here is not only the near future but also the not so near one. I liked that the book has not only focused on the bright sides of each advancement but on its drawbacks as well. I found it also interesting to read about what will happen (Apocalypse) if things go wrong and not as planned.

The book is divided into sections like the future of our planet in terms of climate changes, demographics, and biosphere. Then there is the future of humanity and our survival in terms of genetic engineering, medicines, and transhumanism. Then it focuses on the future of the internet and how it will affect us and our world when there will be more use of cloud services and artificial intelligence.

I found the part about the future of transportation, advanced teleporting and time travel to be fascinating a lot but personally, I don't see that happening even in the long run, but who knows what will happen?

There are lots of new information I gained from reading this book but as a tech-savvy, I also found many things discussed here I already knew. So how might this book benefit you in looking into the future will depend on your current knowledge. Nevertheless, this was an interesting read overall.

I have read an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. The book is set to release in April 2018.

A great general science non-fiction guide for general audiences with words and sentences that are easy to read and comprehend, covering upcoming technology, and written by experts in their respective fields. "New technologies have a way of bettering our lives in ways we cannot anticipate. There is no convincing demonstrated reason to believe that our evolving future will be worse than our present" The book covers topics from climate change to Happy Pills and reminds us that "genes are not destiny".

This is a rather interesting book to read. There are also several chapters that are from women scientists. As I'm someone that enjoys science, I decided to give this book a try. I definitely enjoyed reading this. It has a lot of interesting parts.

Fun, thought provoking and wide ranging read on what we may have in store in the near and not so near future.

Risky Business

When I was born, the five biggest cities were New York, Tokyo, London, Osaka and Paris. Today, they are Tokyo, Delhi, Mexico, Shanghai and Sao Paulo. No one predicted that. Soon Mumbai and Beijing will displace the laggards. The point is, how do we justify predicting the future? Meaning, beyond simply The Jetsons? Jim Al-Kahlili’s collection of essays stabs at it from numerous angles. They are arranged from the inside out: microbiology, artificial intelligence, diminishing biodiversity, climate change, robotics, apocalypse, space travel, and time travel/teleportation.

For the most part, it is all reasonable and recognizable. Scientific breakthroughs are extrapolated and exploded, posing some possibilities for future exploits and exploitation. One of the recurring ideas is DNA as a replacement for digital ones and zeroes in a base eight system. The amount of data in DNA is staggering, and if we can adapt that to our computers, it will be an order of magnitude beyond anything we’re drooling over today.

The book is for a general audience, so even though its chapters come from various academics and PhDs, the words and sentences are easy to read and understand. It is what is now called accessible. This is fortunate, as many of the topics are not understood by anyone at all. How artificial intelligence programs result in the results they do is a mystery. Quantum physics is famous for being incomprehensible. Biochemistry is right in there, opening new vistas we never knew of. We don’t even have names for things biologists are discovering.

Of the 18 chapters, seven are by women scientists, the first time I have come across anything like a balanced presentation. That is as refreshing as the book itself.

David Wineberg

Like any great book about science I was left with even more awe and curiosity from when I started.

I really enjoyed ALIENS, Jim Al-Khalili's last edited essay collection. This wasn't as enticing for me, as I think a lot of the ideas were already discussed in the last collection - it was about the likelihood of meeting aliens, but covered a lot of futurism topics at the same time. I do love the references in these books though, and always find lots of interesting things to read that I might not have stumbled across. A great general science non-fiction guide that will be a brilliant christmas present to any budding scientists or science fans.