What the Future Looks Like

Scientists Predict the Next Great Discoveries—and Reveal How Today’s Breakthroughs Are Already Shaping Our World

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Pub Date 17 Apr 2018 | Archive Date 01 May 2018
Experiment, The | The Experiment

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Description

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Science fact, not science fiction, features in this wide-ranging update from leading experts on the cutting-edge developments that are already defining our future lives and world

Every day, scientists alight on pioneering solutions that will define the future of life on this planet, yet it isn’t every day you hear about these discoveries straight from the scientists themselves. Now, award-winning science writer Jim Al-Khalili and his top-notch team of experts draw on their mastery of groundbreaking scientific research to predict what advancements will shape the future just around the corner and beyond.

Taking in genomics, robotics, AI, the “Internet of Things,” synthetic biology, interstellar travel, colonization of the solar system, and much more, What the Future Looks Like explores big-picture questions like: Will we find a cure to all diseases? The answer to climate change? And will bionics one day turn us into superheroes? Neither celebratory nor alarmist, here is entirely reality-based insight on the science-fueled future that is helping to solve intractable problems—and that’s already unfolding all around us.

This file is NOT currently available for Kindle. We apologize for any inconvenience. If you have difficulties with downloading, please email us for assistance or leave a note in lieu of a review...

Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781615194704
PRICE $14.95 (USD)
PAGES 240

Average rating from 16 members


Featured Reviews

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

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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".

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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.

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