Visions : sub-section titles

Visions

• CONTENTS
• PREFACE
• Hide LevelPART ONE— VISIONS
  • Hide Level1— Choreographers of Matter, Life, and Intelligence
    • Emerging Consensus Among Scientists
    • Hide LevelThe Three Pillars of Science
      • The Quantum Revolution
      • The Computer Revolution
      • The Biomolecular Revolution
    • From Passive Bystanders to Active Choreographers of Nature
    • From Reductionism to Synergy
    • The Wealth of Nations
    • Hide LevelTime Frames for the Future
      • To The Year 2020
      • From 2020 To 2050
      • From 2050 To 2100 And Beyond
    • Toward a Planetary Civilization
• Hide LevelPART TWO— THE COMPUTER REVOLUTION
  • Hide Level2— The Invisible Computer
    • The Disappearing PC
    • Three Phases of Computing
    • The Third Phase and Beyond
    • Moore's Law
    • What Drives Moore's Law?
    • Sensors and the Invisible Computer
    • The Smart Office and Home of the Future
    • The MIT Media Lab
    • Wearable Computers
    • The Smart Room
    • Smart Cards, Digital Money, and Cyber Cash
    • Smart Cars
    • Virtual Reality and Cyber Science
    • Doomed by the Point One Limit?
  • Hide Level3— The Intelligent Planet
    • Why No Policeman on the Block?
    • How the Internet and Other Technologies Came About
    • The Mother of All Nets
    • The Historical Significance of the Internet
    • To 2020: How the Internet Will Shape Our Lives
    • Bottlenecks on the Internet
    • The Merger of TV and the Internet
    • Wall Screens
    • Speech Recognition
    • From the Present to 2020: Intelligent Agents
    • 2020–2050: Games and Expert Systems
    • Common Sense is Not So Common
    • The Encyclopedia of Common Sense
    • Hide LevelA "Week in the Life" in 2020
      • 6:30 A.M. June 1, 2020
      • 4 P.M.
      • Evening
      • Midnight, Wednesday
      • Thursday night
      • Saturday night
    • Conclusion
  • Hide Level4— Machines That Think
    • Creating the Future
    • Cross-Fertilization of the Three Revolutions
    • Preprogrammed Robots
    • From 2020 to 2050: Robotics and the Brain
    • Talking Robots
    • Robotics Meets Quantum Physics
    • What are Dreams?
    • Cog
    • Can Robots Feel?
    • Beyond 2050: Robot Consciousness
    • Degrees of Consciousness
  • Hide Level5— Beyond Silicon Cyborgs and the Ultimate Computer
    • Into the Third Dimension
    • Beyond 2020: Optical Computers
    • Holographic Memory
    • DNA Computers
    • Beyond 2020: Quantum Transistors
    • The Ultimate Computer
    • Beyond 2050
    • Bionics
    • Merging Mind and Machine
    • The Distant Future: Growing Cyborgs in the Lab
  • Hide Level6— Second Thoughts Will Humans Become Obsolete?
    • Eavesdropping on the Internet
    • Roadkill on the Information Highway
    • Jobs Which Will Flourish
    • Industries Which Will Change—or Die
    • Winners and Losers
    • Increase the Pie
    • What Creates Wealth in the Twenty-first Century?
    • Robotic Dangers: Self-aware Robots
    • Robots as Killing Machines
    • Robots That Go Mad
    • Can Three Laws Protect Us?
• Hide LevelPART THREE— THE BIOMOLECULAR REVOLUTION
  • Hide Level7— Personal DNA Codes
    • Mapping the Human Genome
    • Predictions for the Future
    • Molecular Medicine
    • What is Life?
    • From Quantum Physics to DNA
    • Reading the Code of Life
    • Of Microbes, Mice, and Men
    • The Human Family Tree
    • DNA Testing
    • Crime, Punishment, and DNA
    • Synergy Between Computers and DNA Research
    • The Birth of a New Science: Computational Biology
    • DNA on a Chip
    • Post-Genome Era: From 2020 to 2050
  • Hide Level8— Conquering Cancer—Fixing Our Genes
    • The Father of Gene Therapy
    • Three Stages in Medicine
    • The Scourge of Cancer
    • A Unified Theory of Cancer
    • P-53: The Key to Most Cancers
    • Telomeres: The "Fuse" for Cancer
    • Cancer in 2020
    • Hereditary Diseases: Ancient Scourge
    • How Hereditary Diseases Have Altered History
    • From Now to 2010: Gene Hunting
    • The Final Frontier: SCIDS
    • From 2020 to 2050: Polygenic Diseases
    • From 2020 to 2050: Germ-Line Therapy?
  • Hide Level9— Molecular Medicine and the Mind/Body Link
    • Molecular Medicine Through 2020: Eliminating Killer Viruses
    • The Origins of Viruses
    • HIV: Paradigm for the Twenty-first Century
    • Computers and the AIDS Family Tree
    • Unraveling the AIDS Genome
    • New Microbes
    • Too Much of a Good Thing
    • Designer Molecules
    • Of Molecules and Mystics
    • Mind/Body Link
    • Imaging Devices in the Twenty-first Century
  • Hide Level10— To Live Forever?
    • The Search for the Fountain of Youth
    • Animals That Are "Immortal"
    • How Old Was Juliet?
    • The Physics of Aging
    • Aging: You're Just Getting Rusty
    • From the Present to 2020: Hormones, the Elixir of Life?
    • Cancer and Aging
    • Long Shots
    • Beyond 2020: It's All in Our Genes
    • Reversing Aging: From Animals to Humans
    • How Long Can We Live?
    • Aging Research from 2020 to 2050
    • You Aren't What You Eat: The Caloric Theory
    • From 2020 to 2050: Growing New Organs
  • Hide Level11— Playing God Designer Children and Clones
    • Manipulating the Genes of Animals and Plants
    • To 2020: Transgenic Animals and Plants
    • Clones
    • Beyond 2020: Polygenic Traits
    • Hide Level2020 to 2050: Designer Children?
      • Genes For Body Shape
      • Genes For the Face and Scalp
      • Genes for Behavior
    • Beyond 2050
    • Master Genes for the Eye
    • "Master Architects" for the Body
    • Beyond 2050: Angels in America
  • Hide Level12— Second Thoughts The Genetics of a Brave New World?
    • Nuclear Energy vs. Genetic Revolution
    • You Can't Recall a Crop
    • "Who Owns the Genome?"
    • Genes and Privacy
    • Are Genes Us?
    • After 2020: Manipulating Our Germ Line?
    • To Clone a Human
    • The Eugenics Movement
    • Biological Warfare
    • Legislating the Genome
• Hide LevelPART FOUR— THE QUANTUM REVOLUTION
  • Hide Level13— The Quantum Future
    • Nanotechnology: Molecular Machines
    • From Now to 2020: MEMS
    • 2020 to 2050: Building Molecular Machines
    • Room Temperature Superconductors: The Holy Grail
    • Maglev Trains
    • Fusion: Harnessing a Piece of the Sun
    • Fusion Versus Fission
    • Breeders and Terrorism
    • Here Comes the Sun
    • The Electric/Hybrid Car
    • The Next Generation of Lasers
    • Beyond 2100: Antimatter Engines
    • Hide LevelDefying the Known Laws of Physics
      • Portable Ray Guns
      • Force Fields
      • Transporters and Replicators
      • Invisibility
  • Hide Level14— To Reach for the Stars
    • From Now to 2020
    • Mars: The Frozen Desert
    • The Space Station in 2002
    • X-33: Workhorse of the Twenty-first Century
    • The Orient Express
    • From 2020 to 2050
    • Extra-Solar Planets in Space
    • Finding Earth-like Planets in Space
    • Creating a Garden of Eden in Space
    • Beyond 2050: To Build a Starship
    • Nuclear Pulsed Rocket
    • Photonic Engines and Sails
    • Suspended Animation
    • Beyond 2100: Our Place Among the Stars
    • Cosmic Collisions
    • To Die in Fire and Ice
    • Aliens from Space
    • Will They Look Like Us?
  • Hide Level15— Toward a Planetary Civilization
    • Dangers Faced by Type 0 Civilizations
    • Type I: A Planetary Civilization
    • Type II Civilizations: Invulnerable to Any Natural Disaster
    • Type III Civilizations: Conquering the Galaxy
    • Toward a Planetary Civilization
    • Planetary Collapse
    • Population Explosion vs. Diminishing Resources
    • Reversing the Great Diaspora
    • The End of the Era of Nations?
    • The Rise of the Middle Class
    • De Facto Planetary Language and Culture
  • Hide Level16— Masters of Space and Time
    • Matter. Life. The Mind.
    • The Fourth Pillar: Space-Time
    • Black Holes and Wormholes
    • Time Travel
    • Problems with Wormholes and Time Machines
    • Toward a Theory of Everything
    • Two Polar Opposites
    • Superstrings
    • The Tenth Dimension
    • What Happened Before the Big Bang?
    • The Multiverse
    • The Distant Future: The Fate of the Universe
    • Conclusion
• Hide LevelNOTES
  • Chapter 1— Choreographers of Matter, Life, and Intelligence
  • Chapter 2— The Invisible Computer
  • Chapter 3— The Intelligent Planet
  • Chapter 4— Machines That Think
  • Chapter 5— Beyond Silicon: Cyborgs and the Ultimate Computer
  • Chapter 6— Second Thoughts: Will Humans Become Obsolete?
  • Chapter 7— Personal DNA Codes
  • Chapter 8— Conquering Cancer—Fixing Our Genes
  • Chapter 9— Molecular Medicine and the Mind/Body Link
  • Chapter 10— To Live Forever?
  • Chapter 11— Playing God: Designer Children and Clones
  • Chapter 12— Second Thoughts: The Genetics of Brave New World?
  • Chapter 13— The Quantum Future
  • Chapter 14— To Reach for the Stars
  • Chapter 15— Toward a Planetary Civilization
  • Chapter 16— Masters of Space and Time
• Hide LevelRECOMMENDED READING
  • Part One— The Computer Revolution
  • Part Two— The Biomolecular Revolution
  • Part Three— The Quantum Revolution
• Show LevelINDEX