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Summary: Shallow and Boring - lacks Vision
Review: As a scientist working in some of the cutting edge technologies described in the book, I was totally bored reading it. It was a dredge moving from page to page. The science in it is accurate enough, but the author does little more than put blocks on top of each other and say "that's possible so it will happen." If you're into reading lengthy catalogues of neat gadgets, this book is fine. But if you're looking for vision, you won'
t find it here. For example, the book totally neglects the simple fact that the number one financial source driving present-day research is the military. Instead he paints a rosy world where deadly military applications don't exist, and all science is for the service of mankind. Unfortunately, thanks to the science he so much praises, the civilian world as we know it might not exist in 20 or 50 years.
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Summary: Futures without depth
Review: At first glance Kaku's depiction of humanity's future, resting upon the broad shoulders of science and technology, seems compelling. The science seems impressive enough to the layperson. Advances in computer technology, quantum physics and genetics will deliver a utopian future and rescue humanity from its current dilemmas, as long as we move beyond stage zero of Kaku's planetary evolutionary scale. Kaku dazzles us with depictions of a typical day in the not so distant future where ubiquitous computing will have us linked electronically to the information superhighway, and indeed the new global village. Starships will zoom out into the cosmos, leaving behind the long-forgotten hiccups of humanity's childhood. Yet any deeper examination of his work reveals its profound weaknesses. It is a world dominated by science and technology, Western and masculine values. Political, social and spiritual issues are glossed over or completely ignored as the broad sweep of the scientific sword lays to rest all resistance within the galaxy. In short it is little better than a neo-colonialist diatribe trumpeting the very values that have seen humanity bring itself to the verge of annihilation. The values are "progress", conquest, gadgets-for-everyone, the triumph of the machine, and the silencing of all feminine, non-western and neo-human voices. Man's essential dilemma at the birth of the new millennium is not technological and scientific. These at best reflect deeper psycho-spiritual imperatives. The real problem is the deep, spiritual, ontological malaise that has risen from the paucity of our mechanistic paradigm, which has high-jacked discourse at almost every level of society. Until we turn inward, the outward journey will continue to be one of control, power and conquest; the machine imperative. Kaku complains early in the book that a particular discussion of the future brought about by the New York Times Magazine made the incredible oversight of not consulting a single scientist. Even more incredible, Kaku has gone to the other extreme and created a vision of the future where all voices but those of scientists have been silenced. The result is a large shiny apple with a deeply rotten core. Kaku's vision cannot be a map for the future of humanity. It must not be. Science must be our servant, not our master. Visions is simply a projection of the society and education system that produced Kaku. At best Kaku's future can provide titillation, hedonism, amusement and intellectual gratification. At worst it will produce an alienation and nihilism so profound that humanity will self-destruct upon the soulless virtual worlds that it will surely create. ...
Rating: 
Summary: A great book about science and the future of the universe!
Review: Dr. Kaku has done a very good job on explaining the current state of the art in artificial intelligence, biotechnology and quantum physics in a concise manner. He envisions the potential development routes each area might take in the next century. The last part of the book was thrilling. The civilization types concept, superstrings and theory of everything, finally the time travel and wormholes are discussed. I could not put it down until I finished reading this part. Dr. Kaku's survey about science and future puts everything in a perspective. Great work.
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Summary: This book gives real hope for the future!
Review: Dr. Kaku picks up where Carl Sagan left off. He explains thevery cutting edge of the sciences in terms the lay-person canunderstand. Dr. Kaku interviewed over 150 top scientists in the three major fields that he believes are on the verge of making astounding advances in the next 100 years. The computer, biomolecular, and quantum physics areas are making progress so swiftly, that Dr. Kaku conciders each field to be making revolutionary strides for mankind! From "Artificial intelligence" to curing cancers by gene manipulation, stopping, and REVERSING the aging process, to traveling to other galaxies at near the speed of light, Dr. Kaku sprinkles each chapter with amazing scientific predictions that make you NOT want to put the book down! This book REALLY gives hope for the future, and makes you glad to be living in these exciting times. This book is a "must have" for your book- shelf, and the best gift you could give...HOPE!
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Summary: Informative
Review: I hate futuristic books. I don't like raw speculation. So this book, given to me as a gift, surprised me. Written by a reputable high energy physicist who's taken the trouble to understand details of ideas far afield from his own, the book is a gem, written like a scientific novel. In place of futuristic speculation we're presented with well-established ideas in highly readable form. The chapters on DNA and Cancer alone make the book worth reading. Other recommended, very readable, books providing more detail are "One Renegade Cell" and "Genome". An irritation: the author shoots half-heartedly from the hip against reductionism on pp. 10-12. The problem is that there is no falsifiable alternative to reductionism, or the isolation of cause and effect. So-called holism is a vague, not mathematically formulable notion. Holism in biology remains an empty hope. Schr?dinger explained in "What is Life" why evolution can only be understood at the molecular scale and never at the macroscopic scale. Every mathematical model that succeeds empirically is a form of reductionism. Quantum physics (including all of chemistry) reduces phenomena to atoms and molecules, cell biology reduces phenomena largely to genes and proteins, SOC (self organized criticality) hopes to reduce nature to sand grains and sandpiles, network enthusiasts hope to reduce phenomena to nodes and links (wait until they try to do dynamics empirically correctly...). Economics (beyond finance) so far has failed as scientific theory because it cannot find any suitable "invariant units" to build a theory on, human preferences having failed to do the job. Computerization and advances in biology (all via reductionism, by the way) do not and cannot change these facts. Let me state this challenge to the author and to other critics of reductionism: present us with something nonreductionist that is empirically correct. Until then, be pleased to restrain yourselves from purely speculative and totally unproductive criticism of science.
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Summary: a whirlwind tour of tomorrow's breathtaking technologies
Review: In "Visions," theoretical physicist Kaku describes the boundless new technologies that will become available in the next hundred years and beyond, in three general areas: computers and information technology, biotechnology, and fundamental physics. The ideas presented are based on extensive consultation with experts in a variety of fields, and are thrilling prospects that are as well grounded in current authority as might be expected in the dicey business of predicting the future flow of technological progress. The predictions on information technology detail ever more free-flowing information outlets and ubiquitous computerized devices. The predictions of biotechnology are perhaps the most exciting, offering a wide look at how much more advanced medicine will soon become in diagnosing and preventing cancers and other critical diseases years earlier than is possible now. Kaku describes how this will come about from the increasing understanding of the human genome and the application of electronic and information technology to biotechnology. Curiously, the third section, on fundamental physics, which actually is Kaku's area of expertise, seems the least imaginative and the most rushed. It's hard to give anything more than a cursory glance in going from coverage of current-day projects to considering warp drives, alien intelligences, and alternate universes in under 100 pages. This is made worse when Kaku stops firmly in the present to criticize nuclear power plants and the International Space Station. Overall, it's an authoritatively speculative look at these three areas of technological promise, although the format is a little strained. If you are unfamiliar with all of these areas and want a brief introduction to each, this is an ideal place to look. Despite Kaku's misgivings about a few technological choices, he is an effective evangelist for the faith in human understanding.
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Summary: Atom, Gene & Computer. Miracles of Science.
Review: In the first chapter, Dr. Kaku talks about an article in the New York Times magazine, in which writers, artists, professors, politicians were invited to talk about life in the twenty-first century. Amazingly, none of them were professional scientists. Incredible, how can any discussion of the future be without the involvement of scientists and engineers. Our whole future is based on science and technology. Scientists and engineers will create the future. For anyone who can graduate first in his class in Physics at Harvard University and who is co-originator of string theory has some brains. As we all knows, physics is the foundation science in which all sciences is based. The unification of the four forces of nature will ultimately lead to the "final theory" of science. Dr. Kaku in his professional work is one of the people trying to find the "final theory". In fact, Dr Kaku was inspired by the later works of Albert Einstein to find a unification theory for all the forces of nature. Hence, it is great Dr. Kaku has taken the time to write a book for the lay reader. The future can only be explained by a great scientist. This book is a great read and can be read in a day or two. The book is divided on three section. 1. The Computer Revolution. 2. The Biomoleculor Revolution 3. The Quantum Revolution. Computer has increased by a million fold since the first computers; a complete map of the human DNA is at hand. The Quantum theory has given us a detailed description of the atom. The quantum theory has given us electronics, semiconductors, lasers, etc. This is by no means a technical book or a treastise. It is a general discussion of the three revolutions in science. Dr. Kaku says it will give us the power of a God, in that we are able to manipulate the Gene and the Atom: the foundation of matter and the foundation of life. The Computer Revolution will give us unlimited Computing and Communicating powers. Atom, Gene, & Computers. Three great achievements of science. Only a professional scientists like Dr. Kaku is capable of discussing these matters. Visions is a great book by a great scientists. This is must buy for professional or laypersons interested in science.
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Summary: A Physicist Looks at the Future
Review: Superstring physicist Michio Kaku turns his eyes to the future, and sees many bright developments in the 21st century. What is really remarkable about this book is Kaku's ability to explain in a clear way how the Quantum revolution of the turn of the previous century has dramatically effected, or perhaps invented, the three great revolutions of the 20th century: computers, biotechnology, and quantum physics. Kaku is especially good in outlining his reasons for his view of the future; and gives pretty reasonable timelines for the achievement of certain goals. The book is easy for a layperson to read and understand, and gives a good overview of scientific development. Well worth reading, at times profound.
Rating:
Summary: High standard futurology.
Review: The author makes conjectures about the scientific developments we can expect in the 21th century, based on the quantum, the DNA and the computer revolution.
Some of his 'visions' have already become reality, like the bionic eye (chips implanted in the human eye).
Some visions are outlandish, like immortality (based on the work of Hans Moravec), or the time machine (a wormhole connecting two sets of Casimir plates).
The quantum and DNA revolution will be very positive for mankind, but the author is more sceptical for the computer revolution: the computer will give us more conveniences, prosperity and leisure, but ... it could give the opportunity for a totalitarian government to control totally the flow of information and the lives of its citizens (a big Big Brother).
Another big question: will there be a meteor or comet impact on earth in the foreseeable future? Not necessarily, but the author states '... there are 400 earth-crossing asteroids greater than one kilometer which definitely will hit the earth at some time in the future.' Happily, his vision is that there will not be an impact immediately, but perhaps within the next 300 years.
A must read for everybody concerned with the future of mankind.
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Summary: Quite a payload of food for thought
Review: The intriguing and "user friendly" personality that brought you Hyperspace (Michio Kaku) returns with a heavyweight in revolutionary scientific information. This book will leave you dizzy with concrete facts as well as potential possibilities throughout different areas of biology, technology, and physics. Geniously organized, this book begins by summarizing the different areas of science and their cross-influences, then opens up a whole new world in each respective subject. From artificial intelligence to genetics and (of course) a touch of quantum physics, this book will bring the tingling excitement of a fantastical future realistically close. With insights on economic growth and influences on society, this book shows that world of science fiction luxury and awe is not so far off at all. A great way to broaden your perspectives in one handy book.
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