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Michio Kaku – A History of a Time to Come

Science, Technology & the Future interviews Dr. Michio Kaku on Artificial Intelligence and the Singularity, Biotech and Nanotechnology

  • What is it that is driving this revolution?
  • How do you think your background in Theoretical Physics shape your view on the future of the mind?
  • Intelligence enhancement, Internet of the mind – brain-net, like a hive mind? Where are we at with AI?
  • Many AI experts and scientists agree that some time in the future a Singularity will be possible (often disagreeing about when). What are your thoughts on the Singularity?
  • What about advances in Nanotechnology?
  • Is the Sticky Fingers problem a show stopper?

I’m a physicist, but I realize there are two great mysteries in the universe: one in outer space and one in inner space. From outer space, we have the Big Bang—the creation of the universe. We want to know what banged, why it banged, and what happened before the Big Bang. That’s what I do for a living; that’s my day job.

However, there’s another mystery: inner space—what lurks inside the brain. Throughout human history, people have theorized about it, but it was impossible to record the inner workings of the brain until now. Because of physics, we can see thoughts moving right inside the brain, ricocheting like a ping-pong ball. We can record thoughts—things like telepathy (mind-reading), telekinesis (moving objects with the mind), and recording or even uploading memories. This was once considered science fiction, but now it’s reality. Because of physics, we can do all the above: attach the brain to machines and gain powers once reserved for wizards and sorcerers. We can move objects with the mind, record memories, and upload memories—all thanks to advances in physics.

In the last ten years, we’ve learned more about the brain than in all of human history combined. Right now, we’re in a situation where we look at previous theories of the brain and realize it was basically a black box. However, radio waves can go through the brain effortlessly, even as we speak—so why not use the power of electromagnetism to trace blood flow in the brain? That’s exactly what modern physics allows us to do. By measuring blood flow, we’re effectively mapping electrical activity in the brain.

For example, we know that to build a computer capable of simulating the brain, that computer would have to be the size of a city block, cooled by a river, and powered by a nuclear power plant. Yet your brain does it all with just 20 watts of power. So, when someone calls you a “dim bulb,” it’s actually a compliment—your 20-watt brain outperforms a vast network of supercomputers.


The Future of “Mental” Technology

Ten or twenty years from now, when you walk into a room, you’ll assume chips cost a penny. You’ll assume the word “computer” has disappeared from the English language because they’ll be everywhere yet invisible, integrated into our environment. You will communicate with them through the cloud—mentally. Simply by thinking, you’ll turn on the lights, set the thermostat, switch on the TV, and surf the web. If you want to type something, you’ll merely think, and the document will appear. You’ll call for your car, tell it where to go, and the car will drive itself. It will all happen effortlessly, by the power of the mind—telekinesis.

We already see glimpses of this future. We can hook up the brain to a laptop that controls mechanical arms or legs, giving someone an exoskeleton. My colleague, the late Stephen Hawking, was totally paralyzed, having lost control of nearly all his muscles. In his right lens, there was a chip connected to a computer, allowing him to communicate with the world. That same principle means exoskeletons could become commonplace. We might also have surrogates or avatars: robots controlled by the brain through a computer interface. This could be the future of the space program. It’s expensive to send humans into space, so why not put robots on the Moon that astronauts control mentally from their living rooms? This could revolutionize emergency work and space travel.


Robots and Artificial Intelligence

We once thought we’d have robot maids and butlers by now. We were wrong. The brain is incredibly sophisticated, with around 100 billion neurons (as many as there are stars in the Milky Way Galaxy), each connected to about 10,000 others. The number of connections is therefore 10,000 times 100 billion—a truly astronomical figure. In comparison, our most advanced robots have roughly the intelligence of a cockroach—a [__] cockroach, a low-level, fairly “stupid” one at that.

Still, it’s only a matter of time before robots become as intelligent as a mouse, then a rabbit, then a cat or a dog, and perhaps eventually a monkey. I believe that by the end of this century, we may have robots as smart as monkeys. At that point, we should consider placing a chip in their brains to shut them off if they develop murderous thoughts because a super-intelligent being could become dangerous. After all, if robots become truly super-smart, they might put us in zoos, throw peanuts at us, and make us dance behind bars. So, we need safeguards like an off-switch.

Could robots become smarter than us eventually? Yes, but not anytime soon. We will have decades to prepare. When that moment does come, I think we should merge with them. In a sense, we’ve been merging with technology for thousands of years—think of tattoos, makeup, and other ways ancient civilizations altered their bodies. Today, we have cochlear implants that restore hearing. Soon, there will be artificial retinas. We already have exoskeletons—mechanical arms and legs controlled by thought alone. We’ve even had monkeys in the United States controlling robot arms in Japan via the internet.

In the future, these “surrogates” could grant us superpowers, controlled mentally. That might be the next frontier for emergency workers and space programs—avatars with enhanced strength, agility, and responsiveness.

However, if robots become extremely intelligent, they could surpass us. We should think about merging with them. Of course, this will be done democratically—people will choose whether or not they want to merge with robotics and AI. Some are unsettled by the idea, imagining ugly implants sticking out of their heads like something from a sci-fi movie. But these enhancements could be microscopic, invisible to the naked eye. With nanotechnology, we might be able to boost the mind without any obvious signs.


Nanotechnology and the “Replicator”

The “Holy Grail” of nanotechnology is the replicator—the device you feed raw materials into, and out comes anything you desire. This idea is straight out of Star Trek. Some argue that the key to a replicator would be a “nanobot,” a microscopic robot that can cut atoms or molecules apart and rearrange them to form something else. You could take a glass, transform it into a dish, or take a pile of dishes and transform them into a table. It’s the power of a magician.

Is that physically possible? Some believe it’s asking too much of a nanobot. But Mother Nature has already done something similar: turning hamburgers and french fries into a baby in nine months. We call that process “life,” and it’s governed by ribosomes that cut and reassemble DNA and proteins with remarkable precision. That’s a molecular miracle. Re-engineering it in a laboratory, however, requires technology far beyond what we have today.

Some people imagine nanobots like tiny construction units—complete with pincers, blowtorches, or clippers—working on molecules at exact points. But at the atomic scale, quantum effects come into play. The position of atoms isn’t 100% certain, and there’s the “sticky fingers” or “fat fingers” problem, where the Casimir effect causes molecules to attract or repel at very small distances. So, the typical image of a nanobot cutting and welding at the atomic level might be unrealistic with current technology.

Still, I believe it’s theoretically possible within the laws of physics, but we’ve only been at it for a few decades. Mother Nature, by contrast, has had 3.5 billion years to perfect molecular machines. So don’t expect a full-blown replicator anytime soon—it may be possible eventually, but it’s going to take many long decades of research.


Looking at the Past to Predict the Future

To understand where we’re headed, take a look at the history of civilization. In the 1700s, long-distance communication meant yelling out the window. High-speed travel meant getting stuck in the mud with a horse and wagon—if you could afford a wagon at all. Then physicists discovered thermodynamics, learning how much energy could be extracted from coal. That gave us steam power, locomotives, and eventually the Industrial Revolution—crossing continents in days, something feudal societies never imagined.

In the 1800s, we harnessed electricity and magnetism, electrifying whole continents and igniting the Electric Age. In the last 50 years, quantum physicists gave us the transistor and the laser, which ushered in high technology: the space program, iPods, iPads, telecommunications, the internet, GPS—all from quantum physics.

So we’ve had three waves of innovation:

  1. Steam Power (Industrial Revolution)
  2. Electricity & Magnetism (Electrification of entire continents)
  3. High Tech from Quantum Physics (Transistors, lasers, the internet)

What’s the fourth wave for the rest of the 21st century? I believe it’s going to be a combination of molecular physics (nanotechnology), biotechnology (governed by the quantum mechanics of DNA and life), and artificial intelligence (as we learn to model and enhance neurons). These three molecular technologies will likely propel us into the future.


Michio is the author of many best sellers, most recently “the Future of the Mind” – We are entering a golden age of neuroscience – today it seems much of the discourse today seems to be it’s use in helping understand and treat mental illness (which is great) – though in the future, there will be other profound implications to understanding neuroscience – such as understanding the mechanics of intelligence…

Michio-Kaku-2014-06_24Michio Kaku’s Biography

Michio Kaku (born January 24, 1947) is an American theoretical physicist, the Henry Semat Professor of Theoretical Physics at the City College of New York, a futurist, and a communicator and popularizer of science. He has written several books about physics and related topics, has made frequent appearances on radio, television, and film, and writes extensive online blogs and articles. He has written three New York Times Best Sellers: Physics of the Impossible (2008), Physics of the Future (2011), and The Future of the Mind (2014).

Kaku is the author of various popular science books:
– Beyond Einstein: The Cosmic Quest for the Theory of the Universe (with Jennifer Thompson) (1987)
– Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the Tenth Dimension (1994)
– Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st Century[12] (1998)
– Einstein’s Cosmos: How Albert Einstein’s Vision Transformed Our Understanding of Space and Time (2004)
– Parallel Worlds: A Journey through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos (2004)
– Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel (2008)
– Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100 (2011)
– The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance, and Empower the Mind (2014)

Also see this previous interview with Michio Kaku:

The Future of the Mind‘ – Book on Amazon.

Many thanks to Think Inc. who brought Dr Kaku to Australia!

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