Group items tagged

"We are on a search for who we are. What does it mean to be a human? Can there be more than one kind of human? In fact, what exactly is a human?" In this article on Huffington Post, Kevin Kelly addresses the fact that we, as humans, do not really know who we are as well as questions the authenticity of what is around us. Growing technology and the internet make people question their identities even more, as they may enable us to change our physical features, as well as make people question what is real. Upon further research, I have found that Kevin Kelly was a co-founder of the Wired magazine and has recently gotten a book, What Technology Wants, published. I feel that this online article is a very reliable source based on the aforementioned information about the author and I to think about the questions that Kelly brought up while I read Physics of the Future. Citations: "Biography." Kevin Kelly. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.

"A nanoparticle (or nanopowder or nanocluster or nanocrystal) is a microscopic particle with at least one dimension less than 100 nm. Nanoparticle research is currently an area of intense scientific research, due to a wide variety of potential applications in biomedical, optical, and electronic fields. Nanoparticles are of great scientific interest as they are effectively a bridge between bulk materials and atomic or molecular structures. A bulk material should have constant physical properties"

caroline heard. four stages of technology

"Our world is full of integrated circuits. You find several of them in computers. For example, most people have probably heard about the microprocessor. The microprocessor is an integrated circuit that processes all information in the computer. It keeps track of what keys are pressed and if the mouse has been moved. It counts numbers and runs programs, games and the operating system. Integrated circuits are also found in almost every modern electrical device such as cars, television sets, CD players, cellular phones, etc. But what is an integrated circuit and what is the history behind it?"

This is a video of Michio Kaku talking about his book, and what is included in the book.

Video of Kaku speaking at the Museum of Science in March 2011

"Q: You believe that within about two decades, nanotechnology will replace the computer industry as the field of the biggest technological innovations, right?"

What you do today could affect what happened yesterday.

"...but the researchers say that the rules of the quantum world conspire to preserve causality by "hiding" the influence of future choices until those choices have actually been made." It is interesting to see our existence through that lens. It is strange to believe that you are always being influenced by the choices and decisions that you have not made yet. This source seems reliable because it was written by a website that has true information.

"Artificial intelligence (AI) would be the possession of intelligence, or the exercise of thought, by machines such as computers."

"While we don't know what thought or intelligence is, essentially, and while we're very far from agreed on what things do and don't have it, almost everyone agrees that humans think, and agrees with Descartes that our intelligence is amply manifest in our speech. Along these lines, Alan Turing suggested that if computers showed human level conversational abilities we should, by that, be amply assured of their intelligence. Turing proposed a specific conversational test for human-level intelligence, the "Turing test" it has come to be called. Turing himself characterizes this test in terms of an "imitation game"" This seems to be a wonderful source, and I feel that it is reliable because it is an official academic resource, reviewed by many. I plan on using this fantastic source for general information, and specifically the bit I quoted for determining exactly what qualifies as an artificial intelligence. Many computers are considered "thoughtful" but what truly defines AI I play to learn from Turing's Test; an experiment developed by Alan Turing (another facet I would consider researching)

This shows Dr. Kaku's spectacular revelations.

This site is useful because it tells us about the future of mini computers hidden in our lives. This site is realiable because it is Michio Kaku's official website.

Kaku mentions the three different types of civilizatio a lot through out his book. Here are definitions for each civilizations. In 1964, Kardashev defined three levels of civilizations, based on the order of magnitude of power available to them: Type I "Technological level close to the level presently attained on earth, with energy consumption at ≈4×1019 erg/sec[1] (4 × 1012 watts.) Guillermo A. Lemarchand stated this as "A level near contemporary terrestrial civilization with an energy capability equivalent to the solar insolation on Earth, between 1016 and 1017 watts."[2] Type II "A civilization capable of harnessing the energy radiated by its own star (for example, the stage of successful construction of a Dyson sphere), with energy consumption at ≈4×1033 erg/sec.[1] Lemarchand stated this as "A civilization capable of utilizing and channeling the entire radiation output of its star. The energy utilization would then be comparable to the luminosity of our Sun, about 4 × 1026 watts."[2] Type III "A civilization in possession of energy on the scale of its own galaxy, with energy consumption at ≈4×1044 erg/sec."[1] Lemarchand stated this as "A civilization with access to the power comparable to the luminosity of the entire Milky Way galaxy, about 4 × 1037 Watts."[2]"

physicists are trying to improve the quality of life for patients 

"The superior energy density of antimatter annihilation has often been pointed to as the ultimate source of energy for propulsion. Unfortunately, the limited capacity and very low efficiency of present-day antiproton production methods suggest that antimatter may be too costly to consider for near-term propulsion applications." Antimatter is not the same thing as dark matter or the lack of matter altogether. A single teaspoon of antimatter can destroy the metropolitan area of New York City. Antimatter is extremely difficult to harness, and prohibitively expensive as of now. However, in the future, antimatter may be able to be used to power rockets into the depths of outer space. This concept was discussed in Physics of the Future.

"When discussing the possibility of interstellar travel, there is something called "the giggle factor." Some scientists tend to scoff at the idea of interstellar travel because of the enormous distances that separate the stars." This site goes into great detail about the amount of energy and the level of technology required for interstellar space travel. Michio Kaku describes that many scientists believe that interstellar space travel would be impractical and impossible, considering the massive distance between stars. For instance, traveling at light speed would take you roughly 100,000 years to reach the edge of the Milky Way galaxy. This is a reliable source, considering it was written by Michio Kaku himself.

"The Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) uses a small collection of high sensitivity telescopes (probably 4 large 3.5-meter telescopes) with revolutionary imaging technologies. It will measure the temperature, size, and the orbital parameters of planets as small as our Earth in the habitable zones of distant solar systems. Also, TPF's spectroscopy will allow atmospheric chemists and biologists to use the relative amounts of gases like carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane and ozone to find whether a planet might support life. The launch was to be anticipated between 2012-2015 until NASA's budget cuts." The Terrestrial Planet Finder was discussed in the book Physics of the Future. This object will have better optics and will be approximately 100 times more sensitive than the Hubble Space Telescope. Its infrared sensors will be able to nullify the intense radiation from a star by a million times, revealing planets that have been undiscoverable otherwise. This radiation will even have the power to completely remove a star from the universe, if one ever so desires. The Terrestrial Planet Finder is predicted to be an extremely valuable tool to astronauts and scientists within the next century.

wisdom~ free encylcopedia......... a four cardinal virtue .