Physics of the Future

This site makes some very nice points about how mass customization will affect consumers in the future. It also included several references to where they got their information from, so I am sure this is a very reliable source to use.

In any realistic learning application, the entire instance space will be so large that any learning algorithm can expect to see only a small fraction of it during training. From this small fraction, a hypothesis must be formed that classifies all the unseen instances. If the learning algorithm performs well then most of these unseen instances should be classified correctly. However, if no restric- tions are placed on the hypothesis space and no "preference criterion" 1124] is supplied for comparing competing hypotheses, then all possible classifications of the unseen instances are equally possible and no inductive method can do better on average than random guessing [261. Hence all learning algorithms employ some mechanism whereby the space of hypotheses is restricted or whereby some hypotheses are preferred a priori over others. This is known as inductive bias I hope to use this source to learn more about how artificial intelligence learns, as I have read in other places that the kind that learns from the "bottom up" learns by making mistakes and learning from them. AI, if to be truly intelligent, is probably going to have to learn the way we did; by experience and example. In Kaku's book, he mentions the differences between two artificially intelligent robots that he "met". One, STAIR, had a limited database and was programmed to do what it did. Another, LAGR, piloted itself through a park, bumping into miscellaneous objects and learning their locations so that on the next pass, it would not hit them. I hope to learn more about that kind of logic by reading this article, as I think it is important to have a better understanding of exactly how artificial intelligence learns.

"By the mid-2030s, I believe we can send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth. And a landing on Mars will follow. And I expect to be around to see it," [President Barack Obama] said in April 2010 during an address at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida." When it comes to looking for new potential places to land and establish civilization, moons are often overlooked. While the colonization of Mars is predicted to begin within the next century, humans may be sent to Deimos much sooner. Deimos is one of the two moons of Mars, and it is predicted to be able to sustain life. I think that even though overpopulation is not the greatest problem that humanity faces right now, finding a place to live outside of our home planet may be a worthwhile endeavor.

"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.

Robots could change the economy in a big way in the future, and this article explains how this kind of scenario could play out.

This website specifically describes the currently known ideas about how we could produce an Interstellar Spaceship. This website is reliable because of the fact that all of the information given in this website was taken from a conference held by DARPA or the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. This website gives the different ideas currently being thought of and furthermore, gives a brief explanation of each one. This website is wonderful to give someone the knowledge of what current ideas to produce a working Interstellar Spaceship are out there.

This is a video of what a replicator is and how it works. In the far future, we can expect to have something resembling this, but much larger, in our homes and offices. The only difference is that the replicator of the future will make the items that it creates fully functional and ready to use.

"The Next Giant Leap For Mankind." This is the website for the 'Mars One' mission. The entire site describes what Mars One is, which makes a very good example of the commercialization of space. Mars One's goal is to not only create a permanent settlement on Mars, but create some kind of reality show on the red planet. Thousands of people have already signed up for this one way trip to another planet, even knowing that they will never come back. This site is reliable because it is run by the Mars One company.

This source includes many aspects of what our world may look like in the future. It also includes its sources so that we know it is reliable. From environment to new technology, there is a wide variety of information on this website. This site includes multimedia to make understanding of the material more broad for the reader. It appears to be a great resource.

This website is a basic prediction of what the world will be like in 2100. The predictions are very in-depth of what the population will live like, and how their lives will be sustained. Most of the world will be living in cities or urban areas. Also, there will be a small number of frequently used languages. These predictions and others are very reliable and seem very accurate. The website is the Business Insider, talking about economics and how humanity can and will affect it. This website is reliable because many powerful business leaders look to it for advice. It is a great source to use to see what a day in life will be like for a human in 2100. "Will we be doomed by 2100, or can we make it work? Since we've only got one planet (so far), let's hope for the latter."

"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.

"Graphene is made of a single layer of carbon atoms that are bonded together in a repeating pattern of hexagons. Graphene is one million times thinner than paper; so thin that it is actually considered two dimensional" The definition of what graphene really is.

"Ever since Gordon Moore made his famous "Moore's Law" prediction, stating that the number of transistors on a semiconductor application would double every couple of years, the industry has seen fit to beat that trend" The definition of what Moore's law really is.

"The distance any signal has to travel is astronomical - so it will be weakened by an astronomical amount squared. It has been said that SETI is like looking for a needle in a haystack. But if the instruments proposed by this group are built, SETI scientists will stop sifting the hay with spoons; they'll have a pitchfork." As this article focused primarily on the future of SETI, as one may have assumed from the title, it shall be very helpful while I am writing a draft on the theme. Since this article is in a well-known and respectable science magazine, I can conclude that "The Future of SETI" is a reliable source.

In this article, you will learn probably learn every idea you would need to know about finding Earth-like planets. Also, you should be able to understand all that you would need to know about the telescope itself, the Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF), the telescope in which people hope will eventually be launched into space. The TPF has two separate parts in which one has a mirror 100 times more precise than the Hubble Space Telescope detecting dim starlight reflected off of small, rocky planets. The TPF would also help to detect if the planet is close enough to the sun to support life and if the planet has a stable atmosphere to support life. This telescope may be the first step in eventually discovering alien life on different planets.

"So the main danger we face from an advanced civilization is simply that we might get in their way." This is an interview with Michio Kaku, where he talks briefly about SETI. Here, he talks about how silly it would be to "advertise our existence in space" (Kaku) because we might find a civilization that is a million years ahead of us in terms of technology, and would therefore be crushed. Kaku uses examples such as a fruit fly versus Goliath, to compare to what might happen if we were to find such a civilization. This is helpful, as it gives me an idea as to where Kaku stands on the subject. I trust that this is a reliable source, as I found a link to it on Michio Kaku's website.

"A solar sail, simply put, is a spacecraft propelled by sunlight. Whereas a conventional rocket is propelled by the thrust produced by its internal engine burn, a solar sail is pushed forward simply by light from the Sun." This site gives great information on how solar sails work and how efficient they are. The text describes how solar sails can accelerate indefinitely. It also mentions how large they generally are. This information can be useful for certain research points and help clarify what a solar sail really is. This site is most likely reliable because websites ending in ".org" are typically reliable. It has very sound research, as well.

"Beyond listening for deliberate signals, SETI scientists could conceivably find extraterrestrial transmissions that weren't meant for us, just as our radio and television signals have been leaking into space this century." This pdf gave some very helpful information on SETI. I gained much knowledge about the background of this theme and will definitely be able to use what I have learned while writing my paragraph about this theme. To make sure that this was a reliable source, I did a bit of research on the author. Dr. Steven Garber is the founder of the Washington Institute and is the Scholar-in-Residence of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, leading me to believe that this pdf is a very dependable source. Citations: "Staff." The Washington Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2014.

This is a video on an experiment done years ago and recreated now. You might be wondering how this can relate to what we are doing, but that is where the experiment comes in. James Burke is a man who works at BBC. In 1973, Mr. Burke was asked to predict the future. He did this, and some of his predictions came true. Recently, they asked him to do it again, but predict what life will be like in 2100. James Burke's predictions for 2100 are very interesting and eye-opening. This is reliable because he has done it before and those predictions were true. This video shows as "He paints a world 80 to 100 years from now".

This source describes how renewable energy is doing today, and predictions of how it will do in the future. The author speaks in a motivational tone, while siting most of their sources throughout the article. It also mentions the actual finances behind renewable energy, which is a large concern for many people. This source describes a large amount of how renewable energy is perceived, and is a great source.