Teleportation and forcefields possible within decades, says Professor Michio Kaku
By Matthew Moore
Last Updated: 1:01pm BST 02/04/2008
Teleportation and forcefields could become scientific realities within decades, and time travel will also be possible in the future, according to one of the world's leading physicists.
Interview with Michio Kaku, Mr Parallel Universe
Extended extracts from Prof Kaku's new book 'Physics of the Impossible'
Future of science: 'We will have the power of the gods' Professor Michio Kaku of City University in New York has studied a range of scientific "impossibilities" and concluded that most will almost certainly be achieved as our knowledge expands.
Prof Kaku: 'What is unthinkable today might not be forbidden in a few decades or centuries'Applying the rule that unless something breaks a law of physics "then it's not only possible, it is sure to be built someday", Prof Kaku has established a hierarchy of "impossibilities", separating those phenomena that are sure to remain science fiction from those which are likely to become reality at some point in the future.
Teleportation, telepathy, forcefields and invisibility are Class 1 impossibilities, meaning they are likely to be realisable within a few decades or at most a century.
Class II impossibilities may take centuries or millennia to perfect, while Class III impossibilities are truly impossible.
Class 1
Teleportation is likely to be achieved through "quantum entanglement", a property that allows connections to be formed – and information transmitted - between particles many miles apart.
Applying the process to larger objects like people is just a scientific "engineering problem", that is likely to be solved in time, Prof Kaku writes in his new book Physics of the Impossible.
Similarly, telepathy will be made possible by improved MRI machines that can effectively read minds, and electrodes that can then pass the information into the brains of other humans.
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Invisibility will probably be achieved using a recently-built "metamaterial" capable of bending light rays, he argues. Alien life will most likely be discovered within decades as our ability to analyse the universe improves.
Class II
Time travel is a Class II impossibility because, while it need not break the laws of physics, science still has major knowledge gaps to cross to make it a reality, Prof Kaku believes.
"What makes them [Class II impossibilities] so difficult is that they generally require vast amounts of energy, and their underlying physics is not totally understood," he writes in this week's New Scientist magazine.
The research of Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein and the physicist Kip Thorne has shown that time travel is theoretically possible, but no-one has yet found a way to produce the energy necessary to keep a "wormhole" open.
"This technology is only achievable for a civilisation significantly more advanced than ours," Prof Kaku writes.
Parallel universes and travelling faster than the speed of light are also Class II impossibilities, he argues.
Class III
The only two science fiction phenomena which Prof Kaku believes are truly impossible – Class III impossibilities – are perpetual motion machines and telling the future (precognition), both of which break the fundamental laws of modern physics.
"In considering what the future may hold, then, we should keep an open mind to Class 1 and Class 2 impossibilities," Prof Kaku writes.
"What is unthinkable today might not be forbidden in a few decades or centuries."
'Physics of the Impossible' by Michio Kaku (Allen Lane) is available from Telegraph Books for £18 plus £1.25 p&p. Call 0870 428 4115 or order online at Redirecting to site
By Matthew Moore
Last Updated: 1:01pm BST 02/04/2008
Teleportation and forcefields could become scientific realities within decades, and time travel will also be possible in the future, according to one of the world's leading physicists.
Interview with Michio Kaku, Mr Parallel Universe
Extended extracts from Prof Kaku's new book 'Physics of the Impossible'
Future of science: 'We will have the power of the gods' Professor Michio Kaku of City University in New York has studied a range of scientific "impossibilities" and concluded that most will almost certainly be achieved as our knowledge expands.
Teleportation, telepathy, forcefields and invisibility are Class 1 impossibilities, meaning they are likely to be realisable within a few decades or at most a century.
Class II impossibilities may take centuries or millennia to perfect, while Class III impossibilities are truly impossible.
Class 1
Teleportation is likely to be achieved through "quantum entanglement", a property that allows connections to be formed – and information transmitted - between particles many miles apart.
Applying the process to larger objects like people is just a scientific "engineering problem", that is likely to be solved in time, Prof Kaku writes in his new book Physics of the Impossible.
Similarly, telepathy will be made possible by improved MRI machines that can effectively read minds, and electrodes that can then pass the information into the brains of other humans.
advertisement
Invisibility will probably be achieved using a recently-built "metamaterial" capable of bending light rays, he argues. Alien life will most likely be discovered within decades as our ability to analyse the universe improves.
Class II
Time travel is a Class II impossibility because, while it need not break the laws of physics, science still has major knowledge gaps to cross to make it a reality, Prof Kaku believes.
"What makes them [Class II impossibilities] so difficult is that they generally require vast amounts of energy, and their underlying physics is not totally understood," he writes in this week's New Scientist magazine.
The research of Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein and the physicist Kip Thorne has shown that time travel is theoretically possible, but no-one has yet found a way to produce the energy necessary to keep a "wormhole" open.
"This technology is only achievable for a civilisation significantly more advanced than ours," Prof Kaku writes.
Parallel universes and travelling faster than the speed of light are also Class II impossibilities, he argues.
Class III
The only two science fiction phenomena which Prof Kaku believes are truly impossible – Class III impossibilities – are perpetual motion machines and telling the future (precognition), both of which break the fundamental laws of modern physics.
"In considering what the future may hold, then, we should keep an open mind to Class 1 and Class 2 impossibilities," Prof Kaku writes.
"What is unthinkable today might not be forbidden in a few decades or centuries."
'Physics of the Impossible' by Michio Kaku (Allen Lane) is available from Telegraph Books for £18 plus £1.25 p&p. Call 0870 428 4115 or order online at Redirecting to site
