Obviously, we're already enjoying modern technological marvels that just a few decades ago were mere flights of fantasy in popular science fiction films. Personal computers. Portable communication devices. Vessels that can transport us into space. Cloning. We're even making significant headway on flying cars.
A few months ago, I attended a presentation at IdeaFestival here in Louisville on the imperative need to colonize other worlds, lest humanity be wiped out before it gets the opportunity. The presenter was J. Richard Gott, a leading physicist from Princeton University, and he talked interestingly about how using the Copernican principle and simple math, one can predict with 95% confidence when something will begin and end. The span of time is usually pretty large, but he demonstrated that his formula has been correct for everything he's applied it to so far... from Broadway musicals to the Berlin Wall.
That said, his prediction for the end of humanity indicates that it would occur sometime between 5,100 years and 7.8 million years from now. A long time off, but considering that the relative age of the Earth hovers at around 4.5 billion years, we're a speck on the floor of Earth's history. Even the dinosaurs lasted about 165 million years (and probably would have endured longer), so it's entirely possible that we won't be so fortunate.
So anyway, this got me thinking. We as humans have come to believe that we're capable of overcoming insurmountable obstacles and achieving great things. And although we've proven this many times in our short duration, perhaps we've also come to believe that we'll go on making advancements in science, medicine, and technology till the end of time -- as our science fiction suggests.
Is this true? Will humanity persevere long enough to see deep space travel, teleportation, interplanetary colonization, time travel, and all the stuff now commonplace in science fiction films? Or will we die off before we get there?
How much more of the wonders we dream up in science fiction will we actually live to make into reality?
A few months ago, I attended a presentation at IdeaFestival here in Louisville on the imperative need to colonize other worlds, lest humanity be wiped out before it gets the opportunity. The presenter was J. Richard Gott, a leading physicist from Princeton University, and he talked interestingly about how using the Copernican principle and simple math, one can predict with 95% confidence when something will begin and end. The span of time is usually pretty large, but he demonstrated that his formula has been correct for everything he's applied it to so far... from Broadway musicals to the Berlin Wall.
That said, his prediction for the end of humanity indicates that it would occur sometime between 5,100 years and 7.8 million years from now. A long time off, but considering that the relative age of the Earth hovers at around 4.5 billion years, we're a speck on the floor of Earth's history. Even the dinosaurs lasted about 165 million years (and probably would have endured longer), so it's entirely possible that we won't be so fortunate.
So anyway, this got me thinking. We as humans have come to believe that we're capable of overcoming insurmountable obstacles and achieving great things. And although we've proven this many times in our short duration, perhaps we've also come to believe that we'll go on making advancements in science, medicine, and technology till the end of time -- as our science fiction suggests.
Is this true? Will humanity persevere long enough to see deep space travel, teleportation, interplanetary colonization, time travel, and all the stuff now commonplace in science fiction films? Or will we die off before we get there?
How much more of the wonders we dream up in science fiction will we actually live to make into reality?