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What Alvin Toffler's Future Shock was to the twentieth
century, Our Molecular Future may be to the twenty-first. - What
will happen to our jobs, health care, and investments when the molecular revolution
hits?
- How might artificial intelligence transform
our lives?
- How can molecular technology help us
cope with climate changes, earthquakes and other extreme natural threats?
Our
Molecular Future explores some intriguing possibilities and multifaceted answers
for these questions and many others. Highlighting a present surge in molecular
discoveries, Douglas Mulhall describes the exponential changes that may be wrought
by the nanotechnology and robotic revolutions, which promise to reduce the scale
of computing to the nanometer -- a billionth of a meter -- while increasing computing
power to almost unimaginable levels. The resulting convergence
of genetics, robotics, and artificial intelligence may give us hitherto undreamed-of
capacities to transform our environment and ourselves. In the not-too-distant
future, our world may include machines that scour our arteries to prevent heart
disease, cars and clothes that change color at our whim, exotic products built
in our own desktop factories, and enhancements to our personal financial security
despite greatly accelerated obsolescence. But paradoxically,
none of this may occur. While technology is making these leaps, we may also encounter
surprises that throw us into disarray: climate changes, earthquakes, or even a
seemingly improbable asteroid collision. These extremes are not the nightmare
scenarios of sensationalists, Mulhall stresses, nor are many of them human induced.
Instead, they may be part of nature's routine, which we're just beginning to discover.
The good news is that this impending molecular transformation
may help us adapt to such disruptions. If we're smart, according to Mulhall, we
can use molecular machines to protect ourselves from nature's worst extremes,
and harness their potential benefits to usher in an economic renaissance.
This visionary link between future technology and past disasters
is a valuable guide for every one of us who wants to be prepared for the twenty-first
century. Douglas Mulhall is a sustainable development
specialist and technology journalist. He has managed scientific institutes that
pioneered adaptive technologies such as water recycling and flood prevention,
in collaboration with governments, research laboratories, and multinational companies.
He has contributed to professional journals, magazines, and books, including the
Futurist and Financial
Times publications. For
more information and updates, see www.ourmolecularfuture.com.
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