A History of Time Time is a dimension in which events can be ordered from the past through the present into the future. The furthest perceivable past we can de ne with certainty is the Big Bang event, out of which came all that exists within our universe. Since human-beings started to formulate methods of perceiving me, we have come up with di erent interpreta ons and doctrines around which we form our existence. Understanding me in the standard linear past to future dimension has helped us locate certain events in the cosmos that have played their role in how things are at the moment. To understand some of these phenomena and the enormous numbers rela ve to the span of human existence, it is vital for us to try to understand how we work with me. Although me is usually portrayed as a linear forward-facing dimension, cycles of various sizes are used to keep count of events within that me-frame. For example, for the purpose of ming a running marathon, cycles of milliseconds, seconds and minutes may be used to show an accurate comparing of results. However such dura ons of cycles may not be appropriate for measuring the cycle of earth’s rota on around the sun. To give an understanding of great cosmological events, the measure of galac c years are used. Each galac c year represents the me required for the Solar System to orbit around the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy and approximates to around 225 to 250 million years. Using this measure, we can say that the Big Bang happened about 55 galac c years ago and the Milky Way was born a year a er. Analysing such a mescale allows us to understand numerous interes ng facts about ourselves and our rela vely short span of life. Upon inspec on, it becomes clear that extremely simple living biological mechanisms came to being around 15 galac c years ago; meaning that origin of living mechanisms as we know ourselves and much of our surrounding is about a quarter of the age of the universe. For the next 14.999 galac c years, this living en ty has been evolving and perfec ng to a great deal of complexity un l eventually, modern humans came around. Up to this point in me, much of evolu on happened as a result of physical change subject to the four fundamental forces of the universe: Gravity, electromagne c, weak and strong nuclear forces. This physical change nally allowed for the expansion of the brain-size in Hominoidea nearly 800000 years ago and along with our ability to control re, gave way to the development of cogni on and it’s fruit, technology. Since that me our abili es have undergone an exponen al growth from basic survival to development of ideas, culture, hobbies and many more inven ons. To grasp this exponen on and its mathema cal nature, it is important to view me in two accompanying methods; the previous linear cyclic and the exponen al model. When considering the events that have led us to be where we are, regardless of the experience of similar life in another galaxy, the cyclic representa on will fail to show clearly the shear amount of important human experiences that have happened in the recent cycles. Using the model of an exponen al me-event graph, this step-by-step rise in informa on can be more comprehendible.
about 55 galac c years ago
Big Bang
about 54 galac c years ago
Birth of the Milky Way
18.4 galac c years ago
Birth of the Sun
17-18 galac c years ago
Oceans appear on Earth
15 galac c years ago
Life begins on Earth
14 galac c years ago
Prokaryotes appear
13 galac c years ago
Bacteria appear
10 galac c years ago
Stable con nents appear
7 galac c years ago
Eukaryotes appear
6.8 galac c years ago
Mul cellular organisms appear
2.8 galac c years ago
Cambrian explosion
1 galac c year ago
Permian–Triassic ex nc on event
0.26 galac c year ago
Cretaceous–Paleogene ex nc on event
0.001 galac c year ago
Appearance of modern humans Present day
6 galac c years in the future
Sun's habitable zone moves outside of the Earth's orbit.
22 galac c years in the future
The Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxy begin to collide
25 galac c years in the future
Sun ejects a planetary nebula, leaving behind a white dwarf
Universal Events with Respect to Human Evolu on (Linear)
Universal Events with Respect to Human Evolu on (Natural Log Scale)
As a study of the civiliza ons and ideologies that have brought us where we are, some ancient concepts and calendars will be talked about in this sec on. Although cyclic me has its limita ons without considera on of exponen al growth, it has been the source of an age old ques on about death and rebirth. We live and die and our personal lives are full of cycles within the great cycle of our existence, how do we deal with the fact that death is inevitable? Is psychology to a great deal connected to cyclogy? Understanding cycles and pa erns is the only way we can learn from mistakes of our ancestors and we will share some of their views here.
Cycles for the Maya One of the interes ng ancient calendars of past civiliza ons that has enjoyed a great resurrec on to the public eye is the Mayan calendar. The Maya were incredibly good at crea ng an accurate and complex calendar that predicts the posi ons of Venus and eclipses, long cycles of the cosmos and much more. This calendar combines three di erent da ng systems and uses them in conjunc on for holy, astrological and civil usage. The Haab: This calendar is a solar da ng system devided into 18 months of 20 days and 1 month of 5 days. There are 19 glyphs associated with these months each symbolizing a certain character. Each day of that month is noted with a number. The Tzolkin: This calendar is the Sacred Round used to determine religious and spiritual events. The calendar is comprised of 20 cycles of 13 and specula ons around its origina on come from the appearance of Venus as a morning and night star (263 days), the agricultural cycle of the highlands of Guatemala (roughly 260 days) or the length of the human pregnancy cycle. The Long Count: This calendar is believed to have been used for great celes al cycles and is of a non-repea ng order. Unlike common cycles, the Long Count is of base-20. A er 18 cycles of 20 (360 days), the yearly counter sets to the next digit and this ‘yearly’ cycle is repeated 20 mes to the next digit. For example, 0.0.0.1.4 represents 24 days and 0.0.1.1.3 shows 383 days. The Mayan percep on of me is par cularly interes ng as it shows emphasis on both cyclic and linear me. Similar to other Mesoamerican cultures, the Maya held great importance in the observed natural cyclic phenomena and used these dates for ceremonious reasons. Days from the Haab and Tzolkin would be repeated some me in the future and had the poten al to be very similar to the previous similar date. At the same me, the never ending cycle of the long count was used to grasp an idea of longer periods of me. This is shown by the use of ve digits in this calendar as the ful llment of 1.0.0.0.0 (baktun) would take 394 solar years. The ful llment of 13 baktuns (13.0.0.0.0) since the start date of the calendar happened on 21st of December. Since the Maya also held spiritual importance to the number 13, the comple on of this baktun was considered as the ending of a very long period and the start of the age of transforma on. This date also correlates to the procession of the equinoxes and the astrological shi from Pisces into Aquarius. Although it is hard to put an exact meaning on the Maya’s ideas, many people in this day and age believe that their life events coincidentally correlate to the calendar in an odd ‘synchronized’ and predetermined way. These ideas are enlarge tainted with mys cism and not taken seriously by the scien c community as there is no logical evidence for the ndings.
Buddhism: Kalachakra Kalachakra refers to a Tantric deity of Vajrayana Buddhism but mainly revolves around medita ve prac ces and Buddhism philosophies. The term Kalachakra itself means Cycles (chakra) of Time (Kala) therefore this deity is generally considered as the Wheel of Time. This deity is me and everything is in uenced by him therefore the Kalachakra knows all. The wheel has no beginning or ending which can be related to the Big Band and the Big Crunch. The image here is an art form called Mandala, generally drawn with a mixture of sand, natural colors and resin to hold it together. The Tibetan term for Mandala ‘dkyil-’khor means ‘that which encircles a center’. The enormous amount of detail and cra smanship involved in the making of these artworks means that many dedicate years of their life to train under masters of the art in its very own schools. The drawing represents four mandalas within each-other. Each of these stages are chronological levels to reach the Kalachakra deity residing in the center of the mandala. These four stages represent the process of enlightenment, rst of body, then speech and mind on the way to the center; the source of wisdom and bliss. The en re meaning of the Kalachakra is included within the three Kalachakras; the Wheels of Time. The Outer Wheel of Time, The Inner Wheel of Time and the Other Wheel of Time. Respec vely these wheels represent the cosmic environmental cycles of me, the cycles of human body with regards to channels, movements and earth elements. The other wheel of me is the paths that bind these wheels together which can be obtained by the yogi’s prac ce of the divine image of emp ness. An important factor for embarking on such a spiritual journey is the disciple’s ini al interest and readiness to undergo the process. This is the intellectual interest in renuncia on of samsara, bodhichi a and understanding of emp ness. The resemblance of the mandala to an architectural blueprint is due to the fact that the squares in the middle represent the Kalachakra Temple in Lhasa. This is a 5-level structure and each level is represented by a square within the other squares. Moving through the mandalas and ge ng closer to the center may take years and in this school of thought takes a shear amount of prac ce to achieve. This form of medita on is among the most complex of all Buddhist prac ces, therefore each year an ini on of 100000 people is undertaken where in the course of 12 days, monks create sand mandalas before undergoing a mass ritual lead by a master of the prac ce and ge ng ready to unveil their work. The Dalai Lama has lead 30 of these rituals since the 50’s. It is important to know that this complicated path to enlightenment as Buddha himself chose should not necessarily be undertaken by everyone who seeks the wisdom. Many Buddhist prac ces can be chosen and adapted to our lives without needing to dras cally alter our course of living.
Buddhism: Samsara Another concept within Buddhism is Samsara; the meaning of which is cyclic existence. Similar to the Kalachakra, samsara is represented through symbolic artworks of the wheel of me. This type of art is called the bhavacakra and is visible on many Stupas (Buddhist temples) in the Himalayan region. The general concept of this image is that no mater what path we take in life, our cyclic existence will lead us to a pa ern of death and rebirth. The area at the very center of the wheel represents the three poisons of ignorance, a achment and aversion, represented by the pig, the bird and the snake. With these three no ons, the cycle of existence evolves and gives birth to the layer surrounding it represen ng karma. This circle in part represents the dark path of falling to a lower realm and on the other hand, eleva on in state via posi ve acons. Karma is the law of cause and e ect and is represented in much of eastern philosophy and its related art. The third layer represents the six realms of samsara. The top three realms show higher existence of gods and men while the lower realms are the unfortunate hellish states. Although the higher realms represent a be er quality of life, they nourish from pride, jealousy and passion, while the lower realms stem from ignorance, greed and anger. The fourth layer represents the twelve links of dependent origina on. These twelve links show how the six realms are formed through the three primary poisons. The deity holding the wheel is the symbol of impermanence and is generally depicted using Yama, the lord of death. The elements of skulls, third eye, ger skin and limbs are used in his symbolism to respec vely represent aggregates, wisdom of impermanence, fearfulness and su erings of age. The moon on the outside of the wheel represents libera on from this cyclic existence; the state known as Nirvana. The Buddha on the top corners is telling us that through thorough prac ce of medita on, this libera on is possible. This does not mean that we can escape the wheel, however we can have a full metaphorical percep on of all possibili es of life. Many Buddhist prac ces go beyond religious doctrines and idolizing of gods. The elements of the philosophy are meless and people from any religion can use the teachings with conjunc on to their own beliefs. The spread of yoga, medita on and similar prac ces are enlarge due to the vast Buddhist in uence on the global culture. One ques on that rises from this old-age philosophy is that in case in the distant future we achieve immortality, can we break the cyclic wheel of me? Can we tame Yama?
Balance The perfect state can be described as the state in which absolute qualita ve perfec on is achieved. In this state the observed en ty is not subject to any further change and is fully mo onless as it does not need the change anymore. In the physical world that we know, nothing remains constant and it is impossible to achieve this state, so the perfect balance is a no on that we may always work towards but never achieve. However in doing so, we will be able to perfect ourselves to a much be er degree. At the hypothe cal perfect state, the ideal human will not be breathing or moving. Any a empt to think, talk, move and sense will require a need for a change of state. This state is humanly impossible as every breath and step we take allows us to move back and forth to get further closer to a blissful state of perfec on. This state of perfec on and the ul mate balance is not human as it is in its own de ni on contradictory. A mo onless en ty has to balance itself with mo on. In another sense, a perfectly balanced en ty has to balance itself with movement to balance balance. The prac ce of balancing balance with imbalance can be decribed as a state of dance. This a empt to keep the overall balance while using momentum to move around in the most interes ng of movements and combina ons is what humans are capable of. This is why we enjoy watching synchronised dances, a nice airplane ride or a well func oning car engine. So how does the state of balance help us shine some light into the governance of our selves? Religion The old age ques on of existence of a creator has not been scien cally answered yet, therefore it is wrong to logically assume the full acceptance or rejec on of this idea. Understanding this statement will show that no ma er how much faith one has in atheism or dogma c religiousness, no one can be % 100 sure of standing at the extremi es of this spectrum. Un l scien cally proven, we are all agnos c with tendencies in both direc ons. %100 belief in atheism is a religious belief. The idea of balance comes in here as we should be able to manoeuvre in the spectrum of Atheism and Religiousness. Poli cs The most simple analogy in the world of poli cs to show one’s ideas has for the most part of our contemporary existence been the no on of ‘le ’ and ‘right’ - the ‘liberal’ and the ‘conserva ve’. By viewing the very extremes of this spectrum regarding the system, we can establish a certain feeling towards how rigid the structure is expected to be. Some one on the extreme le may believe in the full collapse of the system, total freedom. On the other hand, the person on the extreme right may believe in the full rigidity of system and resist any form of change. Neither of these ideologies are balanced as they represent the extremi es of the spectrum, however they compliment each other in the sense that they would be meaningless without each-other. In the ever changing form of systems, we should be able to x and update our technology without changing our common sense rules. This boils down to the balance of entropy and having an understanding of this law of physics. The ever increasing entropy into chaos can be partly countered with local decrease in entropy by systemiza on; the same reason that in the ever expanding universe, solar systems are formed with the capability to harbour life-bearing planets. It is for this reason that demanding freedom without a de ned means of what we are freeing ourselves from can be a dangerously loose term. A fully free world will not cohere to any of the established rules of culture and the system and is bound to be fully chao c. However this extreme le idea will not remain unchanged as it will only give a fresh start for establishing a new set of rules which may in part be similar to the old system. Another common analogy for the poli cal world is the old no on of east and west. Western philosophies of individualism and capitalism un l recently were faced with the Eastern ideas of family and communism. In the world today, the de ned di erence of the two sides are changing and are a ected by each other and it is important to understand the spectrum to have a balanced personal stance. This brings us to the nal ques on of this chapter: If the system is a building that seems to need a major make-over, do we fully demolish it and hope to rebuild a be er one out of the rubble of the previous building? Do we completely ignore the warnings of di eren al ground se lement, crack propaga on and lack of resources un l it undergoes full collapse? Do we keep a balanced approach and try to carefully x the problems while keeping the general outline of the building untouched?
Alex Grey : ‘The day a er our daughter, Zena was born I had a vision of Gaia, the World Soul. Gaia was the tree of life or web of life with her roots in the subatomic, atomic, molecular, and cellular levels of ma er (mater/mother) reaching upward through the oceans, stones, soil, grass, forests, mountains, lakes, rivers, air, and atmosphere to nurture all plants and creatures. A natural cycle of birth, sustenance, and death was woven into the tapestry of Nature, Gaia con nuously gave birth to life through the love energy in her heart. The future genera ons of humanity were symbolized by a human mother nursing in Gaia’s cave. Gaia’s body was being ravaged and destroyed by man, re ec ng the present crisis in the environment. A diseased and demonic phallus had erected structrues all over the earth to suck dry Gaia’s milk and turn it into power and money. The wasteland of a disposable culture was piled high and was seeping into the microgene c pool causing diseases and defects in the Great Chain of Life. Emerging also from that microgene c level – but on the side of Nature – was an evolu onary alarm represented by a large “seeing” hand which catalyzed the collec ve will of the people, enabling them to see, with eyes of unobstructed vision, the ac ons necessary to stop the destruc on of the world soul.’ It is interes ng to note that this pain ng was drawn in 1989 and a er 9/11. it gained major interest as it seems to depict 2 planes above the twin towers, and an array of gentlemen who resemble a soldier, a poli cian and a giant penis as his right hand.
Fractals Fractals are in nitely self-similar, iterated mathema cal constructs having fractal dimensions. The general obsession of these shape arise from the pa erns seen in nature that very closely resemble these precise mathema cal models. For this reason, they have been used thoroughly in modern art to represent some sort of ‘sacred’ geometry. Again, many feel to abstain from such de nions due to its holy and spiritual associa on which encourages an image that is not purely scien c. ‘A fractal is a mathema cal set that has a fractal dimension that usually exceeds its topological dimension and may fall between the integers.’ The term fractal was coined by Benoit Mandelbrot while he was developing the theory of roughness. Fractal thinking allows us to compare pa erns and analogies and provide insight from one side to improve the other. An understanding of the orbits of the Solar System have in the past helped us develop an understanding of the movement of electrons around a nucleus. To what extent can we experiment with this type of thinking? Are we constantly in the risk of comparing the wrong pa erns despite the similari es? From sea shells and spiral galaxies to the structure of human lungs, the pa erns of chaos are all around us. Fractals are pa erns formed from chao c equa ons and contain self-similar pa erns of complexity increasing with magni ca on. If you divide a fractal pa ern into parts you get a nearly iden cal reduced-size copy of the whole. The mathema cal beauty of fractals is that in nite complexity is formed with rela vely simple equa ons. By itera ng or repea ng fractal-genera ng equa ons many mes, random outputs create beau ful pa erns that are unique, yet recognizable. Since the hippie boom of the 60’s, the apparent love for psychedelic pa erns and visually s mula ng colour choices and textures came into the mainstream of art with e-dye and the evolu on of the computer. Through this modern renaissance and the appearance of the global culture, many people had their eyes opened to the complex geometry seen in much of eastern art and as a result developed a passion for sacred geometry and mathema cal beauty. The emergence of fractals and similar mathema cal models also gave way to ar sts by allowing them to use computers to create complex mathema cal visuals. Most music visualiza on so wares such as MilkDrop or ITunes use such computa ons to create complex aesthe cally pleasing pa erns that change along with the music which in itself is a set of harmonious pa erns. We have put for your -
together some of the most stunning natural examples we could nd of fractals on our planet viewing in the next slide. A er that, the next four pages will take you through a journey of computer manipulated mirror images. It is interes ng that many of the ar sts in history who have enjoyed experimen ng with complex geometry also show a great deal of a en on to symmetry. So what is this obsession with crea ng a balanced image? Seeing as many of our body parts are symmetrical and how big a role balance plays in success, is there an underlying concept that runs deeper than our idea of balance?
Another piece of
The answer may be yes as scien sts found symmetry in the E8 Theory (shown le ) and using the 248 -dimensional model they predicted the nding of the Higgs boson. The stunning visuals of this sub-atomic arrangement show the symmetrical beauty of sacred geometry. Another ques on may also be that can this pa ern be a fractal evidence of an arrangement somewhere else in our universe? Maybe the perfect nonexploding world, a frac on of a second before the big bang? concept of supersymmetry is used in mathema cs and quantum physics in search for a uni ed theory of physics. Is fractal mathema cs a missing informa on in the quest for unifying the four fundamental forces in one equa on?
Fractals
The leaf of the Asplenium Fern is a great example of fractals in nature. The Bri sh mathema cian Michael Barnsley came up with a computa onal model to recreate this leaf using fractals and the resul ng Barnsley Fractal is a prime example of mathema cal genius used to replicate a natural pa ern in the cyber realm.
Ammonites were made ex nt 65 million years ago but these marine cephalopods built chambered spiral shells. The protec ng wall of these shells where complex fractal curves that created the natural pa ern above.
The Romanesco Broccoli is one of nature’s most beau ful fractals and a de nite gem in the fruit kingdom. We can see that the smaller pa erns of the fruit resemble its general shape crea ng a unique order out of the chaos of reproduc on.
Mountains are the result of tectonic forces pushing the crust upward and erosion tearing some of that crust down. The resul ng pa ern is a fractal. Above is an image of the Himalayan Mountains, home to many of the tallest peaks on Earth. The Himalayas are s ll being upli ed by the collision of India with the Eurasian plate, which began about 70 million years ago.
Crystallizing water forms repea ng pa erns in snow akes and on frosty surfaces. The pa erns have inspired claims about the power of consciousness to ect ma er, as well as one of the rst described fractal curves, the Koch snow ake.
Taste of the Future The following snippets of what we can achieve by the end of the century are interpreted from the book ‘Physics of the Future’ by Michio Kaku, an interna onally acclaimed bestseller author and physicist, also seen hos ng his radio show and many TV programs such as BBC’s popular series ‘Time’. Kaku goes through the next 90 years in roughly 30 year periods to show us a logical approxima on of what will happen to the way we live in the rela vely near future. Due to the shear amount of informa on, the concepts here are not explained in detail but this book and many other sources can be used to give further insight into the ideas put forth here.
Future of the Computer: Mind over Ma er
Future of Medicine: Perfec on and Beyond
According to Moore’s Law, established in 1965 by Gordon Moore, computer power doubles about every eighteen months, the result of which is the decrease in cost of older chips and increase in abundance. This law allows us to predict the future of computers and a compara ve example of its applica on can be seen in a current $300 Sony PlaySta on having the power of a military supercomputer of 1997 which cost millions of dollars. Along with the rapid rise in the use of internet and advance in computer technology, the following will almost certainly happen.
Medicine historically goes through three main stages. For thousands of years, life expectancy averaged around 20 years while many babies died at birth and the line between supers on, witchcra and medicine was not clearly de ned. Around the 19th century, due to proper sanita on and germ theory life expectancy rose in some countries and eventually helped us de ne bacteria and viruses and create vaccines to counter them. The next stage of this evolu on is molecular medicine. At this point, physics and medicine merge on by reducing the size of medicine to mere atoms and molecules. With thanks to the Human Genome Project, it will eventually give us a detailed manual on our personalized genome.
Near Future (Present - 2030): Internet glasses and contact lenses (VRD) with the ability of a standard PC, GPS and also Terminator style detec on of informa on for warfare. The Driverless Car guided by the GPS system will eventually eliminate tra c jams, sense danger of other cars, drowsiness and alcohol level of the car. Four Wall Screens will enable telepresence rather than telecommunica on leading to part virtual 3D presence of people and advanced networking. Super-thin Flexible Electronic Paper screens will replace TV’s using Organic LEDs and can allow foldable fully transparent displays. Virtual Reality will take us into the world of computers for the purpose of entertainment and training and Medical Care will be done by robo c so ware on your wall that corresponds to a DNA chip inside your body.
Near Future (Present - 2030): Genomic Medicine will allow us to detect many of the genes that maybe dangerous to our heath by creng a blueprint of our own and ancestral genome. Due to the advancement in computers and AI our experience of a visit to the doctor will dras cally change as sensors in our bathrooms will be able to detect at least %50 of all common cancers years before the tumour forms. Stem Cells have the ability to impact almost any health problem but much research is s ll needed in the eld, Cloning will most probably happen and a small percentage of clone humans will live amongst us but our laws will likely evolve to regulate such ac vies. Gene Therapy will likely x the damaged genes in our DNA such as the P53. Coexis ng with Cancer may have to be an op on as fully eradica ng it is extremely complex. Methods such as using nanopar cle smart bombs could be used to treat cancer.
Mid Century (2030 - 2070): By the mid century Moore’s law will reach an inevitable collapse due to the restric ons in reduc on size Mid Century (2030 - 2070): Gene Therapy will carry on evolving in this period and will probably advance into gene improvement passed of transistors. At this point, we are able to merge the cyber and real world images, allowing us to create invisibility cloaks and the therapy. As a result Designer Children of the future will have superhuman capabili es of intelligence, increased memory capacity and invisible visible. This will have applica ons such as 3D cyber walkthroughs in an architectural plan, 360 view for pilots and drivers. psychological implica ons. We may also be able to increase our muscle mass such as the case in the Mighty Mouse Gene. Augmented Reality will allow a revolu on in our art, tourism, shopping and warfare. Universal Translators will allow on the spot transla on of one language to another and 3D Hologram TVs and Movies will allow a new rst hand type of entertainment. Far Future (2070 - 2100): Isola ng the genes responsible for aging and analysing data from the young and old will shine insight into ReFar Future (2070 - 2100): By this point in me, we will be able to control computers directly with our mind, allowing Mind Reading, versing Aging. Caloric Restric on by %30 may increase our lifespan by %30. Since the essence of life is the immortal DNA rather than mortality, by these advancements in medicine we may nd the ‘Fountain of Youth’ but will our planet be able to accommodate us? Photographing Dreams, Tricoders, Portable Brain Scans and Telekinesis; the ability to move ma er with our mind.
Future of AI: Rise of the Machines There are two types of robots, robots controlled by humans and robots that think for themselves. The worry of the end of humanity should be neglected as the second type of robots have no use for us and any machine created by man will inevitably follow rules and computa ons presented by the maker as our ability to build robots s ll has obstacles to perfec on. This can be seen in their inability to understand common sense and pa ern recogni on.
Nanotechnology: Everything from Nothing?
Nanotechnology’s biggest aim is to reduce the size of appliances to merely a few atoms. Although the technology is in baby stages, we already use nano-coa ngs for many products to protect from wear, corrosion, stains and to also enhance hardness and strength. In the years to come, our mission is to be able to move individual atoms into any pa ern, meaning that chemical components could be arrange using precise physical movements of these atoms into place. The smaller these arrangements get, the more compact mechanisms we can create. One interes ng example of this provided is ny playable 6-string guitars that are only 100 atoms wide. Near Future (Present - 2030): Expert Systems will be so wares such as the robo doctor that will be present in our homes and Near Future (Present - 2030): Nanotechnology will greatly a ect medical treatments. The condensing of chemotherapy drugs into molecthrough heuris cs - following a rule based system - they will incorporate the wisdom and experience of man to help us with planular capsules and sending them to directly the desired cancer cells can replace the painful process of chemotherapy. The trick is to make ning, social purposes and medical care. these capsules bigger than blood cells so they can only target cancer cells and kill them. Another method will be hea ng the nanopar cle Mid Century (2030 - 2070): The emergence of Modular Robots will help us carry out processes that we struggle with due to fa gue with lasers to remove cancer cells. The next step would be to build nanocars to guide the medicine to the right place. Further on DNA such as surgery or lack of access in infrastructure repair. These robots will eventually give way to Emo onal Robots which will be Chips will monitor our health, making the diagnosis of disease simpler. In materials sciences, Carbon nanotubes will provide a stronger able to make value judgements about who to save and in what order rather than the previous rep lian model. The next big level in and more conduc ve replacement for steel. This nanomaterial may replace silicon with huge implica ons on the computer industry. Usthe development of AI will be the successful Reverse Engineering of the Brain and this ability to fully understand it will allow us to ing carbon nanotubes or a material called graphene will pave the way for atomic transistors and eventually quantum computers. Model the Brain. The human brain is the most complex object in our sec on of the galaxy and it is si ng in our skull and it will take Mid Century (2030 - 2070): By this me in the century, it may be common to successfully shi shapes of programmable ma er. Using a a few more decades to be able to take apart the brain piece by piece and understand how it all works. self re-arranging material called ‘claytronic atoms’ we will be able to rearrange the charge of electrons in the material to create a rac on Far Future (2070 - 2100): The ability of robots to be self-aware, make future plans and sense the environment may be some a rib- and repulsion in the desired array. This would mean that we can create gadgets that can change shape depending on our need. This techutes when machines become conscious. Ques ons about when robots exceed humans arise in the nature of their AI. Kaku believes nology may give birth to the rise of catom buildings and ci es that rise with a push of a bu on. Friendly AI to be the likeliest case and we will eventually merge with the robots and live a bionic life. An alterna ve to living as part- Far Future (2070 - 2100): The envisioned state of nanotechnology would allow us to build the replicator; a device that has the capability to build anything. Using trillions of nanobots the raw material would be thrown into a machine which assembles it to the desired shape. robot would be a situa on similar to the movie Avatar where we control the body of speci cally cloned aliens. The issues around such a device go beyond social and poli cal impacts as the science of how ny forces a ect it are s ll mostly unknown.
Taste of the Future Future of Energy: Energy from the Stars
Future of Wealth: Winners and Losers
As civiliza on has progressed and empires have risen and fallen, some fell vic m to dogma c ques ons remaining around religious texts, corrup on and supers on while others are nourishing from scien c advancement. This is leading those successful parts of the world to a mastery of the four forces and holds the answer to our posi ve future. Near Future (Present - 2030): There are generally Four Stages of Technology in any speci c sector. One example is the water industry that rst underwent the precious stage where one well would support a whole village. The introduc on of personal plumbing in stage two and the emergence of water systems a er World War II in stage three advanced the water industry to its nal stage which is the use of running water as a commodity in fountains and displays. Not all technologies undergo all these levels such as the locomo ve industry and they stay in stage two or three and are subjected to perfec ng the same discipline. The problems that arise with this rise and fall of technologies are the enormous capitalis c ventures that arise from each new possibility and the opportunity of wealth provided by them. But each technology like the automo ve industry has a capacity of investment and if over own, it will lead to recessions, depressions and mini collapses which are in part responsible for the Bubbles and Crashes of history; similar to the big crash of the 1850s, the great depression and the economic collapse of 2008. Mid Century (2030 - 2070): By mid-century the impact from Global Warming will be in full swing. World’s weather pa erns, ow of Mid Century (2030 - 2070): The future of Jobs by this period will face a wide array of changes with robots being able to carry out repe ocean and air currents will change, a large part of the polar ice caps will melt resul ng in a rise in water levels. Green House Gases ve tasks much more e ciently than humans, therefore jobs that involve pa ern recogni on and common sense and can not be carried mainly caused by human ac vity will further increase the rise in temperature. The biggest issue of this rise will be experienced in the out by robots will be the survivors of employment. For this reason jobs like construc on, garbage collec on, policing, gardening and Flooding of Bangladesh and Vietnam and the Nile delta in Egypt, displacing around 200million people with the possibility of border plumbing will survive where as middle men employees such as travel agents, brokers, accountants will face a declining situa on. The collapse, riots, food shortages and many other socio-poli cal upheaval. Along with the change from fossil fuels, certain Technical Fixes Future of Entertainment will s ll be in good shape as the internet is at large s ll insa able with crea ve arts. have to be carried out to manage our waste. Some possibili es are launching pollutants into the upper atmosphere, crea ng algae Far Future (2070 - 2100): With the in nite knowledge of the marketplace, producers and consumers will have a precise view on comblooms, carbon sequestra on and gene c engineering. Fusion power is the same process used in the forma on of stars by compresspe ve prices of all markets and eventually all products sold. With he advance in technology we will see a dri from mass produc on to ing and hea ng up hydrogen and it could be another less wasteful energy resource. mass customiza on with the importance of targe ng speci c customers. Mass technology will turn into u li es and na ons that emphaFar Future (2070 - 2100): The Age of Magne sm will replace the electric age giving rise to levita on and the Magne c Car and Train. sise on intellectual capitalism will have longevity by crea ng more innova ve jobs; eventually being the source of di eren on between winner and loser na ons. The rst worth men oning in this sec on is the inevitable end of dependence on fossil fuels. In recent years, we have been experiencing peak-oil; meaning that half of all oil reserves on the planet are used and most of the remaining amount may not be accessible as it will cost more energy to extract it from the ground than its fruit. So what should we expect in this unique shi of resources? Near Future (Present - 2030): With the End of Oil we will be witnessing a shi to a Solar/Hydrogen Economy. Although the cost of this type of energy is much higher than fossil fuels, with the advance in technology and increasing fuel prices, the focus will be on solar, hydroelectric, dal and wind power. Many ambi ous projects are aiming to cover desert areas around the globe with solar panels and the compe on of e ciency is bound to move this technology forward. Our current vehicles are responsible for half of the world’s oil use therefore with respect to viability, the mass produc on of the Electric Car will be the next step. Nuclear Fission will de nitely be an op on but its future is s ll uncertain due to the technical and waste management issues involved. Another issue with nuclear energy is that un l a fully edged Nuclear Prolifera on, the considerable risk of nuclear warfare and na onal securi es will linger.
Future of Space Travel: To the Stars
Future of Humanity: Planetary Civiliza on
Near Future (Present - 2030): Detec ng Extra-solar Planets through all the rubble and galaxies in the skies was a task unthinkable un l recently. Now scien sts can nd a lot of informa on about planets in distant solar systems by analysing the star’s wobble. In the near future, we will be busy crea ng a resume of planets in near galaxies that may harbour life as a target for space travel. Another place we may look for life is in the liquid water underneath the ice covering Europa; one of Jupiter’s moons. Meanwhile here on earth, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will be probing colliding blackholes and even maybe what was there Before the Big Bang. Due to the extensive cost Cancelling the Moon Program and a emp ng to Land on an Asteroid will be steps taken before Landing on the Moon of Mars to create a permanent space sta on and have a cheaper means of studying Mars. Going back to the Moon and crea ng a Permanent Moon Base may be an op on if we take shelter in a lava tube and use the water on the Moon for fuel, oxygen and protec on. Mid Century (2030 - 2070): By this period, a Mission to Mars may be undertaken with a empts to Terraform the planet; this means adap ng the planet for life as we know on Earth. Some ideas would be to use the water on Mars for Nuclear Fusion and allowing a kick -start in global warming on the planet to make it more habitable. There are however many ques ons over the Economic Bene t of this project which leaves uncertainty around the idea. Projects like the Virgin Galac c have already paved the way for Space Tourism but longer trips into space would require more energy and the technology to do so will not be perfected for a few decades to come. Some ideas around its technology are a laser propulsion system, a gas gun and the slingatron. Far Future (2070 - 2100): One idea that would make travel into earth’s upper atmosphere possible is the Space Elevator. The elevator would stay a oat using centrifugal force like a ball spinning on the end of a string, however the only known material to withstand the tensile forces involved are pure carbon nanotubes and scien sts are currently only able to produce a few cen metres of the material. There are various NASA compe ons to make this idea possible. There are several ideas about the technology needed to send Starships to neighbouring stars. Some of these include a solar-sail spacecra that uses light from the sun for propulsion, a Nuclear Rocket that uses Hydrogen and Atomic bombs for propulsion, Ramjet Fusion to use hydrogen in space for nuclear fusion, An ma er Rockets that use positrons as fuel, ny Nano-scaled insect like Ships. Given that we will at large s ll be on earth by the end of the century, what challenges does humanity face regarding science, culture and society as a whole?
With globaliza on, the forma on of a planetary civiliza on is inevitable, however many people may not know about or want to adhere to this system possibly due to a fear of a world similar to George Orwell’s 1984 or Aldus Huxley’s Brave New World. For this reason, if we are able to pass this turning point in history and see past our tribal di erences, we will be able to move to our next step in evolu on. The physicists method of ranking civiliza ons di ers from the general way in the sense that the consump on of energy will be the means of classi ca on. This system was rst introduced by Nicolai Kardashev, a Russian astro-scien st, and was later adapted by Carl Sagan. The classi ca on goes like this: - Type 1: Planetary - This type of civiliza on consumes all the sunlight that falls from the sun onto the planet. - Type 2: Stellar - This type of civiliza on consumes all the energy from their sun, by means of advanced technology. - Type 3: Galac c - This type of civiliza on consumes all the energy from billions of stars in their galaxy. We are currently s ll in Type 0 and will probably be reaching type 1 in around 100 years. Some indica ons of this switch include the rise of the internet and planetary economy, culture, news, sports, environmental issues, tourism and disease control. The emergence of this type of civiliza on will not replace our current culture but we will be bicultural in the sense that our tradi ons will be kept but we may all also speak a dominant planetary language i.e. English or Chinese. The transi on into the type 1 civiliza on is by far the most dangerous as certain dogma c groups resistant to change will undoubtedly try to block this progress with terrorism and dictatorships. The emergence of type 2 civiliza on will probably include a ‘Dyson’ sphere around the globe that harnesses all of sun’s energy and at this point we will have sta ons across the solar system and will have travelled to nearby stars only a few hundred light years away. The type 3 civiliza on will be able to harness its energy from many stars amoun ng to a total of ‘Planck’ energy. This energy will be so enormous that according to Einstein, it will be able to create a tear in the fabric of space- me crea ng ny portals into other universes. By this point we will be able to colonize the en re galaxy. The problem with this classi ca on is that it does not consider the waste management and nega ve aspects of consump on. The law of entropy would dictate the progress into chaos therefore if our localised control of the environment is not used to lower entropy, we will not be able to conserve our nature for the future to come.
Food for Thought The content shown in this presenta on are merely a means of portraying some important concepts of our past, present and future to guide and encourage us to nd answers to speci c ques ons of our evolu on. It may also help us nd personal paths towards solving these issues with rela on to our personal elds of interest and ability. Further reading is always encouraged but here are some ques ons that may help this audience pave the way for genera ons to come. How can we: Generate new industries to replace the old ones? Ensure the emergence of a planetary civiliza on that most people will gladly adhere to? Help to educate people about the future without sparking mass controversy and leanings towards terrorism? Regulate the global economy as to not fall into the hands of the few elite? Encourage the younger genera on to pursuit the important ques ons around our new found technologies? Adapt our dysfunc onal educa on system to meat the challenges of the future? Break from destruc ve tradi ons of the past? Progress interna onally towards an intellectual capitalism? Tie religious and scien
c ideas to minimise con ic ng ideologies?
Ensure that through elimina ng jobs by robo zaion, millions of people can s ll maintain a living? Adapt our entertainment industry to encourage humour and interac on towards sustainability? Improve our biological func ons through gene therapy and not o end religious ideas? Adapt the sports of the future to take into account bionic compe tors? Ensure a fully edged nuclear prolifera on? Bridge the gap between democracies and dictatorships without descending into war? Encourage a shi of intellectual and cu ng edge technology in most parts of the world rather than relying on a certain region to take the lead of scien c research? Find our personal balance of life? Understand the failures of repe to not repeat them again?
ve pa erns of the past and take them into constant considera on as
Accommodate the global power shi with economic collapses, rising economies and risks of warfare?
Further Reading Teachings of Dalai Lama: p://www.dalailama.com/teachings/kalachakra-ini ons Bhikkhu Khan palo (1995-2011). The Wheel of Birth and Death. Access to Insight. Chögyam Trungpa (1999). The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Medita on. Robert M. Pirsig (1974): Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Benoit Mandelbrot (1982): The Fractal Geometry of Nature Garre Lisi on E8 Theory: p://www.ted.com/talks/garre _lisi_on_his_theory_of_everything.html Michio Kaku (2011): Physics of the Future
Artwork Cosmic Epochs: h p://www.spacetelescope.org/sta c/archives/images/screen/heic0805c.jpg Chart of Galac c Years: p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galac c_year An Interac ve Chart of Human Evolu on: p://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-evolu on- meline-interac ve Cycles of the Maya: p://bit.ly/125IR6m Kalachakra: p://bit.ly/XYOQqx Samsara: p://bit.ly/XqTnUE Ash Norouzi - Balance: ps://www.facebook.com/Ash.N.Photography/ Alex Grey - Gaia: p://alexgrey.com/art/pain ngs/soul/gaia/ Natural Fractals: p://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/09/fractal-pa erns-in-nature/ MaQan - Mirror Image Art: p://on. .me/SJBE6T Vision of 2200: p://momsn.dk/contact.html Ci es of the Future: p://www.hongkiat.com/blog/ci es-of-future-artworks/ Dave Patche - The Guessing Game: p://www.davepatche .com/
Informa on about the Presenta on This Presenta on was wri en and compiled by Aryan Ashoori (BEng Civil Engineering - University of Bath) as a workshop for TEDxBath. Any material used is presented for educa onal purposes only and all credit goes to the authors and ar sts men oned above. If you’d like us to remove any of the content, please let us know and we will follow immediately. This ar cle is only available for reading through the Ou allectual Collec ve and it’s Issuu account: Website: p://www.ou allectuals.com Issu: p://issuu.com/ou allectuals Facebook: p://www.facebook.com/ou allectuality