Мартин Рис - On the Future - Prospects for Humanity

gas power, 51

Gates, Bill, 48, 224

gene drive, 74

gene editing, 66–68, 73–74, 108

genetically modified (GM) animals, 66

genetically modified (GM) crops, 23, 24–25, 66

genetically modified pathogens, 73, 78, 116

genetic modification of humans: designer babies and, 68–69; unprecedented future kind of, 7; of voyagers from Earth, 151. See also gene editing; germ line alterations

genomes: computer analysis of, 192; of gut microbes, 80; plummeting cost of sequencing, 64; sequenced by 23andMe, 80; synthesised, 64–65

geoengineering, 58–59, 60, 225

geothermal power, 50

germ line alterations, 74, 116

Gillon, Michaël, 132

Glenn, John, 138

global warming, 37–42; catastrophic, 40, 42, 57–58; goal of less than 1.5 degrees, 41. See also carbon dioxide in atmosphere; climate change

Go, 86–87; Conway’s Game of Life and, 167

God, 194–200

golden rice, 24

Goldilocks planet, 128

Google, 86, 88, 106, 219

googol, 183

googolplex, 183

GPS satellites, 166

gravitational wave detector, 171

Gray, Asa, 195

greenhouse effect, 38, 58; of Venus, 135. See also global warming

Greenland’s ice cap, 42

Greenpeace, 24

hacking: of automobile systems, 94–95; burgeoning security measures and, 219; of financial institutions, 20

Hadfield, Chris, 140

Handel (robot), 88

Hassabis, Demis, 86, 106

Hawking, Stephen, 150

health: now improved for most people, 6; technological optimism about, 26

health care: global inequality and, 220; internet and, 84, 220

hedge funds, automated data analysis for, 102

Higgs boson, 214

high-temperature superconductivity, 191

high-voltage direct current (HVDC) grids, 50

Hinton, Geoff, 85

horsepox virus, synthesis of, 73

Hoyle, Fred, 185

Human Longevity (start-up company), 80

human research subjects, 221

hydrogen storage, 49, 51

hypercomputers, of a posthuman intelligence, 169–70

Ibrahim, Mo, 28–29

immigration. See migration

immortality, by downloading thoughts and memories, 105

India: information technology in, 84; solar energy in, 49

inequality: in interconnected world, 5, 27, 99; investment by fortunate nations and, 27–28; risks associated with, 220–21; sustainable development and, 27

inflation theory, cosmic, 187, 188

influenza virus, H5N1, 73

information technology (IT): built on basic research in universities, 212; globally pervasive, 27–28; independent scientists and, 212–13. See also computers; internet

infrastructure investment, 28

infrastructure planning, 45

Inheritors of the Earth (Thomas), 74

inorganic intelligences, 151, 152–53, 159, 169–70. See also intelligent robots

insects as food, 25

intelligence: bottlenecks to development of life with, 155–56, 158; posthuman, 169–70, 194; of scientists, 202–3. See also AI (artificial intelligence); aliens, intelligent; inorganic intelligences

intelligent design: biological, 196–98; technological, 178

intelligent robots, 8, 152–53. See also inorganic intelligences

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 39, 40, 58

International Atomic Energy Agency, 218

international institutions, 10, 32, 218–19

International Space Station, 140, 146

international tensions, 100

International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), 54

internet: leveling global education and health, 83–84, 220–21; national and religious divisions on, 100; security on, 220. See also information technology (IT); social media

internet of things, 104

interstellar travel, 8, 79, 154

invasive species, 74

in vitro fertilisation (IVF), 67, 68

Iranian nuclear weapons programme, 20

iris recognition, 84–85

James Webb Space Telescope, 137

jobs: declining wages and security, 91; disrupted by technology, 5; in personal services, 96–97; resurgence of arts and crafts, 98; shortened working week, 97–98; taken over by machines, 91–94

Juncker, Jean-Claude, 28

Kardashev, Nikolai, 156

Kasparov, Garry, 86, 87–88

Keeling, Charles, 38

Keeling, Ralph, 38

Kennedy, John F., 17

Kepler, Johannes, 131

Kepler project, 131–32

Khrushchev, Nikita, 17

kidneys sold for transplant, 71

killer robots, 101–2

The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch (Dartnell), 217

Kolmogorov, Andrey, 172

Kolmogorov complexity, 172, 174, 193

Kuhn, Thomas, 205

Kurzweil, Ray, 81, 108

Large Hadron Collider, 206–7

Lee Sedol, 88

Lehrer, Tom, 17

Leonov, Alexey, 138

life: Earth as only known home of, 121; habitable planets and, 125, 126–27, 133, 135–36; origin of, 128–29, 135–36; universe fine-tuned for, 186, 197–98. See also aliens, intelligent

life-long learning, 98–99

lifespan: ethics of extreme measures at end of, 69; extended by downloading thoughts and memories, 105; improvements so far achieved, 6; research on extension of, 79–82

Linde, Andrei, 188

lithium-ion batteries, 49

Lomborg, Bjørn, 42

Long Now Foundation, 224–25

long-term thinking, 227. See also short-termism

Lovelock, James, 216

MacAskill, William, 224

machine learning, 85, 89, 143

Mandelbrot, Benoit, 167, 174

Mandelbrot set, 193

Manhattan Project, 110

manned spaceflight, 143–52. See also Apollo programme

Man’s Place in the Universe (Wallace), 126

manufacturing: globally dispersed, 109; inequalities between nations and, 99; machines taking over work of, 91, 99

Mars: Curiosity rover on, 127–28, 143; establishing a base on, 149–50, 151; life on Earth possibly arrived from, 129; manned mission to, 145; nuclear power for travel to, 148; proposed round trip to, 147

mass extinctions, 4, 33

material properties, computer calculations of, 191–92

mathematics, as language of science, 168–69

Mayor, Michel, 130

McAuliffe, Christa, 145

meat substitutes, 25, 60

Medawar, Peter, 203–4, 227

medical advances: ethical issues associated with, 69–74; unequal availability of, 5

medical research: discouragement of young talent in, 211; need for refocus on basic science in, 212

megacities of developing world, 22, 29, 77, 109

Mercury, 127

metformin, 80

methane: as greenhouse gas, 47; on Mars, 128; on Titan, 136

Michelson-Morley experiment, 204

migration: alleviating pressure for, 28; changed by internet and affordable travel, 99–100; engendered by climate change, 41; global inequality and, 220; as hope of the impoverished, 100; technology as stimulus to, 27

Milky Way galaxy: future of, 178–79; millions of Earthlike planets in, 125, 135; revealed by telescopes, 124

Milner, Yuri, 157

miracles, to qualify for sainthood, 199

Mischel, Walter, 44

Mission Innovation, 48

mitochondrial replacement, 67

mitochondrial transplants, 65

Modi, Narendra, 48

Monsanto, 66

Moon: Chinese mission to far side of, 145; permanently manned base on, 144; private trips round far side of, 147; telescope on far side of, 144

Moore’s law, 85

moral progress, 6. See also ethics

More Worlds Than One (Brewster), 127

mosquito vector of viruses, 74

multiverse, 181, 183–88, 198

Musk, Elon, 49, 146, 149–50

nanotechnology, 83, 161, 218

national and religious divisions, 100; global culture of science and, 214

natural philosophers, 61

natural theology, 199