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Ironically, the serious study of the impossible has frequently opened up rich and entirely unexpected domains of science. For example, over the centuries the frustrating and futile search for a "perpetual motion machine" led physicists to conclude that such a machine was impossible, forcing them to postulate the conservation of energy and the three laws of thermodynamics. Thus the futile search to build perpetual motion machines helped to o..
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Michio Kaku |
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It should also be pointed out that some of the strains of smart mice were exceptionally timid compared to normal mice. Some suspect that, if your memory becomes too great, you also remember all the failures and hurts as well, perhaps making you hesitant. So there is also a potential downside to remembering too much.
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Michio Kaku |
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Just one supernova can temporarily outshine an entire galaxy of 100 billion stars.
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Michio Kaku |
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My fundamental premise about the brain is that its workings--what we sometimes call "mind"--are a consequence of its anatomy and physiology, and nothing more. --CARL SAGAN"
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Michio Kaku |
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THE SPLIT-BRAIN PARADOX One way in which this picture, based on the corporate hierarchy of a company, deviates from the actual structure of the brain can be seen in the curious case of split-brain patients. One unusual feature of the brain is that it has two nearly identical halves, or hemispheres, the left and right. Scientists have long wondered why the brain has this unnecessary redundancy, since the brain can operate even if one entire ..
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Michio Kaku |
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There is a cosmic "entanglement" between every atom of our body and atoms that are light-years distant. Since all matter came from a single explosion, the big bang, in some sense the atoms of our body are linked with some atoms on the other side of the universe in some kind of cosmic quantum web. Entangled particles are somewhat like twins still joined by an umbilical cord (their wave function) which can be light-years across. What happens ..
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Michio Kaku |
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In science fiction, telepaths often communicate across language barriers, since thoughts are considered to be universal. However, this might not be true. Emotions and feelings may well be nonverbal and universal, so that one could telepathically send them to anyone, but rational thinking is so closely tied to language that it is very unlikely that complex thoughts could be sent across language barriers. Words will still be sent telepathical..
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telepathy
communication
language
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Michio Kaku |
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There are two competing trends in the world today: one is to create a planetary civilization that is tolerant, scientific, and prosperous, but the other glorifies anarchy and ignorance that could rip the fabric of our society.
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Michio Kaku |
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A plasma is the "fourth state of matter." Solids, liquids, and gases make up the three familiar states of matter, but the most common form of matter in the universe is plasma, a gas of ionized atoms."
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Michio Kaku |
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Indeed, Isaac Newton himself, who introduced the concept of immutable laws which guided the planets and stars without divine intervention, believed that the elegance of these laws pointed to the existence of God.
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Michio Kaku |
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Physicists often quote from T. H. White's epic novel , where a society of ants declares, 'Everything not forbidden is compulsory.' In other words, if there isn't a basic principle of physics forbidding time travel, then time travel is necessarily a physical possibility. (The reason for this is the uncertainty principle. Unless something is forbidden, quantum effects and fluctuations will eventually make it possible if we wait long enough. ..
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science
heisenberg-uncertainty-principle
terence-hanbury-white
uncertainty-principle
werner-heisenberg
t-h-white
the-once-and-future-king
time-travel
physics
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Michio Kaku |
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For example, you might have a sever sunburn as a child. Many decades later, you might develop skin cancer at that same site. This means it probably took that long for the other mutation to occur and finally tip the cell into a cancerous mode.
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Michio Kaku |
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Already physicists are doing the basic calculations necessary to make an MRI machine fit into a cell phone.
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Michio Kaku |
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We can now give you a biological reason why cramming doesn't work," says Dr. Tully. The best way to prepare for a final exam is to mentally review the material periodically during the day, until the material becomes part of your long-term memory. This may also explain why emotionally charged memories are so vivid and can last for decades. The CREB repressor gene is like a filter, cleaning out useless information. But if a memory is associat..
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Michio Kaku |
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One day , would it be possible to walk through walls ? To build starships than can travel faster than the speed of life? TO READ OTHER PEOPLE'S MIND ? To become INVISIBLE ? To move object with the power of our minds? To transport our bodies instantly through outer space?? Since I was a child , I've always been fascinated by these questions.
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Michio Kaku |
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Entire cities could sprout instantly in the desert, with skyscrapers made entirely of force fields.
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Michio Kaku |
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your cell phone today has more computer power than all of NASA when it put two men on the moon in 1969.
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Michio Kaku |
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n m n`tbrh Hqyq@ hw mjrd tqryb yqwm bh l`ql lml lthGrt; kl mn yr~ lHqyq@ bTryq@ mkhtlf@.
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Michio Kaku |
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Studies have shown that retaining memories can be improved by getting sufficient sleep between the time of activity and a test. Neuroimaging shows that the areas of the brain that are activated during sleep are the same as those involved in learning a new task. Dreaming is perhaps useful in consolidating this new information.
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Michio Kaku |
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However, animals apparently dream differently than we do. In the dolphin, for example, only one hemisphere at a time sleeps in order to prevent drowning, because they are air-breathing mammals, not fish. So if they dream, it is probably in only one hemisphere at a time.)
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Michio Kaku |
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Everyone takes the limits of his own vision for the limits of the world. --ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER
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Michio Kaku |
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when a person tells a lie, he simultaneously has to know the truth, concoct the lie, and rapidly analyze the consistency of this lie with previously known facts.
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Michio Kaku |
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'n tkwn fy'q ldhk l yDmn lk lnjH fy lHy@. fy lHqyq@, rbm y`yqk ldhk lfy'q fy lHlqt l'dn~ mn mjtm` yqdr lryDyyn wnjwm lsynm wlkwmydy wmDyfy ltlfz bshkl 'kbr. lm ySbH 'y nsn thry bkhtr` lnsby@
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Michio Kaku |
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The word "robot" comes from the 1920 Czech play R.U.R. by playwright Karel Capek ("robot" means "drudgery" in the Czech language and "labor" in Slovak)."
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Michio Kaku |
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Our Sun is not Earth's true "mother." Although many peoples of Earth have worshipped the Sun as a god that gave birth to Earth, this is only partially correct. Although Earth was originally created from the Sun (as part of the ecliptic plane of debris and dust that circulated around the Sun 4.5 billion years ago), our Sun is barely hot enough to fuse hydrogen to helium. This means that our true "mother" sun was actually an unnamed star or c..
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supernova
stardust
mother-sun
sun
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Michio Kaku |
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It is a fool's prerogative to utter truths that no one else will speak. -SHAKESPEARE
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Michio Kaku |
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PREFACE A New Look at the Legacy of Albert Einstein Genius. Absent-minded professor. The father of relativity. The mythical figure of Albert Einstein--hair flaming in the wind, sockless, wearing an oversized sweatshirt, puffing on his pipe, oblivious to his surroundings--is etched indelibly on our minds. "A pop icon on a par with Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe, he stares enigmatically from postcards, magazine covers, T-shirts, and larger-..
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Michio Kaku |
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the entire electromagnetic spectrum-- from radar to TV, infrared light, visible light, ultraviolet light, X-rays, microwaves, and gamma rays-- is nothing but Maxwell waves, which in turn are vibrating Faraday force fields.
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Michio Kaku |
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I canna' change the laws of physics, Captain! -SCOTTY, CHIEF ENGINEER IN STAR TREK
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Michio Kaku |
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The mind reels when we realize that, according to this interpretation of quantum mechanics, all possible worlds coexist with us. Although wormholes might be necessary to reach such alternate worlds, these quantum realities exist in the very same room that we live in. They coexist with us wherever we go.
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quantum-realities
parallel-worlds
quantum-mechanics
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Michio Kaku |
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I sometimes think about how easy it is for a nation to slip into complacency and ruin after decades of basking in the sun. Since science is the engine of prosperity, nations that turn their backs on science and technology eventually enter a downward spiral.
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Michio Kaku |
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This means that the two hemispheres may even have different beliefs. For example, the neurologist V. S. Ramanchandran describes one split-brain patient who, when asked if he was a believer or not, said he was an atheist, but his right brain declared he was a believer. Apparently, it is possible to have two opposing religious beliefs residing in the same brain. Ramachandran continues: "If that person dies, what happens? Does one hemisphere g..
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Michio Kaku |
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Do we have enough food to feed the people of the world as they become middle class consumers? The hundreds of millions of people in China and India who are now entering the middle class watch Western movies and want to emulate that lifestyle, with its wasteful use of resources, large consumption of meat, big houses, fixation on luxury goods, et cetera. He is concerned we may not have enough resources to feed the population as a whole, and c..
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Michio Kaku |
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When you listen to the beautiful sounds of stereo music, remember that you are listening to the rhythms of trillions of electrons obeying this and other bizarre laws of quantum mechanics. But if quantum mechanics were incorrect, then all of electronics including television sets, computers, radios, stereo, and so on, would cease to function. (In fact, if quantum theory were incorrect, the atoms in our bodies would collapse, and we would inst..
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Michio Kaku |
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In Einstein's equation, time is a river. It speeds up, meanders, and slows down. The new wrinkle is it can have whirlpools and fork into two rivers. So, if the river of time can be bent into a pretzel, create whirlpools and fork into two rivers, then time travel cannot be ruled out.
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time-travel
slavery-in-the-united-states
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Michio Kaku |
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As in the movie The Matrix, we might one day be able to download memories and skills using computers.
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Michio Kaku |
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The quantum theory is based on the idea that there is a probability that all possible events, no matter how fantastic or silly, might occur.
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Michio Kaku |
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In other words, a star is a nuclear furnace, burning hydrogen fuel and creating nuclear "ash" in the form of waste helium. A star is also a delicate balancing act between the force of gravity, which tends to crush the star into oblivion, and the nuclear force, which tends to blow the star apart with the force of trillions of hydrogen bombs. A star then matures and ages as it exhausts its nuclear fuel."
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Michio Kaku |
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You might one day be able to send the experience of dancing the tango, bungee jumping, or skydiving to the people on your e-mail list. Not just physical activity, but emotions and feelings as well might be sent via brain-to-brain communication.
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Michio Kaku |
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For an animal, the past is largely a waste of precious resources, since it gives them little evolutionary advantage. But simulating the future, given the lessons of the past, is an essential reason why humans became intelligent.
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Michio Kaku |
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At first, it seems as if the existence of complex life forms on Earth violates the second law. It seems remarkable that out of the chaos of the early Earth emerged an incredible diversity of intricate life forms, even harboring intelligence and consciousness, lowering the amount of entropy. Some have taken this miracle to imply the hand of a benevolent creator. But remember that life is driven by the natural laws of evolution, and that tota..
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Michio Kaku |
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Before an observation is made, an object exists in all possible states simultaneously. To determine which state the object is in, we have to make an observation, which "collapses" the wave function, and the object goes into a definite state. The act of observation destroys the wave function, and the object now assumes a definite reality."
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reality
observation
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Michio Kaku |
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These computer simulations try only to duplicate the interactions between the cortex and the thalamus. Huge chunks of the brain are therefore missing. Dr. [Dharmendra] Modha understands the enormity of his project. His ambitious research has allowed him to estimate what it would take to create a working model of the entire human brain, and not just a portion or a pale version of it, complete with all parts of the neocortex and connections t..
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complexity
computer-simulation
brain
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Michio Kaku |
ea27f40
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As all matter is crushed in the final moments before doomsday, intelligent life forms may be able to tunnel into higher-dimensional space or an alternative universe, avoiding the seemingly inevitable death of our universe.
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Michio Kaku |