The Physics of the Impossible

Last Book Read: The Physics of the Impossible - Michio Kaku

In The Physics of the Impossible Michio Kaku continues his enthusiastic discussion of cutting edge science and theorizs how technology might continue to advance through the next few millenia and beyond, to the point of being able to manipulate everything in the universe.  He discusses such topics as invisibility, teleportation, beam weapons, starships, time travel, and precognition.

Interestingly, while discussing technological means to reproduce psychic phenomema, he notes the ease with which scientists are fooled by magicians, just as Gardner has mentioned. The advancement of our technology with require fundamental leaps in acquiring energy and as we move to new levels we will be able to achieve more advancements that are currently deemed impossible.  We may be at one of the most difficult points now. Discussing the transformation from a Type 0 to Type I civilization, Kaku remarks, "a Type 0 is still wracked with the sectarianism, fundamentalism, and racism that typified its rise, and it is not clear whether or not these tribal and religious passions will overwhelm the transition." "There will emerge a planetary language and culture. . . There are also forces that oppose this march to a planetary sytem.  These are the terrorists who unconciously, instinctively, realize that the progression to a planetary civilization is one that will make tolerance and secular pluralism a centerpiece of their emerging culture, and this prospect is a threat to people who fell more comfortable living in the last millenium."  I think his analysis here is very insightful, not only from a technology perspective, but in regards to the evolution of humanity in general.

Kaku really shines while discussing parallel universes. Here he divides them into three types: hyperspace, multiverse, and quantum parallel universes.  But these distinctions seem unnecessary as types, if there is are multiple universes than they all must exist inthe multiverse.  The only difference between the types is how they are formed and their relation to each other.  Hyperspace suggests universes in a spatial dimension higher than the three we experience.   All of the universes are possibly pre-existing as independent ones, stacked in 11-dimensional space.  Kaku mentions the possibility of one googol universes predicted by string theory.  But it is unclear if this is the number required to contain all possible parallel universes, or if it amounts to one googol possible types of universes (each with a unique set of physical properties and constants).  Another explanation is that the universe splits.  One theory, the Copenhagen School, is inseparable from conciousness.  The state of the universe cannot be known until the wave function collapses.  Since we are in the universe, we cannot make the external measurement.  This implies a "'cosmic conciousness' pervading the universe," some type of god, which brings external difficulties into the theory.  Another theory is that our universe has "decohered" from other universes, essentially our wave functions are on different frequencies that do not interact with other universe, like separate radio signals.  The explaination here seems incomplete.  This seems to indicate that all universes in the multiverse exist in the same physical space, rather than sheets of three-dimensional space hyper-stacked on each other.  Only the "stuff" in these universes exist seperately because of decohered wave functions.  I imagine this is the kind of parallel dimension illustrated in the Star Trek episode "The Tholian Web".  This theory also doesn't explain what it means to exist in a multiple universe that has yet to decohere.  It would imply that there is simply one universe and if decoherence happens,  I suppose, certain things will just disappear, as they will be left in the original universe.  What was one universe becomes two and we wouldn't notice much of anything unless we were able to retune to the orignal coherence wave.  This leaves us in the same isolated condition as separate sheets of spacetime.  The third category suggests that universes can be created out of a quantum flucuation of the vacuum, out of nothingness.  Interestingly, noting the sum totals of properties of our universe in measurements of charge, spin or total matter-energy, the end result is always zero, suggesting a possible creation from nothing.  Both decoherence and quantum flucuation seem to suggest different ways that a baby uiverse could form in an ever growing multiverse.

Finally, while discussing a possible "theory of everything" he notes the difficulty caused by  Godel's Incompleteness Theorem.  Mathematics is self-referential and "since the observer cannot be separated from the observation process, it means physics will always refer to itself, since we cannot leave the universe.  In the final analysis, the observer is also made of atoms and molecules, and hence must be an integral part of the experiment he is performing."  This means that any mathematics used in the development of the TOE must be carefully constructed to avoid self-reference.


I find Kaku's predictions highly optimistic, yet this is necessary optimism.  Without it I fear there would be no drive to test these wild theories, and we have come so far in the twentieth century, with the verification of quantum theory and the existence of quarks, that we may be near the next leap.