The Skeptics' Guide to the Future: what yesterday's science and science fiction tell us about the world of tomorrow

by Steven Novella

Other authorsBob Novella (Author.), Jay Novella (Author.)

Hardcover, 2022

Status

Available

Call number

500.0000

Genres

Collection

Main

Publication

New York : Grand Central Publishing, 2022.

Description

"Our predictions of the future are a wild fantasy, inextricably linked to our present hopes and fears, biases and ignorance. Whether they be the outlandish leaps predicted in the 1920s, like multi-purpose utility belts with climate control capabilities and planes the size of luxury cruise ships, or the forecasts of the '60s, which didn't anticipate the sexual revolution or women's liberation, the path to the present is littered with failed predictions and incorrect estimations. The best we can do is try to absorb the lessons from futurism's checkered past, perhaps learning to do a little better. In THE SKEPTICS' GUIDE TO THE FUTURE, Steven Novella and his co-authors build upon the work of futurists of the past by examining what they got right, what they got wrong, and how they came to those conclusions. By exploring the pitfalls of each era, they give their own speculations about the distant future, transformed by unbelievable technology ranging from genetic manipulation to artificial intelligence and quantum computing. Applying their trademark skepticism, they carefully extrapolate upon each scientific development, leaving no stone unturned as they lay out a vision for the future"--… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member bragan

Attempting to actually predict the future is a fool's game, so most of this book involves taking a look at the technologies currently under development today which have the potential to profoundly shape the future, while acknowledging that we can't necessary know exactly how. It's a good basic

overview of those subjects, along with some thoughts about why it's so hard to accurately imagine the future just based on the trends of the present. A lot of it was not remotely new to me, in part because I'm a regular listener to the authors' podcast, The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, and they talk about most of these subjects fairly often there. But even so, I learned a few interesting things, and for someone who comes in knowing very little about topics like brain-machine interfaces or quantum computing or nuclear fusion, I think the brief, not super-detailed, but very clear and readable discussions to be found here will be very much worthwhile.

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