Tonight's guest Douglas Mulhall writes that there is often a thin line between science and science-fiction in a recent article he penned for The Futurist (1) . In fact, he says that a number of things that he had posited for the future had already come to pass by the time his book, Our Molecular Future, hit the shelves. Among those developments were:
- Super-strong building materials---aerogels that use nanotechnology
- Malaria genomes--- may lead to lifesaving vaccine
- Nanobacteria discovery--- suggesting heart disease may be treatable infection
- AI computers--- beating stockbrokers at their own game
"These leaps constitute the kernels of a new molecular economy," Mulhall writes. But the problem with such fast flying future developments is that there is sometimes a public backlash against them due to fears of the new and untested. But "the rationale for proceeding with such risky technologies," Mulhall explains, "may to be to win the race against nature's next onslaught be it climate flip, volcanic eruption or asteroid hit."
--L.L.
1. http://wfs.org/futurist.htm