Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st Century [Paperback]

Incredible, how can any discussion of the future be without the involvement of scientists and engineers. Our whole future is based on science and technology. Scientists and engineers will create the future.

For anyone who can graduate first in his class in Physics at Harvard University and who is co-originator of string theory has some brains. As we all knows, physics is the foundation science in which all sciences is based. The unification of the four forces of nature will ultimately lead to the "final theory" of science.

Dr. Kaku in his professional work is one of the people trying to find the "final theory". In fact, Dr Kaku was inspired by the later works of Albert Einstein to find a unification theory for all the forces of nature.

Hence, it is great Dr. Kaku has taken the time to write a book for the lay reader. The future can only be explained by a great scientist. This book is a great read and can be read in a day or two.

The book is divided on three section. 1. The Computer Revolution. 2. The Biomoleculor Revolution 3. The Quantum Revolution. Computer has increased by a million fold since the first computers; a complete map of the human DNA is at hand. The Quantum theory has given us a detailed description of the atom. The quantum theory has given us electronics, semiconductors, lasers, etc.

This is by no means a technical book or a treastise. It is a general discussion of the three revolutions in science. Dr. Kaku says it will give us the power of a God, in that we are able to manipulate the Gene and the Atom: the foundation of matter and the foundation of life. The Computer Revolution will give us unlimited Computing and Communicating powers.

Atom, Gene, & Computers. Three great achievements of science. Only a professional scientists like Dr. Kaku is capable of discussing these matters. Visions is a great book by a great scientists. This is must buy for professional or laypersons interested in science.

An irritation: the author shoots half-heartedly from the hip against reductionism on pp. 10-12. The problem is that there is no falsifiable alternative to reductionism, or the isolation of cause and effect. So-called holism is a vague, not mathematically formulable notion. Holism in biology remains an empty hope. Schrödinger explained in "What is Life" why evolution can only be understood at the molecular scale and never at the macroscopic scale. Every mathematical model that succeeds empirically is a form of reductionism. Quantum physics (including all of chemistry) reduces phenomena to atoms and molecules, cell biology reduces phenomena largely to genes and proteins, SOC (self organized criticality) hopes to reduce nature to sand grains and sandpiles, network enthusiasts hope to reduce phenomena to nodes and links (wait until they try to do dynamics empirically correctly...). Economics (beyond finance) so far has failed as scientific theory because it cannot find any suitable "invariant units" to build a theory on, human preferences having failed to do the job. Computerization and advances in biology (all via reductionism, by the way) do not and cannot change these facts. Let me state this challenge to the author and to other critics of reductionism: present us with something nonreductionist that is empirically correct. Until then, be pleased to restrain yourselves from purely speculative and totally unproductive criticism of science.