Michio Kaku ~ Civilizations, String Theory, Space Missions and Cosmology

Civilizations, String Theory, Space Missions and Cosmology

Theoretical physicist Michio Kaku returned to chat with Art Bell about civilizations, string theory, space missions and cosmology. He expressed enthusiasm for the Kepler Mission, a space telescope launching in 2008, that will be capable of detecting Earth-like planets in other solar systems. During its mission, it may reveal as many as 600 planets similar to ours, he noted.

String theory, which posits a vibrating multiverse, has come under criticism in some quarters. While Kaku conceded that it doesn't currently offer much predictive power, he believes the theory needs more time to be considered and validated. For instance, tests by the Large Hadron Collider in 2007 may reveal new information, he said.

Kaku also forecast into the far distant future when our universe will be dying out. At such a time, a Type 3 or 4 civilization (capable of manipulating huge amounts of energy) might construct a massive machine that could make space and time unstable. With an atom smasher the size of a solar system, he hypothesized it might open up a bubble ten light years across, through which our civilization could escape into another universe.

Biography:

Dr. Michio Kaku is an internationally recognized authority in theoretical physics and the environment. He holds the Henry Semat Professorship in Theoretical Physics at the City College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He has lectured around the world and his Ph.D. level textbooks are required reading at many of the top physics laboratories. Dr. Kaku graduated from Harvard in 1968, summa cum laude, and number one in his physics class.

He received a Ph.D. from the University. of California at Berkeley Radiation Laboratory in 1972. He held a lectureship at Princeton University in 1973. He then joined the faculty at the City University of New York, where he has been a professor of theoretical physics for 25 years. His goal is to help complete Einstein's dream of a theory of everything, a single equation, perhaps no more than one inch long, which will unify all the fundamental forces in the universe.

Wikipedia
Michio Kaku (加来 道雄 Kaku Michio?, born January 24, 1947) is an American theoretical physicist, the Henry Semat Professor of Theoretical Physics in the City College of New York of City University of New York, a futurist, and a communicator and popularizer of science. He has written several books about physics and related topics; he has made frequent appearances on radio, television, and film; and he writes extensive online blogs and articles. He has written two New York Times Best Sellers, Physics of the Impossible (2008) and Physics of the Future (2011).

Kaku has hosted several TV specials for BBC-TV, the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, and the Science Channel.

Social policy advocacy

Kaku has publicly stated his concerns over matters including the anthropogenic cause of global warming, nuclear armament, nuclear power and the general misuse of science. He was critical of the Cassini--Huygens space probe because of the 72 pounds (33 kg) of plutonium contained in the craft for use by its radioisotope thermoelectric generator. Conscious of the possibility of casualties if the probe's fuel were dispersed into the environment during a malfunction and crash as the probe was making a 'sling-shot' maneuver around Earth, Kaku publicly criticized NASA's risk assessment. He has also spoken on the dangers of space junk and called for more and better monitoring. Kaku is generally a vigorous supporter of the exploration of outer space, believing that the ultimate destiny of the human race may lie in extrasolar planets; but he is critical of some of the cost-ineffective missions and methods of NASA[citation needed].

Kaku credits his anti-nuclear war position to programs he heard on the Pacifica Radio network, during his student years in California. It was during this period that he made the decision to turn away from a career developing the next generation of nuclear weapons in association with Edward Teller and focused on research, teaching, writing and media.[citation needed] Kaku joined with others such as Helen Caldicott, Jonathan Schell, Peace Action and was instrumental in building a global anti-nuclear weapons movement that arose in the 1980s, during the administration of U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

Kaku was a board member of Peace Action and on the board of radio station WBAI-FM in New York City where he originated his long-running program, Explorations, that focused on the issues of science, war, peace and the environment.

His remark from an interview in support of SETI, "We could be in the middle of an intergalactic conversation...and we wouldn't even know.", is used in the third Symphony of Science installment "Our Place in the Cosmos".