• Physics of the Future

  • How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100
  • By: Michio Kaku
  • Narrated by: Feodor Chin
  • Length: 15 hrs and 39 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (1,654 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Physics of the Future  By  cover art

Physics of the Future

By: Michio Kaku
Narrated by: Feodor Chin
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $20.25

Buy for $20.25

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Imagine, if you can, the world in the year 2100.

In Physics of the Future, Michio Kaku - the New York Times best-selling author of Physics of the Impossible - gives us a stunning, provocative, and exhilarating vision of the coming century based on interviews with over 300 of the world’s top scientists who are already inventing the future in their labs.

The result is the most authoritative and scientifically accurate description of the revolutionary developments taking place in medicine, computers, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, energy production, and astronautics.

In all likelihood, by 2100 we will control computers via tiny brain sensors and, like magicians, move objects around with the power of our minds. Artificial intelligence will be dispersed throughout the environment, and Internet-enabled contact lenses will allow us to access the world's information base or conjure up any image we desire in the blink of an eye.

Meanwhile, cars will drive themselves using GPS, and if room-temperature superconductors are discovered, vehicles will effortlessly fly on a cushion of air, coasting on powerful magnetic fields and ushering in the age of magnetism.

Using molecular medicine, scientists will be able to grow almost every organ of the body and cure genetic diseases. Millions of tiny DNA sensors and nanoparticles patrolling our blood cells will silently scan our bodies for the first sign of illness, while rapid advances in genetic research will enable us to slow down or maybe even reverse the aging process, allowing human life spans to increase dramatically.

In space, radically new ships - needle-sized vessels using laser propulsion - could replace the expensive chemical rockets of today and perhaps visit nearby stars.

Advances in nanotechnology may lead to the fabled space elevator, which would propel humans hundreds of miles above the earth’s atmosphere at the push of a button. But these astonishing revelations are only the tip of the iceberg. Kaku also discusses emotional robots, antimatter rockets, X-ray vision, and the ability to create new life-forms, and he considers the development of the world economy. He addresses the key questions: Who are the winner and losers of the future? Who will have jobs, and which nations will prosper?

All the while, Kaku illuminates the rigorous scientific principles, examining the rate at which certain technologies are likely to mature, how far they can advance, and what their ultimate limitations and hazards are.

Synthesizing a vast amount of information to construct an exciting look at the years leading up to 2100, Physics of the Future is a thrilling, wondrous ride through the next 100 years of breathtaking scientific revolution.

©2011 Michio Kaku (P)2011 Random House

Critic reviews

"Following in the footsteps of Leonardo da Vinci and Jules Verne, Kaku, author of a handful of books about science, looks into the not-so-distant future and envisions what the world will look like. It should be an exciting place, with driverless cars, Internet glasses, universal translators, robot surgeons, the resurrection of extinct life forms, designer children, space tourism, a manned mission to Mars, none of which turn out to be as science-fictiony as they sound. In fact, the most exciting thing about the book is the fact that most of the developments Kaku discusses can be directly extrapolated from existing technologies. Robot surgeons and driverless cars, for example, already exist in rudimentary forms. Kaku, a physics professor and one of the originators of the string field theory (an offshoot of the more general string theory), draws on current research to show how, in a very real sense, our future has already been written. The book's lively, user-friendly style should appeal equally to fans of science fiction and popular science." (Booklist)

What listeners say about Physics of the Future

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    885
  • 4 Stars
    503
  • 3 Stars
    197
  • 2 Stars
    43
  • 1 Stars
    26
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    696
  • 4 Stars
    363
  • 3 Stars
    157
  • 2 Stars
    25
  • 1 Stars
    14
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    711
  • 4 Stars
    348
  • 3 Stars
    150
  • 2 Stars
    33
  • 1 Stars
    14

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great science fiction story

This is not a serious discussion of physics but a never ending series of unbelievable and naive fantasies.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
  • L
  • 10-06-19

Pure techno-optimism

The rosiest possible future, with little or no downside and zero skepticism. If you take it with that in mind, it’s a fine book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A little repetitive

There are many chapters where Kaku repeats himself. The story is great, but reading Humanity and then this book is like you are reading the same book.

I will prefer Humanity, no need for this one. If you like science and science fiction this book is for you. Not as Hollywood story, but a story with more science involved.

Pay close attention to his explanation of science it is the support what the future holds.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I love it

its very realistic and hamble predictions of the future. book enlightens listener, ebout curent state of tecnology and sciense.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

All predictions are "could" and "might".

None of the predictions are anything other than throwing spaghetti against the wall and hoping something sticks. Very frustrating, but I guess all books like this are really just guessing.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic

I learned about the past present and future in this book. Very well done I would recommend to everyone especially people with children. Not a huge fan of the narration style.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Thought-provoking exploration of the future!

loved the narration and ideas. particularly appealing for budding engineers dreaming of building all the cool things mentioned in the book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Near term stuff is obvious but far out stuff is thought provoking

As someone working in the technology field I found a lot of the stuff covered in this book to be fairly obvious. But the really far out stuff, talk about the Dyson Sphere and other seemingly impossible achievements given our current tech concepts were thought provoking. Immortal or very long living humans. Genetic reengineering of ourselves. All very possible and likely.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A pleasure through and through

If you like to ponder about what the future will hold for us but care for scientific reasoning and evidence, this is the book for you. I never enjoyed a science book that much. Fourteen hours of story, science and an amazing outlook for what humanity will be able to reach if we overcome our current state.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

niece overview of where we are

good overview of where we are and what can be done with what is in front of us, but felt too much like a sensationalist documentary for me.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!