Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100

moon, vacation on Mars, shop in distant countries, visit any museum, and decide for yourself where you want to go.
    You will also, to a degree, have the ability to feel and touch objects in this cyberworld. This is called “haptic technology” and allows you to feel the presence of objects that are computer generated. It was first developed by scientists who had to handle highly radioactive materials with remote-controlled robotic arms, and by the military, which wanted its pilots to feel the resistance of a joystick in a flight simulator.
    To duplicate the sense of touch scientists have created a device attached to springs and gears, so that as you push your fingers forward on the device, it pushes back, simulating the sensation of pressure. As you move your fingers across a table, for example, this device can simulate the sensation of feeling its hard wooden surface. In this way, you can feel the presence of objects that are seen in virtual reality goggles, completing the illusion that you are somewhere else.
    To create the sensation of texture, another device allows your fingers to pass across a surface containing thousands of tiny pins. As your fingersmove, the height of each pin is controlled by a computer, so that it can simulate the texture of hard surfaces, velvety cloth, or rough sandpaper. In the future, by putting on special gloves, it may be possible to give a realistic sensation of touch over a variety of objects and surfaces.
    This will be essential for training surgeons in the future, since the surgeon has to be able to sense pressure when performing delicate surgery, and the patient might be a 3-D holographic image. It also takes us a bit closer to the holodeck of the
Star Trek
series, where you wander in a virtual world and can touch virtual objects. As you roam around an empty room, you can see fantastic objects in your goggles or contact lens. As you reach out and grab them, a haptic device rises from the floor and simulates the object you are touching.
    I had a chance to witness these technologies firsthand when I visited the CAVE (cave automatic virtual environment) at Rowan University in New Jersey for the Science Channel. I entered an empty room, where I was surrounded by four walls, each wall lit up by a projector. 3-D images could be flashed onto the walls, giving the illusion of being transported to another world. In one demonstration, I was surrounded by giant, ferocious dinosaurs. By moving a joystick, I could take a ride on the back of a Tyrannosaurus rex, or even go right into its mouth. Then I visited the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, where the U.S. military has devised the most advanced version of a holodeck. Sensors were placed on my helmet and backpack, so the computer knew exactly the position of my body. I then walked on an Omnidirectional Treadmill, a sophisticated treadmill that allows you to walk in any direction while remaining in the same place. Suddenly I was on a battlefield, dodging bullets from enemy snipers. I could run in any direction, hide in any alleyway, sprint down any street, and the 3-D images on the screen changed instantly. I could even lie flat on the floor, and the screens changed accordingly. I could imagine that, in the future, you will be able to experience total immersion, e.g. engage in dogfights with alien spaceships, flee from rampaging monsters, or frolic on a deserted island, all from the comfort of your living room.
    MEDICAL CARE IN THE NEAR FUTURE
    A visit to the doctor’s office will be completely changed. For a routine checkup, when you talk to the “doctor,” it will probably be a robotic softwareprogram that appears on your wall screen and that can correctly diagnose up to 95 percent of all common ailments. Your “doctor” may look like a person, but it will actually be an animated image programmed to ask certain simple questions. Your “doctor” will also have a complete record of your genes, and will recommend a course of medical treatments that takes into account all your genetic risk factors.
    To diagnose a problem, the “doctor” will ask you to pass a simple probe over your body. In the original
Star Trek
TV series, the public was amazed to see a device called the tricorder that could instantly diagnose any illness and peer inside your body. But you do not have to wait until the twenty-third century for this futuristic device. Already, MRI machines, which weigh several tons and can fill up an entire room, have been