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

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

Titel: Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100 Kostenlos Bücher Online Lesen
Autoren: Michio Kaku
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information will spring instantly into your contact lens.
    This means you would not need a cell phone, clocks or watches, or MP3 players anymore. All the icons on your various handheld objects would be projected onto your contact lenses, so that you could access them anytime you wanted. Phone calls, music Web sites, etc. could all be accessed this way. Many of the appliances and gadgets you have at home can be replaced by augmented reality.
    Another scientist pushing the boundary of augmented reality is Pattie Maes of the MIT Media Laboratory. Instead of using special contact lenses, glasses, or goggles, she envisions projecting a computer screen onto common objects in our environment. Her project, called SixthSense, involves wearing a tiny camera and projector around your neck, like a medallion, that can project the image of a computer screen on anything in front of you, such as the wall or a table. Pushing the imaginary buttons automatically activates the computer, just as if you were typing on a real keyboard. Since the image of a computer screen can be projected on anything flat and solid in front of you, you can convert hundreds of objects into computer screens.
    Also, you wear special plastic thimbles on your thumb and fingers. As you move your fingers, the computer executes instructions on the computer screen on the wall. By moving your fingers, for example, you can draw images onto the computer screen. You can use your fingers instead of a mouse to control the cursor. And if you put your hands together to make a square, you can activate a digital camera and take pictures.
    This also means that when you go shopping, your computer will scan various products, identify what they are, and then give you a complete readout of their contents, calorie content, and reviews by other consumers. Since chips will cost less than bar codes, every commercial product will have its own intelligent label you can access and scan.
    Another application of augmented reality might be X-ray vision, very similar to the X-ray vision found in
Superman
comics, which uses a process called “backscatter X-rays.” If your glasses or contact lens are sensitive to X-rays, it may be possible to peer through walls. As you look around, you will be able to see through objects, just as in the comic books. Every kid, when they first read
Superman
comics, dreams of being “faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive.” Thousands of kids don capes, jump off crates, leap into the air, and pretend to have X-ray vision, but it is also a real possibility.
    One problem with ordinary X-rays is that you have to place X-ray film behind any object, expose the object to X-rays, and then develop the film. But backscattered X-rays solve all these problems. First, you have X-rays emanating from a light source that can bathe a room. Then they bounce off the walls, and pass from behind through the object you want to examine. Your goggles are sensitive to the X-rays that have passed through the object. Images seen via backscattered X-rays can be just as good as the images found in the comics. (By increasing the sensitivity of the goggles, one can reduce the intensity of the X-rays, to minimize any health risks.)
    UNIVERSAL TRANSLATORS
    In
Star Trek,
the
Star Wars
saga, and virtually all other science fiction films, remarkably, all the aliens speak perfect English. This is because there is something called the “universal translator” that allows earthlings to communicate instantly with any alien civilization, removing the inconvenience of tediously using sign language and primitive gestures to communicate with an alien.
    Although once considered to be unrealistically futuristic, versions of the universal translator already exist. This means that in the future, if you are a tourist in a foreign country and talk to the locals, you will see subtitles in your contact lens, as if you were watching a foreign-language movie. You can also have your computer create an audio translation that is fed into your ears. This means that it may be possible to have two people carry on a conversation, with each speaking in their own language, while hearing the translation in their ears, if both have the universal translator. The translation won’t be perfect, since there are always problems with idioms, slang,and colorful expressions, but it will be good enough so you will understand the gist of what that person is saying.
    There are several ways in which

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