2050s & beyond: new energies, parallel universes, faster-than-light travel

By Dick Pelletier

      

    What might life be like in the 2050s and beyond? Futurists and other forward-thinkers who ponder such things believe that during the last half of the 21st century, humanity will experience huge technology breakthroughs. Super-human intelligence arising from powerful machines could produce revolutionary energy systems, allow communications with parallel universes, and enable faster-than-light travel to planets orbiting nearby stars.

    The desire to replace fossil fuels, spurred by the Obama stimulus, has renewed interest in finding new ways to power our vehicles and homes. Futuristic ideas bantered about by visionaries include clean limitless fusion-power, and zero-point energy and anti-gravity type power schemes.

    Interest in desktop fusion received a huge boost from a recent 60-Minutes interview of Stanford Research Institute scientist Michael McKubre, who predicted that one day soon, small inexpensive fusion cells will power cars for four years between charges and slash home energy bills.

    And experts from the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory also see fusion-based energy as the next big thing. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently toured this high-tech facility, which, by 2010, plans to begin harnessing this nearly unlimited energy source that powers the sun and the stars.

    Other scientists see radical ideas like zero-point energy, described as the ability to harness the power of attraction that exists when two objects get close to each other; and levitation schemes that defy gravity, which could one day yield rockets without propellants and manufacturing facilities that run without fuel.

    Studies of gravitational wave patterns etched into the cosmos soon to be underway at the Swiss Large Hadron Collider are expected to prove the existence of other universes. But what would really shake the world, says Discover Magazine's Corey Powell in a recent Edge article, would be our ability to directly measure other universes, which he predicts could happen by century’s end.

    Positive futurists believe the next step in exploring these 'parallel' universes could be to send and receive messages. Will tomorrow's super-intelligence enable us to locate our 'alternate selves' in another world and interact with that world? Forward thinkers predict it is certainly possible.

    The prospect of traveling faster-than-light has enthralled humanity for decades. FTL travel is necessary because of the huge distances between stars and star systems. The Milky Way Galaxy is over 100,000 light-years across and is only one among billions of galaxies. No human could survive for 100,000 years with current medical techniques, so FTL propulsion is a must.

    Researchers believe that technologies such as fusion-power and zero-point energy hold the potential to produce ships that reach mind-boggling speeds. For example a 2070s hyperdrive vessel or 2080s warp-speed ship might whisk us to Alpha Centauri, 4-light-years away in just 30 days, or make the 6-month trip to Mars in 3-hours.

    Another Earth-shaking event that forward thinkers believe could happen during this century is detecting intelligent alien life on a far-away planet. Enthusiasts believe this could be possible with the upcoming James Webb Telescope and the recently launched Kepler Mission. Move over Star-Trek, let The Federation begin.

    Clearly, our "magical future" winds around unknown turns; but worldwide interest guarantees that this vision could become reality by the 2050s and beyond.

This article appeared in various print publications and on-line blogs. Comments always welcome.