Michio Kaku examines the implications of string theory.
Kaku and his fellow theoretical physicists appear to have done what Einstein was unable to do in the last twenty years of his life. Einstein was looking for the Theory of Everything that would make quantum theory jive with his theories of the macro universe. A ten dimensional universe makes the mathematical formulas work. In Hyperspace, the laws of gravity and light merge. Light can be explained as vibrations (or strings) in the fifth dimension. Kaku uses graphics to illustrate the "logic" of a ten dimensional universe. In a two dimensional universe, or flatland as Kaku calls it, a figure is in jail. Escape is impossible. However, a three dimensional person can reach down and whisk the flatlander out of there into the third dimension. To a hypothetical jailer the flatlander appears to have disappeared. Kaku's string theory maintains that following the Big Bang the dimensions split off into the four we know of and the other six that are too small to see.
So then, what are the implications of a ten dimensional universe? According to Kaku, space can be stretched until it rips or tears, providing a tunnel through space and time. And, voila, we have time travel and access to parallel universes. Think this is foolish speculation? Not if the physicists at the California Institute of Technology have any credibility. They've considered building a time machine, consisting of a wormhole that connects the past with the future. Of course this would require an energy source far beyond our limitations, but all we have to do is look at the past two hundred years for a model. Isaac Newton gave us the laws governing machines, leading to the Industrial Revolution. James Clark Maxwell gave us the fundamental laws of the electromagnetic force, ushering in radio, the telephone, the computer, lasers. In the 1940s when the nuclear forces were tamed we were confronted with the atomic and hydrogen bombs. Any civilization that masters hyperspace theory will become lord of the universe.
Not only does Kaku simplify complicated science for the layman, but he also makes you feel optimistic about the future. Try Michio Kaku's new book VISIONS, in which he talks about conquering aging in the twenty-first century, DNA computers, and fusion engines that may take us to the stars. Not since Carl Sagan have I found a scientist this easy to read.
Dave Schwinghammer's unconventional mystery, SOLDIER'S GAP, is available on authorsden and at Amazon.com, new and used. Click here to post or read comments.
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