Guillen - The end of life as we know it: ominous news from the frontiers of science

MICHAEL GUILLEN

The End of Life as We Know It

OMINOUS NEWS FROM THE FRONTIERS OF SCIENCE

MICHAEL GUILLEN

The End of Life as We Know It

OMINOUS NEWS FROM THE FRONTIERS OF SCIENCE

Copyright 2018 by Michael Guillen

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ISBN: 978-1-62157-672-3

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-62157-672-3

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For my beloved son, who brightens my life every day
and whose God-given gifts, I believe,
will help guide the world toward a great future.

I wish to thank my gifted editor-in-chief, Gary Terashita, for getting me to write this book. I love expounding on the history of science; Gary challenged me to write about the future of science.

I wish to thank my fellow scientists, whose stunning achievements I showcase in these pages. You toil away in laboratories all over the world, hoping your efforts will help improve the world. I earnestly pray they will.

Likewise, thank you to my fellow journalists. Getting a story right especially complex science storiesis not easy, but essential, now more than ever. I pray your professional diligence and discernment will help create a future free of hype.

Thank you also to my literary agent, Wes Yoder, who not only gets my passion for truth but helps me promulgate it through my writing. He knows as well as anyone that truth does not need defending; it needs only to be proclaimed boldly and clearly, and it will defend itself. This book, I pray, is an example of that.

Above all, I wish to thank my wife, Laurel, whose inspiring ideas and tender loving care help keep my creative fires burning brightly. Quite simply, I could not do what I dowould not be who I amwithout her extraordinary input, support, and companionship.

Heres to the journey!

Heres to the future!

I think that what we are up against
is a generation that is by no means sure
that it has a future.

George Wald

T his book is about the future.

Its about the unprecedented technologies and know-hows gathering momentously on the horizon. Its about the scientists and their salesmen whose hype fills us with hope. But above all, its about you yes, youbecause it is you who will help determine if the powerful innovations described in this book will result in a great futureor a grim fate.

To anyone keeping up with the news, its obvious science never rests. During every minute of every day, scientists somewhere in the world are wide awake, exploring, discovering, bringing to life inventions with enormous promise but also substantial risk.

Where is this vast, tireless, impressive scientific and technological prowess taking us? To a better life? To a worse life?

Can we trust scientists? Are they, as they insist, guileless seekers of truth? Or are they corrupted by politics and other self-serving agendas?

Is it wronganti-intellectual, anti-scientificfor society to control science? Is it even possible? Or are we fated to go along for the ride, come what may?

I am a theoretical physicist with some honest answers to offer you. I am also an award-winning science journalist who will help you digest whats going on.

For this book, Ive chosen to focus on the four subject areas radically upending our lives: the world wide web, robots and artificial intelligence, surveillance technology, and genetic engineering. I devote four chapters to each subject. The first explains how the innovation came to be; the other threerelying on the very latest news from the frontiers of sciencedescribe where it is taking us.

Before diving in, take a moment right now to see how, in just a few words, todays headlines presage the ambiguous future already within sighta future of either monumental greatness or catastrophic grimness. Or both.

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How Telemedicine Is Revolutionizing Health Care

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Facebook Says It Cant Guarantee Social Media Is Good for Democracy
Your Social Media Addiction Is Giving You Depression
Dating Apps Fueling Rise in Casual Sex
Why a Rising Number of Criminals Are Using Facebook Live to Film Their Acts
Why Are People Live-Streaming Their Suicides?
Why the Internet Makes Us Monsters
Former Facebook Exec Says Social Media Is Ripping Apart Society

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Massive Ransomware Infection Hits Computers in 99 Countries
The Darkening Web: Misinformation Is the Strongest Cyberweapon

Paralyzed Woman Moves Robotic Arm with Her Mind
Bionic Eyes Can Already Restore Vision, Soon Theyll Make It Superhuman
Bionic Pancreas Shows Success at Controlling Blood Sugar
Googles AI Invents Sounds Humans Have Never Heard Before

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Dominos Will Begin Using Robots to Deliver Pizzas in Europe
LG Electronics to Sell Robots to Replace Hotel, Airport, Supermarket Employees
Amazons Robot Workforce Has Increased by 50 Percent
Robots Are Coming for Jobs of as Many as 800 Million Worldwide
Robot Doctors Come a Step Closer as a Machine Passes Medical Exams with Flying Colors
Robot Surgeons Are Stealing Training Opportunities from Young Doctors
The Inventor of the World Wide Web Says Computers Will Someday Run Companies without Humans
Elon Musk: Robots Will Take Your Jobs, Government Will Have to Pay Your Wage
Stephen Hawking Warns Artificial Intelligence Could End Mankind

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GEs Jeff Immelt: Robots Wont Kill Human Jobs
Why Robots Will Be the Biggest Job Creators in World History

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10 New Technologies that Will Make You a Cyborg
Hyundais Wearable Robots Could Make You Superhuman
DARPA Is Planning to Hack the Human Brain to Let Us Upload Skills
Godlike Homo Deus Could Replace Humans as Tech Evolves

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GM to Test Fleet of Self-Driving Cars In New York
Self-driving Uber Car Kills Arizona Woman Crossing Street
Get Ready for Freeways that Ban Human Drivers
Self-Driving Cars Programmed to Decide Who Dies in a Crash

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Supersmart Robots Will Outnumber Humans within 30 Years, Says Softbank CEO
Europe Mulls Treating Robots Legally as People