Physics of the Impossible's Michio Kaku on Invisibility Cloaks, Parallel Universes, and Reader Feedback
Early this month, Anchor Books releases Michio Kaku's New York Times bestselling Physics of the Impossible in trade paperback. The book is a highly praised, fascinating scientific exploration into the world of phasers, force fields, teleportation, and time travel. Kaku examines the impossible technologies abandoned by scientists and relegated to science fiction, ranking them according to their possibility. For example, force fields and death stars are Class I Impossibilities because they don't violate the laws of physics, time travel and parallel universes are Class II Impossibilities because they might be part of regular life millions of years from now, and perpetual motion and precognition are Class III Impossibilities because they do violate our current understanding of physics.
Physics of the Impossible also captures the unabashed enthusiasm and curiosity of a man who not only serves as The Science Channel's "Physicist-in-Residence" but is the cofounder of string field theory. I recently caught up with Kaku while he was in Manhattan "slowly answering the piles of emails that have been generated by readers," which included kindly answering the questions for this interview. Kaku is just about to embark on a month-long tour that will bring him to Portland, Denver, Minneapolis, Madison, Chicago, Santa Monica, and back to New York City.
Amazon.com: What's most surprised you about the reaction to the book? Any specific reader feedback?
Michio Kaku: What surprised me the most was that there were so many people who, like myself, have been inspired by science fiction to delve into science. I grew up as a child watching the old Flash Gordon re-runs on TV, then went on to read Asimov and other science fiction writers, and finally decided to pursue a career in theoretical physics to answer the questions of my childhood. I never realized that there so many other people who were also thrilled by science fiction. I also get scores of letters from people late in life, who have made their millions following the orders of their parents to become a doctor, lawyer, or businessman, but who still remember the rush they felt as children wondering about the universe and reading science fiction. They tell me that all their money does not give them the emotional satisfaction that they get from understanding the wonderous world we live in.
Amazon.com: Any anecdotes from signings/readings that you'd care to share?
Michio Kaku: I have been shocked by the overflow crowds that have come to each talk during my book tour. In San Francisco, we even had to turn away 150 people who could not fit into the auditorium. In Seattle, people had to stand and spill over in the aisle to make room for all the people. And my fingers would hurt after signing so many hundreds of books.
When I started to write popular books, some people told me that it was a risky business, since pure science books never sell, and you can never get TV to do decent science programming. But a lot has changed since then! Stephen Hawking has outsold most Hollywood kiss-and-tell books, which shows that there is a huge latent interest in science in the public. And now with cable, several TV networks are competing with each other to do quality science programming. And Physics of the Impossible spent 5 weeks on the NY Times Best Seller list, something which I never expected would happen. So I think science books, if done well, truly satisfy a burning need among the public.
Amazon.com: Is there anything you'd change about the book now that it's been out and reviewed?
Michio Kaku: One thing that I would like to change (but is impossible unless I had a time machine!) is to include all the fast-paced research that is constantly making the impossible come true. Just within the last few months, there have been major breakthroughs in making an object invisible under ordinary light. As soon as you mention anything about invisibility research, it becomes out of date. Although a true invisibility cloak is years to decades away, the "impossible" is becoming possible every day.
Amazon.com: Is there an issue or problem or topic that's been on your mind lately? What about it either puzzles or intrigues you?
Michio Kaku: As a research physicist, I am constantly bothered by something I wrote about in my book, which is parallel unvierses. I work in string theory (that's my day job; that's what I do for a living) and there is a raging controversy right now about the bilions of universes that are allowed by string theory. Do all these parallel universe actually exist (as predicted by string theory) or are they unstable and decay down to our "true" and unique universe?
A few years ago, I wrote a textbook for Ph.D. students about string theory (stating that these parallel universes might decay down to our unique universe) but now I am not so sure; in fact, many string theorists lean to the idea that there is a multiverse of parallel universes, and we just happen to live in the only one compatible with life (or else we wouldn't be here to debate this question). Anyway, the Large Hadron Collider gets turned on this summer, so perhaps we might get some experimental input on this question!
Giovanni DaUdine on April 04, 2009 at 02:58 PM
I had no idea that 2nd law of thermodynamics will not be valid in the future. Most probably Mr. Jeff VanderMeer is wrong in his interpretation of what Ms. Kaku means by type II impossibility. Even G-D can not change the 2nd law; not now nor millions of years from now.
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