If You're Curious About These Questions...
You should listen to this audiobook
- Did you know that the secret to cheap space travel might not be better rockets, but a literal elevator stretching thousands of miles into the sky?
- What if you could bypass the organ donor waiting list entirely by 'printing' a brand-new, functional human heart on demand?
- Have you ever wondered why revolutionary technologies like fusion power and asteroid mining always seem to be 'ten years away' from changing the world?
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Key Takeaways from Soonish
- Discover how high rocket fuel costs are driving scientists to develop cheaper space exploration methods, such as giant space elevators, dual-engine spaceplanes, and asteroid-capturing nets.
- Understand the challenges of harnessing nuclear fusion and learn how projects like the ITER reactor plan to use magnetic fields to create clean, continuous energy by 2027.
- Explore the medical breakthroughs of programmable matter through innovations like dissolving origami robots that can fold into different shapes to deliver targeted treatments inside the body.
- Grapple with the ethical and legal dilemmas posed by futuristic shape-shifting materials, such as a programmable 'Bucket of Stuff' that could form either harmless tools or dangerous weapons.
- Find out how emerging robotics and 3D printing technologies are preparing to overcome the complexities of traditional construction to autonomously build custom-made homes.
Soonish — Full Chapter Overview
Chapter 1: Recommendation
Chapter 2: Progress in space exploration is limited by the huge cost of reaching space.
Chapter 3: Fusion energy has been difficult to master, but this could soon change.
Chapter 4: Programmable matter could be used for fields like medicine and building.
Chapter 5: Emerging technologies are enabling buildings put together by robots.
Chapter 6: Augmented reality will boost our productivity, but it also raises several worries.
Chapter 7: Synthetic biology may transform life on Earth as we understand it.
Chapter 8: Tomorrow’s precision medicine could deliver instant, exact diagnoses and treatments.
Chapter 9: Researchers are working on ways to 3D print human organs.
Chapter 10: Although upgrading the human brain is distant, brain-computer links are advancing fast.
Soonish Summary & Overview
Soonish (2017) explores transformative technologies that will emerge in the future, from space exploration to brain-to-computer interfaces, and the ongoing real-world efforts undertaken to make them a reality today. For each technology explored, Kelly and Zach Weinersmith consider its current status, the primary concerns and the effect each technology is likely to have on the world as we know it.
Who Should Listen to Soonish?
- Students of science and technology
- Science-fiction enthusiasts
- Readers curious about theoretical science
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