What the Future Looks Like: Scientists Predict the Next Great Discoveries―and Reveal How Today’s Breakthroughs Are Already Shaping Our World

by Jim Al-Khalili (Editor)

Science fact, not science fiction, features in this wide-ranging update from leading experts on the cutting-edge developments that are already defining our future lives and world

Every day, scientists alight on pioneering solutions that will define the future of life on this planet, yet it isn’t every day you hear about these discoveries straight from the scientists themselves. Now, award-winning science writer Jim Al-Khalili and his top-notch team of experts draw on their mastery of groundbreaking scientific research to predict what advancements will shape the future just around the corner and beyond.

Taking in genomics, robotics, AI, the “Internet of Things,” synthetic biology, interstellar travel, colonization of the solar system, and much more, What the Future Looks Like explores big-picture questions like: Will we find a cure to all diseases? The answer to climate change? And will bionics one day turn us into superheroes? Neither celebratory nor alarmist, here is entirely reality-based insight on the science-fueled future that is helping to solve intractable problems—and that’s already unfolding all around us.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Technology, Essays, Audiobook, Education, Futurism

240 pages, Paperback

First published April 17, 2018

About the author

Dr. Jameel Sadik "Jim" Al-Khalili is an Iraqi-British theoretical physicist, author and broadcaster. He is professor of theoretical physics and chair in the public engagement in science at the University of Surrey. He is a regular broadcaster and presenter of science programmes on BBC radio and television, and a frequent commentator about science in other British media.

In 2014, Al-Khalili was named as a RISE (Recognising Inspirational Scientists and Engineers) leader by the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). He was President of Humanists UK between January 2013 and January 2016.

Reviews

[Constantine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5/5.0

The book is a collection of different essays written by several authors. It focuses on how the future of humanity might look like in terms of technological advances. The future here is not only the near future but also the not so near one. I liked that the book has not only focused on the bright sides of each advancement but on its drawbacks as well. I found it also interesting to read about what will happen (Apocalypse) if things go wrong and not as planned.

The book is divided into sections like the future of our planet in terms of climate changes, demographics, and biosphere. Then there is the future of humanity and our survival in terms of genetic engineering, medicines, and transhumanism. Then it focuses on the future of the internet and how it will affect us and our world when there will be more use of cloud services and artificial intelligence.

I found the part about the future of transportation, advanced teleporting and time travel to be fascinating a lot but personally, I don't see that happening even in the long run, but who knows what will happen?

There are lots of new information I gained from reading this book but as a tech-savvy, I also found many things discussed here I already knew. So how might this book benefit you in looking into the future will depend on your current knowledge. Nevertheless, this was an interesting read overall.

I have read an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. The book is set to release in April 2018.

[Correen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun read. I sat back and let the author and contributors took me through possible changes in our lives. Some of the experimental work had already brought us beyond the imagination of most of us -- self driving cars, etc. Some of the topics were beyond my comprehension, e.g., being in two places at the same time. This is not your usual future prediction book. It is written by scientists whose work in theoretical physics is changing the way we live.

[Lauren James]

I really enjoyed ALIENS, Jim Al-Khalili's last edited essay collection. This wasn't as enticing for me, as I think a lot of the ideas were already discussed in the last collection - it was about the likelihood of meeting aliens, but covered a lot of futurism topics at the same time. I do love the references in these books though, and always find lots of interesting things to read that I might not have stumbled across. A great general science non-fiction guide that will be a brilliant christmas present to any budding scientists or science fans.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book of essays on a variety of topics- smart materials, AI, cyber security, genomics, climate change, etc. It gave me so much to think about and made me quite optimistic about the innovations that we could see in the future! As a middle school engineering teacher, it gave me so many great ideas for projects this year!

[Robert Narojek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book ☺

If you like since based future speculation it will be interesting. All of the authors are humble in making predictions, and at the same time show the inevitable change coming sooner or later. Definitely it is worth reading. It is worth to know what to expect within next few years and decades.

[Lily Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a non-science person, I thought the book was very interesting and fun to read! Although, I was not very interested in the chapters about computers and AI, I liked everything else.

[Jake M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

What the Future Looks Like is a great entry point into speculation around the near and far future. Each chapter focuses on a specific topic, and that topic is discussed by an author within that field. Topics range from synthetic materials and the environment to space travel, the apocalypse and teleportation. The booked is well edited, with earlier chapters being referenced in the later text. This coordination demonstrates the interconnections between a breadth of topics. The title only loses a star because chapters are sometimes too short, a rare issue in nonfiction books of the last decade. Highly recommended.

[Denis Vasilev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Разные авторы пишут по идеям на будущее в своих областях. Качество статей разное, глубоких размышлений мало, да и многое как ни странно устарело

[Stefanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a surprisingly fast and entertaining read. Al-Khalili did a great job with the contributors: they can all write engagingly for the public. The section groupings (see below) were good, and the length of each piece was standardized to a few pages, which was perfect.

Sitting here in 2022, five years on from the original publication date in 2017, I'm not enough of a specialist or dialed in enough to know what's advanced or come true in each field - except one, of course: the medicine chapter that said "it is a near certainty we will see another major viral pandemic in our lifetime" was sure on the money, wasn't it? Maybe sooner than they thought. *sobs*

Still, it was fascinating to see how the broad shape of that prediction was correct, while the specificity had missed the mark. I feel like it's going to be even more interesting to return to this book in another five years (2027) or ten (2032).

The book components (and some thoughts):

The Future of Our Planet
Philip Ball, Demographics - There are already too many of us, and more coming.
Gaia Vince, The Biosphere - Take home: we have to protect the earth, but also human interests. Great last line in this one.
Julia Slingo, Climate Change - All of this will be familiar, and still terrible.

The Future of Us
Adam Kucharshi, The Future of Medicine - That viral pandemic sure happened fast, eh?
Aarathi Prasad, Genomics and genetic engineering - "It will no longer be about your doctor looking at your medical history, but looking at your medical future."
Adam Rutherford, Synthetic biology - The only thing I remember from this one is that the Beatles invented sampling?!
Mark Walker, Transhumanism - Transhumanists are way too optimistic for me.

The Future Online
Naomi Climer, The Cloud and “Internet of Things” - Apparently in 2017 the "Internet of Things" was a super big deal. I feel like I hardly hear about it now.
Alan Woodward, Cybersecurity - Apparently our Internet of Things is a security risk.
Margaret A. Boden, Artificial Intelligence - Not quite ubiquitous yet, but getting there.
Winfried K. Hensinger, Quantum computing - I know we have actual quantum computers now, and it still blows my mind.

Making the Future
Anna Ploszajski, Smart materials - Where are these self-repairing pants you speak of?
Jeff Hardy, Energy - Reminds me I need to get a hybrid.
John Miles, Transportation - Reminds me I need advocate for investment in better public transport!
Noel Sharkey, Robotics - If they take our jobs, will it be a good or a bad thing? Jury's still out.

The Far Future
Louisa Preston, Interstellar travel and colonizing the solar system - I learned there are some realistic slower-than-light travel possibilities that aren't like, 100s of years of travel.
Lewis Dartnell, Apocalypse - Great opening quote from Mario Bros: "All that is not saved will be lost."
Jim Al-Khalili, Teleportation and time travel - Not off the table yet, I see! Hooray!

[Jay French · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this somewhat interesting. The book covered a good number of topics, and included near-future as well as far-future possibilities. If you read a lot of science non-fiction books and magazines like Wired, you’ve heard this before, especially the near-future concepts. I most liked the sections where the authors “let it ride” and speculated on the far future. You usually get those kinds of ideas and discussion only from science fiction books, and the prognostications are used to push the plot forward, usually without context. It is good to get a scientist’s take – not just of what may happen, but why. This book does a reasonable job of that.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book. The views on the future were thought out, argued and presented in an beautiful manner. I especially loved the diversity in the presenters, it is not often one find an almost equal amount of male and female researchers in a book like this.
If you have an interest in how the future might look like in different fields, take a look at this book. What "scares" and intrigues me the most is how near we are to the science fiction future.

*Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is more quantity over quality in that it covers a large array of topics. A good premise to other books that are more specialized. Overall pretty interesting, though some of the essays are better done than others as is expected with curated collections such as this. I especially liked the section on solar power, clean energy, and electric cars.

[Falbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

This could have been awesome, but I can't really say I learned a whole lot that I didn't already know. There was one great section on materials science that got me thinking differently about various materials and I would absolutely love to sit down with each and every one of the authors and pick their brains, but most of the truly big ideas didn't really come across so well in the book itself.

[Tyler Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

An accessible glimpse into scientific ideas and discoveries that are either currently shaping our world, or have the potential to do so in the near future. It was a good, quick, thought-provoking read, but dry at times and presumptuous in others. 3.5 stars, rounded down to 3 for the minuscule font the book was written in.

[Henok Kidane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing - I was expecting something thought-provoking, but all the essays read like something out of a college newspaper.

[Nicholas (was Allison) · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4.3 Stars
Notes: I read this because I have recently been interested in various nonfiction science books. I will most likely be reading more of them in the future, besides this one, as I am knowledgeable in various science subjects, from doing loads of research about them.

This story is told in various different essay formats, so it is not light reading. I am accustomed to reading scientific research articles and other things (I had to for school), so this was easy for me to read through. I thought that the information in it was explained well, though I did mostly read this solely for the science aspect.

There was no way that I would’ve read this book in less than a week. I thought that it was well written, given that most of the information in it is very factual and precise. I have actually done scientific research that isn’t school-related into futuristic things, so I’m really, very glad that I found this book. I will again add in that I am someone who has been accustomed to reading through dense scientific articles, so I had an easier time reading this than some others might have.

I really did read through all of this novel, and I liked how the technology was described in it. I have recently been researching things related to artificial intelligence, so I could understand most of what was in this book. I’ll probably be remembering this for a while. It was definitely worth my time, and this is coming from someone who is very, very picky with nonfiction books. Most of what I read is fiction, so I am really glad that I read this book when I could.

I am including in here again that I frequently research scientific futuristic things online, so I could understand this easily. This is more of an essay format, so it’s not a typical book. I would recommend this if you’re accustomed to reading through scientific articles because the writing style can get very descriptive. If you’re used to reading through those like I am, then this might be for you.

[Ailith Twinning · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is betterthan the Aliens collection by just being more interesting.

Anyway, collection of short essays on future stuff -- mostly a highly restrained version. Not bad, but not really book ready. Honestly, I'm generally not a fan of essay collections because they just don't get very deep into their territory. It's hard to even engage with most of it because you have to make too many inferences about missing information, unless you already have it and don't care to argue directly with the author themself.

MEh. One of my biggest problems is that, for many arguments, the format goes "Given: A highly contentious and totally overconfident moral absolute we're not going to talk about" HEY! WAit! Stop! We need to talk about that "Given" dude! So I tend to just get annoyed or combative with a lot of what comes after because it's based on a premise that might be faulty, or a subjective moral judgement I find abhorrent.

But, to be honest, I find techno-libertarianism to be disturbing, reductionist, inhuman, inhumane, and evil. And almost all of Silicon Valley seem to be techno-libertarians.

Seriously, how didn't Star Trek make geeks less. . . cruel? You know what AI I want? A Picard bot that reviews books as Picard man.

[Ilena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Greatly compiled and easily digestible essays ranging from the scary to the hopeful as human beings continue to use technology to improve the way we live and the world around us. It’s really an interesting think piece because it’s the idea between giving up privacy and a more natural way of living at the expense of what is in the interest of “the greater good.” And that alone brings up some interesting questions. If we genetically engineer food, drugs, and humans, what’s really left? If we’re able to recreate someone’s brain, is it still the same person? Do we even tackle the idea of a soul? The book ends with the ”Apocalypse” chapter: even in our fight for life, does it really matter when Mother Nature is crumbling faster than we can handle? Definitely an interesting read and provided me with further topics/organizations to research to gain an even deeper understanding of the moving parts in the scientific world.

[Ed Bernard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just love books like this, as long as they are written in a way that they are comprehensible to a non-scientist like me, but also able to convey the wonder in their visions. For the most part, this book gets it right. It’s written by 18 different scientists, with topics ranging from demography to medicine, cybersecurity, quantum computing, AI and so on. I found the chapter on smart materials particularly interesting, maybe because I didn’t know anything about it, but also because it simply looked at the possibilities with a sort of wide-eyed awe; it was part of the best section in the book, IMO, which was about “Making the Future.” The stuff about time-travel and teleportation are so far off as to be nothing more than musings, but at least open the possibility within modern scientific theory. So, a mixed bag, but never dull, nicely read by the editor, who also contributes an introduction and the teleportation/time travel chapter. Entertaining and thought-provoking.

Grade: A-

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Altogether, a very fun read that touched on many technologies that will most likely become part of our lives in the near future. There was nothing too out there or kooky in this book, and I'm glad I read it because now I have a lot of new interests to delve into. Like many others, I enjoyed the chapter on smart materials, but I also really liked the chapters about the future of energy and personal medicine. I highlighted a lot of things, including information about Tipler cylinders, which I've never heard of before (they may not even exist).
The book did start off slow, with global warming, which I probably would have put 3/4 of the way in, but it eventually ramped up about 1/3 of the way through. It obviously (given the length) doesn't go very deep into any of the topics, but I still think it's a worthwhile read because it does give you a good idea of what scientists are currently working on.

[Mario Streger · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected more information about the near future, based on facts, but sometimes it got really away from educated guesses.
He says he also wrote the book "how to rebuild the world after an apocalypse" which, for me, has nothing to do with reality. He goes on saying that a pandemic could disintegrate modern society, and quarantine is too hard in modern times because of intercontinental traveling and packed cities. Civilization would have to start from scratch after such a pandemic. His book was written only 1 year before Covid, and he’s prediction did not come true at all. Economy, society and civilization is still intact, as strong as ever.
At the end he talks about the possibility of teleportation, based on quantum entanglement. But this effect only gives information on subatomic particles, never macro objects like people.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book that proposes to predict the future of science and technology is ambitious, to say the least. Going into it, I knew that I couldn't expect all the predictions to be accurate and that most of this would be educated guesses and speculation. So my sights weren't set to high. However, I feel like the book still fell short of my expectations in that nothing was presented that I wasn't already aware of. In addition, most of the predictions were just presented as statements about what the author guessed but without a lot of supporting evidence. This wasn't all that satisfying for me because, being already aware of the ideas, I was more interested in hearing about advances and new knowledge that would make the predicted ideas more likely to happen.

Maybe there are some people who aren't aware of the ideas presented in this book and for them, it would be interesting.

[Kurtis Mcdowell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great general science non-fiction guide for the general audience with words and sentences are easy to read and comprehend,covering upcoming technology, written by experts in their respective fields. "New technologies have a way of bettering our lives in ways we cannot anticipate. There is no convincing demonstrated reason to believe that our evolving future will be worse than our present" The book covers topics from climate change to Happy Pills and reminds us that "genes are not destiny".

I have been gifted this book and chose to leave a voluntary review. The review and ratings are solely my opinions. Thanks NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

[Edward B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good stuff, if you like shortish essays by a variety of scientists on what they anticipate developing in their fields in the nearish- to vastly-distant-future and how those things might affect/transform society/humanity - everything from medical treatments to smart materials to teleportation.
It just so happens that I do like this sort of thing.

It's also kind of an interesting experience to be reading, in July 2020, a book published in 2017/18 that contains sentences such as "It is a near certainty that we will see another major viral pandemic within our lifetime".

[Wren James]

I really enjoyed ALIENS, Jim Al-Khalili's last edited essay collection. This wasn't as enticing for me, as I think a lot of the ideas were already discussed in the last collection - it was about the likelihood of meeting aliens, but covered a lot of futurism topics at the same time. I do love the references in these books though, and always find lots of interesting things to read that I might not have stumbled across. A great general science non-fiction guide that will be a brilliant christmas present to any budding scientists or science fans.

[Hayden Trenholm · Rating 4 out of 5]

While some chapters are better and more thought provoking than others, this is a great little primer for those interested in what the future of our planet might look like -- for good or ill. And, for writers, it offers a few story ideas or suggestions for further reading.

By the way, in the chapter on the apocalypse, one of the most likely ways civilization might collapse is an unconstrained pandemic. Just saying.

[Jimmy Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book discusses the directions that science is exploring to solve the world's problems. It is a great reference book, if anything else.

The book is a compendium of views from several experts. The subjects vary and are likely to spark new ideas. Most subjects have long-term goals and address the entire planet. It may not be comprehensive, but it paints a positive picture of problems being addressed. It is well worth the time to read.

[Mysteryfan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of essays on near, far, and very-far futures. There are sections on human futures - genomics and transhumanism - and sections on technology futures - transportation - as well as a section on potential catastrophies. I liked the essay on potential apocalypses. All the writers are British, so it's a slightly different perspective.

[S · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The problems do not lie in the future—they are here and now”

Some snapshots of where science is taking us in the future...not really meaty enough for my taste but at least reader-friendly with a lot of the chapters written by science writers...and a thought-provoking selection of topics from quantum mechanics to genomics to transportation and time travel...

[Sean S · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting, although a bit bare bones, perspective on the now and near future to come in the space of science, technology, AI, augmentation, etc. Adds a little self promotion (quantum computing lab) and a non-factual take on the future (last chapter). Good for a cliff notes perspective on the latest trends, and more laden with philosophy and questions than I expected.