This. Episode, is sponsored by brilliant. Growing. Up a lot of ass dreamed of having comic, book superpowers, in, the future these, dreams could, come true. A, pretty. Popular topic, on this show and many other speculations. In futurism, and science. Fiction is, transhumanism. And options. Like heightened, intelligence or, super, strength and speed we've. Touched on such notions, before, but, I thought today we'd, spread our wings out of bits and look, at some of the less down-to-earth. Superpowers. You know general, discussion, of Clark Tech technology's. So advanced, they are indistinguishable. From magic. At, the same time while, many might seem like the realm of the fantastic. Possible. Only through entirely new science, at odds with our current understanding many. Probably can be approximated. With technologies. Not, that far off in. Many ways they, are in the realm of the future and fantastic. Only, because we don't have them now and me, technologies, we already, possess would. Have been magical, and fantastic. To our ancestors. Superpowers. Are hardly, limited to comic books and all, at least as old as mythology mini, a comic book hero is, drawn, in whole or part from, mythology, flight. Is an obvious example but, what is mundane, to us now would, be extraordinary, to our forebears, and, I don't doubt what is extraordinary to us will, prove to be mundane, in the future too we. Actually do sell jetpacks these days and though, expensive, that's, most the economy, of scale much. The ability to go scuba, diving and visit, the world beneath the waves is still, a wonder, but one experience, by millions, each year. Olympian. Deities living. Atop mountain, so up in the sky and able to call down lightning, or possessing, the superhuman, speed or strength, of 10 men all entirely, plausible options, for us in the future all. Cane knowledge, all healing powers, possessed, or allegedly, possessed, by, Wizards are now commonplace, though. Cos able, to predict the weather remain. Elusive, at, least here in my home in Ohio where. Weather forecasts. For even the next day are often, unreliable. But. That might be a good place to start the ability, to predict the future precognition. Is one we have too many examples out, to count in comic, books with, dr., Manhattan of, The Watchmen series, perhaps, being the best known although. Fictional, examples, are also too numerous to count from. The Jedi and Sith of, Star Wars to, classic science fiction such. As The Navigators of, Frank Herbert's dune or, Huey Soudan in Isaac Asimov's, foundation, series, while. That last one is an example of using raw science, and math of psycho history, rather, than magic, to foresee, the future as, we, saw in our episode on psycho history, even, the most powerful computer, we can imagine could, not accurately, predict the future of human events the. Butterfly, effect and, quantum, mechanics simply, make long-range, prediction, impossible. In many areas but. It is worth remembering humans, do have precognition. Albeit. In most contexts, only for maybe a second, indeed. Between all the travel-time of information, to reach you get sensed, get sent to the brain processed. Decided. On who reacted, to and so on we, don't really live in the present, but, have a sort of hazy blur of past and future we, exist in which, only seems mundane, rather, than awesome, because it is the textbook example of the mundane, something. We experience constantly. And have a whole life, if. You want to catch a ball you have to anticipate where, will be when your hand gets there while, you are looking at a present, location, of that ball where, it isn't anymore when you see it considerably. More time elapses, for the signals to move from your eyeballs, to your brain then from the photons, leaving, that ball and reaching, your retinas it, is not the same as what passes for you to hear an object either or feel. The wind of its passage, nor. Is the transmission, time to your various muscles, or their own contraction, time even, vaguely uniform. We. Often talk about how brains, are powerful, superheroes. And that, is an awful lot of what your brain is doing gathering. Data ordering. It in a proper sequence, making. Predictions and, assembling. Best gas situation, reports, for your conscious, mind, when. We look at examples, like spider-man, or the Jedi with their dangerous, senses warning them of something about to happen that's, something, we already have to a limited degree and, advancements. In mind augmentation. Could, very easily increase. The accuracy, and range of those predictions, it's, quite probably, the preferred path for mind augmentation. In the future one. Legitimate, concern about massively, increasing, intelligence, should it be possible, is that it might so alter the person that they're not even human in their psychology, anymore. Let, alone the same person, arguably. Making such enhancements. A type of suicide, or at least metamorphoses, many, might find that undesirable.
No Matter what the gain if. They're being done simply to increase the accuracy of what your conscious, mind is perceiving, core, personality might, be maintained, and this, isn't simply stuff like catching or throwing a ball battle you, might glance up at the night sky and, know what time it is and exactly, where you all simply. By having subconsciously. Calculated, all the star positions, and angles or the day, sky and note will rain in 27. Minutes all be able to drive through a downtown, city at Formula, One race call speeds or dodge, bullets because, you and everyone else simply, know where everything is going with that same subconscious. Certainty, you have when reaching out to class and shake someone's, hand, in. The same way that precognition, is a valuable ability, so, is effective, omniscience. And we, already have gotten used to being able to get data or answers, from our networks, very quickly like. Navigating, to a destination, musi and GPS, this. Like, precognition. Is also, not new human. Speech, lets us lightly network, to each other when, nearby to share information others. Have the. Invention of writing let us access that human network when the node with the information, might be far away or even centuries, dead, phones. In the modern internet further, extend, that but a more direct linkage than speech or writing might. Allow you to simply wonder what time it is and no because, you have an internal clock or, subconsciously. Pinged an atomic clock somewhere, ditto weather forecasts. Ditto, free seats at the local restaurants. Traffic jams or how many leaves on that tree you just walked by but. Taking this a bit farther right. Now if you want to know what's in your food you can look at the ingredients, list and google them up something. Our ancestors, couldn't, do and sees, us a lot of pointless memorization. But, that still requires a lot of active, effort and in the future you might find yourself subconsciously. Aware of what all the ingredients, and health effects all of a piece of food simply. By bug audience in, the same way you don't really have to think to recognize a pen from a pencil or a cupcake, from a banana, you just know but. Of course you don't some. Huge search was conducted in, your brain to determine what that object was and call, up relevant attributes and, concerns. Super. Senses possessed, by characters, like Superman, or Wolverine are actually. The easy part even, stuff like x-ray, vision but. Integrating, that into someone's, head is hard or it's, not just passing, the info in a way the brain can process but. Also in guessing its implications. We. See someone with heightened vision or hearing being, able to detect the bad guys nearby, we. Don't see them cooking without measuring, cups because, their senses, and processing. Are so, acute they can tilt a jug of milk with a casual, hand wave and pour, out exactly. 100, milliliters, of milk or, 93.2. Because, they want a slightly smaller solving, exactly. Appropriate to their appetite, and senses, or linkage. To external, sensors and reference are so ramped up that they can see a cupcake, and just, know without, needing to consciously think about it exactly what the recipe was and how to alter it to their needs of course. We don't picture superheroes. Doing stuff like that because. It is mundane. And part, of the point of a superpower is that's an extraordinary, thing because, other people, can't do that I don't, know what all cats or dogs think. Of our ability, to summon light whenever, and wherever we want it or open, doors or, cans of food nor. Our ability, to use our paws were thumb to, manipulate, or move objects, at a whim or change, the color of our fall to, us that, is mundane, while, to them it is extraordinary. Assuming. Their minds can really a compass, those actions, in their entirety of course. Our friends often, feature in superpowers, too a few months back in our future pets episode, we, noted that technology, might allow us to talk with them or see, through their eyes or replicates, any of the special nature powers, we see in folks like Aquaman, or druids or other nature oriented characters, no, as mentioned, they are unless. You're building in some ability, to compel them to act talking. To animals doesn't, guarantee results. Any, more than talking to a toddler as they, don't have some personal, language akin, to a human one that, includes deep abstraction. Of concepts, in, general, even, the smallest of our Feuer friends, makes, your average table bald look patient, a tentative, and deep.
What. Else is on the table of course. We've got a lot of superheroes, and villains who. Possess no special, powers, Batman. Iron Man Lex, Luthor, and my, personal favorite superhero. Doctor Doom to name just a few though. They arguably, possessed the greatest super, powers, vast, intelligence, and, resources. We. Don't normally think of Isaac Newton or Albert Einstein, as superheroes but, they were both capable of gravity, manipulation from. A certain point of view and, we saw a lot of awesome options for what you could do with that or anti-gravity, in our last clock Tech episode. Topping. Out the mall for comic villains we have magneto the aptly named master of magnetism something. We probably could give people and of, course his frenemy, Professor, Xavier who. Can read minds. Magneto. Is often shown to be so good with his powers he can do things like lock people in place or throw, them by, exerting force on the ion in their blood and he, could presumably do some mind-reading, by doing magnetic, resonance, imaging, indeed. I'd not be surprised if he has I've, not, read the comics since the 90s, and MRIs, what is common, then for someone to think of having him do that it's. One of those examples, we often see with fictional, technologies. And all, examples, in clock tech of unexpected. And potent uses though, I doze didn't initially think of but. Telepathy such, as Professor Xavier has is, a staple, of even science-fiction, that often otherwise avoided, the fantastic. Like, Isaac as most foundational, robot series, also. The minds in he and banks culture universe can, trivially read, human thoughts and memories although. Was considered, highly rude and invasive do so, personally. I always found it irritating, how many science fiction stories, would, throw in psychic, powers like magic, into, settings that were focused, on science but. This may be an example well it will turn out justified. As, mentioned, earlier we all essentially, a limited type of hive mind already, something. We looked at in more detail in, the hive Minds episode, and we seem to be heading down that path a bit more with modern technology. Speech. Is slow, and low bandwidth, but, is fundamentally. A type of Wi-Fi, network, that's. The same as the early internet or texting, was mostly just text, but has come to include image, or audio and video clips I would, not be surprised, if mine machine interfaces, get, developed, and we still supplementing. Our normal language by. Casting, images, or memories, at each other rather, than describing them we. Used to invite people over to see our photos after, a trip and before, cameras, just described them and we, now just post the album to our Facebook, page we've. All been at a table with a friend who was describing something and just stopped and grabbed their phone to show us that person, place or whichever instead, and. Should anyone invent contact, lenses, that can function as a TV we'll, have an outbreak of apps designed, to let us easily relay, or manage, sent images, taking. That to the next level would, be straight brain to brain transmission. Though, brain, might, be a rather broad term at that point as you might have chunks of your mind that will computers implanted, into your skull carried. In your pocket or. Just on a cloud, going. Beyond even that might, be simply sending entire thoughts and reasoned, arguments to people to the point of simply sharing with someone your knowledge of Moshe Waltz, like in the matrix or, calculus.
So You can explain some bit of science, to them and the general life conclusions. You derive from it though, that edges are very close to Bernie washing, or even, worsse personality. Overriding, and I'd, imagine there'd be just as much software, for, preventing, unwanted intrusions. And sharing, as for. Sharing, it's. Not really the flashy mind, power like, Pandya spoon but, arguably, even more handy, and certainly, more realistic of course. Telekinesis. Is another example of a superpower we, see in another x-man, or woman, Jean, Grey and, with the Jedi of Star Wars though. We never see them get smashed into the floor by the counter, force of lifting, heavy objects, up this. Is also another example where. We need to point out that we already have, it I can. Move things with my mind like, I'm moving keys while typing this and, we need to keep trivial, examples, like that in mind when, considering technological. Approaches, to these superpowers, is, the same as we noted that mundane, speech is a type of telepathy, partially. That's because is the basis, for how we can extend our abilities, but, also to remind us of how progressive steps of development, will tend to be shaped by our current, methods and impact, our approach to life so. There's a bunch of drones or force, beams like, Misha style tracked tractor beams there you can control with hand gestures or, direct, mind machine interface, I don't. Know if it really matters, how my cup of coffee gets, from my desk to my kitchen who he fills itself with coffee and returns, to my desk so, long as it's not distracting me when. You think about it having, to think your coffee cup to levitate, across the room is a lot less advantageous. Than, shooting, a command to a small drone that, races, over to grab the cup and bring it back full as we. Mentioned in all look at power all more you might see someone dressed up like Iron Man with, all sort of gadgets, and weapons on that suit but, you're probably more likely to see those gadgets be, focused, on defense, and control, while, some cadre, of automatons. Does most of the real fighting, it's, the same idea. People, might tend to be so wired into their home that, everything is responding, to their conscious, or even subconscious. Man's and might, tend to walk around outside with, a swarm of drones doing the same, miniaturize. That enough and you wouldn't be able to even see them doing stuff which. Makes a nice alternative if, you never invent tractor, beams or some magnetic, or sonic equivalent, but. It also raises the notion of utility, fog and smoke matter, these. Are very tiny machines, that can rapidly form, up into an object or, more complex, machines themselves, these. Might just be microscopic. Cell size things you could barely see or all, the way down to the new atomic scale where quantum mechanics, probably, limits for the miniaturization. The. Simple image of this all constructs, like the t1000. From terminator or probably. More accurately, the T 3000. Fortune that Doctor Who tones the franchisors primary, protagonist into, as I got the impression the Machine phase matter the T 3000, was made out of was, basically, a limited, u2t fog or fairly, smart matter you. Might walk around with no more looking clothes, composed, of something like that and just forms. Whatever you need it, could probably also do limited manufacturing. Or imitations. So, you could conjure, up an apple or glass of water by, imitating, the apples appearance, and texture, and triggering, your taste and smell senses or condensing. Water vitality. Ale for that glass of water, alternatively. You might not wear it as clothes or walk around with it like some mist or fog that a company issue but, simply be that fog yourself. While. Heavy an adamantium skeleton or. Power or more or being cyborg, or genetically, engineer for super-strength, sounds, needs being. Composed of a trillion, little machines grants, some huge advantages and, if, the mind bulks, of that notion do. Keep in mind that. Is literally true of you right, now you. Are composed, of a ton of little machines already I should. Note that they probably come in a ton of different types and sizes too much, as ourselves and symbiotic, bacteria and, viruses, do rather. Than some universal, tiny robot. Specialization. Is advantageous. And, when, you've got trillions of something it kind of makes sense to instead have, thousands of different species and, types each, number, in the billions to such. An individual, pretty, much automatically. Has all the abilities we've discussed so far and, probably. Could cope stomp your typical superhero, but. They'd also have access to teleportation. And, telepresence. That. Lateral, telepresence. Which, is projecting, your awareness or portion somewhere else is also one of those technologies, we have creeping, quietly into, mainstream, use being.
Able To look far away and remotely, control, things even, Android bodies, that temporarily, look like you and grant you the same feeling of presence as if you were standing there all probably. Not that far off this. Is also an effective equivalent to teleportation. And one, of the options we discussed, in that episode, in. The end mimicking. A superpower, forced, has to focus on asking what that superpower. Is meant, to achieve because. While being able to throw bow as a file you've conjured with your mind, sounds, cool or it's, functionally, no different, than just having a tech based solution, like a wrist mounted flamethrower, I feel. That's a bit of an important, point because, in that regard all technology. Is basically, superpowers. And will give me more every, year of course. If we really want specific. Superpowers, there will always be virtual. Reality, and as, noted in virtual, wards, that could be where most folks spend most of their time in the future anyway and at, certain levels of technology, there's, really nothing virtual, about, them anymore, all. Of these options might, not be as cool as getting, your superpowers, from cosmic, radiation or, standing. Next to an atomic bomb testing, site but, they do give you those superpowers for all practical purposes. Whereas. Radiation, mostly, just gives you cancer so. I know which one I'd before, it's. Also important, to realize that once folks have a superhero, ability, then, it becomes mundane. The. Dick Tracy comic. Strip of the 1930s. Had the superhero, making use of technological gizmos in. Much the same way we see Iron Man using technology, in all generation, one. Prominent, superhero. He used was, a two-way, radio mounted, in his watch for communicating. If that, sounds, boilie, familiar, it's because the Smart Watch has, now entered the mainstream back. Then he, was considered, a superhero, device so. As we develop our technologies. They, will no doubt resemble. The superhero, abilities we currently, consider fanciful, future.
Generations, Will shrug and see, that those abilities, aren't superhero. Abilities while. To us they, clearly are a. Critical. Point today is that our real superpowers. Are all minds and. All understanding, of math and science that lets us forge new technologies. And dream, up new applications. Of them if. You'd like to learn more math, and science, try, out brilliant, and their online courses, and daily, challenges, let, you enhance, your, knowledge of math and science with. Easy to law and interactive. Methods from, the comfort, of your own home, and at, your own pace to. Make it even easier brilliant. Now lets you download any, of their dozens, of interactive, courses through, the mobile app and you'll, be able to solve fascinating. Problems, in math science, and computer. Science, no matter where you are or, how, spotty, your internet connection is if, you'd like to learn more science. Math, and computer, science go, to brilliant dot org slash Isaac, author and sign, up for free and also. The force to know people that go to that link will, get 20% off the annual premium, subscription, so, you can solve all the daily challenges, in the archives and access. Dozens, of problem, solving courses. Next. Week we'll, be looking at ways to launch spaceships, into orbit by beaming, in energy, to the spaceship, which, would also be a handy approach for, a personal, jetpack and the, week after that will, be the fourth of July when, everyone in the u.s. lights, up their grills and we'll look at some options for artificial. Synthetic meats as well as some other tasty, technologies, that, might lead to culinary, options, like, mammoth, steaks and Dino bogles for. Lords when those in other episodes come out make, sure to subscribe to the channel and you, can join in the discussion on, superpowers. In the comments, below or, at any of all forms, on Facebook, reddit patreon. Or our website, Isaac, or thought Nets all, linked, in the video description. Until. Next time thanks, for watching and have, a great week.
2019-06-21