Michio Kaku: Can Nanotechnology Create Utopia? | Big Think

Michio Kaku: Can Nanotechnology Create Utopia?
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Throughout human history people have tried to create utopia, the perfect society. These dreams have not been realized because we have scarcity. However, now we have nanotechnology, and with nanotechnology, perhaps, says Dr. Michio Kaku, maybe in 100 years, we'll have something called the replicator, which will create enormous abundance.
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MICHIO KAKU:

Dr. Michio Kaku is the co-founder of string field theory, and is one of the most widely recognized scientists in the world today. He has written 4 New York Times Best Sellers, is the science correspondent for CBS This Morning and has hosted numerous science specials for BBC-TV, the Discovery/Science Channel. His radio show broadcasts to 100 radio stations every week. Dr. Kaku holds the Henry Semat Chair and Professorship in theoretical physics at the City College of New York (CUNY), where he has taught for over 25 years. He has also been a visiting professor at the Institute for Advanced Study as well as New York University (NYU).
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TRANSCRIPT:

Michio Kaku: Throughout human history people have tried to create utopia, the perfect society. In fact, America, the American dream, in some sense was based on utopianism. Why do we have the Shaker movement? Why did we have the Quakers? Why did we have so many different kinds of religious movements that fled Europe looking to create autopia here in the Americas? Well, we know the Shakers have disappeared and many of these colonies have also disappeared only to be found in footnotes in American textbooks, and the question is why?

One reason why is scarcity because back then the industrial revolution was still young and societies had scarcity. Scarcity creates conflict and unless you have a way to resolve conflict, your colony falls apart. How do you allocate resources? Who gets access to food when there is a famine? Who gets shelter when there is a snowstorm and all of the sudden you've eaten up your seed corn? These are questions that faced the early American colonists, and that's the reason why we only see the ghost towns of these utopias.

However, now we have nanotechnology, and with nanotechnology, perhaps, who knows, maybe in 100 years, we'll have something called the replicator. Now the replicator is something you see in Star Trek. It's called the molecular assembler and it takes ordinary raw materials, breaks them up at the atomic level and joins the joints in different ways to create new substances. If you have a molecular assembler, you can turn, for example, a glass into wood or vice versa. You would have the power of a magician, in fact, the power of a god, the ability to literally transform the atoms of one substance into another and we see it on Star Trek.

It's also the most subversive device of all because if utopias fail because of scarcity then what happens when you have infinite abundance? What happens when you simply ask and it comes to you? One of my favorite episodes on Star Trek is when the Enterprise encounters a space capsule left over from the 20th century, the bad 20th century. People died of all these horrible diseases, and many people froze themselves knowing that in the 23rd century or so they'll be thawed out and their diseases will be cured. Well, sure enough, it's the 23rd century now. The Enterprise finds a space capsule and begins to revive all these people and cure them of cancer, cure them of incurable genetic diseases, and then one of these individuals, however, was a banker. He is revived and he says to himself, “My God, my gamble worked; I'm alive; I'm in the 23rd century,” and he said, “Call my stock broker; call my banker; I am rich; I am rich; my investments, they have been sitting there in the bank for centuries; I must be a quadrillionaire!” And then the crew of the Enterprise looks at this man and says, ”What is money; what is a bank; what is a stock broker? We don't have any of these in the 23rd century,” and then they say, “If you want something, you simply ask for it and you get it.”

Now that's subversive. That's revolutionary because if all utopian societies vanished because of scarcity and conflict, what happens when there is no scarcity? What happens when you simply ask and you get what you want? This has enormous philosophical implications. For example, why bother to work? Why bother to go to work when you simply ask for things and it comes to you...

[RampDad]

Everytime this guy presents an idea; i sit and poder it for hours; Quite a good investment. 5 minutes of his time turns into hours of my time

[Grogmok]

This dude is my hero, and hes from my home town in California, san jose.

[wocathoden]

Even if 10-20% of people become parasitic shut ins, I truly believe it would free up people to pursue their dreams and passions in lieu of settling for a job out of necessity. People whom dream of becoming a writer will be encouraged by social conditions to pursue a career in writing. Let people travel, paint, cook, write, tinker, and philosophize. All it takes in one well placed note from a musician, or vision of a painter to inspire a scientist to create the next best thing.

[jnmacneil]

I think that if you had infinite of everything, the only real thing of value would become human creativity and knowledge. We would have a society completely fueled by art learning. because if you think about it, a Monet painting is not valuable because of the paint and canvas that it's made of, it's valuable because of how, and more importantly, why it was created. The society would have no worries of money or power, so they could instead of working to keep the world alive, start working on learning more about the world around them and reflecting it in their stories and art.

[CP]

He is referring to the final episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1, "The Neutral Zone".

[LukeTEvans]

as technology advances but our economies and societies don't advance at the same rate, we will either adapt to too these changes or these changes will end us.

[xUdieToox]

Every Michio Kaku video I watch put the biggest smile on my face. I love him!

[GlobalResonanceDance]

Dr. Kaku, you inspire me to live just to see what the future holds!! <3

[samueltariku]

I think that by the time nano tech is produced, robots will have taken most of the work force. Everyone is scientist or computer technician or anything that needs intellect and consciousness like artist and musician. People will work because they themselves want to work, No one will be forced to do anything, that is true freedom and that is utopia. Nano tech will break the boundary of what we think is reality right now.

[MrGarrett]

we all love Michio. One of the most brilliant minds of our time.

[tiffsaver]

Utopia isn't a place.  It's a state of mind.

[LuckyKo]

How can you label people as parasites in a society where there is no need for human labor?

[lorikingery]

Michio Kaku, you are the man! You explain such a wide variety of things well, clearly, and at just the right pace. When you pop up on news shows, talk shows, whatever, my mom and I are always excited to watch.
And now, philosophy -- awesome!! :)

[Srindal]

In star trek the replicator is essentially a molecular synthesiser or molecular factory. Today, there is barely any research into this tech. It's a desperately needed technology that need to be put into the public good.

[Ulvenok]

"What is money" <3 chills...

[CampingforCool]

I don't see how people would think everyone would sit on their bum all day.  Maybe every once in a while, and especially if there was a transition from this system to that.  But think about it.  You do get bored eventually with doing nothing.  Doing something valuable for society doesn't need to mean something as obvious as being a surgeon.  Many people enjoy gardening, drawing, acting and in a society with the technology that eliminates scarcity for the necessities of life.... wouldn't people focus much more on aesthetics?  And things that interest them?  Think how far we could go if people were able to do exactly what they felt passion for.  I wouldn't be sitting on my bum (well maybe I would, but it depends on what you are doing while sitting on your bum :) all day, I know that.

[jurgenkoks]

People keep saying that nobody would go to work but what they dont realize is that there would be no more work to go to.... Everyone would just do what ever they do when they got free time and for the most part that would be hobbies and if you look around there are hobbies for everything. Those who would do nothing, dont do anything today either. So in that sense nothing would change but nobody would work but do their hobbies 

[jansarmiento]

This is why I love Michio Kaku so much! My hero!

[strtodamoney]

In the meantime, we can also look forward to virtual reality. Once graphics get good enough (indistiguishable from the real world) and we finally achieve full 5 sense feedback (touch, smell, etc.), we will be able to experience, anything and everything we want.

[ethanfoy]

I could listen to this guy talk all day, such a brilliant mind 😜