Playing With Planets PDF
Preview Playing With Planets
PLAYING WITH PLANETS 6702tp.indd 1 9/5/08 10:36:05 AM TThhiiss ppaaggee iinntteennttiioonnaallllyy lleefftt bbllaannkk PLAYING WITH PLANETS Gerard 't Hooft University of Utrecht World Scientific NEW J E R S E Y • L OND ON • S ING A P O R E • B E I J ING • S H ANG H A I • H ONG K ONG • TA I P E I • C H ENNA I 6702tp.indd 2 9/5/08 10:36:06 AM Published by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. 5 Toh Tuck Link, Singapore 596224 USA office: 27 Warren Street, Suite 401-402, Hackensack, NJ 07601 UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. This English edition is a translation of the Dutch edition Planetenbiljart published by Promethus/Bert Bakker in 2006. PLAYING WITH PLANETS Copyright © 2008 Gerard ’t Hooft All rights reserved. ISBN-13 978-981-279-307-2 ISBN-10 981-279-307-0 ISBN-13 978-981-279-020-0 (pbk) ISBN-10 981-279-020-9 (pbk) Printed in Singapore. Kim - Playing with Plantets.pmd 1 7/17/2008, 3:09 PM v Preface As a theoretical physicist, my daily work consists of research and education in highly specialized topics of theoretical physics. Usually, I concentrate on the tiniest constituents of matter, the elementary particles, and the way they interact. It is the experimental physicists who do the marvelous job of designing and operating the complicated constructions with which they make all their observations. They identify the particles and measure their properties. We theoreticians then do our best to put all these findings in a proper context, after which we try to make predictions as to what might still be there to be discovered next, and how this might be done. The language we use and the formulae we write down, can only be understood by a small number of people. It is a universal language, that of mathematics, and it can be used for the tiniest particles as well as for properties of the universe as a whole, and also the stars and planets that populate it. But it is a very difficult language to learn. This book is in a different language; that of normal people, who do not necessarily have a comprehensive understanding of mathematics. It is also on a different topic: that of speculations Preface.indd 5 9/22/2008 1:44:35 PM vi PLAYING WITH PLANETS concerning the future. Science fiction mixed with science fact, known by some as “science faction”. My aim was never to lose sight of what we know about science, facts that I believe cannot be ignored when speculating about the future. Still, in spite of all restrictions this imposes, the world that lies ahead of us is a fascinating one. This is the world I wanted to describe, although every now and then, I did let my fantasies run wild. This book was first written in Dutch, my mother tongue. My daughter Saskia then translated it into English. With great enthusiasm, she produced an English translation that at the same time improved the original Dutch text considerably. I profited from numerous discussions with friends and colleagues. We specially thank Edward Fredkin for his many interesting comments and suggestions, Joanne Furniss for her editorial contribution, and Annemarie Kleinert for a critical reading of the manuscript. Playing with Planets (originally Planetenbiljart, in Dutch) became a personal testimony of the fantastic speculations and day dreams one can be inspired to, by real science. Utrecht, August 26, 2008 Preface.indd 6 9/22/2008 1:44:35 PM vii Contents Preface v 1 Countdown 1 2 Take Off 10 3 Inside 14 4 Computers 20 5 Paper 33 6 Robots 41 7 Victoriamaris 45 8 A Malleable Earth 49 9 Flying Kites 67 10 The Stars 70 11 The Colonists 81 12 The Cambots 88 13 The Neumannbots 98 14 The Genes 108 15 Pulling Hard 115 16 Aliens 124 17 Playing with Planets 130 18 Idiocracy 136 Websites 141 Illustrations 143 Contents.indd 7 9/5/2008 9:49:29 AM TThhiiss ppaaggee iinntteennttiioonnaallllyy lleefftt bbllaannkk 11 cchhaapptteerr 11 CCoouunnttddoowwnn MY SPACESHIP WAS painted a brilliant white and sported sleek red and black stripes. Th e small hatch windows appeared black in color, designed as they were to block the hazardous ultraviolet light emanating from the suns. Take-off and landing were executed vertically. Once on the ground, the spacecraft rested on its small stabilizing fi ns, to which its three or four engines were attached. You could tell the spaceship had already traveled a great deal; its hull was dented quite a bit. My spaceship had brought me to loads of planets and moons in faraway star systems. Th e elliptical orbits I chose to navigate around the planets no longer held any secrets for me. I had also learned why it is necessary to protect yourself against the blistering and tempestuous solar winds. How old was I? Nine or ten perhaps. Th e spaceship was my own design and it was glued together from paper. Th e engines were small and needed little fuel because they worked on anti-gravity, a principle I had invented especially for that purpose. Sketches of the planets that I had visited along the way could be admired in my drawing book. Naturally, an important aspiration during my interstellar expeditions was to stay ahead of all other space travelers. Now this was far from easy. I discovered I had competitors, indeed, many chapter 1.indd 1 9/5/2008 11:24:39 AM
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