Why You Can’t Catch a Rocket to Mars: Some Personal Reflections on Science and Society, by Lyndon N. Smith by Smith, Lyndon -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Introduction Part 1. Where we are with science and technology

Why can’t you catch a rocket to Mars? Marvels of engineering The promise of science The importance of scientific research The dogma of science The mathematics Never the twain shall meet Science: politically incorrect? The march of the managers Schools and teaching, or ‘just because some thing is new/different/fashionable, that doesn’t mean it’s better’ Science and society Why there is still no cure for cancer Delusions of grandeur A great deal of funding, but just a little bit of impact Motivations for technological progress - private versus public funding Re-inventing the wheel The media: the enemy of scientific understanding and progress?

So much for the problems; what are the solutions?

Machine learning

Part 2. Potential and definite threats and possible responses

Brexit Contact with extra-terrestrials (ET) Near Earth Objects colliding with the Earth Viruses Global warming

Part 3. What the future holds

Developments in science and technology The past A miraculous quarter of a century The situation since 1969 The present and near future The far future

Transport Robotics

The very distant future

Elimination of the need for instrumentalities Time travel I got the power It's a material world Miscellaneous miracles Effects on our society

Putting it all together – the destiny of mankind

Man’s future: in the stars? Summary of predicted far future technological developments

Part 4. Concluding remarks Afterword