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Imagined Worlds
Imagine a world where whole epochs will pass, cultures rise and fall, between a telephone call and the reply. Think of the human race multiplying 500-million fold, or evolving new, distinct species. Consider the technology of space colonization, computer-assisted reproduction, the “Martian potato.” One hundred years after H. G. Wells visited the future in The Time Machine , Freeman Dyson marshals his uncommon gifts as a scientist and storyteller to take us once more to that ever-closer, ever-receding time to come.
Since Disturbing the Universe , the book that first brought him international renown, Freeman Dyson has been helping us see ourselves and our world from a scientist’s point of view. In Imagined Worlds he brings this perspective to a speculative future to show us where science and technology, real and imagined, may be taking us. The stories he tells―about “Napoleonic” versus “Tolstoyan” styles of doing science; the coming era of radioneurology and radiotelepathy; the works of writers from Aldous Huxley to Michael Crichton to William Blake; Samuel Gompers and the American labor movement―come from science, science fiction, and history. Sharing in the joy and gloom of these sources, Dyson seeks out the lessons we must learn from all three if we are to understand our future and guide it in hopeful directions.
Whether looking at the Gaia theory or the future of nuclear weapons, science fiction or the dangers of “science worship,” seagoing kayaks or the Pluto Express , Dyson is concerned with ethics, with how we might mitigate the evil consequences of technology and enhance the good. At the heart of it all is the belief once expressed by the biologist J. B. S. Haldane, that progress in science will bring enormous confusion and misery to humankind unless it is accompanied by progress in ethics.
Since Disturbing the Universe , the book that first brought him international renown, Freeman Dyson has been helping us see ourselves and our world from a scientist’s point of view. In Imagined Worlds he brings this perspective to a speculative future to show us where science and technology, real and imagined, may be taking us. The stories he tells―about “Napoleonic” versus “Tolstoyan” styles of doing science; the coming era of radioneurology and radiotelepathy; the works of writers from Aldous Huxley to Michael Crichton to William Blake; Samuel Gompers and the American labor movement―come from science, science fiction, and history. Sharing in the joy and gloom of these sources, Dyson seeks out the lessons we must learn from all three if we are to understand our future and guide it in hopeful directions.
Whether looking at the Gaia theory or the future of nuclear weapons, science fiction or the dangers of “science worship,” seagoing kayaks or the Pluto Express , Dyson is concerned with ethics, with how we might mitigate the evil consequences of technology and enhance the good. At the heart of it all is the belief once expressed by the biologist J. B. S. Haldane, that progress in science will bring enormous confusion and misery to humankind unless it is accompanied by progress in ethics.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
About the author
Freeman Dyson
77 books370 followersFreeman Dyson was a physicist and educator best known for his speculative work on extraterrestrial civilizations and for his work in quantum electrodynamics, solid-state physics, astronomy and nuclear engineering. He theorized several concepts that bear his name, such as Dyson's transform, Dyson tree, Dyson series, and Dyson sphere.
The son of a musician and composer, Dyson was educated at the University of Cambridge. As a teenager he developed a passion for mathematics, but his studies at Cambridge were interrupted in 1943, when he served in the Royal Air Force Bomber Command. He received a B.A. from Cambridge in 1945 and became a research fellow of Trinity College. In 1947 he went to the United States to study physics and spent the next two years at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., and Princeton, where he studied under J. Robert Oppenheimer, then director of the Institute for Advanced Study. Dyson returned to England in 1949 to become a research fellow at the University of Birmingham, but he was appointed professor of physics at Cornell in 1951 and two years later at the Institute for Advanced Study, where he became professor emeritus in 2000. He became a U.S. citizen in 1957.
The son of a musician and composer, Dyson was educated at the University of Cambridge. As a teenager he developed a passion for mathematics, but his studies at Cambridge were interrupted in 1943, when he served in the Royal Air Force Bomber Command. He received a B.A. from Cambridge in 1945 and became a research fellow of Trinity College. In 1947 he went to the United States to study physics and spent the next two years at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., and Princeton, where he studied under J. Robert Oppenheimer, then director of the Institute for Advanced Study. Dyson returned to England in 1949 to become a research fellow at the University of Birmingham, but he was appointed professor of physics at Cornell in 1951 and two years later at the Institute for Advanced Study, where he became professor emeritus in 2000. He became a U.S. citizen in 1957.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
April 3, 2016
I read this book many years ago, in my teens, and I was shocked by the originality of the different essays, the scientific but also very humanistic point of view of the author, his enormous culture, his respect to others, his plethora of ideas. A science fiction writer would have material in this book for years on. I felt in love with the author. Dyson has written other books, always with great quality, but this one was the first I read, so it's especial for me.
October 5, 2017
A good-read for the rising scientists like my friend Shakir.
December 26, 2019
There's an essay in the book called "Evolution" that I love. In it, Dyson attempts to tie a history of the past with predictions of the future, by framing everything into different ages. These seven ages are logarithmic:
10 years
100 years
1000 years
10,000 years
100,000 years
1,000,000 years
Infinity
Instead of trying to make actual predictions, he identifies things that are bound to each of the above eras. If we only consider the present, they all have permanence, but when we zoom out over different epochs, we see which are bound to their respective timescales.
I won't do justice going into each existential trend here (go have your mind blown by reading the essay), but the sweeping forward look he takes includes space-faring civilizations, morphing species, communicating over the span of multiple lifetimes and the energy-dependent eventual fate of the universe.
I love people whose minds are pliable enough that they can see what's likely to be, while still holding onto a seed of doubt, given the randomness that time injects into events. Steve Case calls it 'seeing around corners' and it's a skill I try to hone. If you want to develop this ability, I recommend you read history and science fiction, as they help you see the present as a point on a much larger trendline.
10 years
100 years
1000 years
10,000 years
100,000 years
1,000,000 years
Infinity
Instead of trying to make actual predictions, he identifies things that are bound to each of the above eras. If we only consider the present, they all have permanence, but when we zoom out over different epochs, we see which are bound to their respective timescales.
I won't do justice going into each existential trend here (go have your mind blown by reading the essay), but the sweeping forward look he takes includes space-faring civilizations, morphing species, communicating over the span of multiple lifetimes and the energy-dependent eventual fate of the universe.
I love people whose minds are pliable enough that they can see what's likely to be, while still holding onto a seed of doubt, given the randomness that time injects into events. Steve Case calls it 'seeing around corners' and it's a skill I try to hone. If you want to develop this ability, I recommend you read history and science fiction, as they help you see the present as a point on a much larger trendline.
July 26, 2017
A mixed menagerie of clear and original thoughts from one of the great men of science, on the future, evolution, technology and politics with sprinkles of his personal life. Really get a sense of breadth of mind. Some really stand-out sentences:
"It will be difficult to argue that giving a child a dinosaur is more cruel than giving a child a puppy."
"Babies cannot give informed consent to their own birth and up-bringing."
"In the long run, the central problem of any intelligent species is the problem of sanity."
"(Our descendants) will be spread over our galaxy from end to end and will be reaching out toward other galaxies. They will be directly aware, with a depth of understanding that we cannot imagine, of the entire history of that part of the universe that is within their past horizon. (...) A million years from now, our descendants and their neighbors in other galaxies will perhaps be preparing for the intelligent intervention of life in the evolution of the universe as a whole."
"It will be difficult to argue that giving a child a dinosaur is more cruel than giving a child a puppy."
"Babies cannot give informed consent to their own birth and up-bringing."
"In the long run, the central problem of any intelligent species is the problem of sanity."
"(Our descendants) will be spread over our galaxy from end to end and will be reaching out toward other galaxies. They will be directly aware, with a depth of understanding that we cannot imagine, of the entire history of that part of the universe that is within their past horizon. (...) A million years from now, our descendants and their neighbors in other galaxies will perhaps be preparing for the intelligent intervention of life in the evolution of the universe as a whole."
June 13, 2021
This was interesting and Dyson does bring up some interesting points regarding the ethics of technology, but at least personally I would disagree with much of what he says should be done to deal with the problems of tech and science. Its not too long and an easy read, otherwise nothing too enlightening.
March 18, 2022
Dyson's essays grow progressively weaker as he moves from criticism of ideological driven technology to a kind of pie-in-the-sky hope in the ongoing progress of science. His naïveté with respect to the nature of man undermines any of the insights he would offer. This kind of philosophy of science is interesting as a historical curiosity but ultimately has little value a quarter century later.
March 13, 2019
One of the best books I've read about envisioning the future, from the brilliant mind of Professor Dyson.
February 9, 2023
Pubblicato in Italia da Dynamie col titolo "Mondi Possibili". Si tratta di un buon saggio sulle strade che potrà intraprendere il futuro dell'umanità sulla Terra. Forse, ormai, un po' datato.
October 9, 2018
One of my favorite scientists, Dyson writes not science fiction but of a future based on what is happening now with technology, research, invention, and his own experience.
April 3, 2014
Professor Freeman Dyson is one of the world’s most eminent theoretical physicists and a mathematician who writes about physics and about science fiction with equal fondness and is one of the great thinkers of the 20th century. He recently celebrated his 90th birthday and is still going strong. I am a huge admirer.
Imagined Worlds was written almost 20 years ago from a series of lectures he gave at Hebrew University in 1995. It a bit dates and makes it a difficult read given that so much has changed in that time span. Some of Dyson's predictions and observations have come true and some alas have not. Topics such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, astronomy, genetics, he approaches each with such a positive outlook for their eventual benefits to humankind. Dyson is an optimist but he could not have foreseen the terrible events that unfolded at the beginning of the 21st century (9/11; the war in Iraq/Afghanistan; Somalia, Darfur, Crimea etc) which saddened me as I read of his joy at the death of the nuclear arms race (ABM/SALT treaties). To be fair, he realizes how unforgiving technology can be (science can be used for both good and evil) and how it has forced traditional societies to change. He also is aware that some technologies driven by ideology are likely to run into trouble in that they are not allowed to fail (he talks much about nuclear energy as an example) but will succeed if they are not protected from competition.
He expounds on many topics and I think by providing a small sample of his ruminations, they will give a fairly good idea of how this leading post-utopian futurist sees things. Here are a some of my favorites:
- "The coupling between ethics and science is a major theme of this book"
- "One lesson that we learn from science and from history is that the future is unpredictable"
- "Who in the modern age still has dreams that extend beyond the lifetimes of our grandchildren"
- "There are two kinds of scientific revolutions, those driven by new tools and those driven by new concepts" (Dyson sites six "concept-driven" revolutions associated with Copernicus, Newton, Darwin, Maxwell, Freud and Einstein). Galileo and Crick-Watson are prime examples "Tool-driven" revolutions along with the invention of computers.
- "I have found science fiction more illuminating than science. Science provides the technical input for technology; science fiction shows us the human output"
As I wrote above, so much has occurred over these past 20 years in science/technology/the world in general:
- hundreds of exo-planets have been discovered along with other major astronomical breakthroughs
- 3-D printing
- major progress is the realms of bioengineering (growing organs to implant in humans)
- genetic testing for horrible diseases
- inroads into AI
With the good, comes the negatives:
- As technology expands, the gulf widens between rich and poor, deprives uneducated people of jobs. Machines have displaced unskilled manual workers and computers have displaced unskilled clerical works - the traditional, conservative middle-class of well-paid blue collar industrial works has almost ceased to exist. Racial and religious animosities will persist.
What will the future hold? Dyson gives his thoughts on what life may be like in 100, 1000, 10,000, 100,000 and one million years in the future. He cites some of his favorite SF writers: Aldus Huxley, Olaf Stapeldon, H.G. Wells and their thoughts on what in most cases are dystopian futures. Well, unless we come into possession of a "time machine" (nod to Mr. Wells), we can only speculate. Per Prof Dyson "The human species has a deeply ingrained tendency to prove the experts wrong". The best way to predict the future of human society is to study the past!
Imagined Worlds was written almost 20 years ago from a series of lectures he gave at Hebrew University in 1995. It a bit dates and makes it a difficult read given that so much has changed in that time span. Some of Dyson's predictions and observations have come true and some alas have not. Topics such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, astronomy, genetics, he approaches each with such a positive outlook for their eventual benefits to humankind. Dyson is an optimist but he could not have foreseen the terrible events that unfolded at the beginning of the 21st century (9/11; the war in Iraq/Afghanistan; Somalia, Darfur, Crimea etc) which saddened me as I read of his joy at the death of the nuclear arms race (ABM/SALT treaties). To be fair, he realizes how unforgiving technology can be (science can be used for both good and evil) and how it has forced traditional societies to change. He also is aware that some technologies driven by ideology are likely to run into trouble in that they are not allowed to fail (he talks much about nuclear energy as an example) but will succeed if they are not protected from competition.
He expounds on many topics and I think by providing a small sample of his ruminations, they will give a fairly good idea of how this leading post-utopian futurist sees things. Here are a some of my favorites:
- "The coupling between ethics and science is a major theme of this book"
- "One lesson that we learn from science and from history is that the future is unpredictable"
- "Who in the modern age still has dreams that extend beyond the lifetimes of our grandchildren"
- "There are two kinds of scientific revolutions, those driven by new tools and those driven by new concepts" (Dyson sites six "concept-driven" revolutions associated with Copernicus, Newton, Darwin, Maxwell, Freud and Einstein). Galileo and Crick-Watson are prime examples "Tool-driven" revolutions along with the invention of computers.
- "I have found science fiction more illuminating than science. Science provides the technical input for technology; science fiction shows us the human output"
As I wrote above, so much has occurred over these past 20 years in science/technology/the world in general:
- hundreds of exo-planets have been discovered along with other major astronomical breakthroughs
- 3-D printing
- major progress is the realms of bioengineering (growing organs to implant in humans)
- genetic testing for horrible diseases
- inroads into AI
With the good, comes the negatives:
- As technology expands, the gulf widens between rich and poor, deprives uneducated people of jobs. Machines have displaced unskilled manual workers and computers have displaced unskilled clerical works - the traditional, conservative middle-class of well-paid blue collar industrial works has almost ceased to exist. Racial and religious animosities will persist.
What will the future hold? Dyson gives his thoughts on what life may be like in 100, 1000, 10,000, 100,000 and one million years in the future. He cites some of his favorite SF writers: Aldus Huxley, Olaf Stapeldon, H.G. Wells and their thoughts on what in most cases are dystopian futures. Well, unless we come into possession of a "time machine" (nod to Mr. Wells), we can only speculate. Per Prof Dyson "The human species has a deeply ingrained tendency to prove the experts wrong". The best way to predict the future of human society is to study the past!
October 1, 2009
i'm apparently having dinner tonight with freeman dyson. thank goodness i read this book. which i apparently thought was alright. thinking about this book, it occurs to me that i may have left a favorite picture in it, which i was using at the time as a bookmark.
November 6, 2007
had to read for "Creative Technology," taught by Prof. Gamow at CU. One of my most memorable and thought provoking classes.
August 22, 2010
good read! it's exciting to see where technology is taking us into the future.
July 18, 2010
It hits some interesting points but takes some leaps of reasoning. Apparently the Internet is only a toy and serves no needs for the poor.
July 27, 2011
Very interesting little book about the future we are presently living in.
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January 1, 2016I rated and reviewed this book on LibraryThing: http://www.librarything.com/profile_r...
January 4, 2016
2 1/2 stars
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews