Dr. Kaku addresses the Mexican Air Force UFO footage, acknowledging it as one of the few percent of sightings that genuinely confounds physicists because it involved multiple observers using radar, infrared, and visual confirmation simultaneously. He argues that a Type III galactic civilization could theoretically use wormholes rather than conventional spacecraft, bypassing the vast distances between stars.
The discussion turns to quantum computers, DNA computing, and the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. Dr. Kaku explains that parallel universes may coexist in the same room at different frequencies, much like radio stations broadcasting simultaneously. He warns that Moore's Law will collapse around 2020 and that Silicon Valley risks becoming a rust belt without investment in quantum and molecular computing technologies.
Key Moments
Art on science vs. metaphysics tribalism: Coming off a New York Times piece on global dimming dismissed by scientists 20 years prior, Art rails against scientists who throw away anomalies that don't fit their paradigm and metaphysical thinkers who ignore science.
Kaku: the speed of gravity and the disappearing sun: Kaku explains why NASA spent $700 million on Gravity Probe B to confirm that gravity travels at the speed of light, illustrating with a thought experiment: if the sun vanished, Earth would have eight minutes before being flung into space.
Kaku: Einstein and Goedel built the first time travel solution: Kaku describes Einstein's office mate Kurt Goedel finding a time-travel solution to general relativity, why Einstein wanted to eliminate it, and notes hundreds of such solutions now exist - and that astronauts already 'time travel' forward.
Kaku: Many-Worlds and dinosaurs in your living room: Kaku lays out the Many Worlds interpretation: a single cosmic ray could split universes, and the wave functions of dinosaurs, aliens, and UFOs may exist in your room right now, decoupled from our frequency.
Kaku: DNA computers, gray goo, and playing god: Kaku and Art discuss using DNA as computer tape, the gray-goo danger of self-replicating quasi-DNA, and a scientist's claim humans are designed to become gods - tempered by Kaku's plea that any leap to Homo Superior arrive with wisdom.