EXCERPT from:

Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st Century
by Michio Kaku

By the end of the twentieth century, science had reached the end of an era, unlocking the secrets of the
atom, unraveling the molecule of life, and creating the electronic computer. With these three fundamental
discoveries, triggered by the quantum revolution, the DNA revolution, and the computer revolution, the basic
laws of matter, life, and computation were, in the main, finally solved.

That epic phase of science is now drawing to a close; one era is ending and another is only beginning.

...

Clearly, we are on the threshold of yet another revolution. Human knowledge is doubling every ten years. In
the past decade, more scientific knowledge has been created than in all of human history. Computer power
is doubling every eighteen months. The Internet is doubling every year. The number of DNA sequences we
can analyze is doubling every two years. Almost daily, the headlines herald new advances in computers,
telecommunications, biotechnology, and space exploration. In the wake of this technological upheaval,
entire industries and lifestyles are being overturned, only to give rise to entirely new ones. But these rapid,
bewildering changes are not just quantitative. They mark the birth pangs of a new era.

...

For most of human history, we could only watch, like bystanders, the beautiful dance of Nature. But today,
we are on the cusp of an epochmaking transition, from being passive observers of Nature to being active
choreographers of Nature. It is this tenet that forms the central message of Visions. The era now unfolding
makes this one of the most exciting times to be alive, allowing us to reap the fruits of the last 2,000 years of
science. The Age of Discovery in science is coming to a close, opening up an Age of Mastery.