1
00:00:00,440 --> 00:00:10,436
This series presents information based in part on theory and conjecture.

2
00:00:10,436 --> 00:00:20,432
The producer's purpose is to suggest some possible explanations, but not necessarily the only ones to the mysteries we will examine.

3
00:00:20,432 --> 00:00:31,428
Oh, I am a computer. I've been programmed to tell you that your future isn't what it used to be, and there is mine.

4
00:00:31,428 --> 00:00:36,426
Mankind is entering a future of unlimited possibilities.

5
00:00:36,426 --> 00:00:42,424
Tomorrow's city is now being constructed in steel and concrete.

6
00:00:43,424 --> 00:00:49,421
Engineers work on a bold new space-age city in the middle of the Arizona desert.

7
00:00:49,421 --> 00:00:55,419
What we see may give us a glimpse of life in the 21st century.

8
00:00:55,419 --> 00:01:00,417
There are some who say future life isn't here at all.

9
00:01:00,417 --> 00:01:03,416
Then it exists somewhere in space.

10
00:01:03,416 --> 00:01:05,415
Is this tomorrow?

11
00:01:05,415 --> 00:01:10,413
Tomorrow?

12
00:01:10,413 --> 00:01:18,410
Man's curiosity has forever been the key to his survival, the drive to explore the unknown, his fate.

13
00:01:18,410 --> 00:01:24,408
His greatest discoveries have been the result of confronting his greatest fears.

14
00:01:24,408 --> 00:01:30,406
Of all the mysteries we confront, it is our future itself that remains the most elusive.

15
00:01:30,406 --> 00:01:37,403
What lies ahead is the question we pose to some of America's most prominent futurists.

16
00:01:37,403 --> 00:01:46,400
By the middle of the next century, I suspect that there may be literally millions of people every year moving out into space and back again quite routinely.

17
00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:56,396
I think that most of the existing diseases like cancer, heart disease and so forth will be either totally conquered or much diminished in frequency by the end of this century.

18
00:01:56,396 --> 00:02:03,393
The evolution of the computer is going to impact everything that we do, including even the evolution of man himself.

19
00:02:03,393 --> 00:02:16,388
I think science is becoming so powerful that the problem that will face us in the future is how to decide what we want, not how to decide what we can get.

20
00:02:16,388 --> 00:02:25,385
Today, prediction of the future is the full-time study of a specialized group called futurists, 20th century visionaries.

21
00:02:25,385 --> 00:02:32,382
The mysteries they probe may hold the key to not only the quality of our life, but to our very survival.

22
00:02:32,382 --> 00:02:37,380
If they are right, we may soon realize our wildest dreams.

23
00:02:37,380 --> 00:02:45,377
70 miles from Phoenix on a remote desert bluff, a daring step into the future has been taken.

24
00:02:45,377 --> 00:02:52,375
A prototype for space-age cities is under construction. It is called Arcosanti.

25
00:02:52,375 --> 00:02:58,372
When construction began 10 years ago, critics labeled it a utopian fantasy.

26
00:02:58,372 --> 00:03:04,370
Today, many see it as the genesis of an entirely new type of city.

27
00:03:04,370 --> 00:03:14,366
It is a city without streets, a city without cars, a nearly self-contained environment.

28
00:03:14,366 --> 00:03:20,364
Though only an experiment, the dream of Arcosanti has attracted worldwide attention,

29
00:03:20,364 --> 00:03:32,359
for few theories of the future are actually committed to concrete and steel.

30
00:03:32,359 --> 00:03:39,357
Its present population is comprised of an international community of engineers, architects and students

31
00:03:39,357 --> 00:03:45,355
who are convinced that Arcosanti holds the key to the future of city living.

32
00:03:45,355 --> 00:03:53,351
So convinced that they work under the blazing Arizona sun as unpaid volunteers.

33
00:03:53,351 --> 00:04:03,348
Though a folly to some, to these people, the city represents a chance to build the future around them.

34
00:04:03,348 --> 00:04:12,344
They are dedicated to the vision of one man, Maverick architect and philosopher Paolo Solari.

35
00:04:12,344 --> 00:04:21,341
The main relationship of Arcosanti to the environment is in terms of a very limited encroachment on environment

36
00:04:21,341 --> 00:04:27,339
because what we are doing in Arcosanti's substitute takes the place of what we might be doing in a suburban development

37
00:04:27,339 --> 00:04:33,336
that might take 20 square miles. That means the community has to have many levels.

38
00:04:33,336 --> 00:04:40,334
But through that kind of containment and miniaturization, the impact is going to be minimized on environment.

39
00:04:40,334 --> 00:04:46,331
In addition, the ability to use less resources is going to be also very important.

40
00:04:46,331 --> 00:04:53,329
So we are encouraging a notion of frugality, which is not just an individual commitment,

41
00:04:53,329 --> 00:04:59,326
but its commitment of the habitat itself to be frugal.

42
00:04:59,326 --> 00:05:10,322
The name Arcosanti comes from the word archaeology, a combination of architecture and ecology.

43
00:05:10,322 --> 00:05:18,319
One of the most daring goals will be to bring large scale agriculture to the heart of the city in the form of giant hot houses.

44
00:05:18,319 --> 00:05:22,318
A prototype of this system is operating in Massachusetts.

45
00:05:22,318 --> 00:05:28,315
This energy-regenerating hot house is the work of the new Alchemy Institute.

46
00:05:28,315 --> 00:05:31,314
Gary Hirschberg.

47
00:05:31,314 --> 00:05:37,312
This greenhouse is 100% solar heated in a climate that is really quite nasty.

48
00:05:37,312 --> 00:05:45,309
The heat that comes in here comes through the glazing and bounces off the back wall down into the ground, is absorbed by the ground,

49
00:05:45,309 --> 00:05:51,307
and some of it goes to the top of the room where it's either sent out doors if there's too much heat,

50
00:05:51,307 --> 00:05:59,304
or it's collected by a fan whose opening is up here, which takes the heat that has gone to the top of the building

51
00:05:59,304 --> 00:06:05,301
and pumps it into this big box here, which is filled with fist-sized rocks.

52
00:06:05,301 --> 00:06:11,299
And the hot air heats up the rocks, and then at night when the fan runs,

53
00:06:11,299 --> 00:06:20,296
it blows through the heated rocks and takes the heat from them and pumps it out through louvers across the plants and keeps them warm.

54
00:06:20,296 --> 00:06:25,294
The rest of the heat that comes in here is absorbed by the fish tanks.

55
00:06:25,294 --> 00:06:29,292
The fish tanks are green because they have algae in them.

56
00:06:29,292 --> 00:06:36,290
Algae is what the fish eat. Algae also absorbs solar heat, so the water gets slowly but surely hot.

57
00:06:36,290 --> 00:06:41,288
Not as hot as dishwater, but hot enough to keep the place warm at night when it's freezing.

58
00:06:41,288 --> 00:06:50,284
This combination of architecture and the agriculture and the aquaculture works together without using fossil fuel energy,

59
00:06:50,284 --> 00:06:58,281
and it makes the possibility of a greenhouse in this climate commercially viable idea again.

60
00:06:58,281 --> 00:07:04,279
These ideas have already been incorporated into the structures at Arcosanti.

61
00:07:05,279 --> 00:07:09,277
Yet despite the proven practicality of such innovative systems,

62
00:07:09,277 --> 00:07:14,275
futurists like Solari are often considered eccentric dreamers.

63
00:07:14,275 --> 00:07:19,273
Are he and his followers putting their hopes into a false future?

64
00:07:19,273 --> 00:07:28,270
The notion that I am a utopian or a dreamer, I think it's totally out of contest with my model of reality.

65
00:07:28,270 --> 00:07:38,266
I don't believe in the Garden of Eden, I don't believe in utopia, I don't believe in equity in terms of having it tomorrow.

66
00:07:38,266 --> 00:07:45,263
I don't believe that life is uneasy, gliding through few years and so on.

67
00:07:45,263 --> 00:07:49,262
So what we are doing here is something very hard to do, difficult to implement.

68
00:07:49,262 --> 00:07:56,259
We are absolutely knowledgeable of our limitations in terms of intellect, in terms of resources, in terms of skills.

69
00:07:56,259 --> 00:08:01,257
But we think that we have enough reasons for doing what we are doing to stay with it.

70
00:08:01,257 --> 00:08:04,256
But there is nothing utopian about Arcosanti.

71
00:08:04,256 --> 00:08:09,254
Utopia is nonsense. Utopia is for angels, we are not angels.

72
00:08:09,254 --> 00:08:14,252
Still, man has always had visions of a utopian society.

73
00:08:14,252 --> 00:08:20,250
How we build our future may now be the result of a remarkable machine.

74
00:08:21,250 --> 00:08:29,247
Hello, I am a computer. I am happy to give you a demonstration of the way I speak.

75
00:08:29,247 --> 00:08:36,244
Pretty good isn't it when you consider that English is not my native language?

76
00:08:36,244 --> 00:08:41,242
And I am still learning, so I will start even better.

77
00:08:41,242 --> 00:08:44,241
We have taught computers how to talk.

78
00:08:44,241 --> 00:08:48,239
Current research is developing computers that can think.

79
00:08:48,239 --> 00:08:52,238
Already, they serve as the crystal ball of our future.

80
00:08:52,238 --> 00:08:57,236
No tool will play a more important role in shaping our lives.

81
00:08:57,236 --> 00:09:04,233
With the computer, our imaginations will be able to explore at will.

82
00:09:04,233 --> 00:09:12,230
The children of today are growing up using computers as previous generations used pencils and books.

83
00:09:12,230 --> 00:09:19,228
As adults, these children will operate computers with unbelievable capacities.

84
00:09:19,228 --> 00:09:25,225
Computer expert Lou Crane speculates on where computer technology is heading.

85
00:09:25,225 --> 00:09:34,222
If we were to try to look just 50 years down the future, the impact of computers is going to be absolutely phenomenal.

86
00:09:34,222 --> 00:09:41,219
The evolution of computers is going to affect everything that we do, including even the evolution of man himself.

87
00:09:41,219 --> 00:09:45,218
Today's computers certainly cannot think.

88
00:09:45,218 --> 00:09:52,215
They can only perform pre-coded tasks in a precise one-step-at-a-time type technique.

89
00:09:52,215 --> 00:09:58,213
Basically, they are performing tasks at a tremendous rate, but they are not thinking.

90
00:09:58,213 --> 00:10:06,210
But down the road, I am sure that programs will be written that will allow computers literally to think.

91
00:10:06,210 --> 00:10:14,207
To be able to react to their environment, to change their environment, to program themselves.

92
00:10:14,207 --> 00:10:22,204
And this will be utterly necessary for a space probe, as an example.

93
00:10:22,204 --> 00:10:27,202
The extreme distances between solar systems require many years of travel.

94
00:10:27,202 --> 00:10:33,200
Though we rely on computers in space today, what if a computer could think?

95
00:10:33,200 --> 00:10:37,198
Space is by its very nature, the unknown.

96
00:10:37,198 --> 00:10:45,195
So there is no way that you can tell a computer how to respond to every situation, because you don't know every situation.

97
00:10:45,195 --> 00:10:52,192
So the computer has to be able to think for itself, has to be able to adapt to things that we can't even imagine.

98
00:10:52,192 --> 00:11:02,189
It may well be that the first contact between Earth and another planet will not be between a man and the other species.

99
00:11:02,189 --> 00:11:05,187
It will be between computer and the other species.

100
00:11:05,187 --> 00:11:11,185
Indeed, it may be between two computers, Earth's computer and their computer.

101
00:11:11,185 --> 00:11:13,184
We've never had anything like it.

102
00:11:13,184 --> 00:11:19,182
Dr. Marvin Minsky repeats itself, and when anything new happens, it's not really new.

103
00:11:19,182 --> 00:11:21,181
But I think the computer is really new.

104
00:11:21,181 --> 00:11:27,179
There's never been an intelligent artifact before.

105
00:11:27,179 --> 00:11:30,178
There's never been a box that could understand things.

106
00:11:30,178 --> 00:11:33,177
And computers can't understand anything yet, really.

107
00:11:33,177 --> 00:11:35,176
But they're getting there.

108
00:11:35,176 --> 00:11:40,174
And I think in the 21st century, we'll have something really new.

109
00:11:40,174 --> 00:11:44,173
Computer technology is our fastest growing science.

110
00:11:44,173 --> 00:11:50,170
In the imaginations of futurists, the possibilities are truly incredible.

111
00:11:50,170 --> 00:11:59,167
Maybe 45 years, possibly less, there will be a major evolutionary step, which will take place.

112
00:11:59,167 --> 00:12:03,165
Not only in computers, but in the evolution of man.

113
00:12:03,165 --> 00:12:13,162
It will be possible at that time, I believe, to have a computer, a small chip, surgically implanted in the brain of a person.

114
00:12:13,162 --> 00:12:18,160
Not unlike today's pacemaker or other touch device.

115
00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:21,159
And this chip will receive its power from the body.

116
00:12:21,159 --> 00:12:25,157
It will be a very, very capable computer.

117
00:12:25,157 --> 00:12:29,155
It will be man and machine working together.

118
00:12:29,155 --> 00:12:40,151
A person could, just by thinking about it, have at his disposal the equivalent of the entire contents of the Library of Congress or all of the works of Shakespeare.

119
00:12:40,151 --> 00:12:52,147
A scientist could, a doctor looking for a solution to a difficult problem, could have at his disposal all of the work done by all of the other scientists working on similar projects.

120
00:12:52,147 --> 00:12:59,144
The final result then is the most important step in the evolution of man in a million years or perhaps ever.

121
00:12:59,144 --> 00:13:02,143
It is really the beginning of a new species.

122
00:13:02,143 --> 00:13:06,141
The fact that you can get all...

123
00:13:06,141 --> 00:13:14,138
I now believe that we've located or identified the major genetic control area that regulates aging.

124
00:13:14,138 --> 00:13:23,135
And if in the future we can learn how to stimulate this or otherwise control it, we may be able to increase lifespan substantially.

125
00:13:23,135 --> 00:13:27,133
Dr. Roy Walford, professor of pathology at UCLA.

126
00:13:27,133 --> 00:13:39,129
Like other medical researchers, Dr. Walford is convinced that the great medical discoveries of the future will be the result of our ability to understand and manipulate our genetic code.

127
00:13:39,129 --> 00:13:47,126
These long strands called chromosomes are made up of over 50,000 units called genes.

128
00:13:47,126 --> 00:13:58,122
Acting as nature's computer, they're programmed with each of the body's characteristics, from the color of our eyes to our immunity to disease.

129
00:13:58,122 --> 00:14:09,117
If Dr. Walford is correct, then the location of the gene site that controls the aging mechanism may be within our grasp.

130
00:14:09,117 --> 00:14:11,117
We might enjoy...

131
00:14:11,117 --> 00:14:13,116
Dr. Edward Cornish.

132
00:14:13,116 --> 00:14:15,115
We could rejuvenate ourselves.

133
00:14:15,115 --> 00:14:19,114
Well, I think we also could experience stronger bodies.

134
00:14:19,114 --> 00:14:21,113
We could be more intelligent.

135
00:14:21,113 --> 00:14:24,112
We might be more beautiful than we are now.

136
00:14:24,112 --> 00:14:28,110
And I think that all these things are technologically feasible.

137
00:14:28,110 --> 00:14:42,105
Now, that does not mean we have the technology to do all that today, but you can easily see by relatively modest projections of what's happening in medical technology that in the 21st century a lot of this would really become possible.

138
00:14:42,105 --> 00:14:50,102
Genetics research has produced amazing results. Some of the secrets have already been revealed.

139
00:14:51,102 --> 00:15:00,098
We are at the point now where we can perform minor cell surgery and even inject healthy genes into diseased tissue.

140
00:15:02,097 --> 00:15:09,095
Perhaps the most promising technique for gene manipulation lies in the area of electrical stimulation.

141
00:15:09,095 --> 00:15:16,092
As the experiments continue, scientists may learn to stimulate the genes that control our aging.

142
00:15:16,092 --> 00:15:19,091
What will it mean to live longer?

143
00:15:21,090 --> 00:15:31,086
If people begin living to be 120, 150, or 180, you'll have many unforeseen and, in my view, positive social effects.

144
00:15:31,086 --> 00:15:42,082
For example, if you increase lifespan by decelerating the rate of aging, then one, all of the diseases of aging are postponed to a much later age.

145
00:15:42,082 --> 00:15:52,078
So that cancer, heart disease, stroke, and so forth, instead of occurring as they do now at about the age 65, will be occurring at the age 130, 140.

146
00:15:52,078 --> 00:16:01,075
So by decelerating the rate of aging, you, in effect, cure all of these diseases at one stroke for the age group at which they now occur.

147
00:16:01,075 --> 00:16:07,073
They don't have many sociological effects that I don't think we can realize right now.

148
00:16:07,073 --> 00:16:10,072
People will be into having multiple careers.

149
00:16:10,072 --> 00:16:20,068
They spend 20 or 30 years in a present career and have to be reeducated through a revamped, retooled educational system to go on to other careers.

150
00:16:20,068 --> 00:16:23,067
A lot of people would choose to do that now.

151
00:16:23,067 --> 00:16:33,063
Women, for example, if you extend lifespan, you also extend the childbearing age so that it could be quite feasible then to be having children when you're 60, 70, or 80,

152
00:16:33,063 --> 00:16:38,061
which means that the women could have a whole career before they get into raising the family if they want to do that.

153
00:16:38,061 --> 00:16:44,059
They don't have to make that hard choice that a lot of career women are faced with in present society.

154
00:16:44,059 --> 00:16:51,056
How old would people be if we could stop the aging process entirely? How long would people live?

155
00:16:51,056 --> 00:16:58,053
The answer is about 600 years. If you keep the accident rate the same, if you still think about a survival curve,

156
00:16:58,053 --> 00:17:05,051
if you keep the accident rate the same as it is today but stop everybody from aging and cure all diseases,

157
00:17:05,051 --> 00:17:12,048
then the maximum lifespan would be about 600 years. Some kind of an accident would get you by that time.

158
00:17:12,048 --> 00:17:20,045
The medical and technological advances of the 21st century will greatly increase our mental and physical capabilities.

159
00:17:20,045 --> 00:17:22,044
Where will we take them?

160
00:17:22,044 --> 00:17:24,043
Run. Fire.

161
00:17:28,042 --> 00:17:30,041
Run!

162
00:17:30,041 --> 00:17:32,040
Run!

163
00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:34,040
Run!

164
00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:36,039
Run!

165
00:17:36,039 --> 00:17:38,038
Run!

166
00:17:38,038 --> 00:17:40,037
Run!

167
00:17:40,037 --> 00:17:42,037
Run!

168
00:17:42,037 --> 00:17:44,036
Run!

169
00:17:44,036 --> 00:17:46,035
Run!

170
00:17:46,035 --> 00:17:48,034
Run!

171
00:17:48,034 --> 00:17:54,032
We have already taken our first tenetive steps into outer space.

172
00:17:54,032 --> 00:17:59,030
Slowly we are learning how to adapt to this entirely new environment.

173
00:17:59,030 --> 00:18:09,026
Our concept of the universe is changing. As it does, our concept of ourselves and our place in the universe is also changing.

174
00:18:09,026 --> 00:18:11,026
Run!

175
00:18:11,026 --> 00:18:13,025
Run!

176
00:18:13,025 --> 00:18:15,024
Run!

177
00:18:15,024 --> 00:18:17,023
Run!

178
00:18:17,023 --> 00:18:23,021
We must see current space explorations as more than just another new technology,

179
00:18:23,021 --> 00:18:27,019
rather a natural expression of our survival instinct.

180
00:18:27,019 --> 00:18:33,017
The colonization of outer space will ensure the survival of the human species.

181
00:18:33,017 --> 00:18:38,015
Today we are rehearsing the construction of colonies in space.

182
00:18:38,015 --> 00:18:44,013
These underwater tanks at NASA labs, the problems of construction in a weightless environment,

183
00:18:44,013 --> 00:18:52,010
are anticipated and resolved before the work actually begins.

184
00:18:52,010 --> 00:18:59,007
Some of the techniques discovered here have already been put into practical use by our astronauts.

185
00:18:59,007 --> 00:19:06,005
One of the things that I spend some time on is working on new ways of getting off the planet.

186
00:19:06,005 --> 00:19:14,002
Friends of mine and I are working on a new way to launch very heavy loads into space cheaply.

187
00:19:14,002 --> 00:19:22,998
And I believe that if we can get these things to work, then it's practical to build houses, cities in space.

188
00:19:23,998 --> 00:19:36,993
In a lab at Princeton University, a working scale model of the machine that could solve some of the problems of large scale space construction has been developed.

189
00:19:36,993 --> 00:19:39,992
It is called a mass driver.

190
00:19:39,992 --> 00:19:43,990
Futurist Dr. Gerardo Neal of the Space Studies Institute.

191
00:19:43,990 --> 00:19:46,989
This is the bucket of a mass driver electric motor.

192
00:19:46,989 --> 00:19:59,984
The bucket carries a payload of lunar material and it's accelerated by these magnetic coils with an acceleration that's more than 100 times as fast as the hottest drag racer ever made.

193
00:19:59,984 --> 00:20:10,980
When the bucket and its payload get to the full speed of 8,000 miles per hour, the payload is released and goes out into space and the bucket is recirculated for reuse.

194
00:20:11,980 --> 00:20:19,977
So if you were to look at a mass driver in operation, you'd see that stream of payloads like water coming out of a fire hose off into space.

195
00:20:19,977 --> 00:20:21,976
And this is how it works.

196
00:20:28,973 --> 00:20:35,970
We can use the mass driver as a catapult to bring thousands of tons per year of lunar material into space.

197
00:20:35,970 --> 00:20:50,965
There we can process it using solar energy into oxygen that we can breathe into silicon that we can make into solar cells and into big structures, space industries, space power stations or space colonies.

198
00:20:50,965 --> 00:20:59,961
Industries and colonies in space may sound incredible, but we who are working toward them know that most of the building blocks are already in place.

199
00:20:59,961 --> 00:21:06,959
For less than the investment in the Alaskan pipeline, we could make these things happen before the year 2000.

200
00:21:07,958 --> 00:21:17,955
The future holds many possibilities. With the technologies available to us, what that future will be is now a matter of choice.

201
00:21:18,954 --> 00:21:30,950
If our destiny lies in outer space, it may be as philosopher Eric Hoffer stated, man is a stranger on this planet.

202
00:21:30,950 --> 00:21:40,946
The seed of man originated amongst the stars. Does this explain our preoccupation with the heavens, the stars and the gods?

203
00:21:48,943 --> 00:21:57,939
Coming up next on FBI The Untold Stories, agents take on a Cleveland bank robber who's threatening to blow up his hostages.

204
00:21:57,939 --> 00:22:06,936
Then on history's crimes and trials, the movie turned them into romantic heroes, but this is the real story of cold blooded killers, body and Clyde.

205
00:22:06,936 --> 00:22:14,933
And later tonight, hex factor week gets off to a spooky start on history's mysteries with a look at the origins of our common superstitions.

206
00:22:14,933 --> 00:22:18,931
At 8, here on the History Channel, where the past comes alive.