Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has made a list of predictions for the year 2050, covering everything from our understanding of the human mind through to space exploration.
While experts of yesteryear predicted we’d be flying around on hoverboards by now, there have obviously been huge developments in science, technology, medicine and more in recent years.
The speed at which scientists were able to create Covid vaccinations to protect the masses not only came as a welcome surprise, but also as a huge step forward for modern research.
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However, deGrasse Tyson thinks there’s more to come – not just in the health field, but in a number of areas.
Speaking on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast recently, where he promoted his new book Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization, deGrasse outlined a number of predictions for the not-too-distant future.
These included advances in neuroscience, which he believes could make traditional psychological jobs redundant, the rise of autonomous vehicles and space travel becoming a fully-fledged tourism industry by 2050.
Reading from his book, he said: “Neuroscience and our understanding of the human mind will become so advanced that mental illness will be cured, leaving psychologists and psychiatrists without jobs.”
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“In a shift that echoes the rapid conversion from horses to automobiles in the early 20th Century, self-driving electric vehicles will fully replace all cars and trucks on the road.
“The human space programme will fully transition to a space industry, supported not by tax dollars, but by tourism - and anything else people dream of doing in space,” he said.
But that’s not all deGrasse envisages, as he even thinks we will have a cure for cancer within the next few decades, while also speculating that humans will eventually be able to regrow limbs.
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“We develop a perfect antiviral serum and cure cancer,” he continued.
“Medicines will tailor to your own DNA, leaving no adverse side effects.
“We will learn how to regrow lost limbs and failing organs, bringing us up to the level of other regenerating animals on Earth, like salamanders, starfish and lobsters.”
DeGrasse Tyson echoed these ideas in another recent interview with Piers Morgan - who said the idea of limb regrowth was the one that he found particularly shocking.
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"Why limbs?" he asked, to which the astrophysicist replied: "You and I are approximately the same age. We learned biology in an era where we said, ‘The Tree of Life, humans are at the top, and we are the pinnacle of evolution.’
"I remember hearing biologists say that, and teachers teach that... Excuse me, white men were at the top of evolution, depending on which textbook you used!"
Referencing a 'cosmic perspective', DeGrasse Tyson continued: "Suppose some other animal made that same chart. If newts made that chart, they would say, ‘We’re at the top, because we can regenerate limbs’. And they would pity humans on the evolutionary scale because we can’t.”
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"Regenerating limbs exists in the genome of other animals, and we’re all related genetically."
Topics: Technology, Science, Joe Rogan
Jess Hardiman