2030

A stimulating book put together by two researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology with a freelance science journalist. The authors interviewed over two dozen scientific and technological experts on themes relating to health, sustainability, technology and communities. 2030 was chosen as a horizon by which time many things will be very different, but not so far ahead that it becomes difficult to speculate. Given the background, the emphasis is on technological interventions rather than human behaviour, although addressing complexity necessarily brings humans into the equation. Also unpredictability, although the authors do not mention the literature on wicked problems, referred to in an adjacent book review. It will also take a reorientation of our efforts away from the military if our technological capacity to respond to our major challenges is to be maximised. Many interesting new ideas floated, not only in connection with food, energy and materials, but also the structure of our machines. One interviewee observed that we need systems that self-organise into new and stable configurations rather than increasing the vulnerability of the whole system when a small component goes wrong. Later sections of the book deal with medical advances and the development of communities, including the prospects or cities, peace, and the role of computers in financial markets. A mind-stretching journey as far as it goes.