Customer Reviews

A View from the Year 3000

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Michael Hart's brilliant imagination takes the reader on a tour de force of history from the great religious, political and scientific leaders of the past to the imagined ones of the future. See how Jesus, Moses, and Mohammed compare with Hitler, Stalin and those yet to come in influence (whether good or bad, history is the judge). Or Newton, Darwin, and Einstein, with the biotechnologists of the 21st century. Fantastic entertainment and erudition. I enjoyed every moment.

Dr. Hart presents a unique vision of the future. However, he expects nothing wonderous from artificial intelligence (it is legally banned) and rather little from computers in general. In his world of the future, virtual reality is also banned, but sex change operations flourish--with most people undergoing multiple operations in their lifetime.

The system of education, too, is curious. First, it must be truly important, because all of his new entries in this book (I think there are fifty five in all) have attended university for a long time. Today, highly educated people attend universities for years after high school, but in the distant days of the future fantastic described by Dr. Hart, it often takes them decades to do so--obviously this arrangement may be more appealing to academics than the population in general. This protracted schooling takes place despite the fact that direct downloading of information from computers into the brain is possible in that world of the day after tomorrow. Explanation for this paradox: downloading of information provides only the knowledge of facts, but no "understanding." One wonders how perfect brainwashing (another idea that Hart describes as almost imminent) can be real when "downloading" can do no more than supply the human brain with facts. Also, people generally work between 20 and 60 years before they retire; in fact, his most influential people after the year 2000 go to school for almost as long as they work afterwards--then they either live in perpetual retirement, or perish in some accident (although there is at least one suicide). This vision of the future of long schooling, important intellectual work, and endless retirement is the academic's utopia.

One striking feature of Hart's predicitions is that almost everybody who is among the most influential after the twnety-first century comes either from Asia or Africa. As far as I am able to tell, nobody among the most influential people born after the twenty-first century comes from Western Europe. Few of the influential people are people are born outside the earth--mostly in sun-orbiting colonies.

I think in some sense Dr. Hart's view of the year 3000 is too conservative. By 3000, I expect contact with other civilizations in outer space. (While Dr. Hart states very explicitly his view that life is very rare or nonexistent outside the earth, at least in our galaxy.) I also expect cyborgs, genetically engineered creatures of all kinds, virtually real worlds, and very advanced artificial intelligence, whose knowledge and understanding will surpass by far anything a human being can attain.

Having said all that, no one can rule out the possibility that mankind will destroy itself before the fantastic world of 3000 is reached--the world is precarious place to inhabit.

An interesting read. I wouldn't agree with some of the predicted technological developements (an easy sex change? - a little too PC) but I still enjoyed the exercise. The 'real' entries were a good review of history. I actually learned a little Chinese history too - enough to make me want to learn more.

Even better than Hart's first book. The author has done a remarkable job of creating a coherent, plausible picture of what the next 1000 years might be like. And like his first book, this one is a one-volume education in science, history, and philosophy.

A View From the Year 3000 has become a cult classic. It is a sequel to the author's previous book, The Top 100 (Most Influential People of All Time). Because it is primarily fiction, a storyline has been introduced making the work much more cohesive than The Top 100. I will not argue if this or that individual should be rated higher or lower (it's quite subjective) since one of the reasons for the presence of many is simply a means for explaining history.

The future is dominated by five themes: (1) World government (and the politics involved), (2) Brainwashing and the efforts to prevent unscrupulous uses, (3)Immortality, (4) Instant sex changes and (5) Interstellar space travel. All individuals from the future are affected by one or most of these changes. But the genius of Hart is that they are not presented in a vacuum but are instead woven seamlessly into biographies of future lives. One wonders if 1000 years from now humans will think George Washington, Rutherford or Karl Marx (!) even worthy of mention but as I sad, it's all subjective.

Future cultural trends are also ably presented: Ease of sex change operations calls a halt to the war between the sexes, the fall of organized religion brings peace (hopefully), the world adopts a constitutional form of government (the most outlandish considering the past), immortality gets us to the stars...and yet in many ways the book is outdated. There is little talk of computers, robotics or AI (except that it is banned) when the most likely scenario is that supercomputers will solve most of the problems presented. Hart sees future societies maintaining the current cultural tools - books, television (holovision), etc. It also appears as if national boundaries and names have remained static for ten centuries.

Still, a stunning work and well worth the $49.95 (!!) I had to fork out for this book. My Grade - A

Educational, thought provoking and thoroughly entertaining. This is a book for all tastes. The non-fiction entries give us interesting and informative profiles of the men and women who have or are shaping our world. The other entries, speculating on the major events of the 21st century and character types behind those events, are as entertaining as they are intellectually facinating and plausible. This is a carefully thought out and well written work whose chapters can be reread and enjoyed in any order. It's a keeper that you don't want to miss.

Michael H. Hart gives his unique view of what the world might be like in the year 3000. This book is well written and quite imaginative. You will enjoy reading this title.

An incredibly imaginative book, brim full of intriguing ideas. The chapters on scientific and technological developments are top-notch. Reads like a science fiction novel. I only wish I could make it to the year 3000 to see if his predictions come true.

A superb, imaginative sequel to Hart's first book. The range of topics covered in this book is truly astonishing. A perfect birthday or bar/bat mitzvah gift for a very bright teenager (or adult).