Futurologist: In the show you didn't go into the possibility of a Technological Singularity happening by 2057 (yet it's predicted to happen around 2029). Does this mean you don't think that a Singularity will happen, even though it's simply a logical extrapolation of Moore's Law?

Dr. Kaku: Moore's Law, which states that computer power doubles every 18 months, may collapse by 2020, making Silicon Valley become a rust belt. That's why we physicists are desperately trying to create the post-silicon era's computers. If we fail, it means that computer power will flatten by 2020, perhaps creating a depression. There is no guarantee that we will be able to compute on molecules and atoms after 2020. Your laptop has a chip with a layer 20 atoms across. By 2020, that layer will be 5 atoms across, and then the Uncertainty Principle takes over and electrons leak out, creating a short circuit. This means we have to create quantum computers that compute on atoms. However, the world record for a quantum computer calculation is 3 times 5 = 15. Even children know that. So if computer power were to grow without limit, then perhaps a singularity may occur. In other words, a very sharp break from the previous history of the expansion of computer power. However, we have a stumbling block and that is the laws of physics. So at the present time, it is not clear precisely how the post-silicon era will unfold.

Rhaomi:  How can American-style suburbia survive without cheap oil? Cities can use alternative energies, but suburban sprawl and its economic model is dependent on a steady flow of petroleum.

Dr. Kaku: After WWII, the introduction of cheap oil created the suburbs and collapsed the inner city. However, in the future, if we have a hydrogen economy, then hydrogen will replace oil at the gas pumps or the refueling station. When the oil-fired car was first introduced, critics claimed that car accidents would engulf cars in flames and that we would have to have a gas pump at every corner. The critics were horrified. Both horrible predictions have come to pass. The same applies to a hydrogen economy. Hydrogen is volatile and car accidents with hydrogen cars could be fatal. But we're used to that idea now, and we may have to have electric refueling pumps everywhere, but we already have that in an oil economy. So the suburbs will still exist, even if we gradually convert to a solar/hydrogen economy. But I fear it is a race against time. On one hand, time is running out. Oil cannot last forever. In the future, oil prices will skyrocket as cheap oil becomes rare. Plus the earth is heating up in a very dangerous way. So it is a race against time to see whether we can convert to a solar/hydrogen economy before the economy and the weather collapse.