Stephen Hawking's Science of the Future— Virtual World

Overview

Stephen Hawking’s Science of the Future investigates the very latest game changing innovations. Each episode takes one area of progress and sends five top scientists out to actively test the inventions and breakthroughs that are driving it. The team explore human upgrades, the virtual world, bio-mimicry, high-tech emergency responses, and more. Featuring a wide range of examples, from advanced robotics and breathtaking digital actors, to cutting edge smart homes and electronic brain stimulation, the series reveals how science is delivering astonishing improvements to all our lives. Using the evidence they gather, the team reveals the year when each innovation will be rolled out for us all to benefit from, and Hawking then draws out his own uniquely insightful predictions about what our world will be like in the years to come.

Documentary

Current EpisodeSeason 1 • Episode 1Aired: 2014-04-0945 min

1. Virtual World

Stephen Hawking and his team investigate how reality is being increasingly stretched as people become less dependent on the physical world and more involved with the virtual electronic world. In this episode, a remarkable 3D virtual training program for the military is investigated, a new system is tested that can map places inaccessible to GPS and Sat Nav, bio-printing, where designs created on computers are turned into three dimensional living tissues is examined and a new wave of sci-fi technologically is revealed; a computer that can read people's minds.