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Michio Kaku vs. Hollywood

The renowned physicist takes a look at goofy science mistakes in recent big-budget movies.
By Michio Kaku


Michio Kaku 2I personally love science fiction movies and comics. I even once owned the first issue of "Spider-Man" comics. Even though I wince when science fiction entertainment makes obvious science mistakes, I still enjoy it. I recommend it to people, because they will perhaps become inspired to become scientists themselves.

'Spider-Man'

Spider-Man is my personal favorite superhero. However, getting bitten by a radioactive or a genetically altered spider will not give one superpowers.

Also, there is a myth that insects are so super powerful that if they were the size of a house, they could lift a house. The opposite is true. If they were the size of a human or even a house, their legs would break. They wouldn't even be able to walk. Even King Kong's legs would break. The reason is that as the size of an animal increases, the weight increases much faster than the strength.

'Minority Report'

In Minority Report, there are "precogs" -- humans who can see the future and then download their memories into a computer. Sorry, but seeing the future violates the principle of causality. And our brain cannot be downloaded. A computer has both software and hardware; software can be downloaded.

However, our brain only has hardware, and no software. In fact, it re-wires itself as it learns. It is a learning machine (a neural network), not a computer, and hence one cannot read its thoughts.

'Star Wars'

The Star Wars series may seem the most outlandish of the three, but its technology is about 100,000 years ahead of ours, being a galactic Type III civilization. Hence this fantastic- seeming technology could actually be possible with that advanced a civilization. galactic Type 3 civilization