Michio Kaku's Religion of Physics

Abstract

The scientific worldview of Michio Kaku—a prominent theoretical physicist and popularizer of science—can be viewed as a humanistic religion based on the principles of physics and how they relate to humanity's place in the cosmos. In a sense, he follows in the tradition of Isaac Newton, Galileo Galilei, and Albert Einstein, all of whom searched for the secret rules on which the universe runs. Their pursuit of science was not unlike a religious quest, insofar as they believed that by exposing the patterns underlying nature, they could read the mind of God. Numerous religious motifs feature prominently in Kaku's narrative of science and futurology, including a creation myth, a period of tribulation, an eschatology and salvation through science.