Humanity: Broken Down on the Side of the Road

NOTE:

I am putting this here because, first, the basic subject matter has been so worked over that I doubt it would attract much mainpage attention. But also, because I am seeking something more than the standard conspiracy theory approach... I mean, once you read this, does it not become clear as being hit in the head with a ball peen hammer?

Ahem... excuse my terminology.

Anyway, seeking relaxed and civil discussion on how we came so doggone far so fast to then get bogged down here...

Thanks

* * * Broken Down on the Side of the Road * * *

Prior to the late 18th century, mankind's technology for almost every endeavor involved wood or stone for construction and firepit, animal and wind power for manufacture and travel. This had gone on for over two thousand years.

Then, suddenly, we moved on to steam power and working with iron.

Thousands of years with little real change...

Steam and iron led to great advancements in electricity and the use of steel in almost every quarter. Suddenly, buildings began shooting into the sky and trains crossed entire continents while our ships ceased depending on sails to cross entire oceeans.

Next came powered flight and ground transport... we call them automobiles.

Propellers gave way to jey engines, wood burning steam engines moved on to coal and then oil powered turbines.

After thousands of years of going nowhere... we made this leap to land where we are today in under 200 years. Amazing... but, how?

How did a species locked for so long under the canvas sail and hoofs of animals suddenly escape?

It's good thinking material but before you go there, consider this... our pace of advancement has again slowed.

It took less than 50 years to go from the prop to the jet but now, we are stuck with that jet. We saw the rise of the internal cumbustion engine but it's been over a century and we're still stuck with that, too.

Some technology is leaping ahead by... well, leaps and bounds but other stuff? Stagnation.

How do we learn to build robots to roam the planet Mars but still find ourselves using petroleum in old gasoline fire-driven engines? How do we build computers that can solve incredibly complex technical problems faster than the human mind... but still depend on jet engines that require oil-based fuels?

Where would we be today if we had the freedom to escaope oil?


Are we being held back or are we at the end of our advance?

Mankind will never leave this planet to explore the stars using a gas-powered ship. Humanity will never rise above the current form of classifications of nations based on wealth and prosperity while harnessed to limitations of available energy.

In sum... we are not free - none of us - to choose our future. We may well be prisoners of those who basically feel ownership over us and wish never to surrender that position. But even if that is so, how do we escape without destroying all that we must have to take that next step?

From the gallop and wind to the roar of engines and jets... to the nausiating reality of eternal polution and entrapment... in the mid 20th century.

One final note... if we are to be here forever, can we PLEASE recycle a few classic cars like the 67 Mustang, the 57 Chevy and something... anything on wheels that doesn't look like a pregnant egg?

I'm done.

...

Sorry to be so blunt with my answer, but the answer to the question as to why we seem to have driven down a dead end road, is because our leaders, inventors and major business owners are stupid.


www.edx.org...

reply to post by redoubt


I think TaupinDisciple has the right of things to a degree. Most of the troubles we have as a species right now, relate to the controls placed upon technology and politics by those who have a vested, financial interest in the progress made in those feilds, or more precisely, on controlling the OUTCOMES of that progress.

For example, ideally speaking, democracy should have evolved to the point where figurehead politics, the like of which can be found in Britain and the US should be obsolete by now, replaced with direct interaction with the public, giving the people the executive power. This COULD easily be done due to the interconnected nature of most of the population of both nations. Lets face it, voting once every four years might have worked before the internet age, but now?

And on the subject of science and technology, it is very probable that the people who control the energy industry realised many years ago that there were ways comming up, of producing energy cleanly, efficiently, and cheaply, and realised that they would be pretty much out of a job, or at least well out of pocket if things developed the way they could have (and should have).

It seems to me that if politics and technology were to be allowed to evolve without the interferance of selfish people, that we wouldnt be crashing and burning as often as we are, in terms of the way our politicians treat our people, and in terms of the way our technology is limited by a companies ability to monetise a given product or service.

reply to post by TrueBrit


Sure, we can rely on technology more to improve our lives.
Why not have a computer run the country.
The computer can virtually instantly weigh all economic and social concerns in a given country and make the decisions that will benefit every one in the country equally.
This computer will take no expensive vacations.
It will be able to respond to global events without having to form committees and conduct expensive studies.
(Ooops, I'm talking myself into this plan)
The computer will be UN-corruptible, dispassionate, and will not be bound by partisan politics.
Bureaucrats would need only follow the directions of our new computer leader, lets call him "DEEP THOUGHT"

reply to post by Beartracker16


Hmm... I was actually refering to the fact that greed is the only reason that clean , staggeringly cheap energy is not available world wide, because it wont make enough money to feed the corperations which currently own the energy market from the bottom up.

In order to allow this monopolous heresy to continue, those who own the energy markets and attendant technology have long since had a stake in governments, and weild massive power financially, which means that they have massive political lobby power, which influences the politicians, making them obsolete, in terms of thier trustworthyness.

However, the internet age, and the high percentage of homes which have a functioning internet connection, means that people could vote on the issues that matter to them, rather than being expected to trust the better of two total liars come election day, thus removing the need for leaders and so on, and replacing them with the pure unadulterated will of the people (which is the only thing that ought to matter in terms of governance). That way the only job politicians would be ALLOWED to do, rather than deciding things on the behalf of a people they barely have any legitimate contact with, would be to enforce the will of the people, to act under thier direct orders, according to the results of a vote on any given topic.

I am not talking about Deep Thought here. Deep Thought was an artificial intelligence of staggering power, but all I am talking about is a method of cutting out the middle man, removing the idea of figureheads and leaders, and partisan politics entirely, and replacing it with the will of the people in its rawest form, so that the people may govern themselves without the intereferance of big business and corrupt individuals at the top in politics.

I think we're only one big advance away (in propulsion) from being able to successfully colonize other worlds in our own solar system. Then, after that, only one big advance away from interstellar travel.

But, those advances will rely on other big advances too (such as power generation or quantum computing).

We'll get there. One thing we've seen is that our tech seems to increase exponentially over time. But, I do think we're at kind of a plateau here it seems. At least for a little while.