I stumbled on this essay and found it very interesting. Despite the Internet, when compared to what is called 'The Golden Quarter' era from 1945-1971, progress in science and technology has slowed since then - honestly if not for the home computer/Internet the sad fact is that in my lifetime the 2 biggest inventions were the altogether crappy microwave oven and the VCR - hardly competes with nuclear energy/weapons, space exploration, vaccines, the birth control pill and many other huge advancements.
This science writer provides lots of reasons that contributed to why it's happened but concludes that we've become pussies, afraid to take risks. Our hearts are in the right place, life is better today for the vast majority than in 1971, but we've sacrificed the big leaps forward in science and technology the WWII generation made.
"And yes, we have seen some impressive technological advances. The modern internet is a wonder, more impressive in many ways than Apollo. We might have lost Concorde but you can fly across the Atlantic for a couple of days? wages ? remarkable. Sci-fi visions of the future often had improbable spacecraft and flying cars but, even in Blade Runner?s Los Angeles of 2019, Rick Deckard had to use a payphone to call Rachael.
But it could have been so much better. If the pace of change had continued, we could be living in a world where Alzheimer?s was treatable, where clean nuclear power had ended the threat of climate change, where the brilliance of genetics was used to bring the benefits of cheap and healthy food to the bottom billion, and where cancer really was on the back foot. Forget colonies on the Moon; if the Golden Quarter had become the Golden Century, the battery in your magic smartphone might even last more than a day."
https://aeon.co/essays/has-progress-...come-to-a-halt
This science writer provides lots of reasons that contributed to why it's happened but concludes that we've become pussies, afraid to take risks. Our hearts are in the right place, life is better today for the vast majority than in 1971, but we've sacrificed the big leaps forward in science and technology the WWII generation made.
"And yes, we have seen some impressive technological advances. The modern internet is a wonder, more impressive in many ways than Apollo. We might have lost Concorde but you can fly across the Atlantic for a couple of days? wages ? remarkable. Sci-fi visions of the future often had improbable spacecraft and flying cars but, even in Blade Runner?s Los Angeles of 2019, Rick Deckard had to use a payphone to call Rachael.
But it could have been so much better. If the pace of change had continued, we could be living in a world where Alzheimer?s was treatable, where clean nuclear power had ended the threat of climate change, where the brilliance of genetics was used to bring the benefits of cheap and healthy food to the bottom billion, and where cancer really was on the back foot. Forget colonies on the Moon; if the Golden Quarter had become the Golden Century, the battery in your magic smartphone might even last more than a day."
https://aeon.co/essays/has-progress-...come-to-a-halt
Report a suspicious cracker: 
Comment