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Do you think that human technology will always be progressing?
Do you believe that human made machinery and technology will always be progressing? For example - do you believe that humans will one day have the technology and capability to teleport?
Or do you believe that human technology and machinery will regress and we will go backwards and live with the technology we had 250 years ago?
i believe what will happen is it will slow down exponentially. there is a finite limit to how good, fast, strong, smart things can be. technology will always progress, but as it approaches these limits, it will become smaller and smaller strides each year
Dude... There is always going to be AT LEAST one person (genius) out there that will be pushing the boundaries of what we already know. There is still much to learn about our universe.
Things will get VERY interesting once we create a computer that can create a smarter computer.
We live in an age where tech hasn't regressed in many lifetimes. We are an anomaly in history. Think of living in Europe in 1100 AD and seeing the ruins of the Roman and Greek empires decaying and fading into the past.
not if scientists continue to be held back by all the religious assbags in the world.
that's like trying to run a marathon with ankle weights on. you're hitting certain checkpoints, but eventually you've gotta get rid of those fuckers or you're going to end up crashing and saying FUCK IT, IM DONE WITH THIS SHIT.
You guys are way off. Read The Singularity is Near.. computers continue to double their ability in half the time. The estimated year humans will be able to live for ever (the point of singularity) is 2045.
Technology will always progress, barring some sort of catastrophic event that wipes out the human species. Look at how much technological progress we've made in the past hundred years. We've discovered more in that short period of time than earlier humans did over the course of the past hundred thousand years.
It discusses the rate of scientific advancement as well as theories about what the future will hold and how we will progress. Pretty mind-blowing stuff.
I was listening to nor today and this person wrote a book about the 6 major extinctions that life has gone through on earth. The 5th was the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, and the 6th is currently underway as 7 billion soon to be 8 or 9 billion steadily crowd out what little biodiversity remains on the planet. The major problem with one species dominating an ecosystem is it is quite literally putting all your eggs in one basket so our survival will become ever more precarious. Every herd that gets too big has major problems with disease and starvation so that will be a huge challenge for us over the next few hundred years and beyond.
We process an insane amount of information every second. Forgot where I heard it but they said there are still many things the brain can do/compute faster than computers.
Like how our eyes can focus faster than any camera
This is coming from someone who studies biology, so i cant necessarily speak for all scientists. but technological advancements really revolve around how much science is permitted to advance. and its not so much the bible freak that's an obstacle for scientists- its the government. Scientists receive their grants largely from governmental funding, so when the money goes elsewhere (war would be a textbook example), scientific grants are cut drastically and more scientists lose their jobs.
Still, there's always a new hot topic to do research in, and the latest advancements in science (at least in biology) that have shown promising results have yet to be applied to humans probably for at least a decade or more. I think its safe to say there will always be some kind of scientific advancement to be made because we'll always encounter new problems
In some aspects, yes, but not all. Computers are amazing at doing arithmatic very quickly, something the human brain is terrible at. But human brains outmatch computers at pattern recognition. You can't show a computer a picture of something and have it spit out what the image is with any sort of reliability. Sure there are things like reverse image search, but that is based off of comparing the pixels themselves, not an actual understanding of what is being seen.
In due time, I think computers will completely eclipse the human brain at all functions, but not in the forseeable future.
There was an anology I heard that made a lot of sense. Think of the human brain as a landmass with peaks and valleys, and a computer as the water level. The peaks represent what our brain does well at and the valleys what we do poorly. The water level is always rising. We have advantages over computers today, but that will not always be true.
I read this awhile back on General Electric's facebook page. "Even with 83,000 processors and 10.4 trillion synapses, a neural computer network still needs 40 minutes to process what the brain can in a second."
Interesting stat that someone born in 2014 will probably never have to drive a vehicle. I think we're very close to automated 18-wheelers, boats, and cars.
BagelsInteresting stat that someone born in 2014 will probably never have to drive a vehicle. I think we're very close to automated 18-wheelers, boats, and cars.
I feel like the only way self driving cars would be a success is if all cars on the road are automated. A computer operating a car is predictable, a human operating a car is not.
But I'm sure you're right that self driving cars will become more common
BagelsInteresting stat that someone born in 2014 will probably never have to drive a vehicle. I think we're very close to automated 18-wheelers, boats, and cars.
I was watching a show on drone aircraft and they were saying that the last true fighter pilot has already been born.
ObeseBunnyTechnology will always progress, barring some sort of catastrophic event that wipes out the human species.
After the asteroid extincted the dinosaurs completely, a new organism evolved into an advanced species. Over 2 million years they advanced and developed technology beyond anything we could imagine.
They eventually came to the point were everyone agreed that their time on Gaius was coming to an end, and that there was time to follow the oldest dream of their proud race.
For almost 5000 years, the whole species worked together to realize that ancient dream of travelling the stars. And finally they found the key that would unlock that very dream, but they were about to run out of time.
For one day during the 4968th cycle after the work began, they discovered that another giant asteroid with the mass of Gattacka (today known as Pluto) was on collision course with Gaius. The rock was so immense that no weapon they had, could completely eliminate it without it's fragments raining over Gaius.
They knew they had spent all their resources on their work, and they had only one ship ready. This ship was their only hope.
The species choose 100 000 individuals that would carry their dreams, ideas and the survival of the race to find a new home among the stars. As the ship left the world was at peace, knowing that this was not the end of them. Loaded with the powerful weapons of Gaius, the ship used all it had against the asteroid. But it was not enough.
As the 5999th cycle was completed their voyage begun, and Gaius burned.
But they never abandoned Gaius. This blue rock became their sacred monument and later a symbol of greatness.
Thousands of millenias later, a new species, much similar to them self grew to populate and evolve on Gaius. It was then decided that a group would be given the great task to assist and show us the way towards our future. Without taking away our power to make it our own, and to always protect us. Even from our self.
If you are lucky you can see lights from their vessels in the night sky.
When the time comes, they'll welcome us among them.
Our entire understanding of the world today is based on current knowledge obtained through past experiences. So to say the peak of technology will be reached, is to say one day there will simply be no more to discover. I personally find that hard to believe. We live in a dynamic and ever changing universe not in a empty square box. Yes our environment has it's limits and yes there are only so many ways to shuffle the cards but I don't see the human race as we know it ever come even close to reaching the end.
Well considering we are on the cusp of a massive human extinction event I don't think it really matters. I'm willing to bet we will see the end of the human era long before we see a regression in technology. Unless we can halt our expontential population growth I don't think any matter of technology can help us.
Granite_StateWell considering we are on the cusp of a massive human extinction event I don't think it really matters. I'm willing to bet we will see the end of the human era long before we see a regression in technology. Unless we can halt our expontential population growth I don't think any matter of technology can help us.
What makes you think we are near a human extinction event?
Some countries' populations are growing but the United states is staying roughly the same
milk_manWhat makes you think we are near a human extinction event?
Some countries' populations are growing but the United states is staying roughly the same
The earth cannot sustain 7 billion, let alone the 9 billion our population is supposed to reach by 2050. People are breeding like never before and with our technology extending human life almost double what it was 100 years ago we are running out of space. The earth is roughly 30% land with only 43% of that land habitable. We are deforesting at an exponential rate, we are consuming our very limited fresh water supply at an exponential rate, we are surviving the very diseases that would have kept our population in check, we are cauing the extinction of THOUSANDS of species per year, we are polluting our water, air, and land irreversibaly. Humankind is a cancer to this planet. But nautre is clever and has a way of self correcting.
Plus a thinning of the human herd is actually incredibly beneficial. Before the black plague people where stuck in the dark ages. Many believe this was directly related to population (and the church). There wasn't enough food, people were not propering. After the plague killed 1/3 the population of Europe we saw an explosion in technological advances and art, known as the renaissance.
The fact of the matter is the earth can realistically sustain roughly 4 billion people. We are nearly double that all thanks to technology.
This is actually a very complex question to answer but I believe that technology will plateau. We have a finite amount and variety of physical resources at our disposal and our technological advances depend on what resources are available to us. There is always the possibility of recycling materials from obsolete technologies to produce new ones but for that to work, our new technologies have to use the same materials as our old ones did.
Granite_StateThe earth cannot sustain 7 billion, let alone the 9 billion our population is supposed to reach by 2050.
What do you mean by that? Like, we can't produce enough food for that many people? Or? Because I'd say we're doing pretty decent at surviving right now.
.BenThis is actually a very complex question to answer but I believe that technology will plateau. We have a finite amount and variety of physical resources at our disposal and our technological advances depend on what resources are available to us. There is always the possibility of recycling materials from obsolete technologies to produce new ones but for that to work, our new technologies have to use the same materials as our old ones did.
I've been reading fantasy and sci-fi recently, and pretty much everything points to one sickness, everything getting more or less fucked, and then one super-technological semi-human species will start creating smaller versions of cities and whatnot.
I'm pretty sure aliens exist but they are just like what the fuck is wrong with all of you, we'll give it another few hundred years.
milk_manWhat do you mean by that? Like, we can't produce enough food for that many people? Or? Because I'd say we're doing pretty decent at surviving right now.
I can't answer for granite_state but I believe that the regions that are currently growing exponentially will reach their carrying capacity soon if they haven't already. Meaning they won't have enough water or food or both to sustain the massive population in that area.
Earlier it was mentioned that the US population is staying about the same. I think this is the case for a lot of western countries as well as Japan. Countries that aren't growing out of control might be able to avoid problems feeding their populations and what not.
Basically I don't think the whole world is fucked just places like India for example where everyone has like 12 kids and the population is expanding at an enormous rate.
.BenWhat do you mean by that? Like, we can't produce enough food for that many people? Or? Because I'd say we're doing pretty decent at surviving right now.
I can't answer for granite_state but I believe that the regions that are currently growing exponentially will reach their carrying capacity soon if they haven't already. Meaning they won't have enough water or food or both to sustain the massive population in that area.
Earlier it was mentioned that the US population is staying about the same. I think this is the case for a lot of western countries as well as Japan. Countries that aren't growing out of control might be able to avoid problems feeding their populations and what not.
Basically I don't think the whole world is fucked just places like India for example where everyone has like 12 kids and the population is expanding at an enormous rate.
Accidentally put my reply in the quote on that last post
.BenEarlier it was mentioned that the US population is staying about the same. I think this is the case for a lot of western countries as well as Japan. Countries that aren't growing out of control might be able to avoid problems feeding their populations and what not.
Basically I don't think the whole world is fucked just places like India for example where everyone has like 12 kids and the population is expanding at an enormous rate.
Exactly, and Japan's population is actually declining at the moment
technology would stop progressing at some point but not in the near future... read that as not in the first 1000 years. one thing that will adjust the progress is that at one point in the near future humans will erase almost everyone by a nucleair war wich will not stop the progress but damn it will take a long dang time to get back up and get at the same progress speed as we have now.
milk_manWhat do you mean by that? Like, we can't produce enough food for that many people? Or? Because I'd say we're doing pretty decent at surviving right now.
I think you and I think alike!
.BenAccidentally put my reply in the quote on that last post
milk_manExactly, and Japan's population is actually declining at the moment
I couldn't find the larger version of this graph but I'll outline what each line means.
Time runs along along the bottom or x axis – 1750 on the left with 50 year increments to 2000 on the right. The scales on the vertical or y axis are all relative to a low starting point on the left, but of course vary immensely depending on what is being measured, so no numbers are included.
12 measures are graphed, 5 starting in 1750, 4 in 1900, and 3 in 1950.
-Northern hemisphere surface temperature (orange)
-Global population size (red)
-CO2 level in atmosphere (blue)
-GDP (dark red)
-Loss of tropical forests and woodland (green).
-Water use (blue)
-Paper consumption (yellow)
-Species extinctions (green)
-Number of motor vehicles (black)
-Tons of fish caught (blue)
-Foreign investment (light grey)
-Ozone depletion (dark grey)
Obviously this is an odd graph, for the scales on all of the measures have been adjusted to make the lines coincide as much as possible. But the essential point is still a valid one – all measures increase rapidly, on their own scales, at about the same rate, at about the same time, and none show signs of slowing down.
Here's another one strictly dealing with population:
and a final one dealing with your point that the U.S. and Japan (developed nations) have a steady or declining population:
It doesn't matter if some countries populations are steady or declining, the fact of the matter is that the overall world population is still increasing exponentially and require more and more resources to sustain. Eventually, and this is a mathematical FACT, the human population will suffer a collapse of some sort. Even if all the developed countries in the world made it past this collapse we are still talking about 4-5 billion people in developing countries that would be affected by this. This is a country to country problem, this is a world problem. The only reason our population has gotten so out of hand is because of technology. Look at the first graph, every problem we are currently facing has a direct correlation with population growth. Please tell me why you think the earth is capable of sustaining 8+ billion people because I would love to know.
Also, there's this beautiful thing in ecology called "carrying capacity". Maybe you've heard of it. When a species reaches its carrying capacity the population suddenly and drastically deceases until the ecosystem can once again sustain the species, or the species fully colapses and goes extinct. here is an example:
. These reindeer reached their carrying capacity, eating almost all available food on the island until it was scarce and the population was decimated.
Unfortunately for humans we are far above (almost 3 times) our carrying capacity thanks to technology. It takes .5 hectares of land for one person to suitably live off of. Most countries can only offer .25 AT THE MOST.
But thats not even the biggest problem. We are also directly affecting the food chain. The more species we cause to go extinct the more we fuck up the food chain. At some point we will reach a tipping point and there will be a major ecological collapse. Once again, a mathematical fact. China is a perfect model. They already have to regulate births per person to ensure they don't suffer a collapse.
The worst part is the majority of the world is incredibly ignorant to the population problem we have.
