Acquiring the consciousness of universality

I really don’t think technology has any limits, in the practical sense. The (probably) immutable laws of physics may funnel it in certain directs, but I think everything that’s not flatly impossible is inevitable. The “wonders” of technology we’ve seen up to this point are just drops in the bucket.

The problem with a homogeneous culture is creating that. That’s been the goal of many dictators, Hitler for one, and it usually involves doing it by force. Problem is not everyone wants to be part of the Borg Collective. Some identify strongly with their race, religion and/or culture and hold it to be integral to who they are.

Bland will only come after the bloody.

Do you mean domestic conflict , neighbourly rows etc or wars and global destruction ?

Yes.

It is my belief that most of science is a fiction created by capitalistic pressures to produce papers and theories in order to keep your job or get grants for the school. We know very little and can’t know that much. The challenges of space are impossible due to the fact that we will never figure out how to manipulate energy. If you think about it all of our current (big) systems run on steam. Also, the distances in space make it pointless to go anywhere.

However, I do think that computers have the potential to advance significantly. I even believe that it will be possible to create a simulated person, such as an android. However, we are stuck on this planet and I bet that now will be much like 3000 years from now.

Which ?

I keep up on science, and the rate shocks me sometimes. I have to say I’m 180 out with you on that one, AD. Moore’s Law was coined to describe computers, but it’s an apt way to look at all technology. Yes, it’s curious the mix of the amazing and the quaint- with the near limitless power to be gleaned from the atom, it’s amusing that we simply use it to boil water. And our knowledge of medicine and the human mind and body is completely savage.

But consider areas we’ve done well as a species, flight for example. For the first couple million years, give or take, we watched the birds with no real idea how they did their tricks. It literally took thousands of centuries to create the simple hot air baloon, but once we did it was only a few centuries til powered flight. And the interval between the first powered flight and the first moon landing was less than a century.

There’s a theory in evolution called Punctuated Equilibrium; I think to a great degree this is how technology works, too. We have periods with little change, then one need or a single epiphany triggers a landslide of innovation. Not all of it is “glamourous” stuff, but much of it is amazing.

With some luck, I think we may both live to see you proved wrong, AlD! :astonished: :laughing:

I hope so.

I just don’t think that materials will ever be of a nature that they will be able to support massive stress and whatnot. I can’t imagine that there will be a replacement for concrete.

In space we might have to travel for 200 million years to find anyone.

I have often wondered if the reason why we have never picked up an alien signal is because rations beings embrace existentialism and so they have no interest in fantasy and are simply living their lives out.

I’m not surprised that we’ve never recieved any signals. We’ve only been capable of receiving one for a century or so, and for most of that we wouldn’t have understood it (assuming we would now). To assume a negative giving the brevity of our serious search would be like calling a phone number, letting it ring half a tone, then hanging up and concluding no one lives there.

Concrete is a wonderful material, although it has limitations. We would almost certainly take it with us, so to speak. The moon is full of potential concrete making material as are most planets that could support life like ours. We undoubtedly need other ones for interplanetary or interstellar travel, but I think we’ve made remarkable progress there. Even the current aramids and polymers are pretty advanced compared to the buffalo skins of our ancestors. Already we’re able to produce the carbon nanotubes that may one day anchor an orbital elevator.

Distance is a huge obstacle in interstellar travel, to be sure. Much more advanced propulsion systems will be needed than currently exist, although some promising technologies are on the horizon. Perhaps eventually we’ll pass from point to point with travelling thru the space in between. While such a thing is theoretically feasible withing the laws of physics, it may never be practical.

I think of my great aunt who died a few years back…she was born in the late 1800’s (1989, I think). In her lifetime she saw the dawn of powered flight, the splitting and fusing of the atom, the first transatlantic flight and the first moon shot. As a boy I always loved to hear her unique perspective on the world and technology, not that she thought about it in those terms. She died in at around 103, physically broken but still sharp as a tack. I think of all the things she’d seen and lived thru that would be lost with her, but I also wondered how much greater degree of change I’d have to cope with that she had.

Yep, I know that there have been advancements in technology, but something like flight might be at it’s end point. However, I just saw an article about transparent aluminum, so there you go.

" KITE "

Due to the deleted posts some of this no longer makes sense. I must ask though, why “Kite.”

Should,ve mentioned , I have a special kind of tourettes syndrome writing disorder , I shout words randomly as it were , but in my writing.

Just ignore it .

No, I will love it.

Trade can seem like its just trade , but its the best generals who can make a situation look like one thing when its actually another .

" Military rule and the martial tradition of the samurai dominated Japanese culture for more than eight hundred years. According to Thomas Cleary—translator of more than thirty-five classics of Asian philosophy—the Japanese people have been so steeped in the way of the warrior that some of the manners and mentality of this outlook remain embedded in their individual and collective consciousness "

shambhala.com/html/catalog/i … -245-1.cfm

amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de … 6?v=glance

Yes, I was thinking of Sun Tzu when I wrote that.

I’m pretty sure that cheap high quality goods from China could destroy the posibility of getting rich in this country. Imagine what would happen if an Ipod-like product was priced at five dollars. No one would want or be able to chage 200 bucks. It would be over.

If that isn’t the plan, then I hope that they are looking here. If it is the plan I hope that the goal is to help humanity and not just serve Chinese nationalism.

ozzie guy says ; " sneaky bloody Japs ! "

Dear “TheSupremeVirtue”

Please tell me how your apocalyptic vision is able to ascertain this? Surely the victims of these aggressive countries would aquire mercy - not the aggressors?

Shalom

We are the two young lions told of in which chapter I forget. We ask the world why it persecutes Israel. We can’t really do anything to help Israel, but since we don’t actively persecute Israel it’s probable we won’t get in as much trouble with God over it.

“We are the two young lions told of in which chapter I forget.”

If you sing that in a monk-like chant it really sounds great.

Ah The simple life eh .