So I'm sitting in my Ceramics class, 400 level kinda serious, my prof who is kind of a materials guy was going on describing different materials. We got onto the track of electro-rheological materials (can be cool, look on youtube). Eventually we touched on the RFID chips that Washington are looking to incorporate into their licenses. I was interested if anyone else sees our burgeoning technology as not necessarily a good thing. Like the law of diminishing returns, is our technology actually making our world better? Most of the new technology I come into contact with (it tends to be materials based and henceforth some kind of radiation emitters or insulators and so forth) seems to be related to or can be used for some kind of identification. The other main applications seem to be for things that if (and when) they break, it is a specialized operation to repair them. With that said, I am not afraid of technology, in fact I am an engineering major. I worry sometimes that we are simply progressing for the sake of progress and not necessarily for the betterment of our world. (Medecine is great, but now there's Merca too.) To echo many survival forums, hopefully without some of the overtones associated with them, what really would happen if the sh*t hit the fan? I met someone recently that had no real connection between animals and food. I'll go back to the hills now, right after I meet my guy.
I used to worry about this as well, but the thing is, most technology these days deals with communication and information. I have a feeling these discoveries and inventions can't remain in the hands of any small interest group. The common good is where they belong, and with time this should flesh itself out. I've seen many good things with technology thus far. I mean, we're in a weed forum online, right?
I don't think you will find much wish for societal progress as a motivation for technological development. Profit on the other hand... If it makes money, or more basic, gives a competitive edge, research will be done to provide new technology. Essentially, technology and the research that go into it is neutral. It is what we do with it that determines its impact on the world as good or detrimental.
This is definitely a serious concern... The good thing is that no matter how smart the guys are that work for the large corporations, all it takes is one hacker to unlock it. The worse that it becomes, the more motivation that their is to break it open.
For the youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJGBy_yygaQ Didn't really think about it but "electro-rheological" really is an engineering term. Oops. HighGrowMan, you're right, technology is a double edged sword, with your point I would say that it is a good thing. Mostly I find myself diversifying my skills so I have some idea what to do if the power goes out, or we run out of gas (terrorist, natural disaster). It troubles me that we really do have a fine balance between livable and unlivable conditions and our power supply makes this happen. Look at every heat wave or cold spell, particularly in major cities, it seems that news broadcasts always report the stats on how many died. So I guess what I am saying is... Does specialization lead to stagnation? Later, got a midterm. Peace.
nukes, good and bad. double edge sword. most things are developed for military, gps, internet, then for people. so the only things we get are old military tech, and medicines. then theres the whole 'ethics' thing. we could have stemcells curing everything right now but some stupids think its wrong.
That's a great question. They are definitely bed buddies. The more we create differences between people, concepts, scientific fields, religions and so on, the less that we are capable of working together; and the less that actually gets done. I'm reminded of the tower of babel. It is not really important whether or not the event happened literally but the concept is, that in ancient times men all spoke one language and for this reason they were capable of monumental feats that have never been duplicated (stone henge, the pyramids and so on). However, something happened that divided them so that they no longer spoke the same language (maybe this relates to the collective consciousness and the creation of a veil between us and it). So now without our connection to each other, we duplicate each others efforts, while not really being able to put the puzzle pieces together. It may be possible that we create our own veil between us and the collective consciousness, by our own self indulgence and pride. We actually want to be disconnected from everybody else, so that we can become important and powerful. Note: When I'm talking about the collective consciousness I am referring to it in the transcendental meditative state, where at a level of meditation you are capable of going through the veil. In my interpretation this can be aided by entheogens such as cannabis and so on.