an interesting time to be alive

[tedkennedy]

think about our current timeperiod in human society.

the information that is available to us. the technology. the problems that face us, and the ability we have to solve them.

is it a good time to be alive or bad?

realistically, what do you expect the future to be like? in 10 years, in 20 years, in 50 years, in 100 years, etc...

[Prophet Saddam]

good time.

10: same

20: kinda different

50: get off my lawn!

100: i'm rolling in my grave

[№1]

Sorry Ted, nothing has changed, maybe the complexity of the mechanics but for the most part we have the same issues and ability to solve those respected issues as our cro-magnon brethren had.

He was cold, he figured out how fire works, pretty good for a cave man.

Table top fusion, hydrogen fuel cell tech, creating energy from wind and the sun. We're still just trying to keep from being cold.



The picture is more interesting but the paint and pigment haven't changed much.

[Waves]

Originally Posted by tedkennedy

think about our current timeperiod in human society.

the information that is available to us. the technology. the problems that face us, and the ability we have to solve them.

is it a good time to be alive or bad?

realistically, what do you expect the future to be like? in 10 years, in 20 years, in 50 years, in 100 years, etc...

The previous 100 years of human development has made the last 100,000 years seem like nothing. In 100 years we went from riding horses to riding to the moon. I definitly agree with you that its an interesting time to be alive, in fact in my opinion its the most interesting part of our human history up until this point. we are learning to co-exist together and with our environment, however bad things might look at the moment. the world is shrinking every day and our inter-connectedness is going to blossom and allow humanity a prosperity that has not been known up till this point. The next 100 years, imo, are going to make the last 100 years look like childsplay. right now, however, is a critical point, a transition point, where a new paradigm is going to emerge that will totally transform humanity. thats what i think.

[Shaggy_420]

i feel the same way ted

in 10 years i expect humans to invent the hovercar

20: the average person will own at least 1 hovercar
marijuana will finally be decrminalized

50: with even more medical breakthroughs, the average human will live up to 200 years

100: the human race will no longer exist due to an unforseen overpopulation of man-eating-earthworms, each one measuring 10 feet long and wieghing 100 lbs

[moldyorangepeel]

Originally Posted by Shaggy_420

i feel the same way ted

in 10 years i expect humans to invent the hovercar

20: the average person will own at least 1 hovercar
marijuana will finally be decrminalized

50: with even more medical breakthroughs, the average human will live up to 200 years

100: the human race will no longer exist due to an unforseen overpopulation of man-eating-earthworms, each one measuring 10 feet long and wieghing 100 lbs

I can't fucking wait for a hovercar

[v3d4]

i want my robot butler

[Shaggy_420]

i completely forgot about robots

[tedkennedy]

Originally Posted by №1

Sorry Ted, nothing has changed, maybe the complexity of the mechanics but for the most part we have the same issues and ability to solve those respected issues as our cro-magnon brethren had.

He was cold, he figured out how fire works, pretty good for a cave man.

Table top fusion, hydrogen fuel cell tech, creating energy from wind and the sun. We're still just trying to keep from being cold.



The picture is more interesting but the paint and pigment haven't changed much.

well yea but think about things like how a few hundred years ago you would be killed for discussing ideas such as evolution. you would believe the world was flat and youd spend your entire life struggling for survival one way or another...

like waves said, its moving so fast. im not gonna bother going into detail but evolutionary biology theory states that with every advancement in weapon technology humans have had a adaptive revolution. this is because with bigger and more deadly weapons you can force larger units of people to co-operate with each other and therefore you can pool their knowledge. think about it, before the bow and arrow or more significantly the gun, large nations were unstable and almost impossible to maintain for long periods of time because you simply couldnt keep all the revolts down. and basically, every time a new profound weapon was invented, it was rapidly followed by other technological and social advancements, for the reason that it forces more peopel to co-operate under a tribe, nation, or state, and therefore creates stability and pools a larger amount of human knowledge.

with the inception of nuclear weapons and more potent methods of killing, the entire planet has been globalized and forced to co-operate, with a few exceptions here and there. the sheer size of the human population, the free exchange of ideas and information is causing innovation and growth at an explosive rate.


i would love to go back in time and visit what ancient civilizations were like. i dont know if any of you guys have read herodotus (an ancient greek historian, arguably the first) he has some crazy stories about 3000bc-500bcish. egypt, babylon, persia, greece, rome... all great civilizations in their own respects, yet at the same time they didnt last... how many years do you think the United States will stay together? im sure many people during the age of Rome thought it would last forever...

[Man in Black]

Originally Posted by Waves

The next 100 years, imo, are going to make the last 100 years look like childsplay. right now, however, is a critical point, a transition point, where a new paradigm is going to emerge that will totally transform humanity. thats what i think.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Humanity is based on progress, as we move along the course of time we are encountered by new and different things and how we react to them is either a progressive reaction or a regressive one.

Progressive in the sense that we as human beings move forward together through interaction and deliberation and we confront the issues we face with not only good intention but by acting upon this good intention.

Regressive in the sense that this antipathic indifference, this dog eat dog mentality that is seemingly proliferating our society and our collective unconsciousness continues going unchecked and does not lead us to overcome our obstacles but only keeps us stuck in a constant quagmire or stalemate. It is not so much an idea of moving backwards as it is of standing still.

You are right, this pivotal point in time that we are in is going to make us or break us.

[Man in Black]

Originally Posted by tedkennedy

how many years do you think the United States will stay together? im sure many people during the age of Rome thought it would last forever...

I've wondered this many times myself. I don't think the U.S. is going to be around forever, but I do think it is probably going to last longer than Rome did and take a lot more time and or effort to be brought to an end.

As I said in my previous post, I believe that the natural course of humanity is a progressive one. If we continue our progressive pace then I think that one day the U.S. will be substituted with the next great nation, a better nation. That is just the natural order of things through out our history.

But then again if we assume this regressiveness that is lurking on the doorstep of humanity, I think the U.S. will also be brought to an end but be substituted by something worse.

[verklingen]

i think the next 10 years alone will blow the last 100 out of the water. we're gearing up for something huge, and it's only a matter of time (a short matter of time) before so many catch on that the momentum will become utterly irrepressible.

[espiex]

We're in an interesting bottleneck all right... Surviving the next 100 years with our exponentially increasing energy consumption will be the ultimate test.

The human race is a bit like a fire - we must consume energy even to stay the same size as we are, let alone grow. Here's hoping we sort out our energy woes before we suffocate.

[Ego Tripping]

This is most definitely a bad ass time to be alive and I am quite anxious to see all the solutions that we come up with to save our own hides...they are everywhere if you just know where to look. Necessity is the mother of all invention and it's interesting when necessity meets community, a global community no less.

Not only do I think we're going to survive, but I think we're all going to get a first hand taste of what evolution truly means.

Man with his flaming pyre
Has conquered the wayward breezes
Climbing to tranquility
Far above the cloud
Conceiving the heavens
Clear of misty shroud
Higher and higher
Now we've learned to play with fire
Go higher and higher and higher
Vast vision must improve our sight
Perhaps at last we'll see and end
To our homes endless blight
And the beginning of the free
Climbing to tranquility
Finding its real worth
Conceiving the heavens
Flourishing on earth

[xMSx]

On a side note...can we get to the point where this exponential growth of technology halts and we cannot progress any farther? Or at one point will we reach a nexus?

[PaintballAds]

^^
doubtful, we have so much to explore and so many minerals to discover. i bet we'll all die before we reach a halting point. it seems as if our whole existence as humans revolves around that kind of progression.

[Jimmy Coonan]

10: Kind of similar, but with more expensive gas, more drugs, fewer jobs and cooler cell phones.

20: I think things are going to start getting seriously unpleasant for middle class people in the US around this point. Maybe some riots, a new political party led by a charismatic man with a funny mustache, out-of-control inflation, not enough medicine, that kind of shit.

50: I think I'll be dead in 50 years. China will probably be the world's superpower, with maybe the EU and Russia a distant second. The whole US will be something like Detroit now.

100: Something like what shaggy said. I'm more worried about the chipmunks though. There's so many of them, and they have such sharp teeth, if they could just work together....

[xMSx]

^ China will have become the world power much sooner than 50 years unfortunately.