Debate: are people getting thicker?

[MelodieOctavia]

As for the net being a couple of decades old, that's exactly the point I was trying to make. You can't invent one thing then just sit and do sod all for twenty years, which is what we as a species seem to be doing right now.

As a network engineer let me say that you have no idea what you are talking about.

I concur. The Internet has made massive evolutions since it's invention. If you really can't see that, then you may be thicker than I originally thought.

 

[Law]

I'm not saying stem cell research is invalid, I'm saying the fact that people could be so dense as to protest against something with the potential to cure all disease and bring about a golden age of humanity out of fear of something they don't know for sure even exists proves that we as a species are getting pretty dense.

I don't know much about this levitation technology. What specifically are you referring to?

And how exactly has the internet advanced? Sure, it's faster than when it first started and it no longer needs wires, but that's just an upgrade, not a truly mind blowing invention with the capacity to revolutionize the way we live. OK, maybe it now being accessible on cell phones is a small plus, but I maintain that it's simply an upgrade. It's not truly crap-your-pants exciting like when the net first came into being.

Downloading 1 GB in less than 20 minutes is pretty "crap-your-pants" exciting compared to how the Internet originally was.

and in terms of technology, everything has improved pretty damn well when it comes to computers.

 

[Blaze163]

I admit that the net is obviously better than it was, but I maintain that an upgrade to an existing invention or achievement does not carry the same weight as an all new achievement which shakes the ground beneath your feet. Yes, download speeds are pretty damn impressive, as is the ability to play games online against anyone else in the world, but it's not quite up to 'walking on the moon' standards.

I accept that all these enhancements will eventually lead to something (or least they better do) but when I think about how life changed so radically for people in the past with utterly amazing events like walking on the moon, etc, I think this generation is getting a pretty rough deal in the major advancements department.

Also, anyone offended by my views on the nature of the net, I'm not saying it doesn't take a lot of work or anything, what I'm saying is that it's really not as big as what we as a species are capable of when we pull together.

 

[Blood Fetish]

Practically every single invention ever has been built upon inventions of the past. What, exactly, do you think is brand new and Earth-shattering?

 

[Magmorph]

The internet today is much more complex than the technology that was used to send people to the moon.

 

[Blaze163]

Practically every single invention ever has been upon inventions of the past. What, exactly, do you think is brand new and Earth-shattering?

That's exactly my point. We don't really have an achievement like that for this generation. When we look back on these last ten or twenty years, what will we remember except terrorist attacks and a huge oil spill? We won't be looking back thinking 'that was when man first walked on Mars' or 'that was when we finally cured cancer' or something. What I consider to be Earth shattering is an invention or achievement which makes everyone stop and think 'damn, thats really gonna change how we live'. Such as if cancer were cured, which would save the lives of hundreds of people every day. That'd be pretty incredible.

Right now I'd settle for one lunar landing where we leave a sign on the moon big enough for the conspiracy theorists to see through their telescopes with the words 'happy now?' printed in huge letters.

 

[Blood Fetish]

Perhaps I was not sufficiently clear. Give me an example of a brand new, Earth-shattering invention. Something that did not build upon older ideas.

 

[Law]

Practically every single invention ever has been upon inventions of the past. What, exactly, do you think is brand new and Earth-shattering?

That's exactly my point. We don't really have an achievement like that for this generation. When we look back on these last ten or twenty years, what will we remember except terrorist attacks and a huge oil spill? We won't be looking back thinking 'that was when man first walked on Mars' or 'that was when we finally cured cancer' or something. What I consider to be Earth shattering is an invention or achievement which makes everyone stop and think 'damn, thats really gonna change how we live'. Such as if cancer were cured, which would save the lives of hundreds of people every day. That'd be pretty incredible.

Right now I'd settle for one lunar landing where we leave a sign on the moon big enough for the conspiracy theorists to see through their telescopes with the words 'happy now?' printed in huge letters.

How would THAT be a new achievement?

As for right now, this generation, I don't really see much to go for, other than maybe space travel, but there isn't really anywhere to go yet anyway. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Everything happens in it's own time, you can't force something to be invented if nobody knows what "the coming thing" could even be.

 

[ether2802]

all of this problems that you find, they all come from the same start point..........PARENTS!! I've heard the phrase "...don't want my kids to suffer the way I did it" so many times, that I began to think like that for a while, after my GF got pregnant with my 2nd kid, that's when I realize.....I can walk with my kids, but I can't walk for them, they need to "suffer" (yeah right, who with a roof, a glass of water and food can really suffer..??) their own way into life, if I start getting rid of the thing they don't want, they can become spoiled and lazy; no one tells us how to be a parent, and when you become one, you don't like somebody telling you where your mistake is, deep shit I'm telling ya', the only thing you can do is to be better and better everyday, if you smoke...quit smoking, if you don't do much sport, start walking, if you don't cook, learn, and so on....maybe with the time you help as an example to somebody...!!

 

[Uncle FEFL]

Blaze, you have successfully hurt my feelings. Is my argument so inadequate that you can't even respond to my points? Have you chosen the other route, defeat, and decided not to argue with me at all? Or, did you just skip over me?

Argue with me, brah.

EDIT: Because if you would read it, your questions would be answered.

TASTE OF DA ARGUMENT: Technology grows faster and faster, however, that does not make incredibly complex concepts less complex. Going to Mars permits the same challenge it did six thousand years ago, and even before that: It's too far.

Also, do you honestly think that once we harnessed electricity that it became an instant help to us as people? If so, you're sorely mistaken. The Internet is an awesome invention and grows at the same pace, if not faster, than other technologies. Saying that the Internet "isn't as good" as other inventions such as the plane is just...naive.

 

[Blaze163]

I never said the internet wasn't as good an invention, at least that wasn't my intention. Perhaps what I said was badly worded, I apologise. However, I still think that the net doesn't really belong to the current generation, it was invented a while back and has been updated ever since. Yes, it is a very impressive tool and certainly a world changing invention, but what I meant was that we in this current generation haven't really achieved much along the same sort of lines as the initial idea of the net. Making something better is of course essential, but when was the last time we saw an all new concept rock the world? That was what I was driving at.

However, I just looked up graphene on wikipedia. Looks to me like this might be damn useful stuff. Perhaps even one of the technologies we need to one day walk on Mars. So I tip my hat, or at least I would if I actually owned a hat, to Uncle FEFL for bringing that to my attention.

Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate the value of many modern refinements to the way we live. As has been pointed out, the vast improvement to the net stands as a good example. But you also say these technologies are all working towards something bigger. We haven't had anything bigger for a while. That's what bugs me. I want to start a family one day, and would like to be able to say to my kids the same sort of things my old man said to me. Stuff like 'I was there when mankind first walked on the moon' or something like that. While all the modern advancements we make are of course valuable, they don't quite carry the OMG impact of bigger events. That's my pet peeve, the lack of said big events. Or at least the lack of positive events. Moments that will be remembered throughout history as some of the defining moments in human history.

 

[Blood Fetish]

I think you have a good idea, but the wrong perception. There is no such thing as a new, Earth-shattering idea. Everything builds upon the things that came before it. You say that the Internet was this amazing new concept, but it is just part of a very long evolution of ideas. The world wide web as you know it evolved from the Internet, which evolved from ARPANET, which evolved from government and university research, which evolved from telephone networks, etc etc. This stuff traces back hundreds and even thousands of years in some cases.

It is easy for you to look to the past and just imagine that the Internet went *poof* into existence, but that isn't how it worked. Nor is that how practically any "revolutionary" thing has ever worked.

 

[Blaze163]

Very well, I shall concede that my logic regarding the nature of inventions is flawed. However, my logic regarding milestones in human achievement still stands, I think. We're nearing the end of the 'noughties' now, and what will they be remembered for? What exactly was the crowning achievement for the last ten years?

And we also seem to have glossed over several other areas of world stupification. Namely the butchery of the English language, the rising rates of teenage pregnancy, etc.

 

[Depravo]

We're nearing the end of the 'noughties' now

They already ended. We're in the tens/teens now.

EDIT: I'm not picking on you on purpose

 

[Blaze163]

We're nearing the end of the 'noughties' now

They already ended. We're in the tens/teens now.

EDIT: I'm not picking on you on purpose

You're quite right. We have indeed finished with that decade. Further proof that the world is getting dafter, it's starting to affect me. Point still stands though, what was the defining achievement of the last decade? Something on par with the lunar landings, curing a disease, etc.

 

[Uncle FEFL]

We're nearing the end of the 'noughties' now

They already ended. We're in the tens/teens now.

EDIT: I'm not picking on you on purpose

You're quite right. We have indeed finished with that decade. Further proof that the world is getting dafter, it's starting to affect me. Point still stands though, what was the defining achievement of the last decade? Something on par with the lunar landings, curing a disease, etc.

To be fair, diseases are rarely cured. When they are, the disease is already pretty much gone (first example that comes to me is Polio). I don't know of any time a disease was cured during a peoples' time of need (ie, when people were still commonly getting the disease).

What happened in 2000-2010? On your grand scale, nothing. But then again, what happened from 1894-1904? As far as I know, nothing on a grand scale. It wasn't until the next year that Einstein submitted his theory of relativity. Things don't have to happen every decade. They don't have to happen every fifty years, or any century. In I think both of our opinions, they just have to happen. The issue is that we want to experience one in our lifetime. Who wouldn't?

 

[Depravo]

But then again, what happened from 1894-1904? As far as I know, nothing on a grand scale.

Powered flight in 1903 springs to mind.

 

[Thoob]

Quote of today from someone at school:

Yeah, but an anchovy is the same as an avocado.

 

[ether2802]

are LCD and PLASMA TV's from this decade...??

 

[Uncle FEFL]

But then again, what happened from 1894-1904? As far as I know, nothing on a grand scale.

Powered flight in 1903 springs to mind.

I am a prime example of the point of this topic, lol.

Forgot about the Wright brothers. >.