I would certainly not pass up a time window but even with http://adamdodson.org/wp-content/uploads/2...chinePoster.jpg (assuming I did not get burned as a witch) and ignoring the likes of http://www.cracked.com/article_18564_6-tim...n-us-about.html I doubt I could make that great an existence for myself
Anyhow @Blaze163 you have commented in the past about the lack of scientific advancement and most of the other things you mention but I have been too bone idle to call you on it but as I am here now I will have to spit my drink all over my monitor and say "do what now?".
You probably know just about every piece of science from the dawn of civilisation up until around 1950 (else a day or two with a few textbooks will get you there- what you had to know about nuclear physics to pass a basic exam would have made you a top flight scientist back when) with a good chunk of the subsequent couple of decades but after that things blossomed in a big way (not to say various scientific, industrial and other revolutions aside from the obvious did not bring about a nice big change but presently it is far bigger). That is not to say I do not think more money needs to be spent on science and a lot of pointless nonsense is holding things back.
Indeed in those fleeting moments I consider my mortality the prospect of stuff to come and wind up a bit depressed that there is a good chance I will not be there to see it or more often I wonder if I could pull off a "if I slept for 10 years would I be able to keep up when I awoke?".
I guess before I bother to start listing things (suffice it to say the scales we are working at small, far, quick, controlled purity, level of mechanisation.... are far more extreme than they ever were) I will say there are two types of science/scientist- those that do big leaps and those that refine what is out there and both are vital and of equal importance.
The classical big three split which is a pain as the overlap is getting greater all the time (no bad thing mind you).
Biology
Biologically compatible if not biologically identical replacements for various things aka pretty much what medicine was aiming for since it began.
A large chunk of genetic engineering and associated sciences.
Physics
Most of quantum mechanics being confirmed/refined by experiment.
I will include the internet too as well as most of modern computing- sure Mr Turing and the first transistors hit slightly before your cutoff but to dub all the work after that as trivial (or suitable synonym/alternative word if that one has the wrong connotations for you) would be fighting words.
Astronomy has some nice stuff happening- gravitation lensing and the like has meant we seen planets, people have done spectroscopy of different solar systems, many things have been discovered).
Chemistry
Pharmacology hitting serious industrial quantities and regularly for incredibly complex substances.
What was previously pharmacology grade purity is now fairly standard (see some of the exotic plastics and materials doing the rounds).
"It's all been negative for years"- has it? News is now considered entertainment so consider that point very carefully (got to have them viewers).
Still wars
The current two are certainly not much use but before that there were loads of civil wars and other dubious wars over the years (although that might just be swept up into the general lack of peace in Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and the middle east), I might also encourage you to pick up a book called confessions of an economic hitman or indeed read up on the East India trading company and the Opium wars.
"bird flu"- a mark of human stupidity perhaps but not necessarily a bad thing.
Natural disasters have long existed (if the had not they probably would not be called natural disasters)
If I must address terrorism I shall say it has long been known to be an effective technique (I watched a rather nice documentary on the history of the car bomb- well worth watching).
Entertainment- I will echo the rose tinted glasses sentiments but your main thing is a lack of major reference points be the film, music, events or otherwise which I will argue is a fantastic thing and to be encouraged to the detriment of any "uniting" entity- give me hundreds more metal subgenres over the next [insert chosen "big" artist] every single time. On the flip side has it been long enough to see if there is a defining artist of this time?
Also hit up a record collection of someone who was there and skip the "big" artists- no point just yet as it is going for the thought exercise thing. For a more tongue in cheek thing- my pet theory runs something like 80's music- name me something "good" that was not made by an artist established beforehand.
I am not about to argue Hollywood* and TV, autotune factories and many games companies are in many ways engaged in a nice race to the bottom quite possible to end in something worthy of sitting and munching popcorn to but these days it is viable for just about anywhere or anyone to make something amusing on a scale previously only seen in places with required infrastructure.
"defined sense of style"- was it or was it a lack of industrialisation (certain synthetic fibres being fairly new) and I am also going to want a "prove this is not rose tinted".
As for clone films did you miss the grindhouse era?
*auteur would be the word I choose here and following on from that the "golden age of the silver screen" quite spectacularly gave way to the "auteur" school of thought. After that are we possibly witnessing the death of the English language as the language of popular entertainment (possibly tied to the no need for it to be funded quite as heavily)?
re: exams- probably not worth tanking them on purpose but as time goes on fewer and fewer people care about your exam results. Indeed unless explicitly asked for (and then it is usually someone that recently attended a human resources 101 that calls for them) I do not think most people I meet even bother to include them on CVs.
"Knife crime, teenage pregnancy, drug abuse (I will spare a debate on drugs and what goes there as that is different matter for a different thread- still many substances were still legal and see also the history of gin) and plain old basic stupidity"
The knife crime has been a bit of a buzzword as have some of the others but back on topic all those sorts of things existed before now and were possibly even worse but you already said such things have always happened which was to be the crux of my argument.
Anyhow @Blaze163 you have commented in the past about the lack of scientific advancement and most of the other things you mention but I have been too bone idle to call you on it but as I am here now I will have to spit my drink all over my monitor and say "do what now?".
You probably know just about every piece of science from the dawn of civilisation up until around 1950 (else a day or two with a few textbooks will get you there- what you had to know about nuclear physics to pass a basic exam would have made you a top flight scientist back when) with a good chunk of the subsequent couple of decades but after that things blossomed in a big way (not to say various scientific, industrial and other revolutions aside from the obvious did not bring about a nice big change but presently it is far bigger). That is not to say I do not think more money needs to be spent on science and a lot of pointless nonsense is holding things back.
Indeed in those fleeting moments I consider my mortality the prospect of stuff to come and wind up a bit depressed that there is a good chance I will not be there to see it or more often I wonder if I could pull off a "if I slept for 10 years would I be able to keep up when I awoke?".
I guess before I bother to start listing things (suffice it to say the scales we are working at small, far, quick, controlled purity, level of mechanisation.... are far more extreme than they ever were) I will say there are two types of science/scientist- those that do big leaps and those that refine what is out there and both are vital and of equal importance.
The classical big three split which is a pain as the overlap is getting greater all the time (no bad thing mind you).
Biology
Biologically compatible if not biologically identical replacements for various things aka pretty much what medicine was aiming for since it began.
A large chunk of genetic engineering and associated sciences.
Physics
Most of quantum mechanics being confirmed/refined by experiment.
I will include the internet too as well as most of modern computing- sure Mr Turing and the first transistors hit slightly before your cutoff but to dub all the work after that as trivial (or suitable synonym/alternative word if that one has the wrong connotations for you) would be fighting words.
Astronomy has some nice stuff happening- gravitation lensing and the like has meant we seen planets, people have done spectroscopy of different solar systems, many things have been discovered).
Chemistry
Pharmacology hitting serious industrial quantities and regularly for incredibly complex substances.
What was previously pharmacology grade purity is now fairly standard (see some of the exotic plastics and materials doing the rounds).
"It's all been negative for years"- has it? News is now considered entertainment so consider that point very carefully (got to have them viewers).
Still wars
The current two are certainly not much use but before that there were loads of civil wars and other dubious wars over the years (although that might just be swept up into the general lack of peace in Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and the middle east), I might also encourage you to pick up a book called confessions of an economic hitman or indeed read up on the East India trading company and the Opium wars.
"bird flu"- a mark of human stupidity perhaps but not necessarily a bad thing.
Natural disasters have long existed (if the had not they probably would not be called natural disasters)
If I must address terrorism I shall say it has long been known to be an effective technique (I watched a rather nice documentary on the history of the car bomb- well worth watching).
Entertainment- I will echo the rose tinted glasses sentiments but your main thing is a lack of major reference points be the film, music, events or otherwise which I will argue is a fantastic thing and to be encouraged to the detriment of any "uniting" entity- give me hundreds more metal subgenres over the next [insert chosen "big" artist] every single time. On the flip side has it been long enough to see if there is a defining artist of this time?
Also hit up a record collection of someone who was there and skip the "big" artists- no point just yet as it is going for the thought exercise thing. For a more tongue in cheek thing- my pet theory runs something like 80's music- name me something "good" that was not made by an artist established beforehand.
I am not about to argue Hollywood* and TV, autotune factories and many games companies are in many ways engaged in a nice race to the bottom quite possible to end in something worthy of sitting and munching popcorn to but these days it is viable for just about anywhere or anyone to make something amusing on a scale previously only seen in places with required infrastructure.
"defined sense of style"- was it or was it a lack of industrialisation (certain synthetic fibres being fairly new) and I am also going to want a "prove this is not rose tinted".
As for clone films did you miss the grindhouse era?
*auteur would be the word I choose here and following on from that the "golden age of the silver screen" quite spectacularly gave way to the "auteur" school of thought. After that are we possibly witnessing the death of the English language as the language of popular entertainment (possibly tied to the no need for it to be funded quite as heavily)?
re: exams- probably not worth tanking them on purpose but as time goes on fewer and fewer people care about your exam results. Indeed unless explicitly asked for (and then it is usually someone that recently attended a human resources 101 that calls for them) I do not think most people I meet even bother to include them on CVs.
"Knife crime, teenage pregnancy, drug abuse (I will spare a debate on drugs and what goes there as that is different matter for a different thread- still many substances were still legal and see also the history of gin) and plain old basic stupidity"
The knife crime has been a bit of a buzzword as have some of the others but back on topic all those sorts of things existed before now and were possibly even worse but you already said such things have always happened which was to be the crux of my argument.
