gftChris Posted May 12, 2016 Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 A simple one today...! Technology is continuing to improve pretty much by Moore's law - double the speed, half the size or half the price every 18 months - and we're seeing new fields of technology come in to and take over our lives. Smart phones, for example, weren't really a thing 10 years ago and now look at them. 10 years before that, mobile phones; and then the internet 10 years prior. So where is all of this taking us? What should be the end goal of technology? The way I see it, we're either aiming for it to really enhance the way we do things, or eliminate the need for us to do things at all. Take cal as a case in point. Farmer cal. Presumably needs to do things like spread fertilizer, plant seeds, spray (organic, nonintrusive) pesticides, harvest, feed the pigs, etc. In that situation, what is the purpose of technology - would you want the latest greatest tractor that will allow you complete control of everything as you go around tilling and seeding? Or perhaps you just want to not worry about it, have a machine do it, and go about other tasks, or just relax? I suppose it's going to be case by case generally, horses for courses as they say. Driverless trains seem like a positive step forward, especially underground where they can just keep running all night, without much input from people, and without causing disturbances at street level. Driverless cars, also - the roads would be much safer if there were only driverless cars in the city. I could give more examples but it doesn't change much. So what do you think - where do you think technology should be going? Should it free the population at large to pursue things that technology cannot, such as the arts, sports and leisure? And food production, 'stuff' production (homes, tvs, cars etc), transport, maintenece etc be automated? And what does that mean for the definition of employment? In that perfect world, there would surely not be nearly enough work for everyone to do even 40 hours per week. Or should we be aiming more towards technologically enhancing everything we do, perhaps even ourselves, to allow us to be ultra productive? Something I was thinking about on my walk to work this morning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legacy Fan Posted May 12, 2016 Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 Something I was thinking about on my walk to work this morning There it is for me. Convenience but choice. I have a car for convenience but I'll often bike to work. A microwave is convenient, but I'd prefer a home cooked meal. I'm by no means a professional guitar player (or even that good) but I can tell the difference between a hand built custom shop strat vs one off the Korean/ Mexican production line. Technology has certainly made clothing more comfortable especially high output/ activity winter gear. the high breathability and and ability to maintain warmth even when wet is pretty remarkable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gftChris Posted May 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 That's another element of course - we can all have mass produced stuff for 'every day' use but have 'artisan' guitar straps or whatever for when we feel fancy. Or we can have every day stuff for most things, but invest in artisan versions for things we care about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LogicIsForSquares Posted May 12, 2016 Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 As a guy who is facing down knee surgery, I just want functional robotic limbs. I think having it enhance things we already do is a smarter alternative than removing the human element all together. Because at some point, we will have nothing to do and humans have shown that we are prone to violence when left to do nothing at all everyday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cysko Kid Posted May 12, 2016 Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 You ever see 'Wall-E'? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gftChris Posted May 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 You ever see 'Wall-E'? Indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaporTrail Posted May 12, 2016 Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 If the human race is to survive, then we eventually must have the means to leave Earth and colonize other solar systems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbedward Posted May 12, 2016 Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 Technology is going to replace a ton of jobs - it already has in manufacturing, some service industries, etc. - but at the same time it creates more skilled higher-paying jobs. I'd say technology helps us be more productive already, but it seems like we're geared towards automation - we like to be lazy. Driverless cabs, buses. Robotic bar tenders that never overpour drinks, robotic maids, etc. What do I want to see? Space tourism, recreating extinct animals (jurassic park), expansions in things like solar power. We'll also probably need to get more hardcore into recycling and improving food supplies (GMO, probably a necessity) - as our planets population exponentially increases upwards to 10 billion people we have to work on sustaining the population barring a mass extinction event - because we won't be going to other planets any time soon. If the human race is to survive, then we eventually must have the means to leave Earth and colonize other solar systems. Terraforming Mars will likely happen first, but sadly none of that will happen in any of our life times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gftChris Posted May 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 There's plenty of arable land available to feed the entire world - the western world in general is overweight, and especially the US and UK, while other places are starving. We just need to learn to share the love and only eat what we need to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbedward Posted May 12, 2016 Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One Post Posted May 12, 2016 Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 I would like to get a place up in the rocky mountains. I could fly fish all the time and in the fall I would make a trip into town and get all the provisions to make it thru the winter. Of course I want my satellite tv and Internet and phone. Put my bike in stoarge in town and just have a good vehicle made for what I need. You can take all the computer generated world and keep it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clevfan4life Posted May 12, 2016 Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 Scientists are now inventing the ultimate intelligent machine, a computer which will beat man in every way. If the machine can outstrip man, then what is man? What are you? What is the future of man? If the machine can take over all the operations that thought does now, and do it far swifter, if it can learn much more quickly, if it can compete and, in fact, do everything that man canexcept of course look at the beautiful evening star alone in the sky, and see and feel the extraordinary quietness, steadiness, immensity and beauty of itthen what is going to happen to the mind, to the brain of man? Our brains have lived so far by struggling to survive through knowledge, and when the machine takes all that over, what is going to happen? There are only two possibilities: either man will commit himself totally to entertainmentfootball, sports, every form of demonstration, going to the temple, and playing with all that stuffor he will turn inward. ^^^^this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clevfan4life Posted May 12, 2016 Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 I would like to get a place up in the rocky mountains. I could fly fish all the time and in the fall I would make a trip into town and get all the provisions to make it thru the winter. Of course I want my satellite tv and Internet and phone. Put my bike in stoarge in town and just have a good vehicle made for what I need. You can take all the computer generated world and keep it. Same for me. Im basically done with humans as a whole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westside Steve Posted May 12, 2016 Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 I would like to get a place up in the rocky mountains. I could fly fish all the time and in the fall I would make a trip into town and get all the provisions to make it thru the winter. Of course I want my satellite tv and Internet and phone. Put my bike in stoarge in town and just have a good vehicle made for what I need. You can take all the computer generated world and keep it. Of course that's coming from a fellow who chats on the internet through his smartphone with his pals many many times each and every day. WSS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westside Steve Posted May 12, 2016 Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 A few thoughts. First of all I think it's human nature to be curious and want to do things. Whether or not those are good or bad doesn't matter it's just if it can be done we want to do it. I think of my cat who really really wants to get into the spare bedroom but we always keep the door closed. There's no reason for her to get in there, she just wants to. Second I question whether the Parlour tricks are actually beneficial or just something to play with. Are we better off that the GPS tells us how to get from point A to point B? Because of the GPS stops working we can't find our way back. If you listen to some of the letters written from Civil War soldiers from the documentary about that war, those people sound very thoughtful and literate. Are we better off if there's no longer any need to write that way? Are we better off learning of World affair's from 30 second sound bytes or reading the paper? And allow me to point out as a guitar player that today you can buy a fine instrument made in China, Mexico or by a machine. That technolog didn't exist when I was a kid. I think it's mostly our love for conspicuous consumption that drives the love for multi-thousand-dollar handmade instruments. Yes they are cool, but the difference in quality is much less than it was 40 years ago. Finally the idea that technology and eliminates the need for humans in the workplace. As people clamor for a $15 an hour minimum wage the rest of us will use the automatic screen on the restaurant table or the counter at McDonald's or the ATM machine or the online banking, you name it. As for what the human race will do with the extended Leisure Time and lack of responsibility is the stuff science fiction novels are made from. WSS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieHardBrownsFan Posted May 12, 2016 Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 I want an end to technology. I want Sharia law. I want death to the infidels. Allahu Akbar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbedward Posted May 12, 2016 Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 I want an end to technology. I want Sharia law. I want death to the infidels. Allahu Akbar. You're so brave and courageous, sorry you have been oppressed by our western values - you can have my wife Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calfoxwc Posted May 12, 2016 Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 Technology doesn't have a purpose. People have purposes. Steve Martin had a "special purpose"... The trouble with technology is with the people who have evil purposes. All the grandiose advantages of all sorts of cool technology.... comes with a destructive, quite possibly very dangerous and destructive in evil. depending on the people using it. Back in my AF days, our radar tracking computer was the size of a semi-trailer. Now...well, you know. Scientists are now saying that they've discovered 1200 planets that might be able to sustain life on them. I wonder if one of them had sentient human beings on it, until they advanced technology to such powerful stages, that it ended up destroying all life on the planet. Archeologists could someday study what happened, sift through all the space dust, etc... and report back to our planet with a dire warning. Trouble is, I think at the rate we are going, it could be too late by that time, and it happened to us. I have another couple hundred strawberry plants to plant..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clevfan4life Posted May 12, 2016 Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 Technology doesn't have a purpose. People have purposes. Steve Martin had a "special purpose"... The trouble with technology is with the people who have evil purposes. All the grandiose advantages of all sorts of cool technology.... comes with a destructive, quite possibly very dangerous and destructive in evil. depending on the people using it. Back in my AF days, our radar tracking computer was the size of a semi-trailer. Now...well, you know. Scientists are now saying that they've discovered 1200 planets that might be able to sustain life on them. I wonder if one of them had sentient human beings on it, until they advanced technology to such powerful stages, that it ended up destroying all life on the planet. Archeologists could someday study what happened, sift through all the space dust, etc... and report back to our planet with a dire warning. Trouble is, I think at the rate we are going, it could be too late by that time, and it happened to us. I have another couple hundred strawberry plants to plant..... how do you make posts like this (which are insightful and constructive) and then clutter the board up with posts like warning us of the imminent arrival of ngr law? Bet is on btw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gftChris Posted May 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 how do you make posts like this (which are insightful and constructive) and then clutter the board up with posts like warning us of the imminent arrival of ngr law? Bet is on btwTBH I was wondering how cal would turn this political and had a little betbwith myself it'd be morebsky is falling stuff. I won! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clevfan4life Posted May 12, 2016 Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 TBH I was wondering how cal would turn this political and had a little betbwith myself it'd be morebsky is falling stuff. I won! Yeah but he didnt turn it political Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calfoxwc Posted May 12, 2016 Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 how do you make posts like this (which are insightful and constructive) and then Cleve ******************************************* All things in moderation, and you don't get to pick and choose my posting. That would be big, serious, trouble. Let's wait til Chris figures out that when he pays himself, he doesn't gain anything. Next week at the earliest, I imagine..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clevfan4life Posted May 12, 2016 Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 Dont let this go to your head cal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One Post Posted May 12, 2016 Report Share Posted May 12, 2016 Of course that's coming from a fellow who chats on the internet through his smartphone with his pals many many times each and every day. WSS I'm on when I'm not working. I will buy my wife a new phone every year whatever she wants so I get the hand me downs. They're in my dresser drawer I have a bunch of them I like my flip phone. $30 bucks a month and no I don't need the Internet 24/7. But it was a nice try kiddo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calfoxwc Posted May 13, 2016 Report Share Posted May 13, 2016 how do you make posts like this (which are insightful and constructive) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westside Steve Posted May 13, 2016 Report Share Posted May 13, 2016 I'm on when I'm not working. I will buy my wife a new phone every year whatever she wants so I get the hand me downs. They're in my dresser drawer I have a bunch of them I like my flip phone. $30 bucks a month and no I don't need the Internet 24/7. But it was a nice try kiddo In other words you are staunchly anti tech Luddite, a man of nature who eschews the technology of a smartphone and only surf the web on a PC like our great-grandparents or the Amish? WSS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One Post Posted May 13, 2016 Report Share Posted May 13, 2016 In other words you are staunchly anti tech Luddite, a man of nature who eschews the technology of a smartphone and only surf the web on a PC like our great-grandparents or the Amish? WSS You lost me but I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clevfan4life Posted May 13, 2016 Report Share Posted May 13, 2016 In other words you are staunchly anti tech Luddite, a man of nature who eschews the technology of a smartphone and only surf the web on a PC like our great-grandparents or the Amish? WSS Omg a ludite reference, so well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One Post Posted May 13, 2016 Report Share Posted May 13, 2016 In other words you are staunchly anti tech Luddite, a man of nature who eschews the technology of a smartphone and only surf the web on a PC like our great-grandparents or the Amish? WSS Ok I've wiped the sleep out of my eyes and got a cup of coffee in me. I'm not a big computer guy although if I was I wouldn't be addicted to this particular board or you condescending people. But hey I'm not blaming you that's what happens when you cheer on a team that wins 8 games....every three years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westside Steve Posted May 13, 2016 Report Share Posted May 13, 2016 Ok I've wiped the sleep out of my eyes and got a cup of coffee in me. I'm not a big computer guy although if I was I wouldn't be addicted to this particular board or you condescending people. But hey I'm not blaming you that's what happens when you cheer on a team that wins 8 games....every three years. If you say so amigo. Still the casual Observer might mistakenly think that you really enjoyed this high-tech water cooler. WSS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.