From: Bob Seidensticker (bob@future-hype.com)
Date: Sun Apr 30 2006 - 10:19:58 MDT
Thomas: you talk about the folly (or excessive expense) of moon bases, 3D
TV, flying cars, and so on. I agree. And maybe you're able to see through
the hype of whatever today's equivalent is (I dunno -- manned mission to
Mars? hydrogen cars?).
What concerns me is the majority of the population that greets these new
predictions with, "Wow -- that *does* sound pretty cool. What an amazing
time we live in!" Their mental bin labeled "Today's Technology" contains
the PC, GPS, and Internet as well as nanotechnology, biotech, and most of
our energy coming from renewable sources since the press talks about all of
these. As a result, they see the progress today as being much greater than
that in the past -- but only because "Today's Technology" has an unfair
advantage.
Bob
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-sl4@sl4.org [mailto:owner-sl4@sl4.org] On Behalf Of Tomaz
Kristan
Sent: Sunday, April 30, 2006 1:49 AM
To: sl4@sl4.org
Subject: RE: Anti-singularity spam.
> IMO, the list of optimistic failures (moon bases, etc.) is much longer
> than the pessimistic failures (DeForest missing the impact of TV).
> But perhaps we should just agree to disagree here.
For what on Earth, do you want to torture a few Lunonavts in a permanent
Moon base? Isn't already enough to have this ISS station in the orbit for no
good reason, except money loosing?
I rather have a GSM in my pocket, than an uncontrollable AI in the orbit
around Jupiter. The negative list of un achievements of the past consist of
two parts. One is the list of impossibilities, the other is the list of "too
expensive for now" or "too silly anyway".
Don't you think, that a flying car is a silly thing, unless it is silent and
automated? Too expensive for now, if made the right way, silly otherwise. We
haven't contacted our cosmic brothers either, and I am glad we didn't.
And sorry, you can't have a world from a "optimistic" SF book from 1960. In
reality, humans have other priorities than a 3D TV.
The point is, that the negative list is not long at all, considering what is
possible and what isn't. What do we really want and what we are just saying
we want, but nobody really cares. As for the Moonbase, for example.
The positive list of achievements is impressive. More and more atoms are
placed where we want them, with the ever increasing precision. What is the
only thing really matters. Can't act like a spoiled child, wanting a toy
which costs a fortune, worth nothing. Moonbase and such.
- Thomas
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