Do you ever just look around in amazement of our technology?

Sometimes it just hits me, this life is damned amazing. I'm surfing the web on my iPad, my iPhone next to me. Hi def tv streaming a Netflix documentary off of Roku in the background. I have computers in my study, at work, in my car. My Audi has 92k miles on it and has never broken. Yesterday went for a bike ride with my brother who has a carbon fiber frame. My only worries when flying around the world are comfort related, the technology is near flawless.

I guess it just strikes me in awe sometimes.

 

My first computer was apple II E. at that time my mom drove us around in a lime green Pontiac station wagon that overheated at least once a week. There was no Internet, or cell phones, tv was one of 5 channels on a grainy heavy ass 19 inch screen. Music was on either records or tapes.

I'm only 38 years old, so we aren't talking about some insane timeframe. It just strikes me sometimes. I know that we usually take it for granted, and I suppose that's necessary to move through the day, but sometimes it's fun to appreciate the growth.

 

No, I look around in amazement of nature.

 

I suppose I must be too easily amused, because I am so itch nature a well. But in two different ways.

Nature I look at the majestic complexity of life, and how only an insurmountable portion of time can lead to such wonders. Nature fills me with a calm peaceful bliss.

Technology I look at as a crazy exceleration of steered potential. Such condensed time with such grandiose advancements is unmistakably mankind's attempt at greatness. It's not all good, but a lot of it is. And most of it when you take out judgements is quite impressive. Just drawing ones hand over a tablet to search the web, it amazes me.

 

When I was a kid, people mentioned Thomas Edison and the light bulb a lot. That's when I started staring at light bulbs.

I have always been amazed by airplanes. Looking up when I walk outside is a good habit to acquire for you of the drone generation.

 

I know what you mean.

The things technology can do isn't as impressive/scary as how rapidly it is advancing and how it will potentially wreak havoc on our lives and the economy.

 

I'm in awe of technology and it's implications, both good and bad.

The thing about evolving tech is that economies always came up with new ways to employ people. People stop needing buggy whips so there are jobs making cars. Car manufacturing goes out and service jobs come in.

But there's no law that says economies always create employment, forever. So many jobs are being replaced by automation, databases, software....and not everybody is suited for STEM (Science/Tech/Engineering/Math) jobs. And even those jobs could become replaced with Watson-like programs.

I used to own a $300 Garmin I'd use for hiking. My latest smartphone has a better GPS mapping app I bought for $10, and I'll own that app forever. I for damn sure ain't going to spend more than $10 if something better comes along that I might replace it with. How many software engineers will get laid off at Garmin because some guy made this app on the weekends?

I just don't see the jobs in another generation or two to support people. How does capitalism survive without labor?

Does everybody live off wealth transfers from governments? Or do we all thrive by owning stocks? Both have major downsides.

Seems like we're heading for a time when you've got your Star Trek-types out there exploring new worlds in a post-capitalist utopia, which sounds great. Until you remember that most people are lazy as fuck, and most people aren't Captain Kirk. 90%+ of society sits in hover chairs a la WALL-E eating liquified muffins through straws. And that's not good for society.

 

I view this as a double edged sword. Our technology can kill us all or save us. Green technology, medical, and our space program advancements can hopefully out pace the negative side effects of technology.

Some things that have amazed me recently are the bionic eye, bionic ear and complete arm transplants. Fucking wow! To think that 100 years ago we were just discovering flight and antibiotics. My grandma moved in a covered wagon, and 150 years ago there were still samurai in feudal Japan.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/19/health/fda-bionic-eye

http://m.nbcnews.com/technology/fut...s-show-promising-results-test-subjects-754163

http://youtu.be/LsOo3jzkhYA

http://m.usatoday.com/article/news/1873735

 

I think we need to cut all incentives for having children.

 

hahahaa I just read a paper on a monkey that controls a robot....

 

We're having less children even with those incentives. Most industrialized countries are having problems with reproducing at replacement rates. The US is only growing in population because of immigration.

Declining populations are generally interpreted as a bad thing because traditionally it's the young who support the old. But given the job problems I foresee I'm really not so sure. It may be the robots who support us all.

 

as Oppenheimer said that when the first atomic bomb test went off, he thought to himself these words from the Bhagavad Gita: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

Technology can destroy, but it can also save lives. I'm sure every parent who has seen their kid in the hospital and recover has is thrilled by our advances.

 

The 2 technologies I love best, streaming all our movies/pictures/and music thru our appletv.............. and me being able to facetime to my wife and kids no matter where I am in the world!

 

Admiring nature and human achivement are not mutually exclusive.

Miniaturization - there is more music on my iPod, smaller than a pack of gum, than in my entire entertainment center filled with records and CDs.

 

today at work i'm running a very routine Real Time PCR that to see exactly how much RNA expression is taking place in treated/non-treated samples. Something that in the lab is as normal as brewing a pot of coffee at home is just an amazing amount of technology. The fact that we can do stuff like this is what amazes me. Be is a new car, an IPad or an RTPCR, this shit is awesome!

 

What a downer you put on the technology boom we are living through. I'm estatic over technology and how fast it is evolving during a single generation. I have personally got to witness the creation of a cell phone and how far it has advanced is such a short time peroid (relatively thinking).

I don't fear death, but regret not being able to see what technology looks like 100 years from now.

You have raised an issue that is concerning. I only hope that the gov't is aware of the issue and tries to deal with as best they can.

 

Where do you work?

 

I'm a research assistant (lab tech) at OHSU in a research lab.