| [ General ] | A variety of conversations about any environmental topic | | [ Pollution and Recycling ] | The effects of pollution, the necessity to recycle or not. Managing our consumerism. | | [ Technology ] | Where technology has brought us, where it is taking us, for better or worse. | | [ Threatened Species and Habitat ] | Species extinction, habitat destruction, and their causes | | [ Environmental Policies ] | The U.S. Government, and other governments policies on the environment. | | [ Climate Change ] | Debate the truths of climate change. | | [ People Polls ] | Conversations in response to the "People Polls" section. | |
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Exponential Technology Some believe, and with good reason, that we will transcend nature to a state where it is controlled by man, not the other way around.
Posts: 1 Created on: March 17, 2009 |
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| I've read a lot about the acceleration of technology. Anyone familiar with the rate at which computer chips double in density will tell you that technology is exponential in its growth and advancement. reason being is that its like a pascals triangle almost. everything builds off of the previous and 2 technologies become 4 ,8, 16.. etc. Its not just science, its the use of the sciences we already know. I can't see us using any cutting edge theory in physics anytime soon. They are in a bit of a mess right now. The acceleration comes from the engineering of the knowledge of our existing science. For example : nano-technology was raved about 50 years ago by Richard Feynman. It's still not commonplace, but the science has been around for decades. The engineering however, being much more complicated (real world tasks tend to be) takes a very long time to catch up, but, it always does. That is how the exponential growth of technology is predicted so well. We have all the tools, now we just need to figure out how to use them. As far as taking over nature goes. I think that will end up being incidental before we've had time to make a decision on it. Some folks hate the end of nature as we know it, but maybe the Blue-green algae wasn't too happy about all these multicellular organisms moving in on its turf, or the sea creatures may have been upset about the expansion of life on to land. Its just the way things work. Who's the bad guy? the one who's trying to stop evolution? (technology) or the one who rides the wave of exponential technological growth? |
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| | May 11, 2009, 9:06 pm | Your Perspective : Do you think climate change is real in any way, shape, or form?
Posts: 4 Created on: March 19, 2009 | | May 6, 2009, 10:06 pm | The costs of Recycing Some say recycling is pointless and expensive.
Posts: 2 Created on: January 16, 2009 | | April 21, 2009, 1:00 am | Population Peak Its now predicted that the world population will cap around 8 1/2 billion in 2050.
Posts: 1 Created on: April 21, 2009 | | April 12, 2009, 12:43 am | What Bush Did Bush really did some odd things to our environmental polices, i.e. the clean(dirty) air act, etc..
Posts: 1 Created on: March 17, 2009 | | March 22, 2009, 1:48 am | Poll Conversation: Do you shop for organic food?
Posts: 1 Created on: March 22, 2009 | | March 22, 2009, 1:41 am | Poll Conversation: Should the U.S. explorer drilling in ANWAR?
Posts: 1 Created on: March 19, 2009 | | March 20, 2009, 12:28 am | Poll Conversation: Do you use CFL light bulbs?
Posts: 1 Created on: March 20, 2009 | | March 17, 2009, 12:19 am | Exponential Technology Some believe, and with good reason, that we will transcend nature to a state where it is controlled by man, not the other way around.
Posts: 1 Created on: March 17, 2009 | | March 17, 2009, 12:09 am | Dominant Species Since natural selection favors the dominant variation or competing species, should we?
Posts: 1 Created on: January 16, 2009 | | March 16, 2009, 11:58 pm | Your Ideas What matters to you in the face of environmental problems and their solutions?
Posts: 2 Created on: January 5, 2009 |
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