Technology
Technology is great and it gives us all kinds of new abilities and gives us more time. But it has its problems too. With all this extra time, people aren’t using it to invent great new technologies to revolutionize the world or even just to try to sit and find inner peace. Instead the majority of society just seems to use the extra time to sit around and be lazy. The new technology allows a few who want to do do amazing things and build upon it, while it seems most people just get lazier from technology. The rate at which technology progresses increases all the time and it seems that at some point it would reach an infinite rate (possibly 2012?). Perhaps at some point some great new technology would come along that would basically instantly allow discovery of all other discoveries. Or of course a time machine would allow an infinite rate of progression of technology as time would no longer be a factor. I think I’m rambling here. My point was going to be that although we have all this technology, we really don’t know anything more than ancient civilizations like the Mayans or Native Americans. While they didn’t have as much technology as us, they knew something that we didn’t, with their pyramids and impressive stone sculptures and odd creations upon lines of electromagnetic force. Something about their faith and spirituality allowed them to know more than it seems our technology will ever provide. Perhaps we need to not concentrate on technology as much as spirituality and beliefs.
May 23rd, 2006 at 10:12 pm
[…] The Mayans had a calendar which had long 5000 year cycles and after each the cycle would begin anew. The end of the current cycle is December 21st, 2012, which also happens to be winter solstice that year. The Mayans also had a short calendar witha cycle of 52 years and every 52 years they thought the world might end. I’m not sure what this means for 2012 but there are theories that it could just be some weird alignment in sky or perhaps the date when technological advances begin occurring at the rate of infinity (see Technology). The Mayans were really good astronomers so perhaps it is the date of some asteroid coming. I’ve kind of pictured these cycles of the Mayans as maybe being most of the civilization is lost, but what is left begins fresh and better and stronger than before. Either way I’m really curious to see what the hell is going to happen on that date. […]
May 23rd, 2006 at 10:12 pm
[…] Ok I know I already ranted about this but we were talking about it and I wanted to say some more on here. Technology currently is advancing at an exponential rate. That is, there was 1000’s of years between the wheel and the train and then only a few decades between trains and automobiles and then only a few years between that and flight and eventually space flight. Just one example of how it speeds up. If technology were to continue increasing exponentially, then eventually it would be increasing at an almost exponential rate. Earlier I was saying it could be some great invention that could cause this, like time travel or a brain computer interface (BCI). I think obviously with time travel that is what would happen. But then is there a ceiling? If technology is advancing at an infinite rate, is there a ceiling where we know everything? Where we even know why? I doubt it. I think it is a question of scale. If technology is advancing at an even faster rate then time will just seem to go by that much faster and the rate will be relatively the same. Especially if time travel is involved. Perhaps we are zipping through major inventions every few days, but that seems like nothing when time is no longer relevant because of time travel. The other thing is, if technology does increase at an infinite rate and there is some ceiling, then do we eventually know everything? Do we know why we’re here? And if we do, then do we even continue to exist? […]