This is the closest I could find to a sub-heading to start a discussion like this, so, apologies in advance to Yossarian if it doesn't belong.

Was wondering if anyone who hangs out in here finds futurism interesting. Predicting how the world will look 20, 30 or more years down the road is a crap shoot worse than trying to figure out the weather next week. Nevertheless, I find informed speculation on where technology is trending to be fascinating. Reading articles like Top Ten Transhumanist Technologies and The Coming Singularity leave my mind feel like it is literally fizzing. Through most of my adult life I have felt like the human race is teetering on a precipice between destruction and salvation of our own making. It's like we are on the threshold of an expansion in the human experience unseen since the discovery of fire, but, we are to busy trying to burn each others houses down to notice.

I am a huge pessimist, but, there is still this wide-eyed little kid in me that wants to believe that anything is possible. Am I stupid to read any of this speculation and an even bigger moron to think any of it is possible or do any of you share the view of my internal optimist?

actually i'm interested in this realm of thought as well. ( dragon, feel free to insert here____) i think humanity is definitely teetering, especially since the power of destruction of standard human civilization is held in the hands of increasingly unstable individuals, concerned more with chest thumping than the legacy they could very well create. how soon we forget that when humanity strays so far in one direction or another, tragedy strikes worse each time. history does not repeat itself, history outdoes itself.

What a thought-provoking thread, Metzger! I skimmed through the second paper you linked to, and thought it was very interesting that Greg Bear's novel "Blood Music" was cited in it. It's one of the best speculative fiction novels I've ever read. The plot revolves around a renegade researcher who is working with nanotechnology. He injects himself with teeny tiny computers who start fixing all his various minor ailments, then decide on their own to keep "improving" his body. Eventually...well, I don't want to give it away. Highly recommended reading! And kind of scary since this is something in actual development today.

yeah! someone ought to marry that smartie! :: runs away::

big brains are sexxxxxxxy

i know. i married an engineer. QUICK! say something smart, lest we derail the smart thread!


ummm....


oh yes. ok i know i'm going to get made fun of for thi sone, but i honestly believe that humans as a whole are due to undergo another bout of evolution... it has continued nonstop all around us for billions of years... i'm not so arrogant as to think that WE are the epitome of all evolution has to offer. i like to wonder what evolution with bring to the human race in the centuries and eons to come...

EEVOLUSHUN?

Gods plan for his children are ever evolving. Repent now ye sinners, lest ye burn in hell.

oh, i wouldn't make fun of you for that at ALL. it's narrow-minded to think that we won't continue to change with time. i think that technology will be the end of us eventually.

on a lighter, yet related note, Flight of the Conchords sing "The Humans are Dead":
http://youtube.com/watch?v=WGoi1MSGu64

Nerds rule girl! I married a network dude. All of our friends are 'nerds' too...and yes, my kids are intelligent.

DO I THINK MANKIND IS STILL EVOLVING? of course. Do I think we'll end up back in the dark ages? possibly--every time man makes great leaps we run ourselves right off of a cliff..

Interesting articles and food for thought. I tend to be somewhat pessimistic by nature, but I still want to remain optimistic for the future, mainly because I have young kids. I worry that in the current political and religious climate that science is viewed by many with fear and suspicion. Sometimes it seems as though we are de-volving rather than evolving. Still, I hold out hope that society will embrace and implement scientific advances to cure disease and improve the quality of life and not use these advances to further victimize others in displays of power and greed. I guess only time will tell. For my childrens' (and everyone else's) sake, I hope the human race can evolve out of this current climate of apathy, greed, meanness, and only-out-for-myself mentality.

I'll step out of my pulpit for now. And yes, big brains ARE sex-ay!

I don't call it pessimism, I call it skepticism. Descartes would have been considered a transhumanist I believe. I don't have the time right now to check out your links but I definitely will.


Great thread. Welcome to the forums.

Or maybe nothing matters after all. <insert spooky music here>

my head just exploded. i'll be worthless for the rest of the day

I remember having a similar discussion shortly after the first Matrix movie was out. Man, we were totally f'ed up that night!

Interesting read though. I daydream about that stuff all the time.

please please tell me you were at the late show at the valley mall and saw me freak out when a jeep ran over a random cat in the parking lot afterwards?

Nope, I was living in FL at the time.

That was an episode of the old Twilight Zone series. The humans discovered their world was made of papier mache and they were in a glass dome, the pets of some large extraterrestial human type.

Dr. Seuss, anyone?

that man was a genious.

Well, since I understand you are a WW2 buff, you should really get a kick out of this. Dr. Seuss Went to War

holy cow! i've seen some of them in books,( mostly ones about the propagada war) but the website is awesome.. thanks for the new desktop!!!