Theoretical Questions re Technology

Faith is as fine a word as any, but I was simply illustrating that with or without it one wont know all the angles. As I said, the Wright brothers would never have imagined 9/11

Should we then not have planes?

Of course not.

I think the general public needs to become much more educated, and that is a voluntary process.

People say I am too intellectual and hyper rational, yet I seldom use information a 5th grader wouldnt know.

I think people are unable, or unwilling to change with the world.

I think people are generally negative.

They do not physically get out there pitchforks and torches, but indeed in there minds there are similar processes going on.

I think people need to account for the world models they are using and the ignorance of the times of those world models.

I dont necessarily blame thoe world models for there ignorance, they were working with what they had.

Still, those are the same mentalities that would have burned the technology of books, imprison Galileo, etc.

It was dangerous what he was introducing to the world...

No, and he wasnt even moving that fast ahead.

Its not that the tech is changing to fast, people are just reluctant to change at all, and are generally negative.

They are also uneducated in many ways and refuse to become educated, and take up part of the responsibility.

Not even in regards to technology, but philosophy, religion,politics,etc

Precisely, the vast population of human beings on this planet don't want to take responcibilty for their choices, to do so would require them to become educated, and more than likely change their current thought patterns and behaviors, which would in turn create change in the environment. People for the most part are fearful of change, although I don't necessarily see that as being the result of people being negative, but lacking in overall intelligence.

Lets keep in mind that there is more to learn on the books at this point then one could possibly even read in their lifetime. So what is the stuff we should be reading? Were does our focus go? And how much time can we put into that while still paying the bills and taking our leisure? Is it all right to call someone negative or unwilling to change when they know a whole lot about lots of things, just not the thing someone else thinks is important?

Pick ANY subject adn you could spend a lifetime learning about it...and there will still be more to learn.

I think, as I said in an earlier post, it is perhaps more about our general attitude. We all have our comfort zones, societies and cultures included. Technology is going to push us outside our comfort zones, willingly or otherwise. At the moment we (as a whole) tend to see 'mistakes' (i.e. unexpected results) as things we can go back and 'fix' but not everything will be this way. We won't be able to force all results into our expectations.

So what is the stuff we should be reading? Were does our focus go? And how much time can we put into that while still paying the bills and taking our leisure? Is it all right to call someone negative or unwilling to change when they know a whole lot about lots of things, just not the thing someone else thinks is important?

That excuse does not justify a negative outlook though.

As for your time, it has been my experience that people waste much of there time(These are also the people that say they dont have any), and it seems that people know a whole lot about a lot, but that doesnt make them educated.

Certainly, they need not find what someone else sees as important, but then, to take a negative opinion is an action of ignorance.

If one is going to give there opinion on a subject, should they not be informed on it? Else what value is that opinion?

To take a negative view on something due to not having the time to become informed, while at the same time taking advantages of the conveniences of those sciences and technologies has nothing to do with how one spends ones time.

Pick ANY subject adn you could spend a lifetime learning about it...and there will still be more to learn.

Yes, and what is your point?

I sleep approximately 5 hours a...day, as I work nights. The rest is spent on various things, from being a father, a husband, martial arts, sciences, fiction(junk food for the brain), certain philosophies, current events, and thats just off the top of my head.

I make time for things.

I give up rest for it, but you know what, I will rest when im dead.

There is always more to learn, but this is a poor excuse or justification.

People waste there time and focus, most dont even know they are doing so. Life sweeps them up and they go through it on auto pilot.

Not to long ago someone said they spent 10 hours on ToTJo. Lol, and they didnt even enjoy there time here, but kept plugging away feeding frustration, etc.

Is that the best way to spend ones time?

Would that same person say they had no time?

I could think of a million better things to do, and yet, people say they have no time to become informed, work out, etc,etc...

Truly, I think that excuse is shallow at best.

People today also do not know how to prioritize. They cant prioritize work,play, family,money, and much everything else.

Yes, there is more than we could possibly know, but no one said that you had to know everything.

I do not comment on every subject brought up here. I cant. I pitch in on those subjects I am informed on, as that is where my opinion should have value.

I prefer a narrow view in that I give more time and focus to my interests rather than to broad a view where I truly cannot see the tree for the forest.

In regards to technology, one should be informed ,as it is ever present in ones life today, and will be increasingly moreso.

I am not saying one has to be extremely informed, but there should be a level of knowledge in something that is leveraging so much change in the world.

Khaos wrote: In regards to technology, one should be informed ,as it is ever present in ones life today, and will be increasingly moreso.

I am not saying one has to be extremely informed, but there should be a level of knowledge in something that is leveraging so much change in the world.

I see this most when it comes to erm... 'older' generations. Someone said to me recently they had no time for technology (it's 'for kids'), and yet my 85 year old grandad knows more about computers than most people in their twenties and thirties. 'Not having time' is certainly one thing people say but I think often the assumption is that it just won't affect them, when it does and will. That goes for quite a few things actually, not just technology.

I agree one should not hold a negative opinion about something without first doing their research. I agree a reasonable awareness of things that directly affect our lives should be pursued.

I agree that if a person who is ill informed about somethinghas an opinion of low value in that area. But they shuld still speak up or noone will know to clue them in.

Also, low value and no value are not the same thing.

I always think about the line from Jurassic Park when I think about technology: 'Your scientists were so busy worrying whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think whether they should.' It's an old theme spoken of even as far back as Hawthorne's 'The Birth Mark.' The point, it has always seemed to me, is that it is already out of our hands, the whole thing has taken off on its own momentum. I also think that we could substitute 'knowledge' or 'skills' for 'technology' and have a similar conversation. Change is newness, it is moving to a different situation than the one you had previously been in and that move could be vertical or horizontal, or better or worse or the same. We all go through 1000's of changes a day, some are bound to be for the worse. It is useful to remind ourselves of that from time to time to encourage deliberateness and proper attention to and awareness of the choices we make, or more importantly the intentions of those choices. Because everything we do will end up being bad for someone and good for someone else, ultimately; we can't control the chain of cause and effect but we can control whether or not we base our actions on feelings of compassion and understanding or of greed and malice. Technology pursued in the name of the former is what we'd all like to believe is going on and what we use the advanced technology in our own lives for, but there is too the knowledge that like everything in life, including life itself, you have to take the good with the bad. That's why I think those kinds of stories like the one in Hellbalzer you brought up are so engaging - it could literally be us one day very soon!!!!!!!!