| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
seeker
Advanced Member
Joined: 24 Jan 2006
Posts: 39
|
 Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 6:24 pm Post subject: Science and the Quality of Life |
 |
|
Just read that New York and California have the dirtiest air. Read earlier how the West eclipsed other cultures in scientific development. Then I think of how the planet is dying as a result of scientific applications.
Was it worth it? |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Sight-Ascended
Advanced Member
Joined: 08 Feb 2006
Posts: 239
Location: USA-la.
|
| Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 6:55 pm Post subject: |
|
|
only if scientific development is taken in the direction of fixing the damage its caused.
_________________
Know yourself and know the world your in. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
seeker
Advanced Member
Joined: 24 Jan 2006
Posts: 39
|
| Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 7:59 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Sight-Ascended wrote: | | only if scientific development is taken in the direction of fixing the damage its caused. |
True, but that might hurt the economy. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ENTP@INTP
Advanced Member
Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 139
|
| Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 9:50 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Economy comes always first. Today I read about carbon nanotubes and that industry is very eager to get that kind of material manufactured cheaply because it's lucrative physical properties. If they get it, the stuff will soon be found "everywhere". At the same time, little is known about what level of hazard the stuff poses to humans and nature.
Remember CFCs? Actually we are not actively repairing the damages of CFCs, but letting nature repair itself.
That is mostly the way we do, first we hit, then say: "Sorry, but we can't stop hitting you right now, but we are working on it.", and in the end: "Oh, you look terrible, but we are pretty sure that you'll be OK! Cheer up, and look at these - we have invented boxing gloves!"
_________________
ENTP sCUx|I| aspie married to an ISTJ |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
zhou_marasume
Newbie
Joined: 08 Apr 2006
Posts: 2
|
| Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2006 9:28 am Post subject: |
|
|
| ENTP@INTP wrote: | | ...That is mostly the way we do, first we hit, then say: "Sorry, but we can't stop hitting you right now, but we are working on it.", and in the end: "Oh, you look terrible, but we are pretty sure that you'll be OK! Cheer up, and look at these - we have invented boxing gloves!" |
Excellent description.
I'm afraid it's going to take a lot of effort if we want to stop the environment from getting much worse. This might just be the time of some kind of judgement of the human race. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Cal_41
Member
Joined: 17 Jan 2006
Posts: 13
Location: New York
|
| Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2006 4:16 pm Post subject: |
|
|
The ice caps are melting so fast that North Dakota will be waterfront property in 100 years.  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
splinter
Member
Joined: 12 May 2006
Posts: 19
|
| Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 1:27 am Post subject: |
|
|
Well, I think many topics are getting mixed up...
About this last message, it's hard to tell about accurate future scenarios due to climate change, just because we lack of enough data from the past. However, yes, I think it's necessary to consider as many as possible, and as research moves forward, keep linking the different elements in the system to come to reliable predictions.
On the other hand, it is interesting to study the history of economics, to find there was a moment when humans started regarding natural resources as unlimited (Nicholas Borbon), and focusing only on the 'exchange value', the price, which has led us to where we are now.
In a general response to the thread question, it is not science, but those who decide how to use it (all of us) who should be held responsible or irresponsible. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Trondor
Advanced Member
Joined: 03 Mar 2006
Posts: 560
Location: Norway
|
| Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 4:55 am Post subject: |
|
|
| I've read somewhere that the scientist whom tested the atomic bomb thought there to be a 1 in 200 chance that the bomb would burn away the whole atmosphere. Fun fact. May be false. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Darvick
Advanced Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 839
Location: B.C. Canada
|
| Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 9:40 am Post subject: hmmm... |
|
|
Scientific developement allows for new possibilities...
What inventors do with those possibilities and how responsible they are with their inventions is more the problem.
As suggested previously - economy comes first... Or even if the initial intention is something other than money it ultimately becomes the focus once some rich guy or organisation realizes there is money to be had...
_________________
INTJ...
Ennegram: 5, 3, 1, 9
Functional Strengths: Ni, Te, Ne, Ti
Avg IQ: 141 (134 to 161)
"If knowledge is power, and its application your will, then wisdom is the sum of your power, and wisdom shared, is the alignment of others to your will..." |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Asclepius
Member
Joined: 16 May 2007
Posts: 11
|
| Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 11:32 am Post subject: Re: Science and the Quality of Life |
|
|
| seeker wrote: | | Was it worth it? |
Nevertheless almost all contemporary mankind can survive only due to scientific development.
Every one of us likewise. So it was obviously worth it. I prefer to exist than not to. 
The main problem is not what humanity have done already, but what it will do further.
It still can create stable and balanced world or bring itself to catastrophe and destruction.
BTW. Has anyone watched the episode "The Human Factor" of "The Outer limits" series? I find it profoundly consonant with the problem, though it's rather pessimistic... 
_________________
INTJ / LII |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
clockworksmile
Advanced Member
Joined: 05 Mar 2007
Posts: 126
Location: USA
|
| Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 4:16 pm Post subject: |
|
|
DaVinci said that the human mind is yet incapable of comprehending fire, its implications, its essence.
Science progresses faster than human understanding. Historically, we reap great rewards from the progress of science and technology, and we pay great prices for the lack of our understanding of it.
In fact, many writers, philosophers, and even scientists believe that the interim between a new technology's development, and our ability to comprehend its implications, will be what ultimately destroys our race. (Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, John Lassner, Mark Lynas, Stephen Hawking, to name a few.)
Nuclear weapons are a prime example of this idea.
_________________
INTP/J, so/sx
“I heard about the Downfall of Western civilization, and thought it was something I'd like to be involved in. -George Carlin |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
clockworksmile
Advanced Member
Joined: 05 Mar 2007
Posts: 126
Location: USA
|
| Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 4:16 pm Post subject: |
|
|
DaVinci said that the human mind is yet incapable of comprehending fire, its implications, its essence.
Science progresses faster than human understanding. Historically, we reap great rewards from the progress of science and technology, and we pay great prices for the lack of our understanding of it.
In fact, many writers, philosophers, and even scientists believe that the interim between a new technology's development, and our ability to comprehend its implications, will be what ultimately destroys our race. (Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, John Lassner, Mark Lynas, Stephen Hawking, to name a few.)
Nuclear weapons are a prime example of this idea.
_________________
INTP/J, so/sx
“I heard about the Downfall of Western civilization, and thought it was something I'd like to be involved in. -George Carlin |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Rocky
Advanced Member
Joined: 21 Aug 2005
Posts: 6749
|
| Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 4:21 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Cal_41 wrote: | | The ice caps are melting so fast that North Dakota will be waterfront property in 100 years. |
No, no it won't.
_________________
tu fui ego eris
I've Stolen The Pain |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Kiefl³
Advanced Member
Joined: 01 Jun 2007
Posts: 149
|
| Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 4:02 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Sight-Ascended wrote: | | only if scientific development is taken in the direction of fixing the damage its caused. |
I started responding to this but it quickly turned into an essay. Here's a short and dirty version:
Isn't that the irony? Our 'intent' is not to do harm, but each action we take, is contradictory to the rigid structure of nature, and we thus in turn harm the environment. Logically, wiht our current understanding of Earth, nature and the Universe; The only good thing we can do for this planet, is to sit down and do absolutely nothing at all.
It's exactly what clockworksmile paraphrased from DaVinci and what I would paraphrase from Skinner: If we want to understand technology, we must first bring the science of psychology to the level of understanding of science, or further before proceeding. Otherwise, the results of science will be destructive.
In sitting down and doing absolutely nothing, we may be doing more harm than we understand. We have no indication that we aren't doing exactly what we are supposed to be doing "We are a virus" - The Matrix Philosophy. If a virus decided to kill itself, it would begin a chain reaction which would cause overpopulation of one species and underpopulation of another, theoretically destroying all thigns eventually.
Nature seems to have a balance though. A way in which it controls itself. Everything truly points back to one thing - Who am I, and what am I doing here? Without being able to answer that question, we cannot answer any other. Paradoxaly, science requires that we act in order to understand.
It becomes more complicated and complex than time travel. Hence why three four thousand years of philosophising, science, and fiath hasn't brought us any further forward than where we began. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Nostros
Advanced Member
Joined: 26 Apr 2007
Posts: 1217
Location: Houston, TX
|
| Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 4:49 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| clockworksmile wrote: | DaVinci said that the human mind is yet incapable of comprehending fire, its implications, its essence.
Science progresses faster than human understanding. Historically, we reap great rewards from the progress of science and technology, and we pay great prices for the lack of our understanding of it.
In fact, many writers, philosophers, and even scientists believe that the interim between a new technology's development, and our ability to comprehend its implications, will be what ultimately destroys our race. (Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, John Lassner, Mark Lynas, Stephen Hawking, to name a few.)
Nuclear weapons are a prime example of this idea. |
Why do you think that we rely on some of the most stupidest crap nowdays? No one lives life anymore...so we can really trully understand it...
_________________
Carpe Diem |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
test
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group
|
similarminds.com
Log in
Register
