Why have we lost faith in technological progress?

[CaptJohnSheridan]

I have heard one person say that people can handle dragons, magic and superpowers but think spaceships are unrealistic.

Why have we lost hope for the future?

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Probably because the more technology goes on, the clearer it becomes we're heading towards a corporatist dystopia where people aren't people, but commodities carefully mapped and cataloged by algorithms and that information sold back and forth among marketing groups and Governments, with the privacy of citizens a thing of the past, while the majority of people anesthetize themselves with click-bait articles on what Celeb wore what dress when, and mobile app games.
Less Star Trek and more THX 1138

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Have we? I think it's because technological process has been co-opted primarily by corporations and lawyers.

Technological process means Indian-made generics giving it cheaply to people after 10-15 years.

Current 'technological process' means lawyers arguing for evergreening patents by fabricating reasons why patents are still valid despite fuck all actual alteration of designs.

 

[Zontar]

If you think we've lost faith in technological progress, you should visit Issac Arthur's YouTube channel.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

This is the first I've heard of it, but Silentpony's explanation here:

Probably because the more technology goes on, the clearer it becomes we're heading towards a corporatist dystopia where people aren't people, but commodities carefully mapped and cataloged by algorithms and that information sold back and forth among marketing groups and Governments, with the privacy of citizens a thing of the past, while the majority of people anesthetize themselves with click-bait articles on what Celeb wore what dress when, and mobile app games.
Less Star Trek and more THX 1138

...makes the most sense to me.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

I don't think we have lost faith in it, but assuming we have...

...quite simply, it doesn't make us any happier. We just get accustomed to a higher standard of living, and then after a while become dissatisfied with it. If it dawns upon us that we're not actually any happier with the latest technological gadget or gizmo, a car that goes even faster or a TV that gives us 4x more resolution, then it makes sense to lose faith in technological progress. Most people, however, never come to realize this.

As for spaceships, how is a colony on Mars going to make things better in my everyday life?

 

[Drathnoxis]

Probably because the more technology goes on, the clearer it becomes we're heading towards a corporatist dystopia where people aren't people, but commodities carefully mapped and cataloged by algorithms and that information sold back and forth among marketing groups and Governments, with the privacy of citizens a thing of the past, while the majority of people anesthetize themselves with click-bait articles on what Celeb wore what dress when, and mobile app games.
Less Star Trek and more THX 1138

Good post.

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

I have heard one person say that people can handle dragons, magic and superpowers but think spaceships are unrealistic.

Why have we lost hope for the future?

Honestly, I think the reality of Greed is why everyone is so negative about the future. Who would want to live where you are smothered by ads everywhere you go? That would completely suck. People are too busy fighting over everything trying to move forward to a positive future is something that often seems out of reach. Before we travel space and what not they need to solve the issues that could cause destruction of civilization on earth first. People seem to be the biggest threat to mankind currently rather than some natural event.

I have actually been frustrated with the lack of "positive future" movies, series ect as everything out there is about the world being destroyed and post apocalyptic scenarios rather than mankind pulling their shat together and solving the worlds problems to make a better future. Outside of Star Trek, most everything out there is about people destroying ourselves instead. Although the storyline in "Tomorrowland" had much to be desired, it did make me think about how the outlook for our future is so terribly bleak in media when in the past it seemed people did actually think we would be living like the Jetsons.

I have always been one of those tech geeks following the latest inventions and designs of the future, whether it is home/ life improvements or city designs, but you really have to look for it, it isn't just something that is in the media all the time when it probably should be. I would like to see more of this and it is often difficult to find. I see the future tech being one that solves the problems rather than some horrific Dystopia. I do not see tech as needing to be "cold" at all but instead we can have extremely high tech cities inside a jungle...

For me, I see this as the future:
https://inhabitat.com/china-plans-its-first-forest-city-to-fight-air-pollution/
https://inhabitat.com/singapores-jaw-dropping-new-airport-has-the-worlds-largest-indoor-waterfall/
https://fr.videoblocks.com/video/singapore-city-singapore---february-10-2017-time-lapse-of-tourist-on-supertree-grove-in-gardens-by-the-bay-in-singapore-under-moving-clouds-in-blue-sky-singapore-landmark-and-tourist-destination-bxtziikclizlmcyf9

I see us eventually being able to use technology to solve the worlds problems, of course, after they solve the problems of the few jerks hoarding all the worlds resources and leaving the rest of mankind out to perish. Have to overcome that hurdle first and keep civilization from collapsing due to wealth inequality first then we can get focused on the really important stuff.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/mar/14/nasa-civilisation-irreversible-collapse-study-scientists

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

I have heard one person say that people can handle dragons, magic and superpowers but think spaceships are unrealistic.

Context for this? Or was that person suffering from brain trauma?

I personally, haven't lost "faith". Technological progress will happen, unless in case of some cataclysmic event.
You need to remember that technology moving forward always had bright and dark sides to it.

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

I have heard one person say that people can handle dragons, magic and superpowers but think spaceships are unrealistic.

Context for this? Or was that person suffering from brain trauma?

I personally, haven't lost "faith". Technological progress will happen, unless in case of some cataclysmic event.
You need to remember that technology moving forward always had bright and dark sides to it.

It appears like they were trying to express their preference for Fantasy vs Scifi rather than actually seeing Spaceships as being unrealistic. They are " more comfortable with" would probably been a better way to describe what they were trying to convey. I have heard people say similar things as they are not able to relate to Sci fi but are able to more easily relate to the fairy tales they grew up with.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I have heard one person say that people can handle dragons, magic and superpowers but think spaceships are unrealistic.

Why have we lost hope for the future?

Spaceships are often supposedly based on real science, and thus face certain limitations. Magic is limited by whatever rules you make up.

 

[sXeth]

I have heard one person say that people can handle dragons, magic and superpowers but think spaceships are unrealistic.

Why have we lost hope for the future?

In media? Its kind of like the "Encumbrance is immersion breaking" thread awhile back. You can buy the concept of a dragon because its whole cloth made up nonsense. Flying cars or FTL space travel and whatnot are things within our experience with embedded rules.

To varying degrees, we know the concepts and theories and physics that bind space travel. So presented with the idea of a spacecraft that defies those, trying to explain it as anything other then effective magic falls flat.

To the more general sense. Change is a scary thing. As we hurtle more towards technology eliminating every traditional job, it raises a lot of daunting questions about how society will adapt. When there is no more "Work, pay your living expense, work more" cycle it collapses the established method of determining merit. Which means an entirely new system has to emerge to determine how to allocate resources as the majority of the population is shunted out of the monetary economy.

Space travel in itself is mostly a novelty. As Neil DeGrasse tyson said in an interview I caught once. Any problem you're going to solve by going to the Moon or to Mars, would almost certainly be solved with less effort by applying that focus to Earth itself. Barring completely unforseen discoveries, we aren't getting away from the most imminent and unavoidable cosmic threat, which is the sun destroying us in a few billion years. Split the Earth's population in half an dump half of it on terraformed Mars, and within a century we'll need to do it again, because its a delay action, not a solution.

 

[CaptJohnSheridan]

I think it?s more about losing faith in humanity, or faith in general. We are clearly tripping over our shoelaces as a society, and one could pose an arguement about whether we?d even deserve to leave if we could, seeing as how we?d likely just shift our myriad of baggage over to the next world to bear.

 

[CaptJohnSheridan]

I have heard one person say that people can handle dragons, magic and superpowers but think spaceships are unrealistic.

Why have we lost hope for the future?

In media? Its kind of like the "Encumbrance is immersion breaking" thread awhile back. You can buy the concept of a dragon because its whole cloth made up nonsense. Flying cars or FTL space travel and whatnot are things within our experience with embedded rules.

To varying degrees, we know the concepts and theories and physics that bind space travel. So presented with the idea of a spacecraft that defies those, trying to explain it as anything other then effective magic falls flat.

To the more general sense. Change is a scary thing. As we hurtle more towards technology eliminating every traditional job, it raises a lot of daunting questions about how society will adapt. When there is no more "Work, pay your living expense, work more" cycle it collapses the established method of determining merit. Which means an entirely new system has to emerge to determine how to allocate resources as the majority of the population is shunted out of the monetary economy.

Space travel in itself is mostly a novelty. As Neil DeGrasse tyson said in an interview I caught once. Any problem you're going to solve by going to the Moon or to Mars, would almost certainly be solved with less effort by applying that focus to Earth itself. Barring completely unforseen discoveries, we aren't getting away from the most imminent and unavoidable cosmic threat, which is the sun destroying us in a few billion years. Split the Earth's population in half an dump half of it on terraformed Mars, and within a century we'll need to do it again, because its a delay action, not a solution.

I think our over-reliance on technology could make for a fate far worse than if we never had any to begin with. A massive solar flare or asteroid impact could happen in our lifetimes and cause a chain reaction of catastrophic systems failures resulting from the widespread blackouts. Sure, chances are ?slim?, but I think nature isn?t quite as predictable as we?d like to think.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I think our over-reliance on technology could make for a fate far worse than if we never had any to begin with. A massive solar flare or asteroid impact could happen in our lifetimes and cause a chain reaction of catastrophic systems failures resulting from the widespread blackouts. Sure, chances are ?slim?, but I think nature isn?t quite as predictable as we?d like to think.

Yes and no. Sure, billions of people would die, but those billions of people weren't able to exist without the technology we have nowdays anyway.

 

[CaptJohnSheridan]

As an aside, the elephant in the room is (over) population. When one stops to think of how many resources a single person needs in their life in an ?advanced? society, processed foods to keep a population fed, let alone the waste result of those resources just to live let alone enjoy any luxuries it kinda paints a stark picture. It?s mostly out of sight, out of mind of course, but certainly no less mind boggling that we?re maintaining a facade of stability after all this time and exponentially increasing demands to keep all the tops spinning.

 

[Catnip1024]

I have actually been frustrated with the lack of "positive future" movies, series ect as everything out there is about the world being destroyed and post apocalyptic scenarios rather than mankind pulling their shat together and solving the worlds problems to make a better future. Outside of Star Trek, most everything out there is about people destroying ourselves instead.

The reason for that is a) a positive future is too boring to make a film about, and b) there isn't going to be a positive future.

We have no means of reaching another habitable planet (as an aside, it turns out the hyped-up EM drive technology appears to be related to the Earths magnetic field, hence can't be used for space propulsion). Short-termist thinking caused by political terms and capitalist greed means that the required investment is not going to happen. The current planet is doomed by the same. Even if it isn't, technological advancement will make everyone bar the owners of said technology redundant and a drain on resources. These people will have all the influence, all the resources, and no reason to care for the rest.

There'll inevitably wind up being some form of conflict in Earth orbit (China has already tested an anti-satellite missile, which has caused a large portion of the current space debris), which will make it more and more dangerous to launch any kind of spacecraft, climate change is going to fuck up everything, and as a civilisation we can't even go to the toilet without somebody throwing a hissy fit, let alone solve complex global issues.

I mean, a Fallout style future is possibly preferable to the status quo future where the rich get richer and let the poor die. At least then they have to work for their gains.

 

[sXeth]

I think our over-reliance on technology could make for a fate far worse than if we never had any to begin with. A massive solar flare or asteroid impact could happen in our lifetimes and cause a chain reaction of catastrophic systems failures resulting from the widespread blackouts. Sure, chances are ?slim?, but I think nature isn?t quite as predictable as we?d like to think.

Heh, despite the videogame online forum going, I'm pretty low tech solutions for most things. Funnily, during an ice sotmr a month or two ago, after my buddy was posting about how he was glad the power came back on so he could make coffee. I pointed out he could just get the same coffee pot I have (a moka pot) and if you can make fire, you can make coffee. Costs less then most coffee makers too.

 

[immortalfrieza]

Split the Earth's population in half an dump half of it on terraformed Mars, and within a century we'll need to do it again, because its a delay action, not a solution.

This is the part I have to highlight, since it made me laugh because of how true it is. These days our "answer" to everything is to delay the problem as much as possible rather than actually solve it until it becomes so big we can't ignore it anymore if we do anything about it at all. This is no more clear than in healthcare, when's the last time we actually cured anything? Instead of inventing a pill or whatever and curing disease XYZ forever, we'd much rather invent a pill or whatever we have to keep taking for years if not the rest of our lives stop the symptoms instead, because money.

The motivation is not always just money either, we love to act like we're doing something about a problem rather than actually doing something about that problem. We also love being all high and mighty while doing it to everybody who recognizes how pointless it is and thus doesn't bother. At the same time, we fail to and very likely don't want to recognize that whatever solution we've proposed is extremely unrealistic to be adopted by most of humanity and if it would've worked we wouldn't have the problem to begin with. Pretty much everything about environmentalism is this, but I'll stick to a specific example. Climate Change is caused by CO2 emissions, so environmentalists keep telling everybody "REDUCE EMISSIONS! REDUCE EMISSIONS! REDUCE EMISSIONS!", failing to see that not only will most of the world not do this but that it wouldn't remove the CO2 that's already in the atmosphere and that the most it would accomplish is delaying the countdown to doomsday by a bit. In order to actually fix the problem we would need to develop some sort of CO2 to O2 converter, something that is reliable, controllable, (so bio engineered plants and that sort of stuff are probably out) and could convert CO2 at a rate fast enough that it could match if not exceed the CO2 humanity puts into it. However, if the problem were solved then the people who are looking down on everybody else would have one less reason to do it.

I've also noticed a trend where scientists keep SAYING they have found the key to making this revolutionary technology or miracle medicine or whatever in a few years and never ever deliver. If there's a problem you can think of most likely some scientist or research group who has claimed they will have the solution after X years of research and after X years have passed nothing ever happens. It's difficult to care about technological progress when we're still stuck dealing with the same exact problems we've been dealing with for decades if not since the human race evolved.

 

[CaitSeith]

"one person" = "we"?

Are spaceships the only possible technological progress?

Your question is very loaded. Maybe because NASA isn't receiving the same level of exposure (and funding) that it used to, people don't see space flight as something tangible.

Meanwhile, technology that was found only in sci-fi 20-30 years ago is now common place in middle-class households.

I think our over-reliance on technology could make for a fate far worse than if we never had any to begin with. A massive solar flare or asteroid impact could happen in our lifetimes and cause a chain reaction of catastrophic systems failures resulting from the widespread blackouts.

Coincidentally, that's the plot in a visual novel that involved dragons (not much to do with the topic, but I found that funny).