I found an audio clip, I hope it works. For me, hearing for the first time, ideas with which scientists among you might be familiar, dismissive even. He suggests 'stuff' as such will cease to exist as nanotechnology makes the acquisition of gold, goods and food obsolete. My chemist son dismissed: 'This will never happen.' I found the possibilities staggering and wonderful. http://audioboo.fm/boos/1574606-james-burke-predicted-the-future-in-1973-now-he-does-it-again#t=1m53s
Excellent link, thank you for posting it. This is why I no longer have discussions with conservatives, or right wingers. To cling to their beliefs, they must be wilfully ignorant, and obstructive to change which is much needed.
Hi J, I'm glad you like it. I'm not playing the right lefts tho'. I just wanted people to marvel. For writing, really.
Not inviting any arguments, just voicing my thoughts on the subject. I am disinterested in the long forum saga which may have prompted your and Wreybies reaction. I distanced myself from it a while ago. However, I hope we aren't playing thought police here
I am sure you know what I meant Wreybies, no need to be coy Anyway, like I said, I really don't want anything to do with forum dramas, of one form or another. But I do want to be able to politely voice my opinions without being reprimanded for hypotheticals
He he he It is a troll game, to adopt the regular, tired positions, the poles on any given subject, in every debate. A clever scheme to drown us in gruel. I admire such artistry.
YOU, you! I'm not calling you anything, never ever...I'm nice. I like tapping the words out. If it looks okay, I press send.
WHY, why! Ditto I've been reading a lot on politics and sociology, and it was my first association. I had no intention to offend or derail.
Just ran across this, which is related. Isaac Asimov's predictions 50 years ahead of his time: http://www.openculture.com/2013/08/isaac-asimovs-1964-predictions-about-2014.html If James Burke is half as accurate as Asimov was, this could get interesting. Technically, though, I'm unlikely to be around for this utopia in 40 years' time ...unless 'they' discover a way to halt ageing, like ...NOW!
Great link. His predictions about robots not being very good and boredom are spot on. That being said, he didn't get everything right. Still, his prediction about robots more than makes up for his wrong predictions.
That was a great piece. He said pretty much exactly what I have always said/believed. As you all know, I'm as conservative as they get and I agree 100% with everything that was said. Not sure what jazzabel was saying. It was interesting what he said about the people in Austria rioting over street numbers. "Oh no, street numbers, now everyone will know where I live! Invasion of privacy let's riot!" And yeah, I definitely think we are closer to a time of unlimited abundance brought in part by technology. Then we won't need governments and we can all go live on a mountaintop.
@jannert: It always amazes me how the visionaries predict these things, but I suppose they had deep knowledge of physics and technology, and all they needed to do is make educated guesses. Still, remarkable. AC Clarke was also spot on. I'm getting lost in the links on that website, it's really good
He seems to be saying the nano factories will operate without physical resources. Solar energy is one thing, but what do the nano factories use for building materials? I can't see most factories and assembly plants being replaced with 3D printers in every home in the next 40 years, but the latter part of that sentence, 3D printers in every home, is probably coming in that timeframe. I just don't see the science of nanotechnology moving in the direction of personal use to the extent he predicts in that time frame. I think he's underestimating the ability of the sponsoring investors to monetize their research results. IOW, I can see medical advances and the factory use of nanobots, but selling those to consumers who would then then break ties to the retailer is not in evidence. If anything you will keep being sold the next model, and the parts for your old one will conveniently no longer be available to repair it, but you won't care because the new model will be so much better .... well, hopefully people see my point. I suspect the idea nanobots will replace factories is in the same category as all the future predictions we'd have flying cars by now. I should also point out (apolitically ) that people who think government spying is limited to assessing your interactions individually/directly haven't yet heard about the extent and sophistication of data mining. I do agree with the matter of the generation gap when it comes to acceptance of loss of privacy. His example of riots over naming streets was intriguing trivia I'm now curious about. My son has a completely different attitude toward what he reveals openly on social media. He's grown up using it. Most of us are now accustomed to retailers collecting massive amounts of data on us. (I should point out, they have no problem extracting personal information at the individual level from very large amounts of data.) I don't believe for a moment the marketing lie that it's somehow in my best interest. But at the same time, it's a mere annoyance, not something to be paranoid about.
