Should we look forward to distant future as individuals of a species

[Linaver]

The other thread gave me an interesting idea. Should our civilization be looking forward to the future 200, 500, 2000, 10000 years from now?
TV sci-fi sure does a terrific job of portraying the future filled with excitement, adventure and the unknown. But here's my thoughts on the future, the past and the present and I'm wondering what you guys think future holds for humanity from a realist perspective.



I'm not looking forward to the space fairing future. Sure it's great to imagine being a captain of a smuggler vessel cruising through the stars but you'll just have what you always had- maintenance workers, lowish income middle class, gigantic interstellar corporations controlling absolutely everything and giving all the production jobs to robots resulting in decreasing number of jobs for an ever growing population. Pollution and grease becoming a routine. There will be a place for the smartest and the brightest as there has always been, but overall I believe the quality of life would go waaay down compared to what we have now in developed worlds. Hell everyone with a job and motivation can afford a house and retirement, in future it will all be about efficiency and you'll be stuck in some 5x5 cubicle close to your work for most of your life. Creativity will be reserved for the top minds of global corporations that will dictate what you should eat, what you should wear and what you should buy to be accepted into society.

And the past sucks just as much. No hygiene, barely anything remotely resembling medicine, half the living expectancy if even that. Next to zero disposable income for non-royalty or public figures.

Don't get me wrong the age and the world we live in now is so very much imperfect with plenty of corruption and injustice to go around. And a lot of the things I described are taking place in today's world but to a much lesser extent in a way that we still have our freedoms. But honestly as far as I'm concerned on an individual (notice the bold) level I believe our civilization is at it's peak. I predict we'll plateau for 2 or 3 more generations and its all downhill from there.

ps: Mods please remove the unnecessary "a" from the topic title, thank you.

[Deleted]

well at the the start of the 19th century there where people who said that everything that needed to be invented had been made, and that was before aircraft,

[Linaver]

I don't argue that there will be significant technology breakthroughs for many many years to come. I just don't think that they will alter the life of a common man. Make some processes easier sure, increase life expectancy absolutely. I believe technology will improve life, not change it.

Only exception I can think of is complete cyber era. Where you will directly interface with the world with your brain, be fed through tubes and become a part of the collective. I do think that is a very very possible development scenario for our civilization although I wish to think that will be a very far off future.

As far as I'm concerned no matter how I look at it I don't see how ever increasing population and ever advancing technology could possibly coexist together in tandem. I'm talking about population sizes 20-30 times our current population. Which once we discover efficient ways to travel to other planets is a very conceivable idea. If we don't discover ways to communicate between our planets in different solar systems we risk become isolates pockets of humanity confined and isolated on our planets. Alternatively if we do develop an instant "wormhole" concept we risk becoming a society where individual life is absolutely pointless and easily replaceable at every level.

The point of this thread is not to say how bad everything will be. It is perhaps to make you think that maybe the future won't be as great as we imagine and the past isn't what we praise it to be. But you know what, the present is a pretty kickass place to be.

[geekgie]

Watch Doctor Who, I think humanity is kinda headed down that road.

[Sorrior]

I suggest you read more books on modern theoretical physics as well as technologies were are creating today. You might be surprised.

But overall unless things change i see more of a mad max/waterworld stylefuture.

[Linaver]

I do not speak out of ignorance

I am well aware of the replacement organs synthesis becoming a norm. Augmentation through nanobots is certainly very well funded research.
If we're talking about theoretical physics I'm vaguely aware of the nature of space/time and the possibility of "time traveling" to the future from point A to point B as a viable way to achieve large scale interstellar travel within a single human lifetime. Anything crazier than that like overlapping the fabric of the universe for instantaneous travel I don't have an opinion on. Theoretical physics will steal your sanity if you venture deep enough, we'll just have to wait and see. As stated, I don't argue the amazing technology we will develop.

My argument is that huge populations and extremely advanced technology cannot possibly coexist and provide us with the opportunities and freedom we have today.

[Sorrior]

LOL what freedoms? We're already having them stripped away one by one if that slowly in the name of security/safety.

As for the other stuff. Yeah i know one reason i'd go for a unified world not a peaceful one(conflict also breeds growth in alot of ways).

But as for the theiretical physics bit look up say Quantum Entanglement fun stuff threre. And then there how things like the multiverse have now become more or less accepted as theoretical fact and so on.

Then if you look at what could be done with sufficiently advanced nanobots it's kinda scary. I for one would set em up to be able to in emergencies double as armor and maybe even help rewrite our physical form depending on what we do as we age(for instance a swimmer might say gain webbed feet and gills while a mountain climber increased muscle mass and/or reshap the hands to be better suited to climbing) but that level of technology is more of a 500-1000 years thing maybe less if we get another tech spike. Hell i also say use tech like that for vehicles and weapons. Imagine that a weapon that adapts to it's wielders needs/style rather than just all being the same with vehicles that we can interface with to control using the nanotech.


Heh but again i see us instead of doing what we could instead seriously harming ourselves and this planet to the point if not total extinction of the species.

[vindicatorx]

The majority of people don't seem to think much about much beyond whats in front of them. While some thought is given through recycling we still need a lot of work in order to get to a sustainable future it doesn't help that countries that already have millions starving are the ones with explosive birth rates. We need to stray away from non renewable energy even though the big money companies don't really want us to. The only way I see us making it another 500-1000 years is by making sure we can sustain ourselves without using all the natural resources we tend to already.

[Sorrior]

The majority of people don't seem to think much about much beyond whats in front of them. While some thought is given through recycling we still need a lot of work in order to get to a sustainable future it doesn't help that countries that already have millions starving are the ones with explosive birth rates. We need to stray away from non renewable energy even though the big money companies don't really want us to. The only way I see us making it another 500-1000 years is by making sure we can sustain ourselves without using all the natural resources we tend to already.

This is pretty close to my view as well. And what i meant by at this rate best we can hope for is to wind up in waterworld or mad max land at this rate.

[WarpKnight]

The common person has enormous freedoms compared to the times of the pre-Enlightenment.

Imagine being a serf under a lord, having to grow crops to survive and having to give most of your income to your lord. You're basically a slave. The religious authority keeps any intellectual thought or dissension from ever occurring, you're too poor to travel anywhere, but even if you weren't - you'd face hostility from strangers as that's just how it was in those days.

You were basically born into your role in society, whether that be king or peasant. Nobody was ever allowed to move up or down in that kind of society. As a peasant, you were born, you started working as soon as possible, you worked your whole life, then you died at an age we'd consider too young.

Western society in the present day is amazingly liberal and free. We have the choice to do whatever we want, essentially. You want to work as a fry cook your whole life? Okay. You want to work as a fry cook while you study at university so you can get into theoretical physics? That's okay too. People from poor and rich backgrounds still have a tendency to follow their heritage, but they have the opportunity and freedom to do anything. Freedom of speech and thought, while not perfect or universal, is far, far far more real an idea and a practice than it was pre-Enlightenment. And things only seem to be improving. Minority groups are welcomed, sexual preferences are no longer a big deal, and gender is less of a thing too.

Ironically we have the black plague to thank for destroying feudal society.

As such, I believe that the theoretical space future is at least as bright, or more bright, than the present. What's to force all planets of humans to cooperate? Military might? I'm sure if you fly your spaceship far away enough you can found a colony where there's nobody to give you religious persecution, nobody to tell you to kneel to the crown, nobody to force you to follow the old ways. (Sound familiar? America.)

[Sorrior]

My point about freedom was that those very freedoms are NOW in the process of being stripped little by little. I mean i'm sorry but when a guy can be arrested for being naked IN HIS OWN HOME is the day people need to wake up IMO. And yes that has happened.

[WarpKnight]

My point about freedom was that those very freedoms are NOW in the process of being stripped little by little. I mean i'm sorry but when a guy can be arrested for being naked IN HIS OWN HOME is the day people need to wake up IMO. And yes that has happened.

Yep, things sure do seem to be going backward in many regards. What we need to all make sure of as a collective is that things remain open and free. Even just speaking out, raising awareness of such things is important.