Thankful I'm in the winter of my life...

[birdguy 3,943]

Years ago I jokingly said that someday you wouldn't have to go to school.  You would just have a professional chip implanted in your brain.  If you wanted to be a doctor you got the doctor chip.  If you wanted to be an engineer you got the engineer chip.  I may not have been too far off the mark.

While it isn't imminent it most certainly is being worked on.  While the younger generations are probably hailing it I'm glad I won't be around when it's fully implemented for people, and I have no doubt it will be.  Dream technology developed with the greater good in mind no doubt also has  those with the greater evil in mind thinking about it.

I do not now not have I ever worshiped at the altar of Elon Musk.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/09/elon-musks-neuralink-shows-video-of-monkey-using-mind-to-play-pong.html

Noel

[Twenty6 692]

Roswell, New Mexico, huh? Are you just visiting?

I have a feeling every generation looks into the future and sees doom and gloom. Mine is autonomous driving. Just because we can doesn't mean we should.

[birdguy 3,943]

56 minutes ago, Twenty6 said:

Roswell, New Mexico, huh? Are you just visiting?

No, I've lived here for 28 years.  

57 minutes ago, Twenty6 said:

I have a feeling every generation looks into the future and sees doom and gloom.

Yeah, and right now I see the doom and gloom my father might have predicted.  And at the risk of getting this dinged for a couple of reasons I would say look at wealth inequality, political chaos, and a pandemic.

Noel

[DAH4062 45]

For what it's worth (ie. not much), I'm "only" 32 and I agree with both of you. That thing with the monkey is insane and Musk is a lunatic who actually believes the hype around him.

[charliearon 3,017]

4 hours ago, birdguy said:

  You would just have a professional chip implanted in your brain.  If you wanted to be a doctor you got the doctor chip.  If you wanted to be an engineer you got the engineer chip.  I may not have been too far off the mark.

 

Then why in the heck did I get a potato chip? 🤪

[birdguy 3,943]

36 minutes ago, charliearon said:

Then why in the heck did I get a potato chip?

Beats a microchip.  At least it's edible.  Only you can't eat just one.

Noel

[birdguy 3,943]

1 hour ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

 I think the odds are good some of us will survive IF we can become planetary anonymous (aka self sufficient in space).

Unless we can find a planet within driving distance that has running water and trees and a breathable atmosphere I, for one, cannot imagine living out my life in a bubble on an inhabitable planet like Mars where you have to suit up to go outside the bubble.

Of the 7 billion humans how many will of us will survive?  Certainly not the blue collar population who have neither the scientific skills or the money to buy a seat on whatever is going out there.

A lot of people embrace technology and live with the annoyances like ubiquitous telemarketer calls on iPhones and the negative aspects of social media (which I do not subscribe to).  The only outside communication I engage in is right here on AVSIM.  I don't go on any other forums.  I used to participate on the Orbx forum but I became persona-non-grata there over a year or maybe two ago and have been banned for life I guess.  Yes, I can get support on the limited users support forum but that's it.

My personal opinion is that instead of looking outward to save a fraction of humanity we should look inward and solve our personal behavior/relationship/problems and come to grips with global warming and cleaning up the environment...both land surfaces and oceans and save us all. 

Noel

 

Edited April 9, 2021 by birdguy

[martin-w 3,234]

6 hours ago, birdguy said:

Years ago I jokingly said that someday you wouldn't have to go to school.  You would just have a professional chip implanted in your brain.  If you wanted to be a doctor you got the doctor chip.  If you wanted to be an engineer you got the engineer chip.  I may not have been too far off the mark.

 

Noel

 

It's not how you portray it. Neurolink will save lives and improve the quality of life for many.

The majority of us are cyborgs now. We have fillings in our teeth, wear glasses, some have artificial implants and limbs. Like it or not, this process will continue. The blind will see, the crippled will walk and the lives of many will be enhanced.

If you couldn't walk and an implant could make you walk again I'm pretty sure you'd be happy to accept the technology. 

Technology can always be used for good or bad, thats how it's always been. 

[martin-w 3,234]

4 hours ago, Twenty6 said:

Mine is autonomous driving.

 

1.35 million people are killed on the roads every year as a result of the inability of human beings to drive properly.

So yes, that's right, a technology that when perfected can dramatically reduce that figure is definately a bad thing. 🙄

[martin-w 3,234]

2 hours ago, DAH4062 said:

Musk is a lunatic 

 

A lunatic who has taken thousands of gas cars off the road, given us solar roof tiles and back up batteries, grid scale batteries and is working on implants that will enable the blind to see and the crippled to walk. Not to mention developing technology that will make us a multiplanetary species.

Yes, I can see that you would perceive that as lunacy. My kind of lunatic. Let's have more like him.

 

[martin-w 3,234]

1 hour ago, birdguy said:

Unless we can find a planet within driving distance that has running water and trees and a breathable atmosphere I, for one, cannot imagine living out my life in a bubble on an inhabitable planet like Mars where you have to suit up to go outside the bubble.

 

 

 

You won't have to. It will be scientists and engineers first. By the time colonists get to the red planet the dome you speak of will be big, comfortable and a tolerable experience. Colonists wont be there permanently either. It will be quite a while before the technology is perfected to enable us to withstand the low gravity permanently.

[martin-w 3,234]

1 hour ago, birdguy said:

 

My personal opinion is that instead of looking outward to save a fraction of humanity we should look inward and solve our personal behavior/relationship/problems and come to grips with global warming and cleaning up the environment...both land surfaces and oceans and save us all. 

Noel

 

 

That's what we are doing. Not with enough effort but we are doing that. Its not one or the other. Musk spending his companies money getting us to Mars doesn"t stop us mitigating climate change or any of the other issues we face.

[hs118 707]

@birdguy You may be interested in the research of Dr. Joseph Tainter.

 

 

 

[birdguy 3,943]

1 hour ago, martin-w said:

tolerable experience.

I would want more than a 'tolerable' existence.

Noel

[dave2013 1,123]

 

4 hours ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

Our brains are our biggest asset and it's why we were able to address this particular pandemic rather than ignore it and hope it goes away with warm weather 😉

Yes, we are fortunate that the U.S. govt. executed Operation Warp Speed and got those vaccines developed and manufactured at the fastest rate in history.  Our friends in Italy were flabbergasted and impressed that we have already administered over 100 million doses of the Covid vaccine. 

I'm a bit more pessimistic about mankind's future.  Although the population growth rate is declining, it has increased by about 2 billion in only the past 20 years to nearly 8 billion people.  In 30 years it will be close to 10 billion.  With the rapid development of technology that can and will replace more and more lower skilled workers, and eventually even some highly skilled ones, I don't see how all these people will be able to make a living.  Then there are the resources such as energy, food, water, and materials that will be needed for them to survive.  Anyone can clearly see how bad the situation already is in many poorer countries and how desperate those poor folks are.  I have noticed myself how food prices in the U.S. are rising 3-5% a year, which is mostly due to govt. money creation but also to supply; granted the supply issue could be due to Covid-related production decline, at least I hope so.  My point is that humanity had better figure out how to support a couple billion more people with limited resources, otherwise we're in for a Malthusian crisis and dystopian future of rationing and loss of freedom.

As far as the next 50 years is concerned, I don't even consider pie in the sky plans to establish colonies in orbit or on other planets.  It's still a big deal for us to simply get a rocket into space and back.

Dave