I’ve probably written about this before, but here goes: I’m watching a documentary about the Concorde and it’s last flight, and it occurs to me that this planet is beginning a backward slide, in technology and culture.
It’s the year 2005, and we can no longer go to the moon. Supersonic passenger transport has stopped. Not only is there no Hilton on it, but the International Space Station is on the verge of closure and we haven’t had any shuttle flights in years… and the shuttle itself is rather pointless.
The only promising new medical breakthrough — stem cells — has been squashed by backwards-looking politicians. What few life-saving drugs are out there are incredibly expensive, paying for research on new medicines to keep old men erect.
Is our civilization stagnating and starting to move backwards? Is there no progression in our technology other than ways to distribute porn and entertainment more efficiently?
What happened to the future?
I agree completely, and I had the same feeling when they stopped Concorde flights. And the Shuttle is 70’s technology.
Behold the fruits of a capitalism-driven culture.
(And of course we only went to the moon to beat the Soviets; it wasn’t like it was the search for knowledge or anything as silly and impractical as that.)
I received an amazingly clear cell phone call from Japan this evening. You drive one of the most fuel efficient cars made. Stem cell research continues, only not federally funded. Artificial limbs are becoming more lifelike. Bold and exciting discoveries are being made in nanotechnology, genetics, physics …
Try reading a science journal – Discover that, even if we aren’t turning space into the next tourist attraction or living on the lifeless gray moon, good things are happening and will continue to do so.
This is but one part of the puzzle. America, the United States quit being a ‘producing’
Nation and workforce to a ‘Service’ workforce. We don’t build things anymore. Sure one can point to the auto industry as a leader in manufacturing, but take a minute and look at the numbers for the last 10 or 15 years, millions of jobs are gone.
Try to buy a TV made in America, how about a DVD player? Good luck. We don’t make those kinds of things any more. Building things takes labor, trained labor. And large corporations learned long ago that if they moved manufacturing to other countries cost of labor would go down and profits would go up.
What’s left? Service jobs, cashier, teller, receptionist, McDonalds and Wal-Mart. The greed, the pure unmitigated greed of big business is choking the life out of America. We don’t reward education, we don’t reward pioneers anymore. And we beat down anyone that dares to think creatively. The brightest and best don’t want to live or work here?
Funding for Science is through the government. If you think you can get a grant to study something the White House doesn’t like, I have a surprise for you. If your research clearly points out the fact the White house is misinformed about the nature of science I have another surprise for you.
Can you say ‘Budget cuts’
Is it any wonder that scientists are leaving and science is slowing to a crawl.