(June 22, 2019 at 9:45 pm)ColdComfort Wrote:(June 22, 2019 at 9:16 pm)Brian37 Wrote: Technology is neither good or bad, humans are the ones whom use it so it depends on how we use it.
That's perfectly true. Is there reason to think humans are suddenly, or in the long term, going to give up nuclear weapons and other weapons that, if used, would kill everyone on Earth? Is Peace and Love about to break out anytime soon? I have zero confidence in politicians coming up with a way to deal with climate change. Some people used to think that moral progress went hand in hand with educational or technological progress. The history of the 20th c. put an end to that idea.
Of course, technology can't be stopped but it strikes me that being 'masters of own destiny' is a bit of a cruel joke. Taking into consideration the interests of past and future generations, the latter of whom may not exist, I would change history so that the technological explosion had never occurred. As an individual your lifespan might be forty, if you're lucky, and you'd spend it farming or something but humanity as a whole would be better off.
The only way out I can think of is genetic manipulation so that humans are not quite so short sighted and murderous.
I am certainly glad I have a computer instead of having to hand a parcel over to a guy in a stagecoach and horse. At the same time, while we invented cars greedy oil companies to this day keep the world addicted to what is harming our planet.
It isn't an either or thing for me. Can humans do better? Yes. Will we? That is a different story.
