Hi everybody. Just wanted to introduce myself. I just started posting a few days ago. I've been lurking on DU for about a year or so and finally decided to just jump into the water and splash around here along with you all. :-) Even though I haven't been too political before, I've always tried to be socially conscious. I care a lot about people and the environment and the health of our planet. I love DU andalthough I haven't posted before now, I already feel like I know so many of you. What an amazing bunch of people you are! Anyhow, things have been a little hard for me the last few years (I won't bore you with details, but reading DU gives me lots to think about and be hopeful for.) :-) Okay. Okay. So anyhoo, here's my first rant, and a link to some things I think are just so hopeful, I just wanted to share it. Maybe people would want to talk about it. I don't know. Whatever.
Okay, here goes! (I'm not a writer so be nice.) :bounce:
Big changes in weather patterns, tsunami's, earthquakes, hurricanes and storms, giant solar storms, accelerated technology development and breakthroughs, social and political upheaval, new world political alignments, lines drawn, social, political, economic and religious struggle, revolution on the lips of many (and we all know our numbers are growing), new discoveries of humanity's ancient past, regional war, genocide, unparalleled species loss, accelerating loss of polar ice, changes in ocean currents, breakdown of eco-systems, rise of global fascism, the rise of corporate states beyond countries, huge private mercenary armies, the growing Peace movement, the rise of visionary global humanitarianism (I love Al GOre), new earth-centered spirituality, new psychologies, new physics, quantum computers, genetic engineering, nano-tech...
(whew)
As uncle Kurt(Vonnegut) says: "So it goes."
So what's going on here? Where are we all going? Is our world in a lemming rush to some kind of reckoning? Are we going splat? Or is this part of evolution? I don't know, but I do wonder about it. As the rate of change increases, the experience of time seems to speed up. More and more unknowns are falling into the equation.
Has anyone here noticed how sometimes it seems like the godess has squeezed a hundred years into just the last six years or so? Maybe I'm just weird (yeah I am) but it does seem that way to me.
Okay here's the good stuff:
Essentially, if we take a look at some of the really species-changing events in our history, we see 3 really MAJOR developments that changed the entire course of human history. 1) The Agricultural Revolution. 2) The Industrial Revolution. 3) The Information Revolution.
30,000 years ago, we learned how to farm. 350 years ago, we learned how to mass-produce machines. About 50 years ago, we learned how to build computers. As you can see, the _rate_ of change is increasing, as is the ability afforded by the change. With computers, we have the ability to build more efficient things, fly planes and spaceships, educate more people, etc. Each of these enabling technologies will build further development, and at a faster rate.
According to the mathematical model, we should see approximately *61* more of these species-changing developments before 12/21/2012! All of the same magnitude as the three noted above! Again, it's only a model, but they predict 18 of those changes on the last day, and 13 of _those_ to happen in the last FRACTION OF A SECOND, as things accelerate toward that infinity point.
Near as I can figure, that's going to have to do with massive amounts of overlapping and interlocking technologies. For example: Nano-technology producing microscopic computers (that are millions of times faster and more powerful than the supercomputers of today) which sit inside of your cells getting rid of disease and making sure you have a proper nutritional balance, so that you can live longer. And nano-machines that make just about anything and can do it for free by re-arranging the atoms from waste products elsewhere. Or space technologies, which enable further population growth, and zero-gravity research, and practically unlimited energy and material resources from space. These may eventually lead to things like fusion power, faster than light travel, and/or teleportation technologies. While these are currently beyond the scope of our present tech, they may come about someday, and each new technology provides a stepping-stone for future development. There's no doubt that any of the above-named developments would change the course of our evolution drastically. Much as did the Agriculture, Industry, and Computer Ages.
http://www.sculptors.com/~salsbury/Articles/singularity.htmlDo you think we should start watching for more and more "novel" things to be happening all around us? I think it's already happening. What do you guys think about this idea of the singularity in the article? Pro and con is great. I like the idea of a cyber soap-box derby! lol
O8)
mo
(that's "om" backwards to you big boy.)
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