The Golden Age is upon us!

Has anyone else ever considered the possibility that we may be living in the Golden Age of our species at this very moment? That this is as good as it gets? Or at least will get over the next.... 100 years or so.

If you consider that best estimates are that the planet can support roughly double our population before the environment begins to deteriorate to such a degree that it's not fit for human habitation, and that at our current rate of growth, we'll hit that limit within our very lifetimes (the next 100 years), it appears as though this is it. This is the zenith of our race, before a downward spiral of death destruction and chaos. Quite litterally, our children could be involved in "MadMax: Beyond Thunderdome" struggles for the few resources left on earth to survive.

It sounds surreal, most likely, from a lot of peoples' perspective, and understandably so. Who can imagine not having enough to eat when there's a fast food joint on every corner? Valueless money when there are ATM's at every shopping mall and gas station? Desease when there are Hospitals in every city?

But if you've ever been to places like Haiti, or Cuba, or Guam, or most of Africa, you'll see how surreal OUR lives must be to people that can't feed themselves, and wouldn't know what currency is. Peoples who entire lives revolve around cutting down the very forests that create the oxygen they breathe, just so they can farm enough food to live on for a few more seasons. Having nice cars, million dollar homes, and food so readily available must be mind boggling to most of them, the same as not having enough is to us.

Do I believe that we will survive as a whole? Of course! I'm not a doomsayer after all. ;-) The human mind is far too resilliant to be subdued by even it's own machinations of war and plague. Our very existance is a general scoffing at nature itself, populating places we shouldn't be able to, making use of resources we shouldn't have access to because our ingenuity and genetic success ensure that our minds have become our most valuable tool for battleing every obstacles that nature (and ourselves) present.

Also, if you consider the technological evolution up to this point, we're sitting on the verge of exponential advancement like we never have before. Of course, that only makes sense, seeing as forward motion is our nature. Every generation, at any given time has most likely believed that they were in a similar position, as far as technological advancements. Look at the late 1800's to early 1900's for example. They went from horses to trains to cars in a matter of one generation. That was one helluva period! But since the dawn of the 20th century, our quality of life has increased to a degree never before thought of. The wealth of the civilized nations is more evenly dispersed among the populous than ever before, for one thing.

Who would have believed that even the poorest of Americans would have food and water and shelter guaranteed at the very least? And what home doesn't have a TV? Or a computer nowadays? Even the richest of the rich only possess "upgraded" versions of the same basic amenities that most people possess. Nicer cars and computer and homes, true, but the margins between poor and rich are lessening every day. It's not even an unreasonable expectation to expect a 6 figure income straight out of college!

I've strayed from my question a bit I suppose. But considering all these things, and the fact that there IS a terminal populous that the planet can support, regardless of how much we stress the importance of conservation efforts, or how well they are actually carried out, don't you think that we might be living in the Golden Age of this planet? Only worse is to come, from my perspective. That's not to say that we won't come out from our impending predicament just peachy keen, but the odds are heavily against it getting any better before it gets worse.

I believe that we are the luckiest generation to have ever lived on this planet in the countries that we do, and that if we could seperate ourselves from the drama of our lives, we could sit back and appreciate each day we have a little more. Although that's a totally different subject, it's something to consider as well. I forsee the next 100 years as being the best our species has ever experienced, and that we are fortunate indeed to be alive right smack dab in the middle of it. What do you guys think? Is only BETTER to come?

--LM

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

what??

Do you think after thousands of years of learning the human race would be stupid enough to let itself deteriorate and eventually die?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

We were stupid enough to develop, make, and use the atom bomb Elbaz. That leaves a lot of room open...

 

I am not sure if we are at our Zenith quite yet. Although I do agree that the earths carrying capacity is coming near I do not believe it will be the thing which leads to our downfall. I believe the only thing which will obliviate us, and the rest of the planet, is ourselves. For we are the ones which are knowingly poluting our air, destroying our rainforests, and polluting anything else we can find useful. It is quite possible also that we will thin out our own numbers by war. Our weapons of mass destruction can destroy this world easily, we might easily take our numbers from 6 billion to 1 million with the push of a few buttons. Although sadly this is what the masses support, ask any American what they think of the army and most will say "Powerful" and will full heartedly support the funding of it. The ignorance of the masses will lead us to our doom. We as a society must overcome this and try to promote peace. although most are too set in their ways to listen.

 

I like cheese

I´m sorry, I just had to vote for that. I don´t believe this is the Golden Age, I don´t hope so anyway, I think humaity will evolve very much and to the better from where we are now.

But then, this age gets as golden as we make it, right?

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

 

Golden Age?

Life- My mom and I have this discussion a lot about the changes that have come over the years. What was offered in their neighborhoods to give them something to do was a community dance type thing. so they had a place to hang with friends.
Today I feel bad for all the kids in this town. They can't do anything without the cops watching there every move. They get kicked out of every place they try to hang. I'm not a skateboarder or anything but for better or worse give these kids a little space or rule with an iron fist and watch them rebel as adults.
Technology-Things get more intriguing every day. We are on the dawn of a new frontier, but as to say a better frontier who knows. My mom never dealt with drive by shootings, carjackings, etc. It seems for every step forward in the advancement of humanity we take there is always something there that reminds me that I can get a better television but a little baby girl was hit by a stray bullet and dies. Sorry, I got to watch that on my new 100 inch in wall television. I'm not saying that technology is bad, far from it but simpler times seem to be not all that bad also. Remember if you didn't have it you didn't miss it. Sorry if I strayed but Golden Age, ask your parents, see what they can offer? Just my 2 cents.

 

I just wanted to give my input...

I think that's very possible that the Golden Age is upon us...I say this because of a conversation that I had this week with my CS teacher...

Think about this: every couple of years the speed of our computers doubles, which means that the rise in the speed of our computers is an exponential function, let's say that at some point we can no longer increase the speed of our computers because we reach the ceiling of what our human capabilities will allow us to perform. It is very possible that by the year 2020 that in order to increase the speed of computers we'll be dealing with single particles. Of course it's possible that we'll have the technology to do that, but is it realistic, I don't think so. Supposing that this is true, since technology basically runs the world it is very possible that we are at our Zenith, or will be within the next 100 years.

 

Welcome to Sciforums, nighthawk.

I question that this is true. In one of our other threads HP has come up with a molecular circuit. This is not for off from what you propose and early in its development. With 150 years it will be far and long ago outmoded technology. It opens the doors for greater refinement, speed, and computational capabilities. And it is in development NOW.

 

Some guy 100 years ago said nothing more could be discovered or invented because everything had already been discovered. I wonder how stupid that guy would feel if he was living today??

 

are you saying that people will think that of us in 100 years?

 

Steam

Are we still in the steam age??
As even our computers run on it!
Think about it.

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

 

Ah, come on...




at the end of the nineteenth century scientists believed they had reached the end of physics .. everything in nature was known and they had invented laws for it ...



Twentieth century science has revealed that 19th century science wasn't even close to being complete, nor accurate.
It's only a few generations ago the world was dominated by steam engines. At a time when scientist were only learning the basics of electricity who could have imagined a world dominated by microprocessors... Isn't it plausible to think that we 'suffer' the same fate...
When knowledge grows, technology follows , even if we can't imagine it's future applications.







However i don't agree that the level of technology can be use to indicate where our generation can be found on the golden age Bell curve...

What do we mean by golden age anyway ..
Our current level of comfort?
Our happynes, maybe?
Our life expectancy?
The amout of suffering in the world?
Our ability to easily kill ourselves?
The number of ppl on hte globe ? ...