Human Evolution/Technology.

Discussion in 'Human Science' started by Cactus Jack, Apr 27, 2002.

  1. Cactus Jack Death Knight of Northrend Registered Senior Member

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    I was reading "Playing the Future" by Douglas Rushkoff, and he had some interesting points on how human beings must/have evolve(d) alongside technology. The Japanese were hit with the Bomb (two to be precise) in World War 2. After this their media sources reflected this evolution. One of the most popular shows in Japan is Gundam, in the show human beings have colonized many different worlds and a rebellion breaks out between Earth and the colonies. They fight using Gundams, huge robotic vehicles meant to mimic human motions. At the same time children are being born with mental powers such as the ability to read thoughts and when they are placed in a Gundam they are immiediatley able to control it with their minds, no formal training. After the horror of atomic weapons being unleashed upon them, the Japanese realize that human beings must and will evolve alongside technology in some way.

    After World War 2, American Sci-Fi had Star Trek, and (as Rushkoff calls them) "cyberpunk" authors. These pictured humanity with new technology but modern day drives. In the "cyberpunk" author's perspective this has frightening consequences. Such as super hacker thiefs, and other such misuses of technology. Americans may not have learned there lesson on the whole subject. Though some more modern media seemed to be better, it still lacks. Though Star Trek - Next Generation has better ideals, the "Prime Directive" is still a dualistic view. No interference because we are just observing other cultures. However, science has allready proven that anything we observe we have some effect on.

    So there's my thoughts, any more ideas.
    ~Cactus
     
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  3. wet1 Wanderer Registered Senior Member

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    Do we evolve alongside technology? I think the answer is yes.

    Let me give this example as food for thought. In the days of the caveman, people aged to the ripe old age of 30 before dying of old age. Teeth gone, body wore out, no longer able to keep up with the tribe as it moved to other locations to keep it's food source within range. The age of 30 was for those lucky ones. There was no help for those who were injured on the hunt, medicalwise. No help for those with infections. It all ended with death, for the individual, as it does now.

    Only now, with the help of modern medicene, man's life expectancy is in the 70's with longer lifetimes in sight. That's twice as long as the caveman era. With that comes that a man's working years, where he is the most productive, doubled. A longer time to effect changes, to make more strides in science, to see that the older members of society survive. The older members are no longer left at the trail side to die. The senior members are the ones who have had a lifetime of learning, dealing with the happenings of life. By giving aid in the form of what their life exerience has taught them, the younger generations no longer have to learn for themselves, that which they can benefit from, is less painfully learned. This in turn increases the speed at which more experiences are learned as less time is spent dealing with the problems of life. The effect of this one aspect has indeed changed all of our lives.
     
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  5. Cactus Jack Death Knight of Northrend Registered Senior Member

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    Thanx for reply. Wanna know something interesting though? Some people believed people in Noah's day/age/place lived longer than we do currently. Noah is supposed to have lived around five hundred years.

    As far as the topic: I think that we make mistakes when we first develop a technology we make mistakes but eventualy do/will evolve to be able to use it.
     
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  7. kmguru Staff Member

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    Do we evolve alongside technology?

    Depends on your definition of evolve...

    Physically, we have not changed in the last 10,000 years. Mentally, we have come a long way. I beg to differ with wet1 in that, without antibiotics and quality sanitation, we could be dying at age 30 too. It all depends on the area and the bio-assult to your body. Our body still is having a difficult time managing stress. The heart disease is the no.1 killer in US and so on...Arthritis has not changed in 2000 years...what we licked is some pathogens from the ecosystem. But we have others such as ebola and HIV that our body is not smart enough to handle it. We will remain that way, until our computer friends evolve to nanotechnology and get inside the body to go after those pathogens. The computers can evolve faster than biological systems...

    On the mind side, we seem to have improved our processing capabilities. It could be just more information to digest and use than 2000 years ago. So, it too could be wishful thinking. If da vinci would have been born today, he would have certainly been famous too developing new stuff from our technology...so , it could be that we always had this 10GHz 128 bit processor in our head but no software to run. As we incrementally added stuff, it just snowballed (positive feedback).

    Unless somebody can change my mind, I am going to stick to the same level for the last 2000 years.
     
  8. Cactus Jack Death Knight of Northrend Registered Senior Member

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    816
    I see what your saying. And I do believe evolution can be a mental thing.
     

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