How could the technology boom have been more useful if it wasn't driven by military or market forces?
How could the technology boom of the past fifty years have been more useful to humankind if it wasn't driven by military or market forces?
This question was asked at the Dropping Knowledge event on 9th September by Dan Hill, 59, Leechburg, Pennsylvania, USA.
To find out more about Dropping Knowledge check out our blog:
Dropping Knowledge in the UK: http://uk.blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-qt1kkp.
Dropping Knowledge in the US: http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-d8ph0dcor.
To discuss this subject in more detail follow this link to the official Dropping Knowledge website: http://www.droppingknowledge.org/bin/pos.
Answers:
First, understand that there would be little or no progress, EVER, if there were no need for military or free market. It is through adversity and necessity that invention is needed to one up one's opponent so that they may win the war or get that needed edge in the market place, so folks can feed their families.
So here we are. No need for military because we are at total peace with one another and God provides all the manna needed to sustain us; therefor, there should be no need for a market either. So. here we are. Oh.technology boom. What technology. There is no technology. The Internet will not exist. I am not sure that even the wheel would have been invented. In fact, I don't think we would even have language skills; so, you probably could not have been able to ask this question. Other animals would have dominated over us and we would have all died. Then maybe, in stead of YOU asking this question, it would have come, maybe another thousand years later, as a neanderthal asked it; because, they may have survived if the humans were not around.
Have you not heard of the power of people?
for a start, we could have expended those resouces towards creating alternate energy sources. And a valuable addition to our technologies would also be the space elevator - making travel off the planet cheap and easy (eggs in one basket!).
its more than a little bit annoying to know that the money we squander on war could help us out, for example - the American civil defence budget for one day could feed and clothe the entire world for a day!
how messed up is that when people are starving!
Any technology boom needs a driving force. In times of conflict the military is a very good driving force, they have to find someway of killing the enemy before they get killed themselves - can't get much more motivation that that.
Unfortunately it seems to take an ages before any of that technology is filtered into public use.
So without drivers like the military or market forces, technology would probably be slower to develop
necessity is the mother of invention
It's not just driven by the power of people.
Being driven by what makes money and the military does absolutely nothing for the people. Its money and research that should have been used for disease or even developing health care. Technology isn't always the most important and so many fail to see that the military having better weapons or more soldiers is not reassuring but rather frightening! The bigger the armies of the world get, the more war is eminent. On the other side, by being market driven, you get products that are not quite as good as the product should be. They have to sell you a piece of junk first, then you upgrade as the technology "improves." So in this instance, the technology isn't even worth the money of the people as it will be changing over time.
I disagree. I think if it wasn't for the government/military directing technology, we wouldn't have so many things we take now for granted.
The internet itself was originally a DARPA-net project (military) before it expanded to include schools. If it wasn't for the military, we wouldn't be online right now on the Web!
It would have happened comrade. Yeah I'm going to invent something with no expectation of being compensated for it. Yeah that's really going to happen.
We live in a capitalist society people no matter how much you communist hate it it is the only system that works. Even Marx admitted that communism couldn't work without capitalism.
Wow, well for one we would be enjoying 23rd century technology maybe even 25th century technology if it wasn't for those forces holding everyone back from their creativity
;-)
Things would also be more practicle, and more available, and more sensitive to issues like the environment
::: Peace :::
technology used to create Eden
any force that's driving technology boom is okay, I wonder what other forces you're talking about
I guess Dan Hill can't compete. LOSER.
I wonder if he realizes that the technology boom was FUNDED by military and market forces.
How much of it came from 1960's communes? We'd all be making crochet plant-hangers and weaving baskets if we took that tack.
Freakin crybaby
There are many sources of technological advance that are not driven by military or market forces, such as academic research and open source software development. In fact, the vast majority of the internet servers in the world run on Linux, which was and is developed for neither military nor commericial reasons.
"It is a sad commentary on the state of mankind, that our greatest achievements are driven primarily in only two areas - entertainment and warfare."
author unknown
Why does it matter what drives the boom? What else could drive such a fast development if not for self-defense or getting a better life for yourself and your children?
Why do you hate capitalism so much? What is your problem?
It would have failed, failed, failed. Why do you find communism so enchanting? It has failed EVERYWHERE it has been tried.
It wouldn't have happened. Look at the technological inertia of the communist block as an example. West Germany had the BMW, East Germany the Trabant.
Jet engines, passenger planes, radar, radio, sattelites - all of these had their roots in military technologies. that is where the money is.
I think that most technology was developed for the military by the government, etc, so there likely would not have been a technology boom in the first place.
OK thats just silly,,,,,,silly question gets a silly answer.
Technology would have been more usefull becuase the aliens from Gutsnart could have implanted the ultimate question inside all the tootsie rolls with cheese filling and granite sprinkles.
If your gonna ask a question, at least give it a workable base.
Let me try again,
Uhm, technology boom did exist way before the DARPA, Tesla Marconi and them cats were haveing some fun with radio waves and Teslas idea was to be free electricity for all humanity.
Watt had a like minded idea, so IF Goverments and thus Militaries did not exist, for without one the other is moot, we would now have unlimited and free energy for all of mankind, free readio, free tv, free telephones, fee internet, free airplanes, gettin it yet?
Yes but then again giving the inventors different drivers would have altered their focus to the point of which we probably wouldn't have seen much developed for such advanced things as wireless cellphones and other mobile technologies that offer us users instantaneous electronic communication from just about anywhere. What I do think that would change is that inventors would focus on changing everybody's lives so we all live more cleanly and or more peacefully together if there wasn't any big money payoff possibly awaiting them and threrfore we'd all probably see less TV infomercials too.
I think the boom would have had more far reaching social effects than thus far. There would have been increased application of technology to providing alternative fossil fuels, additional medical services provided to the poor, and increased food production worldwide. I also think that there would have been birth control methods for men so that they would not have to solely rely on condoms to protect themselves from pregnancy. Technologies related to providing consistent medications to those with chronic medical & psychological conditions would have been developed. All in all, I think our society would have seen much more social and enviornmental progress than we have seen thus far.
Without military or market forces, there is no reason for ANY technology.
We would still live on the African Savannah and have to hide from or run fast from predators.
This is the stupidest featured question ever!
It would have been less useful since it would not have existed.
This is a weird question. You may as well ask:
Wouldn't clothes be nicer if they weren't influenced by the fashion industry? OR
How could we improve people's dietary practices, if we ignore personal taste for food? OR
Wouldn't cars be much more fun if we ignored the need for transportation and the cost of fuel?
b/c it felt like it
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This question was asked at the Dropping Knowledge event on 9th September by Dan Hill, 59, Leechburg, Pennsylvania, USA.
To find out more about Dropping Knowledge check out our blog:
Dropping Knowledge in the UK: http://uk.blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-qt1kkp.
Dropping Knowledge in the US: http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-d8ph0dcor.
To discuss this subject in more detail follow this link to the official Dropping Knowledge website: http://www.droppingknowledge.org/bin/pos.
Answers:
First, understand that there would be little or no progress, EVER, if there were no need for military or free market. It is through adversity and necessity that invention is needed to one up one's opponent so that they may win the war or get that needed edge in the market place, so folks can feed their families.
So here we are. No need for military because we are at total peace with one another and God provides all the manna needed to sustain us; therefor, there should be no need for a market either. So. here we are. Oh.technology boom. What technology. There is no technology. The Internet will not exist. I am not sure that even the wheel would have been invented. In fact, I don't think we would even have language skills; so, you probably could not have been able to ask this question. Other animals would have dominated over us and we would have all died. Then maybe, in stead of YOU asking this question, it would have come, maybe another thousand years later, as a neanderthal asked it; because, they may have survived if the humans were not around.
Have you not heard of the power of people?
for a start, we could have expended those resouces towards creating alternate energy sources. And a valuable addition to our technologies would also be the space elevator - making travel off the planet cheap and easy (eggs in one basket!).
its more than a little bit annoying to know that the money we squander on war could help us out, for example - the American civil defence budget for one day could feed and clothe the entire world for a day!
how messed up is that when people are starving!
Any technology boom needs a driving force. In times of conflict the military is a very good driving force, they have to find someway of killing the enemy before they get killed themselves - can't get much more motivation that that.
Unfortunately it seems to take an ages before any of that technology is filtered into public use.
So without drivers like the military or market forces, technology would probably be slower to develop
necessity is the mother of invention
It's not just driven by the power of people.
Being driven by what makes money and the military does absolutely nothing for the people. Its money and research that should have been used for disease or even developing health care. Technology isn't always the most important and so many fail to see that the military having better weapons or more soldiers is not reassuring but rather frightening! The bigger the armies of the world get, the more war is eminent. On the other side, by being market driven, you get products that are not quite as good as the product should be. They have to sell you a piece of junk first, then you upgrade as the technology "improves." So in this instance, the technology isn't even worth the money of the people as it will be changing over time.
I disagree. I think if it wasn't for the government/military directing technology, we wouldn't have so many things we take now for granted.
The internet itself was originally a DARPA-net project (military) before it expanded to include schools. If it wasn't for the military, we wouldn't be online right now on the Web!
It would have happened comrade. Yeah I'm going to invent something with no expectation of being compensated for it. Yeah that's really going to happen.
We live in a capitalist society people no matter how much you communist hate it it is the only system that works. Even Marx admitted that communism couldn't work without capitalism.
Wow, well for one we would be enjoying 23rd century technology maybe even 25th century technology if it wasn't for those forces holding everyone back from their creativity
;-)
Things would also be more practicle, and more available, and more sensitive to issues like the environment
::: Peace :::
technology used to create Eden
any force that's driving technology boom is okay, I wonder what other forces you're talking about
I guess Dan Hill can't compete. LOSER.
I wonder if he realizes that the technology boom was FUNDED by military and market forces.
How much of it came from 1960's communes? We'd all be making crochet plant-hangers and weaving baskets if we took that tack.
Freakin crybaby
There are many sources of technological advance that are not driven by military or market forces, such as academic research and open source software development. In fact, the vast majority of the internet servers in the world run on Linux, which was and is developed for neither military nor commericial reasons.
"It is a sad commentary on the state of mankind, that our greatest achievements are driven primarily in only two areas - entertainment and warfare."
author unknown
Why does it matter what drives the boom? What else could drive such a fast development if not for self-defense or getting a better life for yourself and your children?
Why do you hate capitalism so much? What is your problem?
It would have failed, failed, failed. Why do you find communism so enchanting? It has failed EVERYWHERE it has been tried.
It wouldn't have happened. Look at the technological inertia of the communist block as an example. West Germany had the BMW, East Germany the Trabant.
Jet engines, passenger planes, radar, radio, sattelites - all of these had their roots in military technologies. that is where the money is.
I think that most technology was developed for the military by the government, etc, so there likely would not have been a technology boom in the first place.
OK thats just silly,,,,,,silly question gets a silly answer.
Technology would have been more usefull becuase the aliens from Gutsnart could have implanted the ultimate question inside all the tootsie rolls with cheese filling and granite sprinkles.
If your gonna ask a question, at least give it a workable base.
Let me try again,
Uhm, technology boom did exist way before the DARPA, Tesla Marconi and them cats were haveing some fun with radio waves and Teslas idea was to be free electricity for all humanity.
Watt had a like minded idea, so IF Goverments and thus Militaries did not exist, for without one the other is moot, we would now have unlimited and free energy for all of mankind, free readio, free tv, free telephones, fee internet, free airplanes, gettin it yet?
Yes but then again giving the inventors different drivers would have altered their focus to the point of which we probably wouldn't have seen much developed for such advanced things as wireless cellphones and other mobile technologies that offer us users instantaneous electronic communication from just about anywhere. What I do think that would change is that inventors would focus on changing everybody's lives so we all live more cleanly and or more peacefully together if there wasn't any big money payoff possibly awaiting them and threrfore we'd all probably see less TV infomercials too.
I think the boom would have had more far reaching social effects than thus far. There would have been increased application of technology to providing alternative fossil fuels, additional medical services provided to the poor, and increased food production worldwide. I also think that there would have been birth control methods for men so that they would not have to solely rely on condoms to protect themselves from pregnancy. Technologies related to providing consistent medications to those with chronic medical & psychological conditions would have been developed. All in all, I think our society would have seen much more social and enviornmental progress than we have seen thus far.
Without military or market forces, there is no reason for ANY technology.
We would still live on the African Savannah and have to hide from or run fast from predators.
This is the stupidest featured question ever!
It would have been less useful since it would not have existed.
This is a weird question. You may as well ask:
Wouldn't clothes be nicer if they weren't influenced by the fashion industry? OR
How could we improve people's dietary practices, if we ignore personal taste for food? OR
Wouldn't cars be much more fun if we ignored the need for transportation and the cost of fuel?
b/c it felt like it
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