I’ve seen this one go around lately, and it has that lovely “feel good” vibe. We need all these touchy feely things, and the future will be just fine.
The problem, of course, is that a colony on mars will help us with drinkable water. Servers orbiting the planet helps us figure out climate issues (because, while I may not see the widespread planet-killing eco disaster the Left claims, we do have things we do poorly, and being able to monitor the planet better would do good things). There’s a non-zero chance that AI might solve our pollinator problem.
I have found that there is a certain part of the Left that seems to believe that if we all just lived on tofu and kale chips, and only drank recycled pee, walked to work, and everyone had a garden, things would immediately reverse and the world would be rosy, and everyone would get along. Cue singing Kumbaya. Oh, I forgot not showering. I’m not sure where that comes in, but they never seem to shower. Ugh.
Now, I have no issue with tofu and kale chips. I rather like both, quite honestly, but I want them when *I* want them, not because nothing else is allowed. I’d rather avoid recycled pee if I can, unless I manage to get shipped off to Mars, in which case bring it on! We almost had most people working from home, and while I am dead set that it should be voluntary and not required (as it was with covid), it did solve a lot of problems. Six weeks into our lovely lock downs, all the smog was gone, plants and bees and gardens and animals were all doing much better. Sort of put shut to the idea that it would take decades if not centuries to repair “all the damage we’ve done.” I do think most people should have a garden, even if all they do is grow some peas or a tomato plant, because it’s good for the soul and it reminds us where food comes from. I think too many people forget that.
The thing is, we can responsibly use modern tools like AI and satellites for many things. I use AI all the time for research, where it cuts down on my “random searching on the interwebz” time. Yes, I verify everything I’m told, because AI is not infallible because WE are not infallible, and it learns from us. But it’s still useful. It takes research from “days or weeks” to “hours or days,” which is huge for me. I use it for organization. I love satellite images, because I can see all sorts of things. I can watch recreations of historical battles done by AI using extant information over real modern maps. It’s amazing. I’m sure people thought gas and electric stoves were the end of the world, at one point. I know that many people fought against the removal of candles and the addition of gas lighting. It’s always hard to accept change when it comes.
But here’s the thing I see… Building a colony on Mars? That means we’ll have terraforming going on, which is absolutely applicable to our own planet. If you can turn Mars red soil into something we can grow in, then we can apply that to the Sahara Desert. If we can explore (in a few decades) the methane oceans of Titan, then maybe we can also create safe ways to navigate the depths of our own oceans. And so on. Progress allows us to learn new things about our own world, even as we explore others.
Then, of course, there’s the idea that was often touted by Heinlein. When humans find a new frontier, they go for it. They go for broke. They do crazy, insane things to go exploring. And there is a certain percentage of our population that are simply wired that way, and no amount of “reprogramming” is going to change them. They SHOULD be encouraged to challenge the new frontiers. The other side of that is that those who leave Earth to go elsewhere will toughen the breed. Those left behind will not advance as quickly as the ones who go out and explore. He believed that those who never face the raw, unforgiving nature of a space frontier are far more likely to embrace socialism, authoritarianism, and conformist rules. (LA Public Library)
The end of the meme says, “That’s the only future I’m interested in.” That seems to be exactly what Heinlein feared, doesn’t it? Because the future I’m interested in includes infinite possibilities. There’s room for those who want to be home bodies, and those who want to explore. For the gardeners and the hunters. For the thinkers and the doers. The burger flippers and the rocket scientists. We need them all, and more. I want to know what’s in the deepest parts of our oceans, and I want to know what’s on that watery planet at the very edge of our telescopic vision. I want to meet aliens, and I want to be at peace with folks at home.
I want all the futures. I’m interested in every single one of them. From AI to pollinators to satellites. All. No boundaries. 🙂
my knuckle dragging argument against
“technology” is- how did we go over 200 years in this Country without it, if technology is so great??
how is everyone supposed to earn a living working from home??
how about bring jobs back to America
no, not every job is going to earn you 100K. this used to be the “land of opportunity”. where how you live was up to YOU. aaaahhhh…
as far as the planet goes- go back to 1980 when Mt St Helen blew up. all the national geographic doom and gloomers said that part of the Country would take a century to recover… they went back the following spring and discovered the earth was already recovering. new plants and trees sprouting up thru the ash..
the big oil spill in the gulf- they “discovered” micro organisms that eat oil.. been there forever as the oil has been seeping into the ocean since there was an ocean.
looking to government to fix problems is like asking a pyromaniac to put out the fire.
looking to government to fix problems is like asking a pyromaniac to put out the fire.
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There are several layers of truth to this. On the surface, a pyromaniac doesn’t want to put out the fire, so asking him to is asking him to go against his own interests and desires.
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Another layer deeper, and you realize that the pyromaniac — because he likes and understands fire — almost certainly knows how to put out the fire. He just doesn’t want to; as already noted, perpetuating the fire is much more in line with his interests.
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And another layer deeper, the pyromaniac also likely knows how to create new fires to complement, complicate, and distract from the original fire he was asked to put out, but he may or may not be able to control all of them at the same time. And again, he is much more interested in keeping all of them going than putting any out, even though he knows how.
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Such is government. They don’t want to fix the problems; even though there are certainly people in the government who know how, as long as there’s tax money and graft to be made perpetuating the problem, there will be no desire to fix anything. And creating new problems to complement, complicate, and distract from the original problem means even more tax money and graft, which creates perverse incentives for everyone who’s supposed to be fixing them.
Curby, good comment, but going to have to argue against parts of it.
First of all, technology is not just electronics. At the dawn of this country, the high tech was things like the cotton gin, and textile looms. Using a water wheel to drive a lumber mill, and improving on that tech.
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Which…leads me to cover the jobs statements. Working from home, and $100K, etc… That was never the intent of “tech.” In fact, the book Bullshit Jobs is all about the way the industrial revolution went awry.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs
Basically, if I understand the concept, when the human race was presented with the opportunity to have a 15 hour work week, they instead decided they wanted stuff, and more stuff, and even more stuff, instead. instead of lives of leisure, the human race decided they wanted more. So a bunch of BS jobs was created to provide the workers the ability to feed the retail machine. A friend made a comment to me once. He said “If it were not for the internet, would anyone needs a Viking range?” Apply that concept across the depth and breadth of current business practices. Why do companies require dozens of people who are not directly involved in their product? Because the internet says so, and because that other company has them, and they need to stay competitive, and…
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The rest of you comment is perfect.
well, pobodys nerfect…
my definition of “tech” is ai, computers, ect.
being dang near retirement age I know
old “tech” was machines like the cotton gin, tractors, automobiles and such.. and human inventions to do this better faster more profitable..
being stuck driving what my job gives me (2024 Transit) I have a growing adversion to todays “tech”..
It is a pretty common definition of tech, but there was a time when a steam engine was high tech. Just a reminder.
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And, I am with you on what today’s “tech” is providing. Last time I rented a car (A KIA at that. Who wants a car from a manufacturer who’s name is an acronym of Killed in Action, anyway) it had “lane assist.” That meant that every time it detected i was not following a line the way it thought I should be, it turned the steering wheel to put me back where it thought I needed to be. And, it was wrong more often than it was right, reading crack seal as the edge of a lane too often. I am the one in charge of my vehicle, not the other way around.
my company van has that and I can tirn it off. the van vibrates the steering wheel when its on… scares the crap out of you!
“I have found that there is a certain part of the Left that seems to believe that if we all just lived on tofu and kale chips, and only drank recycled pee, walked to work, and everyone had a garden, things would immediately reverse and the world would be rosy, and everyone would get along. Cue singing Kumbaya. Oh, I forgot not showering. I’m not sure where that comes in, but they never seem to shower.”
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As a general rule, the left likes to insist on having a world they way “it should be.” The right tends to live in a world the way it is, complete with warts and bad smells. This is just another aspect of it.
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Look, I am with them in principle. It would be great if we could all get along, and there was plenty of food, and energy was abundant, and climate change stopped, and blah, blah, blah… But, reality is the opposite. And, the left needs to come on over to reality. They will be better off for it.
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You make some very valid and historically supported points about the benefits of AI and Lunar/Mars colonies, etc… What may seem like a “waste of money” on the surface, often results in massive benefits to mankind in the future. Just do a search for inventions from the space program (or similar.) Same with military spending. Massive benefits to mankind.
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But, nope… the left does not consider consequences when making decisions. It is “what feels good/right.” Can orbiting AI data centers help slow emissions at ground level? Hell yes. Can they stop adverse effects to the water system? Yep. Can they help to solve difficult medical/scientific problems? Yes. But, what does the left focus on? The immediate cost, and what they could use the funds for instead. This is no different than a five year old choosing to buy a candy bar instead of save money for the future.
“…a climate my kids can count on” is a truly bizarre notion.
It seems to stem from the cult belief that climate is a human creation, under human control. Which is absurd; the world has had an ever-changing climate since it acquired an atmosphere. Ask any dinosaur. And there is a large body of hard science data showing this. For example, when Leif Eriksson visited Newfoundland, it was warmer than today. When Brutus stabbed Caesar, it was warmer still.
To be blunt: “anthropogenic global warming” is a malicious fiction, invented by would-be totalitarians in their quest to control the rest of us.
you notice how global warming got changed to “climate change”?
because every time they had a global warming summit in some tropical paradise it friggin snowed there..
and if nyc is going to be under water, why did all these climate screamers buy ocean front property??
fake outrage over a fake problem that fake politicians created to get rich.