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[Rob <becida AT comcast.net>]

At  11/18/2006 07:20 PM,Clansgian AT wmconnect.com wrote:

> > > Technology is our only hope for keeping things running in this modern
> > >  world of billions and billions of people. If the technology doesn't
> > >  come thru we are all in a big hurt.
> >
>
> The topic was finely treated in this thread, and I didn't have time to
> contribute at the time, but I thought these observations fit:
>
> 1)  The hope in technology epitomized by "After all, we put a man on the
> moon" has one glaring flaw.  We put a man on the moon because we had 
> unlimited
> access to fossil fuels.  If we did not have oil and NG, could we put 
> a man on the
> moon?   Maybe, but it would take depriving the environment and its people of
> a great deal to do it.

Using oil (and the moon reference) is a very limited view of 
technology. When someone first learned to work metal that technology 
put the flint knappers out of business, metal tools were just a first step.
Technology has been building for thousands of years, something slowly 
sometimes not. The world today is built on that thousands of years of 
technology & I wouldn't even guess what the next 30 years will bring.
I just hope it's not back to flint knapping.


> 2)  Has technology made us any happier?

Happier than what? Yesterday, last week, last year, 40 years ago, 100 
years ago? Technology is our history, part of our life, technology just is.

We are riding this tiger called technology, if we fall off it's going 
to be bad news.



Rob

becida AT comcast.net
Western Washington State, USA