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Cheaper food, better cars, faster computers, improved life expectancy, cheaper energy, better education, enhancements to human intelligence, better public trans
by drcode 17y ago
Cheaper food, better cars, faster computers, improved life expectancy, cheaper energy, better education, enhancements to human intelligence, better public transportation, more efficient manufacturing, better understanding of biology, better understanding of physics.
Empirically, it seems to me all of the above have seen noticeable, but merely linear improvements in the last decade. (admittedly, computers are much faster for parallelizable algorithms, such as 3D graphics, but not for the majority of software which is serial in nature)
"access to information", "density of storage" and "communications tools" are three that I think could be argued to have improved by an order of magnitude in the last decade. I would guess though that out of those, only "communications tools" will see similar dramatic changes in the next decade (cell phones and other communication links are still pretty crappy right now) I think the amount of information on the web in the next decade will increase, but at a surprisingly modes rate.
(BTW- I hope I'm wrong and we have more exponential improvements to look forward to)
- emmett 17y agoExponential doesn't mean "growing really fast". Exponential means "growth by a fixed percentage per year". The economy grows exponentially at around 2-3% per year. What evidence do you have that things are improving linearly rather than exponentially?
- drcode 17y agoWell, exponential could mean "growing really fast" since that's a vague concept that doesn't really mean anything. I will concede though that I'm referring to growth at a fast pace, since that is the topic of the OP. No doubt some of the items I listed could be improving at a very low magnitude exponential rate and it is a more complicated task to provide evidence that this isn't the case.
- dnsworks 17y agoEverything you've cited here just says "marginally better and cheaper crap to buy". Education has not improved in the past 20 years. Neither has public transit. Manufacturing has gotten cheaper, but it also puts out cheaper products in terms of quality. Oh, and we have better video games. Yippee!
- onedognight 17y agoAre you kidding? Education has made great strides if you don't need it shoved down your throat. Every person with an internet connection can take any class they want from MIT and Stanford for free! That's progress.
- dnsworks 17y agoHave you noticed the inability of anybody under the age of 21 to spell common words?
- evgen 17y agoDude, you really need to refill your paxil prescription.