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The shit we breath and drink and surround ourselves with... the particulates, the nanoparticles of soot, the hundreds and thousands of chemicals in various conc

by M_Grey 10y ago

The shit we breath and drink and surround ourselves with... the particulates, the nanoparticles of soot, the hundreds and thousands of chemicals in various concentrations and interactions we don't even pretend to understand. People will look back at that in the same way we do at people bathing in filthy rivers. Human beings driving cars. The activity that for years maimed and killed millions of people, but we did it anyway while worrying about terrorist attacks. I would suspect that at some point the notion of carrying a firearm is going to be pretty laughable, given what they'll be capable of then. Human doctors and the current standard of medical errors and deaths due to lack of cleanliness... which is a lot of death and suffering by the way. We do it now, like driving, because we have no choice, but as soon as we do humans doctors will look like barbers. So so much more. It takes time to start to see your own time from a future point of view, but once you start you can't stop. Then again, an alternative and perhaps more realistic view is that in a hundred years civilization will be collapsing, and these will be the last "good" days. Who knows?

Exofunctor 10y ago
> The shit we breath and drink and surround ourselves with... Humans are healthier than ever. While nutrition will probably improve in the future, it's actually quite good right now. > Human beings driving cars. The activity that for years maimed and killed millions of people, but we did it anyway while worrying about terrorist attacks. That's because the utility of car usage is undeniably positive. Despite millions of deaths over the decades, humanity would be a lot worse off without cars to get around and transport goods. If you just mean humans as opposed to computers, then you're probably right. I do think it would be a net negative to society if humans were forced to stop driving, however. That would just be one more way to dull the human experience and go from living to surviving. > the notion of carrying a firearm is going to be pretty laughable, given what they'll be capable of then Do you mean to say that they'll be too powerful in the future? I'm not sure I understand the argument; presumably, there'll be some sort of limitation on what kind of weapons people are allowed to use. The restrictions are usually pretty silly and arbitrary right now (e.g. "no barrel shroud"), but I could imagine a future where there are laws like "no carrying around a weapon capable of putting out more than 10kW averaged over a minute".
- eriknstr 10y ago
  >Humans are healthier than ever. Probably >While nutrition will probably improve in the future, it's actually quite good right now. If we get rid of fast food and excessive sugar and salt, there will be a vast improvement regardless of how much better 2017 is compared to earlier times. Therefore they would still shake their heads at 2017 food in the future.
gabrielgoh 10y ago
What you're forgetting is radioactive underpants were considered kooky even in their time - these were the homeopaths and creationists of their time. I don't think our common-sense beliefs as humans haven't changed as radically as you might think over the past thousand years. I'd bathe in a filthy river if the alternative was just not bathing ever. I can see why people did it. I'd tolerate streets full of manure if it'd mean we didn't have to walk for days between towns. These things aren't ideal, but not crazy, just humans living in difficult circumstances.
- M_Grey 10y ago
  "Kooky" is a matter of perspective... the fact is that the use of various radioactive elements in a number of consumer products was a common and pervasive issue. Hell even dentures had uranium in them until relatively recently, for a 'more natural glow', don't you know. Homeopathy is kooky, but that doesn't stop more people from using it now than were alive just a few hundred years ago. It's kooky, but it's also very popular.

by M_Grey 10y ago

Exofunctor 10y ago

> The shit we breath and drink and surround ourselves with... Humans are healthier than ever. While nutrition will probably improve in the future, it's actually quite good right now. > Human beings driving cars. The activity that for years maimed and killed millions of people, but we did it anyway while worrying about terrorist attacks. That's because the utility of car usage is undeniably positive. Despite millions of deaths over the decades, humanity would be a lot worse off without cars to get around and transport goods. If you just mean humans as opposed to computers, then you're probably right. I do think it would be a net negative to society if humans were forced to stop driving, however. That would just be one more way to dull the human experience and go from living to surviving. > the notion of carrying a firearm is going to be pretty laughable, given what they'll be capable of then Do you mean to say that they'll be too powerful in the future? I'm not sure I understand the argument; presumably, there'll be some sort of limitation on what kind of weapons people are allowed to use. The restrictions are usually pretty silly and arbitrary right now (e.g. "no barrel shroud"), but I could imagine a future where there are laws like "no carrying around a weapon capable of putting out more than 10kW averaged over a minute".

eriknstr 10y ago
>Humans are healthier than ever. Probably >While nutrition will probably improve in the future, it's actually quite good right now. If we get rid of fast food and excessive sugar and salt, there will be a vast improvement regardless of how much better 2017 is compared to earlier times. Therefore they would still shake their heads at 2017 food in the future.

gabrielgoh 10y ago

What you're forgetting is radioactive underpants were considered kooky even in their time - these were the homeopaths and creationists of their time. I don't think our common-sense beliefs as humans haven't changed as radically as you might think over the past thousand years. I'd bathe in a filthy river if the alternative was just not bathing ever. I can see why people did it. I'd tolerate streets full of manure if it'd mean we didn't have to walk for days between towns. These things aren't ideal, but not crazy, just humans living in difficult circumstances.

M_Grey 10y ago
"Kooky" is a matter of perspective... the fact is that the use of various radioactive elements in a number of consumer products was a common and pervasive issue. Hell even dentures had uranium in them until relatively recently, for a 'more natural glow', don't you know. Homeopathy is kooky, but that doesn't stop more people from using it now than were alive just a few hundred years ago. It's kooky, but it's also very popular.