From: avatar (avatar@renegadeclothing.com.au)
Date: Tue Jan 14 2003 - 21:28:10 MST
REMEMBER WHEN...
I'm not that old, but, in the days after Armstrong and before Drexler:
Remember when...
At primary school in the 1960s conservatives in books and newspapers claimed that a computer would never win a game of chess against a human. It's only science fiction.
Remember when...
At high school in the 1970s you read in scientific magazines and newspapers commentators saying you could never know the internal structure of a cell without destroying it, and because a cell is just too complex. It's only science fiction.
Remember when...
At high school in the 1970s you read commentators saying you could never successfully revive cells from cryonically frozen corpses becauses the cells would burst. It's only science fiction.
Remember when..
At high school in the 1970s you read commentators saying categorically that cloning could never successfully occur in our lifetime. It's only science fiction...
Remember when...
in 1979 people stared at you and shook their heads when you claimed supercomputers the size of textbooks would be available in a decade or so. It's only science fiction.
Remember when...
In the 1970s people stared at you and shook their heads when you claimed O'Neill colonies, automated linear accelerators on the moon and La Grange point inhabitation would happen in our lifetime. It's only science fiction.
Remember when...
In 1980 people stared at you and shook their heads when you claimed automated planes and beam weapons were the future of warfare in the relatively near future. It's only science fiction.
Remember when...
In 1982 people stared at you and shook their heads when you claimed principles of automation including modularity and self-reproduction would lead to the abolition of manual work. It's only science fiction.
Remember when...
In the early 1980s people stared at you and shook their heads when you claimed new materials would lead to space towers in our lifetime. It's only science fiction.
Remember when...
In the late 1980s people stared at you and shook their heads when you claimed new experiments on animals resulting in extended lifespan would have an impact on them in a few decades.
Sometimes you wonder why some commentators don't retract their opinions! Of course, we shouldn't always expect predictive accuracy or always dismiss surmountable but still possibly valid projected barriers. There's a time and place for criticism and denial. Occasionally the futurologists got it wrong too... remember Fred Hoyle's famous saying regarding geneticists being behind barbed wire in 30 years time? All that being said, I can only note that often perceived scientific barriers have fallen and positive developments through science have become more and more common. Tthere was something amazing about Jerry Brown quixotically running for President on the grounds of expanding American involvement in space {"Only in California," the commentators laughed). President Clinton and his teensy weensy nanotech initiative aside, we might get the same when some politician first comes over to the cause of extropian and transhuman ideals and self-reproducing nanotechnology. Except things are no longer reminiscent of that period before the French Revolution. People no longer believe the ancien regime will never fall. Suddenly biotech and nanotech and AI possibilities get serious consideration from conservatives when they discuss these subjects, when you talk to them. Even when they attempt to downplay them. It's only science faction.
Towards Ascension
Avatar Polymorph
34 After Armstrong
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