re: Do you ever find yourself amazed with today's technology?

i watched "Her" last night and i was really thinking about this (b/c in the movie life is more advanced, but not really that much more advanced).

and then today i dropped off my 3 Blurays that i checked out (at only $1.50 per) at a Redbox that wasn't even located where i originally rented the blurays. Oh, and when i initially rented them, i got 2/3 movies i wanted, but had to use the app that TOLD ME WHICH REDBOX MACHINE HAD THE MOVIE (in Bluray) THAT I WANTED TO WATCH

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I have to agree that 1900-2000 has had greater advancements so far,

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i actually missed that. i thought it was a smaller timeframe. assuming no collapse, we'll probably surpass the 20th in 10-15 years

if you want to see the ultimate intrinsic rejection of information-social science development, look at the absolute FREAKING OUT people do when they realize what google/facebook are really doing. their algorithms of behavior analysis and information-collction to predict not only preferences, but behavior prediction is simply stunning.

And let me add that there's a tendency to underrate older technological advances because they're older. Given a choice between living in a world without cars and a world without the internet, which would you pick? Internet v. A/C? Internet v. food refridgeration? Internet v. power tools? To me, the internet would lose in all of them.

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Given a choice between living in a world without cars and a world without the internet, which would you pick? Internet v. A/C? Internet v. food refridgeration? Internet v. power tools? To me, the internet would lose in all of them.

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it all goes back, basically, to oil refinement

i fully understand that once the spigots stop, we are going to collapse (and billions will die in the wars leading up to that collapse)

i'm not dismissing building blocks because they came in the past, but there is some insane stat like 85-90% of all data ever created by humanity has been created in the past 20-30 years or something. now while a lot of this is data related to beliebers and firefly fan fiction, it's also a sign of our abundant society and development as humans

the reason the flynn effect occurs is because of exposure to information. i shudder to think of what the youth of today will do to intelligence development. i'm only 31. we had trouble with kids who missed the first gen of nintendo "catching up" with genesis, etc. i've seen 3 years olds multitask on iphones at a higher proficiency than i could

I really think we are in the "knee of the curve" so to speak in technological advancement.

When I look back over the last 20 - 30 years, sure I'm amazed. But I hope (and think) it will pale in comparison to the next 30. So in a sense I'm both amazed, and not, at the same time.