> I wonder where the Earth will be 100 years after we're all > dust. Do you > think we'll have anything worked out by then? How will > large conflict > manifest itself? How will it be resolved? Are we doomed > to always handle > things the same way we've done for 1,000 years, but with > better technology > in hand? Will war and the desire to destroy still be the > impetus for all > new technological development the way it's always been, or > will there be > sufficient funds available for purely beneficial research > and development, > without the necessity of power or profit motives?
> I don't think things will change much, because I don't > think *we* will > change much. I fear that we'll still have the same > driving factors of fear > and greed that we've had since we stood upright. I tend to agree... I think even if we did eliminate war on the larger scale, we'd still end up with civil corruption, crime and violence -- increasingly so in urban areas as has been the case with "progress" in general over the course of the last hundred years or so -- the more densely we pack our modernized cities, the harder life is for those of us at the bottom, and the more they lash out. It's interesting to note that poverty has become an "evil" in recent years, whereas it was never considered so before. Though ultimately I think even "solving all our problems" would be a big problem of another kind. In a book called the Coming Anarchy (some years ago) Robert Kaplan surmised that a lasting peace would result not in a generation of Star Trek Federation types interested in the betterment of themselves and their communities, but in a generation of asanine metrosexuals who gape and chatter only about trivialities because in the absence of strife, the inane would become "news of the day". Look what happens on "slow news days" now -- even with "the War on Terrorism", et. al. s. isaac dealey 954.522.6080 new epoch : isn't it time for a change? add features without fixtures with the onTap open source framework http://macromedia.breezecentral.com/p49777853/ http://www.sys-con.com/author/?id=4806 http://www.fusiontap.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Discover CFTicket - The leading ColdFusion Help Desk and Trouble Ticket application http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=48 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:151886 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
