If we do not survive into the future then no one will be there to see that we failed. This is kind of like the old question about whether or not a tree falling in the woods makes a sound if no one hears it. On occasions I have wondered if there have been other civilizations many millions of yours before that were destroyed in some way. Would there be enough of a trace remaining for us to prove their prior existence? All the buildings would have long since gone away except perhaps some that were buried. Most metals would have rusted by now. Perhaps the roads would retain a recognizable form, but I am not sure this would be true after 100 million years passes.
Jed, unless the robots hunt all of us down and finish us off, I think that we will have some of our species retained. Maybe this is a job that the benevolent aliens will take on. Then again, maybe we are in their zoo at the moment on Earth. Wouldn't that be a twist of fate. I doubt a nuclear war would put an end to all of us. A large asteroid might be a different problem. Dave -----Original Message----- From: Jed Rothwell <[email protected]> To: vortex-l <[email protected]> Sent: Mon, Feb 25, 2013 6:22 pm Subject: Re: [Vo]:Tech Predictions David Roberson <[email protected]> wrote: We have survived this long by some means so I assume that we will continue to do so into the future. I do not see the logic of that! That is like saying we have survived countless wars, so why should we worry about a full-scale nuclear war? In 1914 people said war is war, machine guns will not make much difference, and valor will win the day just as it always has. They were wrong. 9 million soldiers were killed. Valor made no difference in the face of artillery and poison gas. Technology can profoundly affect the nature of war, or domestic violence, for that matter. Suppose those autonomous little cold fusion powered robot killing machines I have predicted become possible. Suppose they become very cheap and reliable. Anyone, anywhere will be able to murder anyone else. I mean anyone anywhere in the world, without getting caught, and without leaving a trace of evidence. Think about that if you want a case of the heebee jeebees! Think of all the people who want to kill political leaders. Or the jihadists who have it in for authors such as Rusdie, and film makers. Or any disgruntled ex-husband, or some nut who has it in for one group or another: homosexuals, black people, Catholic School girls . . . I can think of many other nightmare scenarios. I put a few in my book. I left out some, too. I do not think cold fusion can easily be used to make small nuclear bombs. But if it can, it might lead to worst catastrophe in human history. I have been aware of this for a long time. I discussed it with Martin Fleischmann and others. As I said, we have been thinking about ways to deal with the problem. There may not be any good way! - Jed
