|
The title of this thread and most of the conversation does not match the argument in the OP. We are unquestionably not heading for "technological decline", and many aspects of life are clearly improved in the past few decades due to the inventions of the internet and smartphones and GPS, etc. The real question is whether any of these new technologies are sustainable economic powerhouses that can match the long-term and short-term growth from earlier technological progress. Clearly, the internet allows for greater economic activity, but I think it's easy to make the case that it doesn't have nearly as dramatic an effect as the proliferation of electricity in the 19th century or widespread adoption of the combustion engine. Basically, the global economy has been injected with nitro boosters periodically over the past 150 years, and people now think that is the natural speed. However, as far as we can tell, there are no more boosters left. And there was a shitload of inequality and poverty and war during the good times, so who the hell knows how bad it could get now that the good times might be winding down. All that said, I think that a breakthrough in clean energy and/or industrical scale energy storage has the potential to be another booster that could keep the global economy humming for a few decades (which would obviously also have positive effects on the environmental problems we're facing), so I'm cautiously hopeful.
|
#
¿
Jan 28, 2016 13:29
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 22, 2024 12:54 |
|