Sunday, September 23, 2007

Technology

I am truly impressed by the human race. We are the most intelligent species in the known Universe...or at the least capable. Truly our unique ability to learn, store large amounts of information, and make intelligent decisions when rational is something of a wonder that perhaps is taken granted for since we are able to demonstrate these acts so quickly and so numerously. Technology is a byproduct of our imagination and intelligence. It is one of the most powerful things we can build, use, and learn. There is technology everywhere you look: Cell Phones, Light Bulbs, Toilets, processed and pasteurized foods, medicine, and the list continues. All of this allows us to do things we could never do with the physical traits that are given to us. Intelligence is our most coveted gift and the most coveted skill anyone or anything could ever ascertain. Technology increases our productivity; it increases our standard of living, our democracies, our lives, and our future.

It may all sound cliché but that's because it is everywhere and we often take it for granted. But if you really, really think about it what we have is the results of a collective whole of every human who has ever created any technological breakthrough. And though, each thing that was built that allowed us to do whatever it was designed to do, took years and lifetimes, we all posses and benefit from it in some way or another. We can all drink healthy milk because of Louis Pasture's lifetime commitment to the sterilization of food. We can all call our mothers at night when we are thousands of miles away from them because of Alexander Graham Bell's years of dedication to inventing the telephone (and the many people who came afterwards that refined it and made it wireless). Warren Buffet once said "The average American lives 100 times better than the wealthiest man 100 years ago." Why? Because as a society we all benefit when one citizen dedicates their time to the advancement of our way of life through technology. In 100 years things have changed a lot and our life has increased in many aspects. A lot of people have contributed their lives to developing new technologies that make our lives better.

What I am trying to get at is that without technology without that intelligence we would be a lot different. And I bet most of you, if you had the chance, would compare a life without technology to a life with technology as a very scary, boring, and limiting experience. Sure you will have your breaks from technology where you cherish the very simple things in life but when you weigh those things technology has a net benefit that is exponential as the times go forwards. That is why I am truly impressed at our race. It makes you think that such a superior and advanced life form must have had a pre constructed blue print of our evolution…because I just don't think we're that lucky.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

World Government

After watching a solar system video in my lab and watching the discoveries of our planets and neighboring galaxies evolve I began to think that really there is no other place that we know of within thousands of years of travel that could provide us with a home like our planet Earth. After thinking about that for a couple of days I really started to appreciate everything around me. I also began to think of the conflicts humans have had with each other throughout the times. It seems that these fights are so insignificant in the grand view of it all. I began to think how we are exploiting our planets resources and damaging it with our burning of fossil fuel. We only have one planet Earth in this vast cold region of space and I feel that as each day goes on our earth grows weaker and weaker. It is a sad and lonely journey out there beyond the skies and this beautiful blue and green marble that we live in is the most important habitat we humans have. And once more I started to think...

How wonderful would it be, if it worked, a world government? A government, perhaps, more like a democracy and a republic that allowed indirect representation of people around the world. A world government that ran on a free market system much like our capitalist country. Perhaps then we could put rest to threats of world wars and civil wars. Maybe we could take a one world stance on issues like poverty and world hunger. And maybe the world would be a better place if only just by a little bit. It seems that underdeveloped countries would be considered and they would be allowed to develop more. Trade restrictions would be lifted and countries would be more efficient at production. Somewhere I read in an encyclopedia that the theory behind democracy is that the intelligence of a group is better served at managing a group of people. In other words the strength of democracy lies within the strength of the participants. And to think that the participants would reach to the far edges of the world making global problems an immediate agenda. The collective intelligence of the world seems so tantalizing.Maybe I have my head in the clouds...maybe something like that is not feasible. But maybe something like that is a better solution to a world full of problems.