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venus
Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Location: Near Seoul
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 Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 11:37 pm Post subject: Sci-Fi Geeks and future technology |
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Look, I use the term Geek in a lighthearted way as in some senses I'm a geek myself.
But wanted to post this after on a thread in the General topic forum about the future of native esl teachers, one poster was saying something about that in the future people will be abe to 'download information to their brains like in the Matrix movie.'
I think that is total BS. I think attaching machines to the brain and 'dowloading info - ie sending electrical charges into it will mess with the delicate structure and lead to brain damage.
HOWEVER hypothetically -
If in your life time (and I mean whilst you were under say sixty years old - or whenever you think you'd be past enjoying life for the most part anyhow - so it wasn't that you were thinking Hey, life is almost over now so why the hell not...) this computer to brain download technology came about and you had the chance to use it - would you?
I have to say I like the way I am and how I work already, faults and all. I wouldn't use it, even if it wouldn't damage my brain and suddenly WOW - I have the whole knowledge of the Encyclopedia Brittanicca and fourteen languages in my head.... I just don't like the idea of it. Not scared, just don't LIKE the idea.
Like if the Earth was gonna be uninhabitable in a years time and we were given the chance of being evacuated to the moon or Venus or whatever (hypothetical, lets pretend the technology exists, work with me) or staying on Earth and then dying in a years time - I'd stay.
Because I like it here, it's kinda nice (when life is going well for me in the oldpersonal life at least)
n.b. - you also have to assume in this hypothetical situation that the Earth will NEVER AGAIN be habitable. So you have to leave and never return and live the rest of your life on the Moon or Mars or wherever... OR stay here and then die in a years time of lets say a mildly painful but not a horridly, long suffering drawn out type of death.
What would you do? Huh, huh?
Would you have the dowloads or not?
Would you go to another planet? |
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laogaiguk
Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Location: somewhere in Korea
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| Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 11:41 pm Post subject: Re: Sci-Fi Geeks and future technology |
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The downloading bit, I would take awhile to see if it worked and didn't end up being like kids running behind the DDT trucks 
As for going to another planet, I would love to do so right now! |
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venus
Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Location: Near Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 11:44 pm Post subject: Re: Sci-Fi Geeks and future technology |
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| laogaiguk wrote: |
The downloading bit, I would take awhile to see if it worked and didn't end up being like kids running behind the DDT trucks
As for going to another planet, I would love to do so right now! |
Do you mean forever? Why? |
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laogaiguk
Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Location: somewhere in Korea
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| Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 11:47 pm Post subject: Re: Sci-Fi Geeks and future technology |
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| venus wrote: |
| laogaiguk wrote: |
The downloading bit, I would take awhile to see if it worked and didn't end up being like kids running behind the DDT trucks
As for going to another planet, I would love to do so right now! |
Do you mean forever? Why? |
I'm an explorer. There aren't many, but luckily there are a few of us (at least if you are North American) It's not that I hate it here, I love it. But it would take all my life to explore. |
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butlerian
Joined: 04 Sep 2006
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 11:49 pm Post subject: |
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Downloads and planet. Sounds good. Why be dumb when you can be smart? After all, one of the main points in life is to learn, and downloads would give you a good start. New planet or approaching death? Well, of course a new planet would be the best option for most people with a long term view on life. Allow me to semi-quote Dune, the greatest science-fiction novel of all time:
"A place is but a place. It's the people who make a place what it is." |
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venus
Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Location: Near Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 11:50 pm Post subject: Re: Sci-Fi Geeks and future technology |
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| laogaiguk wrote: |
| venus wrote: |
| laogaiguk wrote: |
The downloading bit, I would take awhile to see if it worked and didn't end up being like kids running behind the DDT trucks
As for going to another planet, I would love to do so right now! |
Do you mean forever? Why? |
I'm an explorer. There aren't many, but luckily there are a few of us (at least if you are North American) It's not that I hate it here, I love it. But it would take all my life to explore. |
But isn't the surfasce of the moon pretty much the same all over - minus the craters of course...? And what with Venus and the other planets being devoid of life - wouldn't it be, well - boring?
What would you dall all day / year...? |
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venus
Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Location: Near Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 11:55 pm Post subject: |
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| butlerian wrote: |
Downloads and planet. Sounds good. Why be dumb when you can be smart? After all, one of the main points in life is to learn, and downloads would give you a good start. New planet or approaching death? Well, of course a new planet would be the best option for most people with a long term view on life. Allow me to semi-quote Dune, the greatest science-fiction novel of all time:
"A place is but a place. It's the people who make a place what it is." |
Well there's more to being smart than knowing things first of all.
And as for new planet vs impending death.... Well doesn't living on the moon for example just seem like a boring idea? I mean it's all just one big dusty surface with only craters... Now i wasn't saying the ability to Terrafirm the new planet existed, only be evacuated there. So obviously you'd have to live in some kind of huge atmospheric chamber just to survive....
For me just plain survival wouldn't be worth it. I'd miss the Earth too much.... The sky, trees, grass, lakes, the sea etc..... |
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butlerian
Joined: 04 Sep 2006
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 12:29 am Post subject: |
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| venus wrote: |
| butlerian wrote: |
Downloads and planet. Sounds good. Why be dumb when you can be smart? After all, one of the main points in life is to learn, and downloads would give you a good start. New planet or approaching death? Well, of course a new planet would be the best option for most people with a long term view on life. Allow me to semi-quote Dune, the greatest science-fiction novel of all time:
"A place is but a place. It's the people who make a place what it is." |
Well there's more to being smart than knowing things first of all.
And as for new planet vs impending death.... Well doesn't living on the moon for example just seem like a boring idea? I mean it's all just one big dusty surface with only craters... Now i wasn't saying the ability to Terrafirm the new planet existed, only be evacuated there. So obviously you'd have to live in some kind of huge atmospheric chamber just to survive....
For me just plain survival wouldn't be worth it. I'd miss the Earth too much.... The sky, trees, grass, lakes, the sea etc..... |
I agree with what you said about being smart, although it doesn't take away from the fact that, ceteris paribus, having more knowledge will help towards making you smarter.
As for living on the Earth for a year or moving somewhere else, well...of course, the answer has to be "depends" because it depends on the quality of life elsewhere. I agree that plain survival wouldn't be worth it, but I don't think that would be it. A realistic moonbase could be good fun - I suggest you read books like Colony and Moonbase, which are entertaining and can help you to imagine possibilities for life on the moon. |
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Ody
Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Location: over here
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| Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 2:38 am Post subject: |
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| it may sound nuts to some, but one of the criterion I use for my paintings is whether they are something i'd want to look at if I lived away from Earth, like on a spaceship/station. |
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laogaiguk
Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Location: somewhere in Korea
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| Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 4:50 am Post subject: Re: Sci-Fi Geeks and future technology |
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| venus wrote: |
| laogaiguk wrote: |
| venus wrote: |
| laogaiguk wrote: |
The downloading bit, I would take awhile to see if it worked and didn't end up being like kids running behind the DDT trucks
As for going to another planet, I would love to do so right now! |
Do you mean forever? Why? |
I'm an explorer. There aren't many, but luckily there are a few of us (at least if you are North American) It's not that I hate it here, I love it. But it would take all my life to explore. |
But isn't the surfasce of the moon pretty much the same all over - minus the craters of course...? And what with Venus and the other planets being devoid of life - wouldn't it be, well - boring?
What would you dall all day / year...? |
I get the feeling you are happy not looking outside of the box you have built for yourself. There is nothing wrong with this as most people fit into it, but what you don't seem to realize are there are some in which the box is very unpleasant. |
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venus
Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Location: Near Seoul
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| Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 4:27 pm Post subject: Re: Sci-Fi Geeks and future technology |
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| laogaiguk wrote: |
| venus wrote: |
| laogaiguk wrote: |
| venus wrote: |
| laogaiguk wrote: |
The downloading bit, I would take awhile to see if it worked and didn't end up being like kids running behind the DDT trucks
As for going to another planet, I would love to do so right now! |
Do you mean forever? Why? |
I'm an explorer. There aren't many, but luckily there are a few of us (at least if you are North American) It's not that I hate it here, I love it. But it would take all my life to explore. |
But isn't the surfasce of the moon pretty much the same all over - minus the craters of course...? And what with Venus and the other planets being devoid of life - wouldn't it be, well - boring?
What would you dall all day / year...? |
I get the feeling you are happy not looking outside of the box you have built for yourself. There is nothing wrong with this as most people fit into it, but what you don't seem to realize are there are some in which the box is very unpleasant. |
Man that's SO RUDE> I'd rather you called me a c^nt or something.
What an arrogant and patronising assumption to make...?
Juvenile. |
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mnhnhyouh
Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Location: The Middle Kingdom
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| Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 4:44 pm Post subject: |
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Before this thread wanders too far off into juvenile tit-for-tat bullshit, I will attempt to get it back on track.
I would take downloads. A download for Korean would be my first plugin, then a searchable video and audio memory so I have a truly accurate recall of what was said and done within the realm of my perceptions.
The translation of memory into some recalled mental "picture" has been shown to cause all sorts of distortions and inaccuracies. I would prefer accurate recall thanks.
Going offplanet and not being able to come back? In the scenario presented, I would be on the first boatload.
Leaving a perfectly functioning earth (wow, that would be a major improvement) with no chance of coming back? Can I see the fine print on that contract first? It really depends on where you are taking me. I think being exiled to the moon, with no useful work to do and having the Earth just sittng there in the sky as a pregnant reminder of all the hustle and bustle you are missing would be torture.
But make me captain or crew, with a useful job to do on a trip of exploration, well yes please. Bye all.
h |
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laogaiguk
Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Location: somewhere in Korea
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| Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 6:17 pm Post subject: Re: Sci-Fi Geeks and future technology |
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| venus wrote: |
Man that's SO RUDE> I'd rather you called me a c^nt or something.
What an arrogant and patronising assumption to make...?
Juvenile. |
It isn't arrogant at all. And it most definitely was not an insult. Most people are exactly like that, it's the others that are strange. But your answers show exactly that. Again, not that it is a bad thing, just that most people, even if they have genius and great ability, will never actually move or shake the world because they will never try, not that they lack the ability or intellect. I have the want to, just not the genius unfortunately 
I apologize for not expalining myself well enough and I apologize for it. I didn't mean it in a confrontational or insulting way. |
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JeJuJitsu
Joined: 11 Sep 2005
Location: McDonald's
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| Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 6:36 pm Post subject: |
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| There are quite a few poster's on Dave's I wish would download some extra brains. |
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The Bobster
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 12:16 am Post subject: |
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| JeJuJitsu wrote: |
| There are quite a few poster's on Dave's I wish would download some extra brains. |
This would have worked better if you had had the humility to include yourself at the top of the list. Others have already done so ...
I recall some experiments with very simple sorts of aquatic worms called planaria in which some were taught to run through a maze very well, then they were killed, ground up and fed to others. The cannibals ran the maze better than planaria who were fed normal food ...
If I could take a pill and even just get a head start learning Korean (or something else), I would definitely take the pill ...
As for the other planet thing, that's what I'm training for. When ET does show up with the mother ship, I figure the first thing they might like to have on the trip home is an English teacher. I'm there, I'm gonna hit that thing ... |
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