Life, the Internet, and Everything!
How Could The Technology Boom Have Been More Useful If It Wasn’t Driven By Military Or Market Forces?
How could the technology boom of the past fifty years have been more useful to humankind if it wasn’t driven by military or market forces?
This question was asked at the Dropping Knowledge event on 9th September by Dan Hill, 59, Leechburg, Pennsylvania, USA.
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First, understand that there would be little or no progress, EVER, if there were no need for military or free market. It is through adversity and necessity that invention is needed to one up one’s opponent so that they may win the war or get that needed edge in the market place, so folks can feed their families.
So here we are. No need for military because we are at total peace with one another and God provides all the manna needed to sustain us; therefor, there should be no need for a market either. So… here we are. Oh…technology boom. What technology. There is no technology. The Internet will not exist. I am not sure that even the wheel would have been invented. In fact, I don’t think we would even have language skills; so, you probably could not have been able to ask this question. Other animals would have dominated over us and we would have all died. Then maybe, in stead of YOU asking this question, it would have come, maybe another thousand years later, as a neanderthal asked it; because, they may have survived if the humans were not around.
If it were driven with an aim to facilitate sustainable developement via efficient use of resourses, mitigating waste and adopting renewable/reuseable product design. The result would have been an environment-friendly coexistence.
It’s not just driven by the power of people.
Without military funding, or a profit motive, there would not have been much of a technological boom. Many people conceive great ideas for new technology, but lack the funds to develop the idea toward a practical conclusion. Government funding —such as the military or NASA — is responsible for the majority of our technology and its civilian spin-off.
I think the boom would have had more far reaching social effects than thus far. There would have been increased application of technology to providing alternative fossil fuels, additional medical services provided to the poor, and increased food production worldwide. I also think that there would have been birth control methods for men so that they would not have to solely rely on condoms to protect themselves from pregnancy. Technologies related to providing consistent medications to those with chronic medical & psychological conditions would have been developed. All in all, I think our society would have seen much more social and enviornmental progress than we have seen thus far…
farming, dental and medical research, employment skills .are all benefited also by the technology boom
why do you always get the feature question???
and technology has always been fueled by war…
nothing new about it.
read some history…!
Your question is like glue. Why ask a couda, shouda, woulda question like that?
I guess Dan Hill can’t compete. LOSER.
I wonder if he realizes that the technology boom was FUNDED by military and market forces.
How much of it came from 1960′s communes? We’d all be making crochet plant-hangers and weaving baskets if we took that tack.
Freakin crybaby
Without military or market forces, there is no reason for ANY technology.
We would still live on the African Savannah and have to hide from or run fast from predators.
This is the stupidest featured question ever!
necessity is the mother of invention
It would have been less useful since it would not have existed.
In the absence of a military or competitive market, why would there be technology? It’s communication devices, and suveillance, for a world of people who are involuntarily scattered from each other, trapped away from any hope of real-life community. To increase a society of isolationism, and competition for resources to the point of death; to expand the borders of that society, now there is technology.
How useful a technology could have been wouldn’t depend on what would have driven it.
46
to tel l you the truth about!?
America the greaten?
BROAD -BAND SHOW PIECE/EN?
FRUITION WITHOUT TASTE/N’!
MAN – MADE HEAVEN?
WITHOUT EASEN ‘ OD HEART AND SOUL/EN!
MEGA -STRUCTURUREN?
SHALLOW- FOUNDATIONS!
PRETTY FACES?
UGLY ATTITUD/EN’!
COLD – ( CHEAP) RELATIONS?
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BAISED CHAIN/EN, PROPOGANDA REIGN/EN!
BREAKS -FREE MEDIA/N’?
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EVENTUALLY/ COLLASPEN1
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( ** IRAQ/EN, AFGHA/NE, IRANE/EN, AND KOREAN1)
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AL- Q A-EEDA ‘GOD-LIKE STATURN1
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You would have to answer the “WHY” of all things.
there are only two motivators in life, acquisition, and defense of possession.
lose or gain.
all things spring from that thought.
b/c it felt like it
man we would have had Virtual Playstation and Xbox’s …if it wasn’t for them…just imagin putting on glasses and sitting on a simulation chair without the need of operating a joystick, and the feel of acutally being there…like in the cartoon “Johnny Quest” …that would be sooo nice
The technology boom would be useful when only the Scientists and Technologists consider the matter not the HIRED WAGERS!
Stop Advertising the ” Political Affairs ” by using yahoo answers!, That’s all the way.
T.H.Y.
OK thats just silly,,,,,,silly question gets a silly answer.
Technology would have been more usefull becuase the aliens from Gutsnart could have implanted the ultimate question inside all the tootsie rolls with cheese filling and granite sprinkles.
If your gonna ask a question, at least give it a workable base.
Let me try again,
Uhm, technology boom did exist way before the DARPA, Tesla Marconi and them cats were haveing some fun with radio waves and Teslas idea was to be free electricity for all humanity.
Watt had a like minded idea, so IF Goverments and thus Militaries did not exist, for without one the other is moot, we would now have unlimited and free energy for all of mankind, free readio, free tv, free telephones, fee internet, free airplanes, gettin it yet?
Some of the best technology came from the ‘Space Race’. If we perceive some nation is doing it better – especially technology – it is easy to get Federal money to fund research and development.
Various fooundations have money for technology -check out the Howard Hughes Foundation
Grants to Universities – especiallyy large grants from Microsoft, Warren Buffet, etc make R and D very feasible — knowledge for knowledge sake.
There are many sources of technological advance that are not driven by military or market forces, such as academic research and open source software development. In fact, the vast majority of the internet servers in the world run on Linux, which was and is developed for neither military nor commericial reasons.
I really don’t see how that could happen. You’ll have to suggest some alternative driving force; you can’t simply say ‘Make it different’ without providing any background. (Or is it that you have been asked to come up with ideas and are expecting other people to do your work for you…?)
What do we know of that is as exciting as war, or as compelling as the desire to provide for oneself and one’s family…?
Conquest of the unknown? We have run out of physical areas to explore.
Conquest of selfishness? Most people are not interested in self-discipline any longer.
Space exploration is not within the reach of individuals; even the rich aboard SpaceShipOne and -Two are tourists. The same goes for the oceans.
The idea of having a phoney alien attack that will unify mankind has been beaten to death, and nothing based on a lie would provide lasting benefits. The reaction would destroy all the temporary gains when the deceit was discovered.
No, I do not think that the tech boom would have been better if it were not driven by military and market forces; your fundamental assumption is quite mistaken. You certainly have not shown that there is any alternative.
It wouldn’t have happened. What purpose does this question have? I wish they would drop droppingknowledge.
I think that most technology was developed for the military by the government, etc, so there likely would not have been a technology boom in the first place.
Yes but then again giving the inventors different drivers would have altered their focus to the point of which we probably wouldn’t have seen much developed for such advanced things as wireless cellphones and other mobile technologies that offer us users instantaneous electronic communication from just about anywhere. What I do think that would change is that inventors would focus on changing everybody’s lives so we all live more cleanly and or more peacefully together if there wasn’t any big money payoff possibly awaiting them and threrfore we’d all probably see less TV infomercials too.
Idiots!!! Without those two drivers, ESPECIALLY MARKET FORCES, there would be no technological boom at all. This rates in the top five of your ill posed questions; so far.
It would have happened comrade. Yeah I’m going to invent something with no expectation of being compensated for it. Yeah that’s really going to happen.
We live in a capitalist society people no matter how much you communist hate it it is the only system that works. Even Marx admitted that communism couldn’t work without capitalism.
technology used to create Eden
any force that’s driving technology boom is okay, I wonder what other forces you’re talking about