Carl Sagan said, "We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology... This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces." This is probably true, but if the general population had more scientific knowledge (and therefore more power), it seems to me that this would result in even less predictability and more risk. If in a hundred years one entity (government, cult, terrorist group, wealthy eccentric, etc) with a million dollars can destroy all of humanity (which seems quite possible by extrapolating from current trends), perhaps it would be better if power were limited to the smallest number possible? Obviously that entails its own set of risks, but isn't it more dangerous to trust millions if each had the power to destroy all life on the planet? Another possibility would be for scientific knowledge to be widespread (e.g. to encourage intelligent law making and law enforcement) but for the resultant power to be limited, but I don't see any way to achieve this.
posted by howtolive.org at
8:23 AM
5 Comments:
Thankfully there is already a solution for this problem:
http://www.howstuffworks.com
When you need to reinvent the phonograph, or electricity, or pace makers, or hand grenades after the apocolypse, just make sure you have already printed out your favorite articles. Too bad they don't offer the site on CD any longer.
By
Miguel, at 11:25 AM
I think what you're saying is that if knowledge is pervasive enough, we'll be able to reduce the time it takes to get back to our current level of technology. You might be interested to learn more about a project currently in development in Norway to build a "doomsday vault" in a mountain close to the North Pole that will house a vast seed bank to ensure food supplies in the event of catastrophic climate change, nuclear war or rising sea levels. Built with Fort Knox-type security, the vault will be designed to hold around two million seeds representing all known varieties of the world's crops. The facility would essentially be built to last forever, according to a feasibility study. If there's enough room left over after all the crops are put in there, maybe they'll also include some suggestions for rebuilding civilization.
By
howtolive.org, at 7:57 AM
Maybe I have low expectations of humans, but the majority will never be able to understand technology and science. Is this a blessing? Maybe, but like you said there are a few intelligent people that also have power and that's the real threat.
This post fed my negative attitude about our future. Part of our human nature is unfortunately self-destructive. A bigger question perhaps...
By
aem, at 12:56 PM
Human behavior is certainly often self-destructive, so it's not far a leap for aem to lament this as a defect of human nature. The upside is an endless series of comic events we sometimes call life.
By
miguel, at 3:16 PM
aem - I agree, definitely a bigger question. I share your pessimism about the direction humanity is headed, but I'm cautiously optimistic that we have it within our power to wake everyone up and fix the problems before it's too late. If I knew everything would be OK or if I knew that we were doomed no matter what we did, then I would be apathetic. But I think the reality is somewhere in the middle, and that's what motivates me to try to contribute in my own small way.
By
howtolive.org, at 4:05 PM
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