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Have We Reached a Limit?
Jun. 4th, 2006 11:49 amI'm an engineer. While I value knowledge for the sake of knowledge, I especially value knowledge which can be put to practical use. Things which we can use as tools.
Throughout most of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries advancements in our control and manipulation of the universe came from discovering new principles (such as electromagnetism and radiation) or from inventing new ways to apply them (better steam engines, the various incarnations of internal combustion engines). This was the age of the Great Inventions, when discoveries and developments led to railroads, automobiles, electrical power distribution, computers...
So where's the next Great Invention? The next new tool? So far, the past couple of decades have seen almost solely incremental improvements, rather than major new ideas. And the only major new "tool" discoveries I can think of offhand are the related Buckyballs and Buckytubes, which promise some interesting applications. Yes, we have found and are still finding interesting new things about the universe. The moons of Saturn are fascinating. And Pluto has a newly-discovered moon of its own, as well as a sister world farther out in the Kuiper Belt. But those are discoveries of a different order. Things which, while fascinating and well worth learning, are unlikely to directly affect our modern lives. Flatly, they aren't _tools_.
What if there are no more new tools? What if we have already discovered all the materials and methods which can be used to build or modify? What if this is the limit, all that we'll ever have?
This is not a pronouncement of doom and gloom. There's still a *lot* we can do with what we already have, simply by figuring out new or improved applications. But much of the fun would be gone.
Throughout most of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries advancements in our control and manipulation of the universe came from discovering new principles (such as electromagnetism and radiation) or from inventing new ways to apply them (better steam engines, the various incarnations of internal combustion engines). This was the age of the Great Inventions, when discoveries and developments led to railroads, automobiles, electrical power distribution, computers...
So where's the next Great Invention? The next new tool? So far, the past couple of decades have seen almost solely incremental improvements, rather than major new ideas. And the only major new "tool" discoveries I can think of offhand are the related Buckyballs and Buckytubes, which promise some interesting applications. Yes, we have found and are still finding interesting new things about the universe. The moons of Saturn are fascinating. And Pluto has a newly-discovered moon of its own, as well as a sister world farther out in the Kuiper Belt. But those are discoveries of a different order. Things which, while fascinating and well worth learning, are unlikely to directly affect our modern lives. Flatly, they aren't _tools_.
What if there are no more new tools? What if we have already discovered all the materials and methods which can be used to build or modify? What if this is the limit, all that we'll ever have?
This is not a pronouncement of doom and gloom. There's still a *lot* we can do with what we already have, simply by figuring out new or improved applications. But much of the fun would be gone.
