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I like to think of myself as one.
In my own, fully amateurish way, of course.
To be honest, sometimes it's my burning need to know what happens next that's pretty much the only thing keeping me here.
This will be another one of those topics that I'll periodically revisit, by the way. And much like a lot of the time, I'm writing this instead of writing a paper for school, because it's easier for me to write something I don't care about if I write about something that interests me.
Color me weird.
Anyhoo.
You know, there's a slim chance that you could be immortal. Not that you are right now, of course. As we speak, or read in this instance, every single one of us is dying, a little bit at a time.
But there's really no reason why we have to. And, in theory, we'll be able to solve this little problem, with a slim possibility that it could happen soon enough that we can all take advantage of it.
Think of it like the aviation industry. In 50 years, we went from making the first airplane, to breaking the sound barrier. While molecular biology hasn't progressed with quite that rate of speed, that's in no small part because we lacked the tools to even verify the research for most of that period, much less actually modify something as small as DNA.
Really, Watson and Crick weren't our Wright brothers. They were more like our DaVinci. The research being done now is the equivalent to the Kitty Hawk flights; the first clumsy efforts to create something that will someday change the world completely.
So yeah. Immortality.
I wants it.
Which may seem odd, considering that not half a page up in this very post I was lamenting the fact that I sometimes have a deep and profound desire to fling myself off of something very high, but meh. Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.
Y'know, my feelings on immortality could have a post dedicated entirely to them, so I think they shall.
But futurism.
Hmmm...
We spend so much time worrying about what is, and what could be, that we sometimes forget to look around and try to figure out where we, as a technological society, are going.
And why the fuck it's taking us so long to get there.
Part of this, of course, I blame on the media. The media loooooooves to put fear into the populace, because apparently terrified people watch more TV. And probably buy things on the Home Shopping Network. So when we discuss the opportunities afforded by genetically modified crops, they offer up scare tactics about how somehow these crops are going to kill us all. Which makes no sense, because we've been modifying the genetics of our crops (and our livestock, our pets, and each other) for thousands of years. Right now, you are eating genetically modified crops. Period. Not "maybe", not "but I only eat Organic foods!" You are eating genetically modified crops. It's just that most of the ones we eat are ones we have modified through the process of selective breeding, rather than direct manipulation. Woo. Seriously, people need to get the fuck over this issue. Putting extra vitamin A into the rice isn't going to create a generation of brain-eating zombies with excellent eyesight.
Now, a lack of genetic diversity in the crops we grow can have dire consequences. Just ask the Irish. But so long as we keep that particular fact in mind (and, quite frankly, we don't, whether it's a GM crop or not), it won't be a major issue.
Of course, the media hardly has a monopoly on shortsightedness. Our politicians can manage that just fine themselves, with a little help from us.
Take the Obama administration and their plans for NASA.
Please.
Ba dum tish.
Now, moving the focus to the private sector for routine missions like satellite launches, that I can see. Sure, it makes sense; it's getting to be fairly routine, and it's not really the sort of endeavor you need your space agency working on.
But Mars?
Really?!
Sure, I get the whole "inspire a generation" angle on it.
But really?
It's going to be enormously difficult, extremely expensive, and ultimately will be purely a propaganda stunt. Which does sound rather like the Apollo missions, when you get right down to it, but still. We don't need to be going there. That money will effectively be pissed down a hole, when we could be using it to do something useful in space. Expand the ISS. Put a colony on the Moon. Shit like that.
Not paying hundreds of millions of dollars to send a couple guys to Mars so they can walk around and say "Yep! It's dusty!"
Pay the hundreds of millions of dollars after we put a fueling station on the Moon, and can send a whole fucking ship to Mars to actually accomplish something there other than planting a flag.
Bah.
Anyway, I'm gonna go to bed now. I'll be back for more of this topic later in the week, methinks.
In my own, fully amateurish way, of course.
To be honest, sometimes it's my burning need to know what happens next that's pretty much the only thing keeping me here.
This will be another one of those topics that I'll periodically revisit, by the way. And much like a lot of the time, I'm writing this instead of writing a paper for school, because it's easier for me to write something I don't care about if I write about something that interests me.
Color me weird.
Anyhoo.
You know, there's a slim chance that you could be immortal. Not that you are right now, of course. As we speak, or read in this instance, every single one of us is dying, a little bit at a time.
But there's really no reason why we have to. And, in theory, we'll be able to solve this little problem, with a slim possibility that it could happen soon enough that we can all take advantage of it.
Think of it like the aviation industry. In 50 years, we went from making the first airplane, to breaking the sound barrier. While molecular biology hasn't progressed with quite that rate of speed, that's in no small part because we lacked the tools to even verify the research for most of that period, much less actually modify something as small as DNA.
Really, Watson and Crick weren't our Wright brothers. They were more like our DaVinci. The research being done now is the equivalent to the Kitty Hawk flights; the first clumsy efforts to create something that will someday change the world completely.
So yeah. Immortality.
I wants it.
Which may seem odd, considering that not half a page up in this very post I was lamenting the fact that I sometimes have a deep and profound desire to fling myself off of something very high, but meh. Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.
Y'know, my feelings on immortality could have a post dedicated entirely to them, so I think they shall.
But futurism.
Hmmm...
We spend so much time worrying about what is, and what could be, that we sometimes forget to look around and try to figure out where we, as a technological society, are going.
And why the fuck it's taking us so long to get there.
Part of this, of course, I blame on the media. The media loooooooves to put fear into the populace, because apparently terrified people watch more TV. And probably buy things on the Home Shopping Network. So when we discuss the opportunities afforded by genetically modified crops, they offer up scare tactics about how somehow these crops are going to kill us all. Which makes no sense, because we've been modifying the genetics of our crops (and our livestock, our pets, and each other) for thousands of years. Right now, you are eating genetically modified crops. Period. Not "maybe", not "but I only eat Organic foods!" You are eating genetically modified crops. It's just that most of the ones we eat are ones we have modified through the process of selective breeding, rather than direct manipulation. Woo. Seriously, people need to get the fuck over this issue. Putting extra vitamin A into the rice isn't going to create a generation of brain-eating zombies with excellent eyesight.
Now, a lack of genetic diversity in the crops we grow can have dire consequences. Just ask the Irish. But so long as we keep that particular fact in mind (and, quite frankly, we don't, whether it's a GM crop or not), it won't be a major issue.
Of course, the media hardly has a monopoly on shortsightedness. Our politicians can manage that just fine themselves, with a little help from us.
Take the Obama administration and their plans for NASA.
Please.
Ba dum tish.
Now, moving the focus to the private sector for routine missions like satellite launches, that I can see. Sure, it makes sense; it's getting to be fairly routine, and it's not really the sort of endeavor you need your space agency working on.
But Mars?
Really?!
Sure, I get the whole "inspire a generation" angle on it.
But really?
It's going to be enormously difficult, extremely expensive, and ultimately will be purely a propaganda stunt. Which does sound rather like the Apollo missions, when you get right down to it, but still. We don't need to be going there. That money will effectively be pissed down a hole, when we could be using it to do something useful in space. Expand the ISS. Put a colony on the Moon. Shit like that.
Not paying hundreds of millions of dollars to send a couple guys to Mars so they can walk around and say "Yep! It's dusty!"
Pay the hundreds of millions of dollars after we put a fueling station on the Moon, and can send a whole fucking ship to Mars to actually accomplish something there other than planting a flag.
Bah.
Anyway, I'm gonna go to bed now. I'll be back for more of this topic later in the week, methinks.
