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Topic: 70 scientists predict the next 50 years
Maradon!
posted 11-24-2006 11:00:06 AM
some of them are outright hilarious.

Some of my favorites:

quote:
Daniel Pauly
In light of the time span considered here, I think the most important development for the oceans would be a device that could detect, amplify and transmit to us the emotions and fleeting, inarticulate "thoughts" of animals in such a form as to evoke analogous emotions and thoughts in human brains. This would first work with primates, then mammals in general, then the other vertebrates including fish. This would cause, obviously, a global revulsion at eating flesh of all kinds, and we would all become vegetarians.

haaaahahahaa

quote:
Robert May
The significant breakthrough we really need is better understanding of human institutions, particularly of the impediments to collective, cooperative activity in which all individuals pay small costs to reap large group benefits. Darwin recognised the evolution of cooperative behaviour as one of the most important unsolved problems of his day. We have made relatively little progress since then. Perhaps the social scientists of 2056 will have succeeded in combining the rigour of the "hard" (that is, easy) sciences with the thoughtful introspection of the humanities to solve this problem. I certainly hope so.

Ah yes, let's solve that pesky "individual liberty" issue!

And another hardline collectivist;

quote:
Frans De Waal
Given that our brains absorb and reflect everything around us, they are barely our own. We all carry society's brains around, and the biggest advance in science will come from disentangling the feedback loop between brain development and the ancient primate tendencies that shape our societies.

We have the distinction of going where no species has gone before. Whether we make good use of that distinction depends on human nature and the way we choose to organise our societies. What is the value of medical discoveries if most people cannot afford them? What good does it do to harness power if we only use it to make weapons? Who can say that anti-science forces will not send us backwards in time?


Ah yes, none of us are really individuals so we should just stop pretending and surrender our "greedy" individualism to the greater good.

Anyway, commies aside, many of them are extremely interesting.

Maradon!
posted 11-24-2006 11:16:59 AM
quote:
Geoffrey Miller
Applied evolutionary psychology should revolutionise life in three ways by 2056. First, Darwinian critiques of runaway consumer capitalism should undermine the social and sexual appeal of conspicuous consumption. Absurdly wasteful display will become less popular once people comprehend its origins in sexual selection, and its pathetic unreliability as a signal of individual merit or virtue.

Second, studies of human happiness informed by evolution will reveal ever more clearly the importance of "social capital" - neighbourliness, close-knit communities, local family support, and integration between kids, adults and the elderly. This will, I hope, lead to revolutionary changes in urban planning, leading to a New Urbanist revival of mixed-use landscapes. Enlightened citizens will demand to live in village-type spaces rather than alienating suburbs of single-family isolation and unbearable commutes.

Third, evolutionary moral psychology will reveal the social conditions under which human moral virtues flourish. The US will follow the UK in realising that religion is not a prerequisite for ordinary human decency. Thus, science will kill religion - not by reason challenging faith, but by offering a more practical, universal and rewarding moral framework for human interaction. A naturalistic moral philosophy will replace the rotting fictions of theological ethics. In these three ways, applied evolutionary psychology will help Enlightenment humanism fulfil its long-stalled potential to make us all brighter, wiser, happier and kinder.


...whoa

this guy is awesome

Blindy.
Suicide (Also: Gay.)
posted 11-24-2006 11:22:30 AM
quote:
When Maradon! says stuff like this, it proves there isn't a God:
...whoa

this guy is awesome


agreed.

Leftover Mog
No, the spelling errors are not intentional
posted 11-24-2006 01:34:39 PM
Wow, all this time I thought the ivory tower bleeding heart intelectuals were all in the social sciences and liberal arts.

And christ, what the hell is wrong with these poeple, I'm pretty liberal, but the hivemind is a bad thing yo.

quote:
ACES! Another post by Blindy.:
agreed.

Leftover Mog fucked around with this message on 11-24-2006 at 01:37 PM.

Won't you be my friend

"I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God."
-- George Herbert Walker Bush

The Berserker
Pancake
posted 11-24-2006 02:36:01 PM
Mr.Miller seems to be on the spot. I like him.

And as for the making a device that gives animals "Feelings", id still eat them, and probably enjoy it more.

"Return of the Berserker"
Ja'Deth Issar Ka'bael
I posted in a title changing thread.
posted 11-26-2006 09:16:06 AM
reading animal emotions would only last so long as you didn't read them when the animal was about to hunt something down and eat it.

Also: Where's my flying cars??

Lyinar's sweetie and don't you forget it!*
"All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die. -Roy Batty
*Also Lyinar's attack panda

sigpic courtesy of This Guy, original modified by me

Mortious
Gluttonous Overlard
posted 11-26-2006 12:10:54 PM
quote:
Ja'Deth Issar Ka'bael said:
Also: Where's my flying cars??

Here you go.

Ja'Deth Issar Ka'bael
I posted in a title changing thread.
posted 11-26-2006 12:24:52 PM
quote:
Mortious said this about your mom:
Here you go.


I want a flying delorean

Lyinar's sweetie and don't you forget it!*
"All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die. -Roy Batty
*Also Lyinar's attack panda

sigpic courtesy of This Guy, original modified by me

Kinanik
Upset about being titless
posted 11-26-2006 05:08:33 PM
That scientist will be disappointed when we discover animal emotions, and yet still eat them, because they're still animals.

Kinanik fucked around with this message on 11-26-2006 at 05:09 PM.

Gully Foyle is my name
And Terra is my nation
Deep space is my dwelling place
The stars my destination
Maradon!
posted 11-26-2006 05:14:43 PM
At least he seems to be aware that animals are anatomically incapable of anything human beings would recognize as emotion.
Cadga 2.0
Pancake
posted 11-26-2006 09:46:15 PM
quote:
There was much rejoicing when Kinanik said this:
That scientist will be disappointed when we discover animal emotions, and yet still eat them, because they're still animals.


Id become a butcher if this comes to fruition!

Professional Heretic/Sinner/Linux User
"Every Breath leaves me one less to my last"
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