Enslaved--Technology Sees No Limits?

[Rhodmhire]

Great, now I'm going to have to get my friends together and build a Phalanx just for the hell of it.

Will it be worth the effort? Probably not.

Well, the damn thing let a small, rather unimportant Greek kingdom conquer the entire known world as far as Afghanistan...might be worth a try.

Depends, will it allow a rather unimportant group of guys conquer the entire known world as far as Afghanistan in the modern time?

The known world's pretty damn big now. You don't happen to be able to phalanx-shuffle across oceans, do you?

Exactly.

Therefore, it wouldn't be worth the effort.

But I'll probably do it anyways, it'll be fun.

[Vetalia]

Depends, will it allow a rather unimportant group of guys to conquer the entire known world as far as Afghanistan in the modern time?

Maybe if you're really, really good at bluffing.

[Tunizcha]

Today's greatest supercomputer would be no match for the quantum computers of the near future. Computers are confined to circuits and wires and the such, but if we were to permit the physics of the quantum to it, the limits of computer technology would be suspended indefinitely.

[Vetalia]

The known world's pretty damn big now. You don't happen to be able to phalanx-shuffle across oceans, do you?

Hey, who hasn't sent a transport with one spearman solely to capture the last enemy city in Civilization?

[Conserative Morality]

Pikes are spears, just longer. The Macedonian sarissa was quite made of iron, and was quite light...after all, it needs to be light when it's 20 feet long.

Quite light? The thing was twelve damn pounds! And yes, damn pounds are heavier than normal pounds.

Combined with the fact that they would carry a shield in addition...

[New Kereptica]

The known world's pretty damn big now. You don't happen to be able to phalanx-shuffle across oceans, do you?

Hey, who hasn't sent a transport with one spearman solely to capture the last enemy city in Civilization?

So... much... nostalgia...

*head asplode*

[Grave_n_idle]

Luddites. Should we be teaching the art of blacksmithing, just in case all of our factories suddenly go kaput?

Yes.

[Vetalia]

Quite light? The thing was twelve damn pounds! And yes, damn pounds are heavier than normal pounds.

Combined with the fact that they would carry a shield in addition...

I suppose, although most muzzle-loading and bolt action rifles weighed easily 8-10 pounds. But then again, given its size and utility, 12 pounds was probably pretty light...imagine if it was made out of bronze.

[Natapoc]

Cursive is silly anyway. It is difficult to read and there is only slightly faster to write. I won't have any regrets if it vanishes from the face of the earth. Hand written documents will become much more legible.

[Rhodmhire]

Luddites. Should we be teaching the art of blacksmithing, just in case all of our factories suddenly go kaput?

Yes.

...You know the drill by now, I assume, do I even need to ask the question?

[Grave_n_idle]

Luddites. Should we be teaching the art of blacksmithing, just in case all of our factories suddenly go kaput?

Yes.

...You know the drill by now, I assume, do I even need to ask the question?

You probably shouldn't need to ask. I've actually previously identified myself as something of a Luddite.

I'm not saying everyone needs to do blacksmithing at school, or anything, but we have reached a worrying place in our societies where no one knows how anything works, and no one knows how the same goals were reached 'in the old days'.

There's a saying (Lord Cameron of Dillington coined it) about western nations being "nine meals from anarchy". The idea being, in a western society, it would take only three days of foodless supermarkets for law and order to start breaking down.

We're in a similar situation, in terms of technology - we're incapable of supporting ourselves. A day without electricity in the US, and deaths would be in the thousands.

[Linux and the X]

A day without electricity in the US, and deaths would be in the thousands.

Unlikely. Deaths from Katrina (even assuming everyone missing died) were only 2 541. This wasn't just one day without electricity, but weeks of no electricity, flooding, destroyed homes, fires, and almost no police. But at most two and a half thousand dead. Although that does technically count as "thousands", you are misrepresenting the issue a bit.

[Non Aligned States]

We're in a similar situation, in terms of technology - we're incapable of supporting ourselves. A day without electricity in the US, and deaths would be in the thousands.

Conversely, without electricity, you wouldn't have those thousands to die in the first place.

[KaIashnikov]

Computers are not smart enough to combat bullets. And when they are...

They will have to out smart JDAMs.

Good Luck, Mr. Roboto!

[Non Aligned States]

Computers are not smart enough to combat bullets. And when they are...

They will have to out smart JDAMs.

Good Luck, Mr. Roboto!

Most combat aircraft are fitted with extensive fly by wire systems and autopilot software. Technically, it could fly and fight without a pilot if the flight software was programmed to do so. JDAMs are also computer guided.

So in the event of the AI uprising, most weapons would be reprogrammed to turn against their users.

[KaIashnikov]

So in the event of the AI uprising, most weapons would be reprogrammed to turn against their users.

Well then, just send in the Marines. We don't use none of them dang fangled thinkin boxes like the Army, We use the M16.

Semper Fi

[Tekania]

A day without electricity in the US, and deaths would be in the thousands.

Unlikely. Deaths from Katrina (even assuming everyone missing died) were only 2 541. This wasn't just one day without electricity, but weeks of no electricity, flooding, destroyed homes, fires, and almost no police. But at most two and a half thousand dead. Although that does technically count as "thousands", you are misrepresenting the issue a bit.

No kidding, we went for weeks after Isabel before they restored power... And we survived...

Don't think people are so reliant that they are unable to survive, at least not yet... Headed that way though

[Hoyteca]

Are we too dependent on technology? I think so. Scratch paper is being replaced by calculators. People would rather twitter and text than talk. I believe we're going to seriously weaken thanks to the maracle of atrophy. In other words, if you don't use it, you lose it. How many people can start a fire without matches? Hell, how many can start a fire WITH matches?

Fossil fuels won't last forever and replacing them with other sources of power is currently impractical. There's just so much demand.

Power-hungry electronics would be the first thing we'd lose. They're just too hungry and so much of our electricity comes from burning fossil fuels. Without a powersource, our computers and ipods will just become expensive paperweights.

Cars will be replaced with public transportation and walking. Yes, walking. The long-lost art of walking all the way to your destination. Buses and trains will be used for long-distance travel. This will be the only practical solution once the oil dries up.

The death rate will skyrocket. Without technology, a large chunk of the population will basically die off thanks to injuries, disease, and genetic defects. The explosive growth in the human population will likely slow down and possibly turn into a rapid decrease.

How much do you depend on technology? Ask yourself these questions:
What if you use access to electricity?
What if there was no gas to put into your car?
Do I depend on synthetic medications for survival?
Why is that bird looking at me funny? Is it coming onto me? Is it stalking me? And why is the air around it so wavy and colorful? Is it a magic bird? Why is the sky eating it?

[Geniasis]

I can honestly say I can write in print more legibly with less effort than cursive and this has been the case since I first learned to write. Cursive is one of those archaic, useless things that date from the age of fountain pens...speaking personally, cursive is much easier than print when writing with a fountain pen (God help you if you're left-handed), so no doubt the development of cursive is directly related to the development of quills and other ink writing implements.

Old-school cursive is a lot closer to shorthand than that loopy, ugly crap they taught me in 2nd grade.

Speaking from experience, He does not.

[Lacadaemon]

You probably shouldn't need to ask. I've actually previously identified myself as something of a Luddite.

I'm not saying everyone needs to do blacksmithing at school, or anything, but we have reached a worrying place in our societies where no one knows how anything works, and no one knows how the same goals were reached 'in the old days'.

There's a saying (Lord Cameron of Dillington coined it) about western nations being "nine meals from anarchy". The idea being, in a western society, it would take only three days of foodless supermarkets for law and order to start breaking down.

We're in a similar situation, in terms of technology - we're incapable of supporting ourselves. A day without electricity in the US, and deaths would be in the thousands.

I agree that traditional artisan stuff should be preserved, for a variety of reasons. But lamenting the general loss of cursive writing is a bit silly. It wouldn't be all that hard to recreate after all, and in any case, if we somehow flipped back to a time where traditional blacksmithing was necessary most of the population wouldn't be able to write anyway.

[Non Aligned States]

Well then, just send in the Marines. We don't use none of them dang fangled thinkin boxes like the Army, We use the M16.

Semper Fi

Not true. The modern day infantry soldier in the US army uses a large variety of high tech weaponry. Anti-tank missiles, MANPADs, man portable deployable flying drones for surveillance, armed drones for explosives disposal, GPS navigation systems and global communications networks. The marines would have very limited support.

[Ryadn]

I was only taught cursive in third grade, and that was...17, 18 years ago? Well before computers were a fixture in every home. I still have the signature of an eight-year-old, but the bank still cashes my checks, so I don't think it matters.

Now, I do think we need to teach kids to print legibly, because there's always going to be a situation where you've got nothing but a pen and a napkin and an urgent message to get across. There's no reason that message needs to be in cursive, though.

[Kamsaki]

Fossil fuels won't last forever and replacing them with other sources of power is currently impractical. There's just so much demand.

Solar power could satisfy a much larger percent of our energy supplies if we were prepared to invest in it, both as individuals and collectively. BP has a cute graph about how the cost of solar generating enough power is likely to intersect with that of current mains supplies within the next ten years or so, making it reasonably probable that we'll see some sort of shift into renewable electricity before the oil runs out.

The trick, of course, is persuading the governments that it's worth investing in.

[Kamsaki]

IIt's hard to think of stepping back, even a bit, I think it'll be 2050 when we create a supercomputer with intelligence that exceeds the entire human race, it's hard to think of backtracking when our dependence on technology is so vast we barely recognize it in our daily lives.

I know I've been referencing him quite a lot lately, but Ray Kurzweil makes an important point in noting that we don't need to create a supercomputer with intelligence that exceeds our own in order for such a machine to come into existence.

Computers are calculators. What they do is reason and evaluate, and that's largely it. If we were to create a machine with intelligence even simply on a par with our own, such a machine would almost certainly use its capacity to very quickly generate new knowledge and ideas previously unthought of - possibly even thus designing a machine better than one we could.

[Non Aligned States]

Computers are calculators. What they do is reason and evaluate, and that's largely it. If we were to create a machine with intelligence even simply on a par with our own, such a machine would almost certainly use its capacity to very quickly generate new knowledge and ideas previously unthought of - possibly even thus designing a machine better than one we could.

Computers as a rule though, cannot understand. They can reason and evaluate, but only within strictly defined parameters. But a computer wouldn't be able to understand the output of its evaluation. That's why if you gave a computer the equivalent instructions of "Go die in a fire", it would.

A computer capable of independently generating new knowledge must be capable of understanding previous knowledge and building on it. That's been something that AI programmers have been trying to figure out for decades. We're no where near the sort of breakthrough necessary for AI with human intelligence.