Is the human race done already??

[BillGates]

I got to thinking the other day - have humans completely lost all sense of creativity and inventiveness?? This came to me when I was driving home from work. All cars made in the past 30 years, no matter what country of origin, and no matter what manufacturer, look more or less exactly the same. All motorcycles, at least sportbikes, use the same general shape, with different colors and decals, no matter what the manufacturer. All buildings and homes have more or less been unchanged for the past 80 years, except for size and materials.

I really find it hard to believe that with 6+ billion people in the world that we really lack the capacity to make anything unique and/or different and get it out into the world market.

What a boring world it will be for those of us who are still pretty young - I really haven't seen any really significant changes in my lifetime, other than perhaps a few drug advances.....

 

[Carbo]

Well, with your post it is safe to say that evolution is dead in its tracks. C'mon, aren't you really Fred Flintstone?

 

[BigJohnKC]

There's something to be said for that - it has been postulated that the more connected a large group gets, the less its members evolve.

On the other hand, you're just looking around your neighborhood, eh? I'll bet the world looks different in Siberia or mainland China.

On the cars aspect of it, whenever a car manufacturer makes a different looking car they bring it to the car shows, but it never gets mass-produced because the strange vehicles won't make them a lot of money, which is more interesting to them than ingenuity. However, I see a lot of cars that look quite different on the road today, albeit not appealing (PT Cruiser, Cooper Mini, VW New Beetle, Chevy Avalanche).

 

[hooj]

from your post it sounds as if you never leave your town, get out and experience the world a bit, then come back and tell us we're boring and uncreative

 

[BillGates]

Okay - so one guy here knows what I'm talking about - but the others think they're wiseguys or something, rather than actually have an intelligent discussion.

And aside from that little scooter thing that came out a few months ago, what new, cool inventions have we had in recent years that we see and use on an everyday basis?? (Computers have been around for a long time now, so those really don't count)

Even sports are at a standstill - I'd consider snowboarding to be one of the newest sports and that was around already in the 1960's.

I'm BORED!

 

[Capn]

Why should we come up with new designs just for the sake of being different? I don't get it. If a new design emerges that is actually better, we will use it. The fact that cars look similar might suggest there isn't much place to go with the design, or we are getting closer to the optimum device configuration given the application. From evolutionary standpoint, a fish and a dolphin both have similar devices for propulsion; ergo a flipper is the optimum biological device that has been derived from years of evolution. Should fish and dolphins change just to keep your interest piqued?

 

[Jfrag Teh Foul]

Are you kidding me?

How old are you anyway? Probably not as old as me, but keep up.

Since I was born in '72, I have witnessed wonders that would make the heads of our ancestors spin off of their necks! For instance, the computer (while not exciting to look at) is something that has made it into your house within the last 10 years (prolifically)(sp?). The internet is the same way... Really, I don't know how we got along before it... I guess with old dusty versions of encyclopedias. Human knowledge is through the roof. The cars that you are so down on.... cross check a modern vehicle and one that was driven around in the early 80's and tell me that the new ones are drab. Home innovation and building is at an all time high, with better techniques and safety checks coming about all the time. People actually care about the planet we live on rather than trashing it like they did in the 70's and 80's. Life is all around better now than it has ever been before in human history. You just need to open your eyes and look around a bit.

 

[hooj]

so just beacuse we dont have new inventions come out all the time we are boring?



<< I really find it hard to believe that with 6+ billion people in the world that we really lack the capacity to make anything unique and/or different and get it out into the world market. >>


Its not that we cant make anything new and unique and/or different it is because the general population like the comfort and security of using things they know and trust



<< I really haven't seen any really significant changes in my lifetime, other than perhaps a few drug advances..... >>


How about all the advances in green fuels and recylcing, 10-20 years ago it was pretty much unheard of.



<< All buildings and homes have more or less been unchanged for the past 80 years, except for size and materials >>


Sorry but homes on the whole havent changed in probably many hundreds of years, but you cant say we are being uncreative as the materials and the way in which we use them is constantly changing and moving on

 

[bigalt]

These people aren't being wiseguys. They're just telling you to look up from the ground. There're lots of new things being developed and implemented in many sectors of life. And where do you live? I can't say much for Houston but the buildings downtown have anything but drab architecture. There isn't much turnover in building big buildings, so there's not a whole lot of room for change on a short time scale.

Believe it or not, there is a lot of creativity in the arts as well. Unfortunately, most of what people like is the same old stuff re-hashed, so the stuff that you're seeing while you watch your mtv and go to your AMC movie theatres is a cesspool of said realm.

 

[BillGates]

My point is this - if you look at cars for example - for the past HOW long, they have all had 4 wheels, at least mainstream, a windshield, 2 or 4 doors, 2 headlights, 2 taillights, etc.... Sure some of this is due to restrictive laws, but the creativity in new designs never make it past the car-show prototypes it seems..... I remember 10 years ago seeing prototype cars that were supposed to be out in 4-5 years. Guess what? All we get are Fords, Buicks, and pickups, that all look damn near how they looked 10, even 15 years ago save a few cosmetic changes. No funky new engine designs, no radical, more efficient styling changes, anything. Still the same old thing.

Even the internet is not a "new" technology - it has been around in some form for 20-30, maybe more years, just not in it's current state. I would agree that that is a big accomplishment, but there really isn't a whole lot of raw innovation. I said that little scooter thing got everybody way excited, and I would venture to say that it was for the same reason as I'm asserting here - people are bored of the same old stuff every day.

I'm really trying to say - do you really think it is possible that we have figured out the absolute best way to possibly build a car, engine, plane, etc??? That stuff is all pretty darn similar between brands, countries, etc. I just feel that engineering could move things along a lot farther, but there are too many conservatives who want everything to look the same, feel the same, perform the same, and will not buy anything unless it is comfy and exactly the way that they know it to be....

 

[BillGates]

Even food is affected - the only really new foods I can remember seeing in the past 5 years is squeeze butter, green ketchup, and millions of cereals that are all the same stuff with different coloring in different boxes. (Not that I'd rather eat that goo they ate on The Matrix)

 

[bigalt]

do people actually like that scooter thing? I was hoping for something way cooler, like an anti-gravity belt or something

 

[BillGates]

The scooter made big news for a while at least, because it was a new idea, never before seen, etc.... Of course, it probably isn't the coolest thing ever, but at least it was something new and interesting....

Picture the old movies - they pictured the year 2000 or whatever to have flying cars, floating cities, funky clothes, etc.... but here we sit - cars look and are mechanically more or less the same other than ABS and EFI, minor improvements on old designs, houses and buildings still stand from the 1940's and even earlier, it's just not what people in the past pictured these times would be like...

 

[Jfrag Teh Foul]

Well, this is different. If a bit non-practical.

 

[vi edit]

You could start by having an original user name

 

[Capn]

<< I just feel that engineering could move things along a lot farther >>



And obviously, you are *not* an engineer. No one is sitting on their hands with a great new car design that will revolutionize the world because they are afraid conservatives won't like it.

Necessity is the mother of invention, cars look very similar in configuration over the years because there has not been a need for a new one.

 

[DigDug]

It appears that way since conformity is a surer sale than creativity.

 

[bigalt]

"Everything that can be invented has been invented."
-Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.

 

[Jfur]

yes, billgates380, you are the Telos of evolution

 

[poopaskoopa]

Why are you talking about the lack of diversity in food in this world? Do you not travel at all, or does everything taste the same(i.e. chicken ) to you?

 

[BillGates]

Where did I say that there was no DIVERSITY in food?? I mentioned that there is no innovation in food in recent years, other than green ketchup, oh, and also purple ketchup, heh....

Anyway - where are our protein pills, where we can take one pill and magically be fed an entire meal with everything we need and nothing we don't.

 

[Capn]

"Anyway - where are our protein pills, where we can take one pill and magically be fed an entire meal with everything we need and nothing we don't. "

You really want to eat one pill? Food tastes good you know.

 

[BornStar]

<< Picture the old movies - they pictured the year 2000 or whatever to have flying cars, floating cities, funky clothes, etc.... but here we sit - cars look and are mechanically more or less the same other than ABS and EFI, minor improvements on old designs, houses and buildings still stand from the 1940's and even earlier, it's just not what people in the past pictured these times would be like... >>



So do you actually think we have the technology for a lot of this stuff and people are just sitting on it? Most of this stuff you're talking about hasn't been invented yet and won't be for quite some time. Much of it is just too complex for current computers or beyond the scope of current human thought. Other stuff that has been invented (the 3-wheel BMW "car") is just too expensive and too impractical for the average consumer to get their hands on. If you're full of all of these brilliant ideas and tons of money (as the real Bill Gates at least used to be) I suggest that you start working on hovercrafts and full meals in a pill and see how far you get. It's not that we don't want to move on, we're working as hard as we can, it just takes a while. Planes don't manufacture themselves over night.

 

[Tauren]

Yes the race is over and you lost....

 

[fatalbert]

<< Where did I say that there was no DIVERSITY in food?? I mentioned that there is no innovation in food in recent years, other than green ketchup, oh, and also purple ketchup, heh....

Anyway - where are our protein pills, where we can take one pill and magically be fed an entire meal with everything we need and nothing we don't. >>



no innovation in food???

don't you watch Iron Chef? These gourmet chefs come up with original recipies all the time. New ways of combining ingredients, its incredible.

But for more of what you are talking about. What about the new advances in bioengineering foods. It isn't really advertised, but it prevents a lot of the problems from pests or weather that farmers have had in the past. The reason that it hasn't gone full ahead with those ideas, is that protestors continually complain that they don't trust those foods, a lot of new ideas don't work because some group decides that it is bad, without ever giving it a chance.