Technology & Resources How many more Things are on earth we dont know about??

[SomethingToPonder]

My point is that cavemen technically had all the same resources to make everything we have now, they just weren't evolved enough to do it. How many more types of materials or minerals that can be used to make new types of metals or different things along those lines could there be left to be discovered ? In my opinion the possibilities could be endless.

every single material you see around you has been created from things that were found on this earth, and with various different things mixed or altered with heat or with other chemicals we get different materials with which we can create more.
It is incredible when you think about it, Imagine if we ever made it to another planet and started producing resources from there as well, wont be long before we are, It may be the start of many new things.

anyone care to weigh in?

[Phi for All]

My point is that cavemen technically had all the same resources to make everything we have now, they just weren't evolved enough to do it.

 

It's a matter of intelligence and experience, not of evolution. There's really no such thing as "evolved enough". It's more of a developmental concern.

 

How many more types of materials or minerals that can be used to make new types of metals or different things along those lines could there be left to be discovered ? In my opinion the possibilities could be endless.

 

I agree. Every discovery in one field leads to more discoveries in other fields. Part of the way we adapt as humans to changing environments is to equip ourselves to deal better in them. As we continue to explore, we find new ways to expand our knowledge.

 

This is one of the many reasons we need to keep funding science. Our intelligence and tool use are augmented tremendously by our ability to communicate and cooperate. Remove any of those qualities and discovery is hampered dramatically.

 

every single material you see around you has been created from things that were found on this earth, and with various different things mixed or altered with heat or with other chemicals we get different materials with which we can create more.

It is incredible when you think about it, Imagine if we ever made it to another planet and started producing resources from there as well, wont be long before we are, It may be the start of many new things.

 

I think we'll start harvesting materials from space in the very near future, for use offworld so we can continue to explore and harvest more. And in doing so, we're going to develop new technologies and new uses for materials to help us solve new problems.

[SomethingToPonder]

hey Offworlder i'd agree, I worded the "evolution" part wrong, You have to walk before you can run, hence largely simplified we need to learn things to learn other things.
However while relating to evolution i have no doubt that we are not at the end of the scale yet, the finished product if you will

Yes we could use either a more developed sort of ISS or planet as a launch pad, or a "checkpoint" in space, Harvest materials from a certain planet and use them to build on that planet saving the need to transport as much material.

"This is one of the many reasons we need to keep funding science." - Agreed. Governments all around the world seem to be losing interest in science now and while there are still projects being funded, There is no real drive to get students interested at a young age and publicity is terrible. You try getting a chemistry set that you cant eat everything in, It is a joke now. Because they are meant for kids, Nothing toxic is allowed, and what is allowed is minimal and very restricted. I mean people used to know not to eat stuff in a chemistry set, if they didn't, They probably shouldn't have been using one in the first place. It was a tool for people with an interest in science that kids and adults alike would gather round for hours and hours playing with, And i believe still could. There are accidents everywhere involving a million things,Just because tommy down the block blew his shed up and his left hand, Kids who are responsible cant get their hands on anything decent. It really is a shame.

Sorry bit of a rant there about chemistry sets, But i believe they went so wrong there it's unthinkable. everything's so... restricted.

[Phi for All]

hey Offworlder i'd agree, I worded the "evolution" part wrong, You have to walk before you can run, hence largely simplified we need to learn things to learn other things.

However while relating to evolution i have no doubt that we are not at the end of the scale yet, the finished product if you will

 

Sorry, but that's not how evolution works. We're not moving towards some kind of ideal, or "finished product". If there was enough selective pressure, we'd change over time to adapt, even if it meant losing some of what we think makes us humans. It's not a process of scalar variables, it's a process of continuous functions.

 

You try getting a chemistry set that you cant eat everything in, It is a joke now. Because they are meant for kids, Nothing toxic is allowed, and what is allowed is minimal and very restricted. I mean people used to know not to eat stuff in a chemistry set, if they didn't, They probably shouldn't have been using one in the first place. It was a tool for people with an interest in science that kids and adults alike would gather round for hours and hours playing with, And i believe still could. There are accidents everywhere involving a million things,Just because tommy down the block blew his shed up and his left hand, Kids who are responsible cant get their hands on anything decent. It really is a shame.

 

Sorry bit of a rant there about chemistry sets, But i believe they went so wrong there it's unthinkable. everything's so... restricted.

 

Political turmoil tends to sweep up everything in its path. The current clampdown on chemicals is just political playacting, soothing the masses while acting on other agendas. It's just such a shame it has to affect a whole generation of potential scientists. Kneejerk reactions rarely result in anything meaningful or lasting.

 

To the OP, someone pointed out in another thread that discoveries aren't always appreciated because we don't have the concurrent technologies that make the discovery valuable. The steam engine was invented in the first century A.D., but there was no technology then that made the engine practical. We probably have some discoveries right now that don't have a matching technology to make them truly valuable.

[SomethingToPonder]

 

Sorry, but that's not how evolution works. We're not moving towards some kind of ideal, or "finished product". If there was enough selective pressure, we'd change over time to adapt, even if it meant losing some of what we think makes us humans. It's not a process of scalar variables, it's a process of continuous functions.

 

 

Political turmoil tends to sweep up everything in its path. The current clampdown on chemicals is just political playacting, soothing the masses while acting on other agendas. It's just such a shame it has to affect a whole generation of potential scientists. Kneejerk reactions rarely result in anything meaningful or lasting.

 

To the OP, someone pointed out in another thread that discoveries aren't always appreciated because we don't have the concurrent technologies that make the discovery valuable. The steam engine was invented in the first century A.D., but there was no technology then that made the engine practical. We probably have some discoveries right now that don't have a matching technology to make them truly valuable.

"Sorry, but that's not how evolution works. We're not moving towards some kind of ideal, or "finished product". If there was enough selective pressure, we'd change over time to adapt, even if it meant losing some of what we think makes us humans. It's not a process of scalar variables, it's a process of continuous functions."

sorry i think i may not have explained it well and as a result you may have misinterpreted. I did not mean we were heading towards some kind of "ideal" i was sort of edging towards the When will we stop adapting. I agree about what you say about selective pressure, and as far as that goes humans have been the dominant power on the planet for many thousands of years so there isn't much of it,.However i have no doubt that at some point there will be circumstances that may force the human race to "adapt" again. Maybe even if we possibly managed to ever travel to other planets to terraform or build etc, conditions on those planets may cause the people there to change over time, Creating a completely different type of human.

 

Yes it is terrible the things that happen because of "politics". what thread was that, do you remember?, It sounds quite interesting i would enjoy reading it. There was a program on BBC Channel 4 tonight called Explosions, How we shook the world. And while it relates to explosives, it shows you the evolution, From black powder, To charged explosives,which were too unstable to use or manufacture properly, to dynamite, created by the man who left his money to create a charity that awards prizes for excellence in many fields.The nobel prize. It was also the first plastic explosive. And then when hey found material that gave off energy. uranium. a few kilograms of it was enough to make an explosion the size of a few hundred tons of TNT.

 

Most of it you'l probably know already, but it is a nice little interesting hour's worth of insight into history and how far we have come in the last couple of hundred years.

 

Thanks for your opinion, It is truly valued. I enjoy reading a few of your posts regularly =)

 

Just found this old post i started, where i was talking about having the designs and papers 10+ years ago but just not being able to build the technology. In this case a warp drive.

 

http://www.scienceforums.net/topic/72038-warp-speed-in-our-lifetime-possible/

 

[PeterJ]

Great. Now we're going to measure progress by the size of our explosions. Go science.

[SomethingToPonder]

Great. Now we're going to measure progress by the size of our explosions. Go science.

How are we?

there was one program which highlighted how far we have come in that particular field. It's hardly the fact that we are going to measure our overall progress by the size of explosions.

 

However, The more advanced we get, The bigger explosions we can create with lesser and lesser amounts of material. So i guess you could measure progress in that field by that.

Edited April 17, 2013 by SomethingToPonder

[Phi for All]

Great. Now we're going to measure progress by the size of our explosions. Go science.

 

A lot of people look at nuclear weaponry and see only evil. If you really think about it, the sharp increase in destructive capability represents a chance to better overcome our warlike tendencies. We've done more with diplomacy since the invention of nuclear weaponry a few decades ago than we have in the thousands of years we've considered ourselves to be civilized.

 

Learning to live with our knowledge is a big part of what makes humans different from other species, imo. If we can overcome our knowledge of element 92 and not destroy ourselves (and we're actually doing better with that than we are with fossil fuels), we might be able to redefine what it means to be truly civilized.

[SomethingToPonder]

Very interesting Phi, Yes i agree, Since the development of more powerful weapons diplomacy has had a massive increase. Also i think that nuclear weapons are useless in this world now as the power of them would probably have such devastating effects it would render other forms of "war" obsolete, Also i remember reading a study somewhere saying that if say a nuclear bomb was dropped on a storage facility that contained other nukes, The blast could be so devastating that it might knock the earth of it's axis. could this be a possibility? I reckon we have a chance to better overcome our warlike tendencies. However most war is down to greed and politics and the certain few with power will always find a way to wage war.

I also agree with what you said about learning to live with out knowledge, I believe we should learn as much as we possibly can because you never know when it may be useful, maybe even on a scale we couldn't imagine someday but also that if we say no to learning something then we would be making a statement that it's ok to "not learn technology" and that would be a dreadful mistake in my opinion. Where would we draw the line? How many fundamental discoveries would we pass over?

The term "truly civilized" must be one of the most changed meanings in the history of time. Just think every few decades i reckon we redefine it. Go back a few hundred years and it things that were considered civilized would be considered brutal today. Even on a much smaller scale, I remember 10 years ago most parents smacked their children, Then they passed the laws which meant you weren't allowed to anymore,actually I think you may still be allowed as long as you dont leave a mark, But even so most parents today would consider it very unnecessary and cruel. It just shows you how times change.

[krash661]

this is interesting,

Dr. Michio Kaku - Physics of the Future -Next 100 years!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-Xp8-NFmOAI#!

Edited April 20, 2013 by krash661