Still Widening?
I remember, from the mid-60's, a graph showing two curves: the advance in technological development, versus the pace of improvement in human affairs and our ability to understand one another. There was a remarkable gap: the ratio of the areas beneath the curves was at least 4:1, with technological advance far in the lead. I have also learned that technological advances are invariably, first, "misused" by humans. The stories of the Curies, and radium, the disastrous "applications" of television,; the examples are rife.
The gap has surely grown much wider over the past 50 years (I measured "energy gaps" in super-conducting thin films, in 1962). The number of new technological advances and products over the past half-century is staggering. Human instinct appears to be to first use these "break-throughs" to enhance the "power" of one group over another -- usually by weaponizing the technology. That's how the Cold War was brought to and end. Because both sides were engaged in "mutually-assured" destruction, using the same technology, a "truce" in building those weapons was achieved. Now we're plagued with the spread of those weapons, along with other technology applications.
Advances in biology and other non-physical sciences have led us to battles between industries such as Pharma, and Insurance, and Health Deliverers at all levels. Because of the life-or-death nature of these advances, and the extension of life span; financial strains plague individuals and governments.
Patterns for human affairs were well established before the "revolutions" in physical, biological, and non-physical sciences. Religion, Race, Class, Caste, Color, and Tribe had all played their roles in the rise and fall of "civilizations" and the social and economic order in place before the Scientific Revolutions appeared.
The Internet, among all of the "breakthroughs of the 20th Century, may prove to be the ultimate, or "coup-de-grace" for mankind's insistence on retaining these old patterns of relating. It permits infinite connection and multiple identities for all individuals on our planet. Imagine that! The old patterns of relating worked because of physical separation and a confusion of languages. Both are disappearing at the same time. What do we get for it? SYRIA!!!!
Stay Vigilant!
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