Re: Future coltures of people?
@Cw, I'm increasingly of the opinion that the sf writers (especially the mid twentieth century ones), got it backwards. It's not technology that is the force behind social change, but social change that is the force behind technological development.
People in the past weren't any more stupid than we are, it's just that when society is as it is and isn't changing people don't bother to change it.
Case in point, the principles of a steam engine were worked out by Hero in ancient Griece (his name was Hero), and ceasar's diary actually mentions the motive power of steam. Even the Egyptians were able to mix and use concrete, heck, the romans regularly had teliscopes.
The problem? Why the hell bother building a steam engine or a concrete road when you've got x thousand slaves ready to leap to your beck and call and do whatever needed doing, hell the pyramids would be a major achievement today even with all our modern mach inary.
Look at why human kind walked on the moon, not for discovery or science or to establish a colony, but so one lot of American apes could say they could climb literally higher up the tree than a lot of Russian apes.
Of course, this isn't to say social change can't! happen, but until we actually get to a position where social change is necessary, I don't see any technological or life style changes following, indeed the increasing tendencies towards uniformity and mass production implicit in capitalism (changes which marx himself predicted), are fairly dangerous as far as social change goes. Indeed, I myself see alianation of the individual as a primary motivation in a lot of world events, after all people would not feel the need to go and blow up buildings if they felt their religious perspective was validated by the wider world.
Oh, and no this isn't to condone terrorist actions, the actions are bad things whatever the motivat ion, only to note that I do see cultural and individual alienation as motivating factors behind what makes people join such organizations. After all, how often has a blind person felt utterly lost as part of a crowd? Or utterly rejected from any group identity through differences?
Unless we become more caring of individuals and better listeners, I can see more and more people taking the extreme and unethical way out, and social control by those in power getting increasingly draconian as a result.
Then again, there is another side to things, sinse one of the better consequences of globalisation is indeed the formation of communities not bound by distance, and if that! trend continues it could have far nicer consequences for valuing the individual in a society which seems not to. Indeed we've already seen bits of that, in the nee sincerity cultural movement, bronies and friendship is magic, and some of the kinder internet acceptances among alternative culture.
It's also true on an economic level that there are those looking at the current evidence who realize we can't! go on forever, hence some of the efforts made to curb the lengths companies may go to in despoiling individuals, the environment etc for prophet.
All in all we'll see. The technology is there, the no how is there, the question is do we have the motivation?
Btw Cw the sheep was called Dolly and was cloned in the mid to late nineties. She was grone completely from a cloned cell into an adult sheep. At the time it was seen as the next step in biological engineering, along with the human genome project. The problem however is that sinse the cell also cloned her telemeers at the age the original sheep was, she aged super rapidly and died quite young, (In I believe 2005). This is why cloning androids might be a ways off yet, though clone organs for transplant is already a miner thing in surgery (there are people with cloned ears).
I susp ect clone organs are something we'll see fairly soon, in the next couple of decades, though a more important question is whether anyone but the mega rich will be able to afford them or whether the drug companies will only sell them at ridiculous prices, as is their wont.
As to space faring, again, it'll depend entirely upon whether the social pressure exists to get there.
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