Sci-fi, Destiny and what we as humans will never accomplish POSSIBLE SPOILERS

[escyos]

While I was on the toilet, I was overcome by an overpowering vapour (yes I made it) and it got me thinking about pollution.

Firstly sci-fi shows us a glimpse of a possible future for our species, Stargate does a great job at this, we find technology, figure it out and BAM! interstellar spaceships.

The Ancients were around for MILLIONS of years and accomplished a lot. I know most people say they always left things unfinished, which I chalk up to those few experiments done during wartime (why would the council divert resources and time to something that failed when they could use them elsewhere). They built Destiny but never had a chance to go there and now we are there.

Humans in Stargate are going to be around for a while, we have access to worlds and supplies and a myriad of advanced technology. This makes me sad, as humans in the real world as useless. Instead of wanting to explore the universe we are consummed with creating games about elves and orcs and TV shows about cooking competitions.

My question is has sci-fi really taught the majority ANYTHING? We should be striving to be a better society but no one seems to care. Destiny is a clear example of how the Ancients wanted to know more about the universe and see what there was out there, we dont seem to care.

(Oh and i do know Stargate is a fictional show and as such isnt real)

[Puddle-Jumper]

errrrrr no humanity hasn't learnt anything, while certain induviduals have, the vast majority have not, plus religion is always holding people back too.. and I don't mean to nit pick but this really isn't an SGU science and technology discussion thread... is it....

[escyos]

its about technology, sort of a comparison between them

[s09119]

While I was on the toilet, I was overcome by an overpowering vapour (yes I made it) and it got me thinking about pollution.

Firstly sci-fi shows us a glimpse of a possible future for our species, Stargate does a great job at this, we find technology, figure it out and BAM! interstellar spaceships.

The Ancients were around for MILLIONS of years and accomplished a lot. I know most people say they always left things unfinished, which I chalk up to those few experiments done during wartime (why would the council divert resources and time to something that failed when they could use them elsewhere). They built Destiny but never had a chance to go there and now we are there.

Humans in Stargate are going to be around for a while, we have access to worlds and supplies and a myriad of advanced technology. This makes me sad, as humans in the real world as useless. Instead of wanting to explore the universe we are consummed with creating games about elves and orcs and TV shows about cooking competitions.

My question is has sci-fi really taught the majority ANYTHING? We should be striving to be a better society but no one seems to care. Destiny is a clear example of how the Ancients wanted to know more about the universe and see what there was out there, we dont seem to care.

(Oh and i do know Stargate is a fictional show and as such isnt real)

I like games with elves and orcs...

[magictrick]

I don't think this is a science and tech topic. Its more about the current state of the human society.

Our current progress is slow because the priority nowadays is not in that kind of science. Most of the research and development is done to benefit corporations who see a piece of technology as a money making tool. That's where most of the money goes. Sure there is NASA and studies that happen at universities and other organizations, but the level of investment in these is minimal.

It will be quite a long time before the focus in our world shifts to researching space exploration technology and things like that. Plus you have to remember, in the SG universe the discovery of the Stargate dramatically changed the outlook of a lot of people. In our current world, there has been no such discovery (at least as far as we know).

[escyos]

I like games with elves and orcs...

And how many planets have you explored?

I don't think this is a science and tech topic. Its more about the current state of the human society.

Our current progress is slow because the priority nowadays is not in that kind of science. Most of the research and development is done to benefit corporations who see a piece of technology as a money making tool. That's where most of the money goes. Sure there is NASA and studies that happen at universities and other organizations, but the level of investment in these is minimal.

It will be quite a long time before the focus in our world shifts to researching space exploration technology and things like that. Plus you have to remember, in the SG universe the discovery of the Stargate dramatically changed the outlook of a lot of people. In our current world, there has been no such discovery (at least as far as we know).

NASA is a joke, it was started to beat the Red's instead of studying space, these days its all $3 billion space probe to study a rock, instead of actuallly going out there

[thekillman]

yes well unfortunately realistically it's a little bit infinitely harder to explore other planets. unless you have a stargate in your backyard

[Krazeh]

Our current progress is slow because the priority nowadays is not in that kind of science.

Slow? Humankind's rate of technological advancement has never been faster, and from all indications is continuing to accelerate. If anything stargate, and pretty much all other sci-fi, is hopelessly underestimating the rate of technological advancement that species would go through. The Ancients, and the Asgard, should have been so far ahead of us in technological terms that we wouldn't even know where to start in trying to understand it. It'd be like taking an ancient greek and asking them to reverse engineer an F-22 without access to any information about it.

Just looking at computing power, current trends point towards desktop machines having enough computational power to emulate the human brain within the next 20-30 years, supercomputers will reach that point even sooner. At that point AI becomes solely an issue of software and once you've got past that you very rapidly end up in a situation where AI's become more and more powerful as the hardware gets more powerful and they are able to refine their own software. However in the SG universe none of the "technologically advanced" races have shown any indication of having AIs, so either they're wishing to imply that programming an AI is impossible or, as I said earlier, the writers have massively underestimated how far civilizations would advance.

[magictrick]

Slow? Humankind's rate of technological advancement has never been faster, and from all indications is continuing to accelerate. If anything stargate, and pretty much all other sci-fi, is hopelessly underestimating the rate of technological advancement that species would go through. The Ancients, and the Asgard, should have been so far ahead of us in technological terms that we wouldn't even know where to start in trying to understand it. It'd be like taking an ancient greek and asking them to reverse engineer an F-22 without access to any information about it.

Just looking at computing power, current trends point towards desktop machines having enough computational power to emulate the human brain within the next 20-30 years, supercomputers will reach that point even sooner. At that point AI becomes solely an issue of software and once you've got past that you very rapidly end up in a situation where AI's become more and more powerful as the hardware gets more powerful and they are able to refine their own software. However in the SG universe none of the "technologically advanced" races have shown any indication of having AIs, so either they're wishing to imply that programming an AI is impossible or, as I said earlier, the writers have massively underestimated how far civilizations would advance.

There's a difference between discovering the technology and actually putting into practical use. What I mean by slow is that while we may be on the right track, the costs will be enormous. Right now it costs ~$14 million to send on person into space to orbit Earth for a few days. Its not that the technology can't be researched, but actually using it a whole new ball game.

Its great that they will be able to emulate the human brain in the next 20-30 years (which also should not be taken at their word) but what will be the application of that? When they say they mean scientists would have come up with the possible technical methods of doing that, but to actually apply them will probably costs enormous sums of money. Then again the problem will facing them will be if corporations find a valid use for it and will it be worth the money. Its always about the money, which is the problem.

Theoretical scientists and physicists already know what is needed to improve space travel, or build super computers, but getting enough funding to actually begin hands-on research on all that is too expensive. It will be a slow process to become that advanced, simply because of the way society is currently structured.

Also want to bring up that our knowledge on the universe itself is still limited. Until recently everyone thought matter made up everything. Guess what, there's dark matter and now dark energy. The universe is composed of ~5% matter, 23% dark matter and 72% dark energy. And scientists have almost no idea what dark energy even is.

[Krazeh]

There's a difference between discovering the technology and actually putting into practical use. What I mean by slow is that while we may be on the right track, the costs will be enormous. Right now it costs ~$14 million to send on person into space to orbit Earth for a few days. Its not that the technology can't be researched, but actually using it a whole new ball game.

Of course the costs for cutting edge technologies will always be high, but they're always getting smaller and smaller. I mean we're getting to the point where private enterprise can afford to put someone in low earth orbit, that's a massive drop in costs over the last 50-60 years.

Its great that they will be able to emulate the human brain in the next 20-30 years (which also should not be taken at their word) but what will be the application of that? When they say they mean scientists would have come up with the possible technical methods of doing that, but to actually apply them will probably costs enormous sums of money. Then again the problem will facing them will be if corporations find a valid use for it and will it be worth the money. Its always about the money, which is the problem.

What's the application for a desktop machine, i.e. the equivalent of what you now have sat next to your desk, that has the power to emulate the human brain? Are you seriously asking what the application for an AI is? And it's not a case of coming up with the possible technical methods for creating that much computing power, it's a case of looking at the trend in increase in affordable computing power which is showing no sign of slowing. Just look at the claims made in the early days of computing about how big the market would be or the predicted increases, they were wildly underestimated and it turned out that they were far more powerful and far cheaper than anticipated.

Theoretical scientists and physicists already know what is needed to improve space travel, or build super computers, but getting enough funding to actually begin hands-on research on all that is too expensive. It will be a slow process to become that advanced, simply because of the way society is currently structured.

I'm fairly certain that we currently build supercomputers at the moment? I also think you underestimate the amount of research that goes on around the world.

Also want to bring up that our knowledge on the universe itself is still limited. Until recently everyone thought matter made up everything. Guess what, there's dark matter and now dark energy. The universe is composed of ~5% matter, 23% dark matter and 72% dark energy. And scientists have almost no idea what dark energy even is.

Of course it is, but it's also a relatively new field of study. One in which we're learning new things faster and faster, and this will only increase as computers get faster, methods of collaboration get easier (internet, videoconferencing, telepresence) and people gain more and more familiarity with teh subject.

[PurpleNurple]

Of course the costs for cutting edge technologies will always be high, but they're always getting smaller and smaller. I mean we're getting to the point where private enterprise can afford to put someone in low earth orbit, that's a massive drop in costs over the last 50-60 years.

What's the application for a desktop machine, i.e. the equivalent of what you now have sat next to your desk, that has the power to emulate the human brain? Are you seriously asking what the application for an AI is? And it's not a case of coming up with the possible technical methods for creating that much computing power, it's a case of looking at the trend in increase in affordable computing power which is showing no sign of slowing. Just look at the claims made in the early days of computing about how big the market would be or the predicted increases, they were wildly underestimated and it turned out that they were far more powerful and far cheaper than anticipated.

I'm fairly certain that we currently build supercomputers at the moment? I also think you underestimate the amount of research that goes on around the world.

Of course it is, but it's also a relatively new field of study. One in which we're learning new things faster and faster, and this will only increase as computers get faster, methods of collaboration get easier (internet, videoconferencing, telepresence) and people gain more and more familiarity with teh subject.

Couldn't have put it better myself. The rate of technological advancemnt we have seen over the last century is nothing but astounding!

Oh and here is the model of the trends in computer hardware advancement. It is known as Moore's Law and there are no signs of change.

Also Branson's Virgin Galactic will be sending people into space, at a cost of $200,000, very soon.

[garhkal]

However in the SG universe none of the "technologically advanced" races have shown any indication of having AIs, so either they're wishing to imply that programming an AI is impossible or, as I said earlier, the writers have massively underestimated how far civilizations would advance.

And who's to say those races even watned to make AI? What is so special about it anyway?

[PurpleNurple]

What about the pegasus replicators. Incredibly advanced AI created by the ancients.

[Krazeh]

And who's to say those races even watned to make AI? What is so special about it anyway?

Apart from the scientific achievement of emulating human consciousness? Not to mention the massive explosion in intelligence that it could potentially lead to. Once you have an intelligent machine it's possible it could build an even more intelligent machine, that one could then build an even more intelligent machine and so on. If this were to be the case then very quickly you would end up with a non-biological intelligence that is far superior to our own biological intelligence. It would essentially be the biggest techological advancement in human history, and quite possibly the last. Well the last for what we currently consider to be humankind anyway but that's a completely different discussion which I'm not sure is entirely relevant here.

What about the pegasus replicators. Incredibly advanced AI created by the ancients.

That's a good point, they were AIs. But it did appear that they were something the ancients created a lot further down the line technologically than we are now and had subsequently abandoned well before they reached their full potential.

While we're discussing replicators, there's another technology that is for the most part absent from SG, and a lot of sci-fi, which is nanotechnology, whether it be mechanical or biological. Again is it a case of writers are trying to imply nanotechnology either is impossible or has too many faults that outweigh it's many potential benefits, or simply underestimating technological advancement?

[dacooker]

While I was on the toilet, I was overcome by an overpowering vapour (yes I made it) and it got me thinking about pollution.

Firstly sci-fi shows us a glimpse of a possible future for our species, Stargate does a great job at this, we find technology, figure it out and BAM! interstellar spaceships.

The Ancients were around for MILLIONS of years and accomplished a lot. I know most people say they always left things unfinished, which I chalk up to those few experiments done during wartime (why would the council divert resources and time to something that failed when they could use them elsewhere). They built Destiny but never had a chance to go there and now we are there.

Humans in Stargate are going to be around for a while, we have access to worlds and supplies and a myriad of advanced technology. This makes me sad, as humans in the real world as useless. Instead of wanting to explore the universe we are consummed with creating games about elves and orcs and TV shows about cooking competitions.

My question is has sci-fi really taught the majority ANYTHING? We should be striving to be a better society but no one seems to care. Destiny is a clear example of how the Ancients wanted to know more about the universe and see what there was out there, we dont seem to care.

(Oh and i do know Stargate is a fictional show and as such isnt real)

I believe all humans are encoded to look up at the sky and wonder. We are explorers, why wouldn't we want to reach for the stars? We are, and it's incredibly expensive. There is many countries allied together in space exploration, to help share costs. However this still isn't enough. You say we're consumed by other stuff, and your right.
In 1969 humankind evolved to be a space faring race, as a species we've done little to evolve since that's 41 years of nothing. Scifi has showed us something about advanced societies, they are all unified together. There is no religious hate, economies that create rich and poor, or ones freedom taken from them. It's interesting since these societies reflect a lot on the ideology of Karl Marx, socialist ideas that make Americans cry communist!

In the long of it, I could just keep typing. Why bother, your right we're all doomed.