Michio Kaku: Can Nanotechnology Create Utopia?

[threelions]

I'm always amused by people putting down science and scientists while using a computer powered to browse the internet.

 

[klnOmega]

I'm always amused by people putting down science and scientists while using a computer powered to browse the internet.

I'm always amused by people putting down the Nazi's while using cellphone satalites launched with rockets based on Nazi designs.

Things can have both good and bad traits. Just because some technology is good doesn't mean all of it is.

 

[Ippwnage]

Maybe not but technology can lead to profound improvements and open up new opportunities. A good example is how Nikola Tesla changed the world with alternating current, literally creating the world we live in now, despite fierce attempts by Edison to stop him. I don't think we would've went as far with Edison's monopoly on direct current. But tech might help social progress along.

ok, you are banned from using the word "literally"

 

[TheGoodNews]

ok, you are banned from using the word "literally"

Okay, but playing a significant part in bringing about the world we now live in. Or should I have said "...the world we live in now"?

 

[drstrangelov]

dat hair line doe

It looks alright from the front but from the sides it looks horrible.

Image doesn't do justice to the silky silver quality, I'm pretty sure it's the source of all his power.

 

[Thai Otoshi]

I think most of the friction between the West and the Middle East is geo-political and is the direct result of the relative scarcity of oil and its importance in driving economic growth. Look at who is financing these Islamist organizations. Saudi and Qatari elites who have vested interests in keeping American influence in the region in check but don't have the traditional military power to do so on their own (plus, they need enough plausible deniability to keep selling oil to the West and direct fighting tends to result in outcomes like what happened to Sadaam so direct military conflicts aren't preferable anyway.) Religion is just a convenient recruitment tool because going to poor people (relative to oil elites) and saying we need you to fight America so that we can maintain leverage of our oil reserves isn't all that effective in the same vein that U.S. officials telling the population that we need U.S. soldiers to die in deserts for oil doesn't poll all that well (so we use nationalism/patriotism/democracy as propaganda). Two different sides of the same coin. You take the scarcity of energy away and suddenly all of these geo-political games seem a lot less necessary.

Also, notice that you never really see any Qatari terrorists. Qatari is the richest country in the world with little over 100k per capita (twice that of the U.S.). People aren't really receptive of the whole martyrdom thing when life is pretty good here on earth.

All that to say that if you solve scarcity, you will be a long ways into solving those sorts of problems. There might still be mentally ill people and depressed people and people that derive joy from killing. Ending scarcity won't solve those issues, they are problems for medical science. But scarcity is the biggest root cause of many of the problems the world faces and so solving it is the biggest thing you can do to make lives better on Earth.

Amazing post.

 

[Archon]

Kaku is just another mainstream scientist

Dont believe anything he says

 

[TheGoodNews]

Amazing post.

But maybe the question should be what do we do about scarcity now? Scarcity exist for many due to the unequal distribution of wealth.