So I will start off with this question; Are we where we should be or are we behind in the times in technology? I am not really sure at the moment. I have my own doubts. I wonder how we could go from Kitty Hawk with the Wright Brothers to the Moon in 66 years. We did a total of 6 manned missions to the moon. Since 1972 there have been no further manned missions to anywhere but orbit around Earth. It has been 43 years since that 1st mission. What are we doing now? Well, we are sending out probes and machines to varying corners of our solar system. The Voyager 1 probe, launched in 1977, is now about to reach Interstellar space. Curiously though we are no where near where a lot of science fiction authors and movies have suggested we would be.
We have no flying cars like the ones in Back To The Future II. We do not have giant space hotels as in 2001: A Space Odyssey. How much longer do we have to wait?
Well currently there is a space race within the elite private business world. Richard Branson and his Space Ship 1 are the most famous. But there are others at the front lines of this new space race. Space X is one such company. Are they pushing the boundaries and bringing us closer to the future that many people like myself want to see? Or are they going to drag it out and make as much money as they possibly can?
My only reason for questioning this direction is this; Many company's are known for coming out with a new products every year. They hype it, they pitch it, they bash the competition, but when it comes down to it, they have only changed a feature. Or they have only changed a part to be more efficient. But it never really the exciting game changer that they pronounce it to be. I have been waiting for nearly a decade, for a tooth sized cell phone that replaces a tooth and yet I have an iPhone 4. I had a choice between this and an iPhone 4s but there really was no drastically noticeable difference in technology. Just some quaint features and the Siri program that gets half the requests wrong and a spell checker that sucks. I turned that feature off because it is no better or worse in my iPhone 4.
Well I will continue to watch and see where these giants of business will take us. Will they take us further into space by 50 mile increments or will they make the leap and build the hotels and luxury space destinations that we read about and see in movies? Will we be able to eat a Space Happy Meal on the Moon or be stuck eating the Freeze Dried Ice Cream that we can buy online?
Here I would like to discuss what and where our future is going. Watch the movies 2001: A Space Odyssey and 2010:2010: The Year We Make Contact, and you find yourself asking "Why do we not have this yet?" I personally wonder if it is government that is holding us back. Will the new space race with private business owners bring about this future, or will it continue to drag it out?
This is a very interesting topic. I quite like it. I believe that we are definitely behind the times. There should be so much going on. More exciting trips, yet America no longer has a working shuttle. The fleet is retired and the Constellation project was terminated. Private enterprise is great, but to restore excitement in our country I think the government should be in charge. Someday hopefully we'll live in a world that the great sci-fi writers had in mind.
ReplyDeleteI really like your topic and your introduction. I noticed myself picturing the possibilities of outer space. It would be cool to see the hotels like in Kubrick's movie.
ReplyDeleteI find your topic interesting. I don't know many people who are as interested in this subject as you are because we just don't pay attention to advancements in technology until they are already here and ready to be utilized. But your post really makes me think about what technologies we COULD have and makes me question why we aren't there yet.
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