The 3rd Epic Turning Point in Homo Sapien Existence, Now?

Discussion in 'Science and Technology' started by Mojochi, Jun 18, 2021.

  1. Mojochi

    Mojochi Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Let's say the most significant turning point in all 300,000 years of Homo Sapien existence was the great flood of the Pleistocene ice age end, separating nearly 300K years of a mostly hunter-gather global "mass migration" age, from a 10K year agriculture/domestication "mass civilization" age.

    We could also say the next similarly epic turning point in human development was the age of exploration, some 500 - 1000 years ago. Capacity to master ocean travel, begets massive influx to the Western Hemisphere, & a millennium long "Mass Transportation" age... ship, train, plane, automobile, ever the greater capacity to move more populously, rapidly, variably & distantly, effecting our species just as profoundly.

    It'd seem the culmination of that epoch, was that our transportation growth finally took us off the planet altogether some 60 years ago, the intent of which was to travel us ever farther out. However, (& maybe a Star Trek fan board is the wrong crowd for this) that's most likely not directly happening in any similarly significant way. Due to vast space distances, the species' mass, potentially 10 billion by century's end, is going nowhere, as there's no as readily available "New World" to develop us, this time.

    Or is there now? Leaving the planet, lead to adding orbital satellites, establishing the 1st globally instant "mass communication" age, & this world wide web I'm on right now IS our new & wholly different domain. It's potentially capable of driving the species just as profoundly as the other 2 turning points did.

    We're maybe now at one of the 3 most significant turning points in all Homo Sapien existence, that's long term outcome may be equally as upheaving. In 1000+ years, Bill Gates & Steve Jobs may be viewed as we view Columbus & Magellan, world conquerors who, for good or ill, reshaped our way of life. Not just a new invention, or frontier, but the very fabric of human existence, as much altered from what we are now, as we are from what those age old predecessors were.
     
  2. Asbo Zaprudder

    Asbo Zaprudder Admiral Admiral

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    We've come so far in our reckoning yet we're still mostly confined to a pale blue dot...
     
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  3. Mojochi

    Mojochi Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    But somehow have advanced to dominating it, incalculably more than any other thing to have ever lived on it, and done so in so spectacularly insignificant a span of time, as to be barely a blip even in our own history... Like in 3% of our time here.
     
  4. Santaman

    Santaman Vice Admiral Admiral

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    The 3rd epic turning point.. yeah we're pretty busy with destroying the planet.. marvelous turning point it will be when we manage that feat whoohoo epic! :p
     
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  5. NCC-73515

    NCC-73515 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    The current turning point of Homo sapiens is not just in computing technology and mass connectivity and data transfer, but also in genetics, aviation, and spaceflight
     
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  6. scotpens

    scotpens Professional Geek Premium Member

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    Nobody's destroying the planet. Earth should remain habitable for the next billion years or so. How long the planet remains suitable for human life is another matter. Still, I'm optimistic about humanity's future. We're a very adaptable species, after all.

    Thank you. The final "s" in sapiens is not an English plural "s." It's genus Homo, species sapiens -- Latin for "wise man."
     
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  7. Mojochi

    Mojochi Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I kind of see aviation & space flight as part of our last turning point, which has been all about mass transit. For the vast masses, it really does seem to have hit the wall though, just outside our atmosphere. At best, it only feels like we might be able to set up outposts around the solar system... maybe, & there's nothing effectively driving vast numbers of us out there imho, like the flood drove us inland, & the new world drove us global.

    Genetics is an interesting turn though, with potential outcomes that are equally as foreboding for our future as a new world of mass connectivity. Is it something that you can see taking the entire species to a new plateau though? Will it affect every day life for every day people at some point in the future, like those previous floodgates did?
     
  8. publiusr

    publiusr Admiral Admiral

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    Genetics scares me more than the atom ever did.
     
  9. NCC-73515

    NCC-73515 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    We can literally edit life now...
     
  10. publiusr

    publiusr Admiral Admiral

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    I think Sidis was the first real world example of the “New Humans”
    www.sidis.net
     
  11. Mojochi

    Mojochi Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Pretty much. Are there signs that it will be implemented en masse? Is it the kind of thing we can expect to be interwoven into the very fabric of all of humanity at some point? Or will un-engineered humans breeding still be the more prevalent influence?
     
    Last edited: Jun 20, 2021