Originally posted by: C3PX
It is discomforting to me with how very dependant on technology we are. I think it would be a good thing to take a step back by choice and with caution and planning rather than be forced back by some sort of disaster. We are getting to the point where electricity and electronic information is as vital and essential to us as water. That is what I meant by my "this time carbon offsets wont save you", if it came down to giving up cell phones there would be no squirming out of it for the rich folks. I think we could do it, but it would hurt. In fact, I would be totally if we decided to fight global warming and loose of bees by getting rid of technology all together and going back to oil lamps and horses. That would be a dream come true! Imagine, no more media? Something dumb like VT happens and we wont know about it for weeks or months, and best of all, no copycat nonsense. Ah, one can only dream...
It is discomforting to me with how very dependant on technology we are. I think it would be a good thing to take a step back by choice and with caution and planning rather than be forced back by some sort of disaster. We are getting to the point where electricity and electronic information is as vital and essential to us as water. That is what I meant by my "this time carbon offsets wont save you", if it came down to giving up cell phones there would be no squirming out of it for the rich folks. I think we could do it, but it would hurt. In fact, I would be totally if we decided to fight global warming and loose of bees by getting rid of technology all together and going back to oil lamps and horses. That would be a dream come true! Imagine, no more media? Something dumb like VT happens and we wont know about it for weeks or months, and best of all, no copycat nonsense. Ah, one can only dream...
I don't know if we'd honestly be able to go back to the days of non-modern technology, especially if we simply cut it off immediately. Take transportation, for example. Over the course of the last century, towns and cities have become much more spread out due to the rise of the automobile making it possible for long-distance transportation, which just wouldn't be possible using a horse and buggy. And then there's data management. While it wouldn't be impossible, think of how difficult it would be to schedule several thousand students into a university by hand! Computer records make it possible to automatically tell if a student signs up for two classes in the same slot or doesn't have the prerequisites required to get into a class and make sure a class isn't overloaded (yeah, guess which level of education I'm currently undertaking, in case you didn't already know...). And, of course, there would be no OT.com and no Star Wars at all, for that matter. ^_~ I agree, though, that it is a bit discomforting how dependent we are on technology, but there really is no way to do it. It could either be cut off immediately, and civilization would collapse and have to rebuild itself. The only successful way to do it would take decades of regression. There's no way anyone would agree to that. Even if it was "outlawed" somehow, it would be about as effective as Prohibition. I would love a world without alcohol, but it's just never going to happen. Just like there was moonshine in the 1920s, there would be an underground technology racket if we were forced to regress back to a naturalized style of life. I'm not entirely against the premise, but I just don't think it's at all feasible.