# Humanity needs a Frontier



## 22575 (May 23, 2011)

The Sagan Series! Please share this; science and technology can give us great potential, but only culture and the actions of individuals will determine how we apply that potential.


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## crazyeddie (Oct 19, 2011)

Why do we need a frontier?


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## IDontThinkSo (Aug 24, 2011)

We are the frontier.


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## Longdove (Jan 4, 2011)

Kids need to be allowed to experiment with things, communities can start by having parks where science experiments and do-gadgets can be out in the open for all to witness. 

(Some adult-supervision required, but still)


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## 22575 (May 23, 2011)

crazyeddie said:


> Why do we need a frontier?


I believe the Carl explained it in the video; there are a number of reasons. One reason is that we were originally hunter-gatherers, constantly on the move in search of new food sources. It may very well be programmed in us to seek out new territory for natural resources, and this comes in the form of unrest and wanderlust. This unrest has been especially exacerbated in modern times where humans live a sedentary lifestyle. 

Another reason is that a frontier gives us a goal. When you tell someone "we have seen and been this far" their next question is immediately about how to get beyond there, how to break that barrier and see something which no one else before them has seen.


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## wuliheron (Sep 5, 2011)

You can leave it all behind 
and sail to Lahaina 
just like the missionaries did, so many years ago 
They even brought a neon sign: "Jesus is coming" 
Brought the white man's burden down 
Brought the white man's reign 

Who will provide the grand design? 
What is yours and what is mine? 
'Cause there is no more new frontier 
We have got to make it here 

We satisfy our endless needs and 
justify our bloody deeds, 
in the name of destiny and the name of God 

Eagles- The Last Resort


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## bellisaurius (Jan 18, 2012)

Eventually, we gotta leave the planet and solar system. No reason that a single event should be able to wipe us all out.


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## wuliheron (Sep 5, 2011)

bellisaurius said:


> Eventually, we gotta leave the planet and solar system. No reason that a single event should be able to wipe us all out.


The raw volume of scientific data is doubling about every 10 months now and there are perhaps 100,000 scientists worldwide working on every major experiment. We will leave the planet, we will leave the solar system, and the only question is can we shave maybe ten or twenty years off when that occurs.


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## bellisaurius (Jan 18, 2012)

wuliheron said:


> The raw volume of scientific data is doubling about every 10 months now and there are perhaps 100,000 scientists worldwide working on every major experiment. We will leave the planet, we will leave the solar system, and the only question is can we shave maybe ten or twenty years off when that occurs.


Which of course means that we already have a couple frontiers, space being one of them. I guess what the real question should be is "which frontier is the most important?" I tend to like space, but mostly because the causes I think a lot of people would like, be it world peace or better governance seem pretty intractable.


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## wuliheron (Sep 5, 2011)

bellisaurius said:


> Which of course means that we already have a couple frontiers, space being one of them. I guess what the real question should be is "which frontier is the most important?" I tend to like space, but mostly because the causes I think a lot of people would like, be it world peace or better governance seem pretty intractable.


We've just taken those same problems into space. The military has taken over much of the space program and doesn't really like to talk about what they are doing, but they're already building the next generation rockets. The X 37 unmanned spacecraft has been orbiting the earth for over a year now and nobody has a clue what it has been doing. They're up there, they just aren't doing the romantic type of exploration in the mass media people would like to see. Instead they're turning earth orbit into the next battle ground.


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## vanilla_dream (Nov 2, 2011)

I see the need to go beyond the frontiers of neuroscience. There are still a lot of arcanes within the mind to unravel.


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## URwhatUthinK (Feb 13, 2012)

I think the most important frontier should be ourselves. We need to maintain order and peace on the planet so that we can _reeeeeeally_ focus on exploring space.


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## Mountainshepherd (Feb 23, 2012)

Look into Ray Kurzweil's theory of exponential growth in technology.

Assuming that part of the theory alone is correct, and it seems to be, then that growth needs to occur on a frontier or it will create its own.

We have fundamentally two options, it occurs within ourselves and humanity be the frontier as Kurzweil suggests, or it occurs out there somewhere by which the ocean and space provide the two most reasonable options.

Personally I think we should focus on the ocean to start. It is more immediate and more acceptable to the mass audience, and much of what we develop for the ocean has cross application in space. What we find down there will also help us look for things up above.

I imagine in reality it will balance out between inside and outside but one will come first.


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## bellisaurius (Jan 18, 2012)

Mountainshepherd said:


> Look into Ray Kurzweil's theory of exponential growth in technology.
> 
> Assuming that part of the theory alone is correct, and it seems to be, then that growth needs to occur on a frontier or it will create its own.
> 
> ...


I agree with this. We probably should start in the oceans more.


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## Stelmaria (Sep 30, 2011)

We have plenty of frontiers, the problem is that there are too many. :wink:


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