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Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: castor on March 26, 2009, 04:13:54 pm

Title: Born at the right time?
Post by: castor on March 26, 2009, 04:13:54 pm: Sometimes, don't you think, it looks like this particular time in history isn't the nicest you could hope to live your life in? All the upcoming environmental "problems", overpopulation just worsening day-by-day, all kinds of freak wars threatening to get out of hand, great technological/scientific advances almost in your grasp, but not quite, etc...

But then again, would any other time be better, all things considered? If so, which time, why?
I tried to answer this today (succumbed to boredom at work), but came to the conclusion that it would (most likely) be only ****tier to be born in any imagineable past or future.. But that can't be true either, or can it?
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Blue Lion on March 26, 2009, 04:32:40 pm: Better for what exactly? Living longer? Being more important? Having more free time to goof off?
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: iamzack on March 26, 2009, 04:51:35 pm: Better for you.
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Blue Lion on March 26, 2009, 04:58:48 pm: To be lazy? To do something important? To be smarter? To live longer?

You can't possibly give a wrong answer to this.
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Dark RevenantX on March 26, 2009, 05:28:11 pm: I think he means which time you'd prefer to be born in. I choose to skip this ****hole.
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: BloodEagle on March 26, 2009, 05:58:19 pm: /me wonders what the unit of measure is.
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Blue Lion on March 26, 2009, 05:59:25 pm: Days, obviously.
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Turambar on March 26, 2009, 06:08:29 pm: in the yeeeeeeear twentyfivehundreeeeeeeeed
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Mobius on March 26, 2009, 06:13:52 pm: IMO those options need to be more specific. Anything like "25+ years ago", "25 years in the future", "Over a century ago", "One thousand years ago" would be better.

Well, in any case, I'd say both <60+ years earlier and 100+> later. I like how the world was many decades ago...although the World Wars were terrible events, people were still decent because the number of idiotic/emo/stupid/etc. etc. people was quite lower. I kind of like old people because they grew up in a more coherent world.

Speaking of the second option, the reason is simple: space exploration. :D
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Turambar on March 26, 2009, 06:15:31 pm: Yeah, ideally I'd go for 2200s or 2300s. I want to see technological singularity, AI, space exploration, and the results of theoretical physics.
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: The E on March 26, 2009, 06:18:29 pm: Quote from: Turambar on March 26, 2009, 06:15:31 pm
Yeah, ideally I'd go for 2200s or 2300s. I want to see technological singularity, AI, space exploration, and the results of theoretical physics.

Maybe I've been reading the wrong books, but a singularity doesn't seem to be that desirable, really.
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Mobius on March 26, 2009, 06:20:23 pm: How do you know that Earth would still be intact in 2200-2300? :p
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: The E on March 26, 2009, 06:23:09 pm: "Being born" implies that there are lifeforms around that can give birth, nothing more. Being self-aware (or in this solar system) is strictly optional. ;)
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Mobius on March 26, 2009, 06:29:28 pm: "Being born" is generic, "on Earth" is specific. That's the interesting part... :drevil:
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: The E on March 26, 2009, 06:42:17 pm: Which wasn't part of the original question, if you recall. Oh, and earth (as in soil) can also be interpreted as generic...
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Mobius on March 26, 2009, 06:46:24 pm: Someone may wish to be born on the Moon or Mars, you know... :drevil:
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: The E on March 26, 2009, 06:49:18 pm: Yes, I do. (For the record, I marked the +-0 option here.) And space colonization is vastly overrated, IMHO. (http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2007/06/the_high_frontier_redux.html)
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Rodo on March 26, 2009, 06:50:27 pm: I want to fly the perseus myself!!!! so +500 years will be enought?
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Mobius on March 26, 2009, 06:55:31 pm: Quote from: Rodo on March 26, 2009, 06:50:27 pm
I want to fly the perseus myself!!!! so +500 years will be enought?

No, because in a matter of decades all combatant craft will be unmanned. :p
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: The E on March 26, 2009, 06:58:08 pm: That's what they said 30 years ago, and it still didn't happen. I think that, if space combat ever happens, it won't look like anything we can imagine right now.
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Hellstryker on March 26, 2009, 06:58:39 pm: Rather skip the ****hole completely.
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Mobius on March 26, 2009, 07:03:19 pm: Quote from: The E on March 26, 2009, 06:58:08 pm
That's what they said 30 years ago, and it still didn't happen. I think that, if space combat ever happens, it won't look like anything we can imagine right now.

We're every year closer to that, though. I anticipate it won't happen so easily due to elitism, but hell...unmanned drones might be cheaper.
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: The E on March 26, 2009, 07:08:42 pm: They are, no doubt about that. But elitism and institutional inertia are the immovable object here, waiting for an unstoppable force.
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Nuke on March 26, 2009, 08:13:45 pm: stoneage ftw!
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: redsniper on March 26, 2009, 09:17:31 pm: eh, I voted +100. Near future FTW. Although I really could go for any of the + options, just out of curiosity.
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Nuke on March 26, 2009, 10:18:05 pm: i think i forgot something
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: blackhole on March 26, 2009, 10:27:44 pm: As far into the future as possible. Assuming we don't blow ourselves up, of course, because that just makes everything meaningless.
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Enigmatic Entity on March 26, 2009, 10:52:35 pm: In 118 years, there will only be a few thousand humans spread all over Earth. Some have information on various sorts of technology. A select few live out of range of the radiation effected areas. These select few are virtually in the tool age, except they're intelligent. One beam weapon exists on the planet. The last fortress built to stop other members of the same species entering has been destroyed on will by the entity created by the fortress' designer. WWIII and WWIV occur before the 118 years, WWIV being the Great Intra-planetary War of Sol, a nuclear war which reduced the human species' numbers down to the few thousand. In the year 2009, some electronic signals were sent by some humans regarding a suggestive fore-sight into the future. These signals caused :wtf: to be displayed on the Cathode Ray Tubes and LCD "screens", technology used by humans in the select era to communicate with each other from all parts of the planet, as well as to provide an understandable interface for the humans to manipulate various "electronic" devices for their own wants.
The message further caused some members of the humans species to react unpredictably after seeing a computer message predict their behaviour for the short term.
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: watsisname on March 26, 2009, 11:27:09 pm: Do I get to keep the knowledge and experience that I have currently upon being reborn?
Also snuffleupashrek.
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: ShadowGorrath on March 26, 2009, 11:54:33 pm: Either the Cold War or 2367 :D
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Androgeos Exeunt on March 27, 2009, 02:29:18 am: /me has voted.

Give me any time in history, and I shall adapt to it. Perhaps I have done so before, but even if I don't, I can adapt to this one, and I'm certain I can in another time.
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: NGTM-1R on March 27, 2009, 02:34:54 am: Snuffleupagus.
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Grizzly on March 27, 2009, 05:48:44 am: Spoiler:
Battlestar Galactica took place 150,000 years ago.

spoiler tags fool!
-nuke
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Snail on March 27, 2009, 08:23:20 am: Today is good.
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: castor on March 27, 2009, 03:09:20 pm: Chose 0 myself, with reasoning:
* "near future" == all current problems still around, multiplied by 100
* "far away future" == current problems were solved by adopting some extremely limiting and dull reality
* any past == most of the cool things we have now aren't yet :/

There must be occasional sweet spots along the way, but who's to know..
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: The E on March 27, 2009, 03:11:25 pm: Quote from: castor on March 27, 2009, 03:09:20 pm
* "far away future" == current problems were solved by adopting some extremely limiting and dull reality

How do you figure that?
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Nuke on March 27, 2009, 03:17:10 pm: i succeeded in nuked the earth by then
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: BloodEagle on March 27, 2009, 03:31:43 pm: Quote from: Nuke on March 27, 2009, 03:17:10 pm
i succeeded in nuked the earth by then

Yes, but then that red-haired guy went back in time and killed you from the inside. Then F.A.T.E. started messing around with everyone. .... Yeah.
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: castor on March 27, 2009, 05:35:57 pm: Quote from: The E on March 27, 2009, 03:11:25 pm
Quote from: castor on March 27, 2009, 03:09:20 pm
* "far away future" == current problems were solved by adopting some extremely limiting and dull reality

How do you figure that?
Limited resources, unlimited needs. Tough nut to crack.
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: blackhole on March 27, 2009, 08:56:05 pm: Quote from: BloodEagle on March 27, 2009, 03:31:43 pm
Quote from: Nuke on March 27, 2009, 03:17:10 pm
i succeeded in nuked the earth by then

Yes, but then that red-haired guy went back in time and killed you from the inside. Then F.A.T.E. started messing around with everyone. .... Yeah.

No, a certain patient from a mental institute breaks out and kills him only to be hauled away by police screaming "I'M A BUNNY! I'M A BUNNY!"

:nervous:
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Pred the Penguin on March 27, 2009, 08:56:31 pm: I chose far away future out of curiosity....
Heck, there might not even be humans then. :lol:
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Scotty on March 27, 2009, 11:04:16 pm: Ah, but for the good ol' days. Before s*** like rap, Islamic terrorism, and enormous national debt.
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Androgeos Exeunt on March 27, 2009, 11:27:33 pm: If you put me in the 31st century, I could be a freelancer. ;)
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Dilmah G on March 28, 2009, 08:21:26 am: 1920-1925

When being a pilot didn't mean having no life for the whole of high school :)
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Snail on March 28, 2009, 08:34:17 am: Quote from: Androgeos Exeunt on March 27, 2009, 11:27:33 pm
If you put me in the 31st century, I could be a freelancer. ;)
Or you might be living like a worm in the over-populated, polluted, barely livable under levels of some sprawling dystopian metropolis.
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Dilmah G on March 28, 2009, 09:16:48 am: Quote from: Snail on March 28, 2009, 08:34:17 am
Quote from: Androgeos Exeunt on March 27, 2009, 11:27:33 pm
If you put me in the 31st century, I could be a freelancer. ;)
Or you might be living like a worm in the over-populated, polluted, barely livable under levels of some sprawling dystopian metropolis.

Hell, sometimes I wonder wether there'll still be humanity by then
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Pred the Penguin on March 28, 2009, 10:14:39 am: By then we'll all be made out of nano-machines. ^_^
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: castor on March 28, 2009, 10:47:21 am: Or virtual humans in a virtual world. But someone has to look after the mainframe..
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: Androgeos Exeunt on March 28, 2009, 10:33:39 pm: Actually, I was thinking in terms of this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgEIFWwEAm4). :nervous:
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: redsniper on March 28, 2009, 11:46:06 pm: Quote from: Pred the Penguin on March 28, 2009, 10:14:39 am
By then we'll all be made out of nano-machines. ^_^
No. We'll be made of memristors and nanotubes (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,61969.0.html).
Flesh is coming to an end. Long live the new flesh.
Title: Re: Born at the right time?
Post by: blackhole on March 29, 2009, 12:46:05 am: Quote from: Androgeos Exeunt on March 28, 2009, 10:33:39 pm
Actually, I was thinking in terms of this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgEIFWwEAm4). :nervous:

That would be AWESOME