JakeWIlls92
Gold Member
- Apr 6, 2014
- 1,754
- 162
- 130
The transcontinental railroad, the Wright Flyer, getting through The Great Depressing and WW2, the WW2 mobilization, the interstate highway system, yes it did bulldozed minority neighborhoods, and the Apollo program which inspired the environmental movement and laws with Apollo 8's "Earthrise" photo and greatly accelerated the development of computer technology.
What happened to that America?
Looking back it seemed like American society should have committed itself fully to achieving something amazing by the end of the 2010s during the early 2010s.
Inequality, homelessness, drug addiction, mass killings becoming mainstream, the increase of troubled young men many of whom are embracing extremist ideology and often go on to commit acts of violence, conspiracy beliefs becoming dumber(Space is Fake, Earth is Flat), failing healthcare and education systems, apathy, ignorance, obesity, etc.
Has American society decayed even as we are making massive technological advances in AI, space, and medicine?
And could a grand vision put American society on a brighter path or at least improve it just a little?
A grand vision of building bases on the Moon and cities on Mars and O'Neil Cylinders from the vast resources of the asteroid belt for conservatives and moderates. A grand vision of stopping "Global Warming" and giving everyone on Earth the capability to live at least a American style middle class life without contributing to Co2 emissions as well as high speed rail and much better management of social issues for the die hard liberals.
Looking back I find it kind of sad that I didn't know anyone from my school years at a typical middle class suburban school district during the late 2000s who expressed excitement for science and engineering and would end up going into those fields.
It seemed like math and science were considered "Uncool" in 2000s American schools but that seemed more like a middle school thing at least where I came from.
Still there seemed very little interest in math, science, and engineering as well as dreaming of a sci fi future.
Also it seemed like a stigma was put on any type of blue collar work.
And it seemed like young people of the 2000s dreamed of a Hollywood style life as evidenced by the popularity of shows like "The OC", "Gossip Girl", and "The Kardashians" or a vapid life as evidenced by the popularity of "Jersey Shore".
But what would American society been like if we had a society that was more inspired by astronauts, engineers, and scientists as well as thought that we needed blue collar workers to contribute to great achievements?
Would technological and scientific achievement could have gone much faster?
If we are going to do the space thing we should have been working on a rocket like this starting in the early 2010s that would lead to those big sci fi dreams and there should have been millions of excited young college students and high school graduates lining up at SpaceX's door excited to make the future happen
instead of launching those cute little Falcon rockets
I look back at the past 10 years and lament what could have been.
The sci fi dream of creating a fully reusable super heavy lift system that would lead to the cheaper deployment of space stations, bases on the Moon and Mars as well as ferrying crews to those bases, asteroid mining, asteroid colonies, O'Neill cylinders built from asteroid resources, the cheaper deployment of space telescopes larger than the JWST, the deployment of much larger and capable military and climate satellites, and a much more capable asteroid defense.
What happened to that America?
Looking back it seemed like American society should have committed itself fully to achieving something amazing by the end of the 2010s during the early 2010s.
Inequality, homelessness, drug addiction, mass killings becoming mainstream, the increase of troubled young men many of whom are embracing extremist ideology and often go on to commit acts of violence, conspiracy beliefs becoming dumber(Space is Fake, Earth is Flat), failing healthcare and education systems, apathy, ignorance, obesity, etc.
Has American society decayed even as we are making massive technological advances in AI, space, and medicine?
And could a grand vision put American society on a brighter path or at least improve it just a little?
A grand vision of building bases on the Moon and cities on Mars and O'Neil Cylinders from the vast resources of the asteroid belt for conservatives and moderates. A grand vision of stopping "Global Warming" and giving everyone on Earth the capability to live at least a American style middle class life without contributing to Co2 emissions as well as high speed rail and much better management of social issues for the die hard liberals.
Looking back I find it kind of sad that I didn't know anyone from my school years at a typical middle class suburban school district during the late 2000s who expressed excitement for science and engineering and would end up going into those fields.
It seemed like math and science were considered "Uncool" in 2000s American schools but that seemed more like a middle school thing at least where I came from.
Still there seemed very little interest in math, science, and engineering as well as dreaming of a sci fi future.
Also it seemed like a stigma was put on any type of blue collar work.
And it seemed like young people of the 2000s dreamed of a Hollywood style life as evidenced by the popularity of shows like "The OC", "Gossip Girl", and "The Kardashians" or a vapid life as evidenced by the popularity of "Jersey Shore".
But what would American society been like if we had a society that was more inspired by astronauts, engineers, and scientists as well as thought that we needed blue collar workers to contribute to great achievements?
Would technological and scientific achievement could have gone much faster?
If we are going to do the space thing we should have been working on a rocket like this starting in the early 2010s that would lead to those big sci fi dreams and there should have been millions of excited young college students and high school graduates lining up at SpaceX's door excited to make the future happen
instead of launching those cute little Falcon rockets
I look back at the past 10 years and lament what could have been.
The sci fi dream of creating a fully reusable super heavy lift system that would lead to the cheaper deployment of space stations, bases on the Moon and Mars as well as ferrying crews to those bases, asteroid mining, asteroid colonies, O'Neill cylinders built from asteroid resources, the cheaper deployment of space telescopes larger than the JWST, the deployment of much larger and capable military and climate satellites, and a much more capable asteroid defense.
