[mmasters]

Has Mankind seen its best days already? Do you think mankind has much more to offer in the future?

I think the race as a whole is drifting off course and the political, economic and social systems are in need of a major overhaul. However since that's probably not going to happen anytime soon I say we've past our best days as a whole. Technological advance is largely what has propelled our race forward however the low and medium hanging fruit of science in the form of technology has pretty much been exploited at this point. The past decade or two hasn't really shown the level of advances the previous decades have. Barring some deep breakthroughs in physics we seem to have past the peak of new technology ripe for transforming society. That said, with a population approaching 7 billion we have more people doing scientific research than ever before and at the same time the world has become a bit boring with little new to offer... Anyway, hopefully we'll have some interesting breakthroughs to propel the race forward instead of towards disaster.

The areas which seem to show the most promise for advancement are health care and computers. That said has our race essentially blown it's wad in terms of advancement? Perhaps the human race will be forced to find a new identity for itself with most everything in the realm of possible having been already done or explored.

[nobodypanic]

Has Mankind seen its best days already?

best days? do you remember the 20th century at all? gas ovens, genocide, world-wars. hard to do worse than that.

[mmasters]

Has Mankind seen its best days already?

best days? do you remember the 20th century at all? gas ovens, genocide, world-wars. hard to do worse than that.

Yeah it's never been all that great really and at the same time it doesn't seem we've moved to much a higher level than all of that. I don't particularly think the race as a whole will move significantly beyond where it's currently at, but parts of it may.

[Novus]

The closest thing to Glory Days humanity ever got to making a near utopia was in 1700s Japan. No wars, no famine, no slavery, no lawlessness or anarchy, low crime, ruled by a minimalist non-feudal agrarian government. These were the best days of a Benevolent Monarchy. Peasants lived simple but happy dignified lives. The key though was the currency they used. The paper Ryo which equaled one bushel of rice. This put the power of the currency in the hands of Peasant farmers. Rice was the backbone of their economy and the system of backing their currency with it created a self replicating sustainable system that last over 200 years.


In an Ideal scenario the world would power down to something like that.

[eXpat]

Has Mankind seen its best days already?

best days? do you remember the 20th century at all? gas ovens, genocide, world-wars. hard to do worse than that.

And that standard will be difficult if not impossible to surpass, sure we have more toys now, more powerful computers, ipods, Xboxes and all that rubbish, and yet, when it comes to the real quality of life, there has been little, if any advancement.
I think this baby shows the moment when we were at the peak.

[jedrider]

Fine Art: Renaissance
Music: Baroque and Classical Music
Politics: English Parliamentary system and French and American Revolution
Technology: 20th Century

Yup, I think we're spent now!

[Narz]

Personally I hope my best days are ahead of me. As for mankind, who knows, depends how you define best.

[Alan Cain]

My suggestion: Make a time capsule with some special marker for the future (if any) dominant intelligent species to ponder, theorize about and put away in a niche in its home unit as a totem or curiosity. Maybe a kachina doll. That would be a thinking pod scratcher. Make it strong and not inclined to corrode, because it is going to be buried for a looooooong time.

[DomusAlbion]

On balance I really believe western civilization hit its peak in the late 19th early 20th century. Starting with WW I the entire enterprise has gone down hill. Victorian England (if one were middle class or better) was an ideal balance of freedom, technology, the arts, music and culture and they got to wear great clothes.

[Serial_Worrier]

On balance I really believe western civilization hit its peak in the late 19th early 20th century. Starting with WW I the entire enterprise has gone down hill. Victorian England (if one were middle class or better) was an ideal balance of freedom, technology, the arts, music and culture and they got to wear great clothes.

I'd say we're at the peak right now. I mean think about what we can do just with computing devices alone and how it's impact health care!

[Ferretlover]

"Glory?" From whose perspective?

[dinopello]

I think of the John Adams quote:

“I must study politics and war, that my sons may have the liberty to study mathematics and philosophy, natural history and naval architecture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, tapestry, and porcelain.”

He was quite optimisic !

You think if we could show John Adams the Brostache App, he would be pleased with our progress ?

[Serial_Worrier]

I think of the John Adams quote:

“I must study politics and war, that my sons may have the liberty to study mathematics and philosophy, natural history and naval architecture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, tapestry, and porcelain.”

He was quite optimisic !

You think if we could show John Adams the Brostache App, he would be pleased with our progress ?

His mistake was to think a future generation would have the luxury of not being scientist, engineer, politician. We're paying the price for that now. China churns out millions of programmers and engineers every year, while we churn out "gender studies" majors.

[dinopello]

I think of the John Adams quote:

“I must study politics and war, that my sons may have the liberty to study mathematics and philosophy, natural history and naval architecture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, tapestry, and porcelain.”

He was quite optimisic !

You think if we could show John Adams the Brostache App, he would be pleased with our progress ?

His mistake was to think a future generation would have the luxury of not being scientist, engineer, politician. We're paying the price for that now. China churns out millions of programmers and engineers every year, while we churn out "gender studies" majors.

I didn't read it as a mistake. I don't take it as so absolutist but more aspirational. He may have been mistaken as to what mankind aspires to.

[ralfy]

Given life expectancy rates and availability of food and medicine, we hit our peak only recently.

[EnergyUnlimited]

As per peaks which are gone or about to be gone:

1. Apollo Project:
As far from Earth as humans will ever go.

2. End of Concorde:
Historical limit for speed of commercial passenger flight.

3. Tsar Bomba:
Man made peak power output ever achieved on Earth.

4. Space Shuttles:
Ultimate weight limit of cargo sent for an Earth orbit during single launch.

5. LHC:
Most powerful particle accelerator ever built, nothing more powerful is going to be constructed.
It still have to run at full power of 14 TeV.

6. Wall Street / US Government:
The largest financial pyramid ever assembled with the aid of most powerful and yet most fraudulent governing entity which have ever existed.
This resulted in most consumption-oriented and also most mindless mob in mankind history collectively known as "Western Civilization".

[jupiters_release]

As an ethnomusicologist, I would say culturally and technologically speaking we peaked in the 1940's and 50's. To this day 78rpm shellac records are considered the best archival medium ever invented including fidelity quality. Vinyl's all microgroove and prone to warping, cassettes are lo-fi, CDs are crap, and WAV/flac files are sterile. The amount of junk disposable music created today is greater than all of history, we're at the bottom and on average only deteriorating further. This isn't to say there aren't some gems of culture and music still prospering but it's a very tiny minority now.

[Cloud9]

Close the patent office. Everything that can be invented has been invented. An urban legend found to be profoundly false.

[Revi]

I think we're only a couple of years past peak in almost everything. We have peaked, but that's like turning 40. There is still a lot of life left, but we're on the downhill end of it now.