Is human progress sustainable?

[Boojatta]

http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/progress/index.html

[timeforpeace]

1. I laughed out loud.

[Motown_Johnny]

2. It depends on what the definition of the word "is" is.

:sarcasm:

[FiveGoodMen]

3. Not if preachers, pundits, and other type of propagandists are allowed to go on lying.

[Motown_Johnny]

5. won't "The Rapture" take care of that for us?

Everyone left behind will need to STFU since they didn't make the grade

The sooner the better IMO

[FiveGoodMen]

13. If it ever comes.

I'm getting tired of waiting.

[ixion]

4. On a long enough timeline, nothing is sustainable

so I voted no.

[Subdivisions]

6. No. Now that world oil production is in decline, so is progress. Not only is progress

not sustainable, it has already ended. However, regression is sustainable, as it was before the discovery of oil.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. Get back to me when humans start making some progress.

[LostInAnomie]

8. Not with the current population.

Way too many people.

[Grand Taurean]

9. How many people are there?

Resources? How long do people live?
At the rate we are going at, there will be at least 16 billion people on the Earth when my lifetime ends.

[Canuckistanian]

10. Progress, yes. Sustainable, yes. At it's current rate, no.

We're going to hit a major wall. And soon.

The earlier we (as a species) realize that, the better off we'll be.

[Subdivisions]

11. Please explain how progress can be sustainable. n/t

[Canuckistanian]

12. At a MUCH slower pace

We've managed to cure diseases, harness vast energies and cultivate massive scientific discoveries , all in less than a hundred years.

Only NOW have we discovered that massive progress comes with massive responsibilities.

It's time to slow down and evaluate, NOT continue with our dizzying pace of "evolution" without considering the consequences.

Although I fear our "human nature" will not allow us to do that.

[Subdivisions]

15. And in less than a hundred years

of curing diseases, harnessing vast energies and cultivating scientific discoveries, and every single thing else we've done, we have burned up more than half of the world's recoverable oil resources, as illustrated in the image below:


Source: http://www.theoildrum.com/node/5979

Our progress in the past 100 years was fueled by crude oil. With ever-depleting oil supplies, progress cannot be sustained. The current financial and economic crisis was triggered by the inability of world oil producers to meet demand in the months leading up to July of 2008. In that month, oil production reached an anomalous peak resulting from the run-up in the price per barrel in the first half of 2008. That run-up in price was breaking all time records on a weekly, and sometimes daily, basis. You may recall all the talk of speculation but that's all it was - talk. In fact, it was propaganda. Meanwhile, those of us following the situation closely witnessed the reality, which was that economic growth in China and India was creating supply challenges, and in some places, shortages, which were experienced even right here in the United States. In July 2008, the price per barrel of oil reached an astonishing $147, causing the catastrophic dislocation we've seen in the global economy ever since.

We cannot progress indefinitely when the linchpin of that progress is a finite resource. What we can do is learn to accept that, like crude oil production, our way of life is not sustainable and begin the process of powering down our society and re-localizing our economies. Unfortunately, getting from here to there is going to entail untold horrors and hardships.

[Boojatta]

18. See the website at this link...

http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/progress/index.html

[spanone]

14. in what respect, charlie?

[Oregone]

16. When was the last time we saw any human progress?

Im not sure the human condition has improved since the Renaissance. We have antibiotics now, yes, and also a ton of anti-depressents to fix our fucked up brains. Hurray.

[anonymous171]

17. Yes. nt