Futuristic Predictions That Came True in 2012
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Re: Futuristic Predictions That Came True in 2012
#2I hadn't thought of these individual achievements as being that big until I saw them all together in one place and now I can say that this has truly been a breakthrough year all across the technology sector.
Every year we seem to be accelerating our speed of development when it comes to technology, I'm only 19 and in my life I've seen us go from 56kb/s internet to 1gb/s internet, go from the rare NASA launch to regular private company launches (don't forget, SpaceX is not the only private company engaging in these kind of activities, there is also Virgin Galactic in the UK who are breaching the barriers facing them very quickly.) and medical breakthroughs across every sector.
We live in the golden age of human history up to now and I would be willing to place a long bet that in 100 years, we will look back on the last 30 years as the dawn of the modern age.
Re: Futuristic Predictions That Came True in 2012
#3I hadn't thought of these individual achievements as being that big until I saw them all together in one place and now I can say that this has truly been a breakthrough year all across the technology sector. Every year we seem to be accelerating our speed of development when it comes to technology, I'm only 19 and in my life I've seen us go from 56kb/s internet to 1gb/s internet, go from the rare NASA launch to regul…
I believe you are correct; the beauty of exponential growth is that at any point you can make the same observation about the previous 100 years.
Re: Futuristic Predictions That Came True in 2012
#4How are they planning to do the FTL one?
Re: Futuristic Predictions That Came True in 2012
#5How are they planning to do the FTL one?
Re: Futuristic Predictions That Came True in 2012
#6I'd say that Great Plan for the Transformation of Nature[1] beats the crazy geoengineering businessman with its massive scale. This includes the draining of the Aral Sea, and was followed by attempts to refill it by diverting/reversing several rivers.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Plan_for_the_Transformati...
Re: Futuristic Predictions That Came True in 2012
#7Hurricane Sandy was a Category 1 hurricane at landfall. That's pretty much the opposite of a SUPERSTORM.
Much larger hurricanes have hit New England before. For example, the "Great New England Hurricane of 1938" made landfall on Long Island as a Category 3 storm, killing over 600 people. The Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944 also was Category 3, killing 390 people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_Hurricane_of_1938
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Atlantic_Hurricane#Impact
Imagine if two Category 3 hurricanes impacted the North East within six years today. We'd never hear the end of how Global Warming was destroying the world. But since it happened in the early 20th Century, no one cares.
Re: Futuristic Predictions That Came True in 2012
#8The only one I would quibble with is the one that has nothing to do with technology. Sandy was the largest storm
ever recorded in the Atlantic, but it was still not as large as the Pacific's Typhoon Tip in 1979. If three decades of accelerating climate change explains Sandy, it doesn't explain Tip, or why its record has yet to be broken.
Re: Futuristic Predictions That Came True in 2012
#9The only one I would quibble with is the one that has nothing to do with technology. Sandy was the largest storm ever recorded in the Atlantic, but it was still not as large as the Pacific's Typhoon Tip in 1979. If three decades of accelerating climate change explains Sandy, it doesn't explain Tip, or why its record has yet to be broken.
Yes it does - it's about trends, not isolated occurrences (so in that sense I agree with your quibble, just not with your rationale). The frequency and intensity of extreme weather incidents is on an upward (and exponential) track.
Re: Futuristic Predictions That Came True in 2012
#10The only one I would quibble with is the one that has nothing to do with technology. Sandy was the largest storm ever recorded in the Atlantic, but it was still not as large as the Pacific's Typhoon Tip in 1979. If three decades of accelerating climate change explains Sandy, it doesn't explain Tip, or why its record has yet to be broken.
Yes it does - it's about trends, not isolated occurrences (so in that sense I agree with your quibble, just not with your rationale). The frequency and intensity of extreme weather incidents is on an upward (and exponential) track.
Honest question: Is there a good source for this information?
Anecdotally it feels like weather is getting more extreme, I'd be very interested in seeing the numbers.