“Cellphones in 2011 contain more computing power than the entire Apollo space program in 1969.”
Article discusses the slowdown of what some would deem “progress.” (Progress is illusory, but the article kind of tips its hat to that idea.) Anyway, this current seeming slowdown or stagnation is only really slow when compared to previous generations, generations who had larger gaps to cross. A news story on NPR this morning discussed kind of the same issue in regards to generations of immigrants in the US. The first generation of kids born in the US of immigrant parents typically move up in the world, are better educated, earn more money, etc. Their children? They don’t make the same leap. Why? They have less in their way, they don’t have as far to leap. Does this make sense?
Anyway, the article raises good points, but its conclusion and its references to liberals vs. conservatives strikes me as a little beside the point. Rather, these are factors in Thiel’s discussion, but I sense an undercurrent of resentment, especially at the end.
Josh's blog
"The End of the Future" by Peter Thiel
“ In many ways, I think that that small band of patriots who signed their names to the Declaration of Independence and risked their lives for freedom might be surprised to see their legacy all these years later: A nation that’s led revolutions in commerce, that sent a man to the moon, that lifted up the poor, that cured the sick; a nation that fought for democracy and served as a beacon of hope around the world. ”
— President Barack Obama
(Source: whitehouse.gov)
“ If we choose to keep those tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, if we choose to keep a tax break for corporate jet owners, if we choose to keep tax breaks for oil and gas companies that are making hundreds of billions of dollars, then that means we’ve gotta cut some kids off from getting a college scholarship. That means we’ve got to stop funding certain grants for medical research. That means that food safety may be compromised. That means that Medicare has to bear a greater part of the burden. Those are the choices we have to make. ”
“A just peace includes not only civil and political rights — it must encompass economic security and opportunity. For true peace is not just freedom from fear, but freedom from want.
It is undoubtedly true that development rarely takes root without security; it is also true that security does not exist where human beings do not have access to enough food, or clean water, or the medicine and shelter they need to survive. It does not exist where children can’t aspire to a decent education or a job that supports a family. The absence of hope can rot a society from within.
”
“ We share a common interest in development that advances dignity and security. To succeed, we must cast aside the impulse to look at impoverished parts of the globe as a place for charity. Instead, we should empower the same forces that have allowed our own people to thrive: We should help the hungry to feed themselves, the doctors who care for the sick. We should support countries that confront corruption, and allow their people to innovate. And we should advance the truth that nations prosper when they allow women and girls to reach their full potential. ”
“I challenge, for example, the medical students in this audience to put on their agenda the achievement of a cure for cancer. I challenge the engineers in this audience to devise new techniques for developing cheap, clean, and plentiful energy, and as a byproduct, to control floods. I challenge the law students in this audience to find ways to speed the administration of equal justice and make good citizens out of convicted criminals. I challenge education, those of you as education majors, to do real teaching for real life. I challenge the arts majors in this audience to compose the great American symphony, to write the great American novel, and to enrich and inspire our daily lives.
America’s leadership is essential. America’s resources are vast. America’s opportunities are unprecedented.”
— President Ford at Tulane University, April 23, 1975
(Source: millercenter.org)
“Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce.”
— John F. Kennedy, January 20, 1961
(Source: jfklibrary.org)
