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/sci/ - Science & Math

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2905320 No.2905320 [Reply] [Original]

Why have world changing inventions completely dropped off the face of the planet?

example for 1980-1989:

CD players, Cam corder, LCD monitors, PDA, internets first baby steps, graphing calculator, Statins (shit kill you tier), digital camera.

1990 - 2000: the internet proper, memory cards, GPS, USB, MP3 players, DVR'S, broadband interbutt.

2000-2010: Human Geonome project...thats about it.

what the fuck happened?

>> No.2905335

Bump for interest.
I wonder this every day.

>> No.2905341

All the easy shit has already been done, now to invent something you have to understand how all the previous shit works. People used to just be scientists and were versed in all fields of science, now you have to specialise because there is just to much information to learn in 1 lifetime.

>> No.2905349

>>2905341
so now we have maybe 0-1 invention every decade for billions in research?

>> No.2905366

>>2905349
Also, all these devices are based on out knowledge of physics, which hasnt made any real progress in along time.

>> No.2905373

2000-2010 there wasn't anything new, but huge improvements on computing power.

>> No.2905374

>>2905320
Really everything you mentioned has to do with electrical components. Transistors can only get so small you know. Just wait until carbon nanotubes are a viable source for transistors in electrical devices. The world will be radically altered.

>> No.2905370

Cool smartphone, bro.

>> No.2905381

>People used to just be scientists and were versed in all fields of science, now you have to specialise because there is just to much information to learn in 1 lifetime.

I'm calling bullshit on that one. There is enough time to be a trans-disciplinarian, because the information is so freely distributed. The whole education format is undergoing a paradigm shift, learning at university is dated. Don't believe me? Put down your xbawks controller and GET LEARNING.

http://pastie.org/1804618

>> No.2905382

>>2905320
Medicine bro.

2005 - First working long-term (10 years) artificial heart (requires you to carry to around in a backpack)
2008 - First artificial bladder
2011 - First artificial liver

>> No.2905383

>>2905374
we are hitting walls with what we have now not because of technology but because there is not much demand in the consumer market for processing power - the game consoles are stuck 7 years in the past, and no one else needs anything faster than that unless gaming or doing some hard science.

there is very little demand, the least competition in decades, and not many practical applications for faster consumer computers.

>> No.2905392

Economics and conformist culture. People invented to make a living and were free to persue their own interests. Now, they work for large companies, government agencies or universities, working for their agenda and not an independent agenda.

>> No.2905395

OP is right.

How the hell have we still not found a cheap way to desalinize water and grow genetically modified foods?

>> No.2905398

>>2905392
Makes sense. There's been at least 2 viagra copy cats and dozens of "male enhancement" drugs made in the last decade yet no vaccine for malaria.

>> No.2905405

>How the hell have we still not found a cheap way to desalinize water and grow genetically modified foods?
Because there are billions in expensive water and food.

>> No.2905413

>>2905398
Because viagra is fucking simple, malaria is in no way simple.

>> No.2905414

if you were to travel to the year 2000 with an iphone, and show it to them, they would resurrect the witch burning laws.

>> No.2905437

>>2905414
I see what you did there, tyrone.

>> No.2905463

>>2905414
The iphone isn't any new amazing topic. It's what a phone was back then but faster. Obviously things will continue to get faster to a point.

10 years from now the iphone from there will be fucking awesome but if someone brought it back from the future we probably wouldn't see anything remarkably new/innovative just more transistors

>> No.2905474

>>2905437
Seriously, watch the TED conference displaying the first cheap multi-touch and pressure-sensitive computer screen interface.

http://www.ted.com/talks/jeff_han_demos_his_breakthrough_touchscreen.html

>> No.2905491

>GPS
>Invented in the 90's
Lolwut

>> No.2905503

...because there are a shit ton of products that have come out during that period, but we haven't had enough time to decide which ones really changed the market, unlike all the previous ones??

Its similar to how every generation thinks they have the shittiest radio music.

>> No.2905528
File: 21 KB, 649x451, tech bird.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2905528

interactive websites
video and information generally, everywhere (mobible phones with video, wikipedia type stuff). Close to having wireless internet everywhere.
iphone/ipad type stuff
jetpacks
robot-automated city-driving cars that don't get into accidents
remote control highly agile mini flying devices like helicopters, other things such as bird-like flying devices.
artificial organs
optical implants returning sight to the blind
cochlear implants returning hearing to the deaf
prosthetics powerful and almost affordable
exoskeletons let you lift gigantic amounts of weight, easy enough for old people to use.
almost great voice to text translation; stuff like wordlens http://questvisual.com/
invisibility cloaks
devices that can roughly read minds. People can type at like 10 words per minute just by thought.

>> No.2905584

>>2905320
4chan started in 2004

>> No.2906184

bamp

>> No.2906197

My bet is that all the new tech that's been discovered this decade has yet to be developed into something workable.

>> No.2907386

>>2905528
>devices that can roughly read minds. People can type at like 10 words per minute just by thought.
SAUCE

>> No.2907392

>>2905320 implying you recognised all of these things as world changing at the time.

>>2905320 implying you're qualified to talk about brand new technology

>> No.2907396

>>2907386

>mfw it ends up being that thing where you look at a keyboard and it matches where your eyes are looking to type.

>> No.2907398

>>2905463 The iphone isn't any new amazing topic. It's what a phone was back then but faster

You haven't used a phone from 10 years ago.

>> No.2907402

>>2905320

Don't want to madden you but:

2000-2010
Wikipedia
Youtube
Facebook/Twitter/Social Networking
Wikileaks (maybe .. let's see what actually happens with them in the future)

It may seem trivial to you, but they are pretty much shaping the world right now.

>> No.2908568

I fucking hate how technology evolves so fast.

i want my goddamn vhs tapes back

>> No.2908572

>>2905341
>now you have to specialise because there is just to much information to learn in 1 lifetime.

No, there is just more useless shit.

people are just too stupid these days

>> No.2908747

>>2908572
Noones stopping you from usin VHS

>> No.2908760
File: 137 KB, 525x788, Doing Science Here.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2908760

First light wave quantum teleportation achieved, opens door to ultra fast data transmission

http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/18/first-light-wave-quantum-teleportation-achieved-opens-door-to-u/

>> No.2908775

>>2905320
Maybe it's like how life evolved. After a certain period (precambrian I think?) no new phylum evolved.

The industrial revolution was like the primordial soup; the tech boom is like the precambrian sea.

>> No.2908779

>>2905370
fucking palm pilots were around since the 90s.

>> No.2908786

>>2908760
I figured this would interest you:
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-04/teaching-computers-regret-engineers-hope-teach-them-se
e-future

and:

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-04/holograms-powered-quantum-effects-can-show-true-col
or-any-angle

>> No.2908815

The inventions are still coming every day. Just because you don't pay attention to recent innovations and inventions doesn't mean they aren't there.

lrn2payattention

>> No.2908826
File: 22 KB, 315x304, carl_sagan_biography.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2908826

>>2907402
>Wikipedia
dumbing down the world with bullshit written by hoards of plebs; lies; politically correct garbage; fucking horrible prose.
>Youtube
Just videos of kittens, people flipping out and pseudo-porn
>Facebook/Twitter/Social Networking
People without a sense of privacy gunning to get fired from their jobs; celebrities flipping out and/or making career ending remarks against niggers and jews.
>Wikileaks
Good idea, but tabloid gossipy bullshit; Perez Hilton for foreign policy snobs.


this is just software garbage. Ooo, twitter! It's like a crippled I.M. where everyone can see what you're typing- for some fucking reason. . .

>> No.2908829 [DELETED] 

http://www.facebook.com/TASciences

They're charging like $2,000 for 20 tablets of ta-65 telemerase activating molecule derived from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astragalus_propinquus

http://www.youtube.com/user/infamousgorn

SPAM THEIR FACEBOOK GROUP UNTIL THEY STOP PRICE GOUGING FOR A NATURAL REMEDY TO THE AGING PROCESS.

IF IT WASN'T FOR ELISABETH BLACKBURN THEY WOULDN'T EVEN KNOW ABOUT TELEMERASE FUNCTION.

>> No.2908834

>>2908826
>People without a sense of privacy gunning to get fired from their jobs; celebrities flipping out and/or making career ending remarks against niggers and jews.

You forgot about how it led to the biggest wave of government change since the fall of the Berlin wall.

>> No.2908879

You might notice that none of those things *really* caught on until about 10 years after you have them listed. Most people did not use CDs in the 1980s... I didn't even know they existed (except for laserdiscs) until 1993. Most people did not use the Internet except as an occasional diversion even in 2000. First mp3 player (though the MPEG-3 format wasn't in use yet) was really invented in the late 1970s. Same with DVR... memory was just too expensive until very recently.

So, give it time?

>> No.2908911

Dude science just grew a fucking retina from stem cells. A fucking retina. What more do you want.

>> No.2908953
File: 37 KB, 550x234, umadcheny.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2908953

>>2908826

>> No.2908966

>>2905320

Buckytubes
National Ignition Facility
Artificial Leaf
Personalized medicine
Nanomachines
Early quantum computers
Wireless energy transfer
Spintronics
Solid-state computers
3d displays
Invisibility cloak

Shut the fuck up you stupid nigger.

>> No.2909040

>Early quantum computers
i ve heard of experiments but i didnt know they had actually developed this. link?

>> No.2909102

>Personalized medicine
Been part of alchemy for centuries

>Wireless energy transfer
We've had that for over a century

>3d displays
The nazis made 3d films

>Early quantum computers
Late 90s

>Solid-state computers
Since the late 80s but were prohibitively expensive

>Spintronics
70s

>Buckytubes
Process has been known since the late 50s and used to make them since the 90s

>> No.2909118

>>2909040
Depends upon what you mean by an "early quantum computer." We have created devices that can do computation using quantum mechanics and implement some quantum algorithms, but for very, very, very simple things. Like figuring out that 15 is not a prime number.

>> No.2909149

Because they haven't been developed into something commercialised yet they aren't part of popsci yet and you are unaware of them.

>> No.2909157

Such inventions already exist OP, they're reserved for the military games though, give it a good decade or two to actually start seeing the wonders of nanotechnology, quantum computing, organic memory modules, telecommunications, etc.

>> No.2909168

infrastructural changes are just as good as world changing adventures. don't forget that social media was introduced in the last few years...

also can't forget the ipad

>> No.2909183

>>2905320
massively parallel processing, the reason video games look as good as they do

>> No.2909243

>>2909102
Troll. This is all bullshit.

>> No.2909259
File: 270 KB, 640x640, 1295289761978.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2909259

>>2909243
Spend 5 min on google

>> No.2909267

>>2909157
>nanotechnology
nope
>quantum computing
nope
>organic memory modules
nope

The government doesn't have any of these things, james bond is not real.

>> No.2909269

>>2905320
2000 - 2010:
Web 2.0
Social Networking
Smart Phones
True 3D
Advances is A.I. technology
Micro Solid State memory devices.(SD cards & SSDs with well more than a few Gigs of space)

Thats off the top of my head and thats excluding the dozens of medical advances and military advances which have thousands of new advanced ways of blowing your ass up.

You're thinking as if you're in the present looking at the past. Yeah, no shit it looks like the past had a shitton of advancements and the present hasn't. Give it 50 years and your post will read "Why have world changing inventions completely dropped off the face of the planet? Example for 2000-2009......"

Trust me, we're still advancing exponentially until we reach singularity, just on schedule...

>> No.2909285

>>2909259
Yeah, Wikipedia is pretty good at quick basic facts, like Buckminsterfullerene was not detected until 1985 and no usable quantum computer has ever been built. But you don't need Wikipedia to know that alchemy is not medicine. That was a good tipoff right there.

>> No.2909298

>>2909267
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/your_next_computer_may_be_made_ofblood.php

>> No.2909308

>>2909285
>Alchemist make and dispense medicine
>Alchemy isn't medicine

Learning everything you know about alchemy from hollywood is pretty retarded

>> No.2909334

Bear in mind a few things:
1. Invention =/= mass production or efficiency. Cars were invented in the late 1800s, but they looked nothing like cars today. A century of gradual improvement has done far more good than the first invention of a car, which was slower and less reliable than a buggy. Therefore simply because something was not recentlyinvented (robotics, wireless communication, etc) does not mean a decade of improvement doesn't count for more than initial invention

2. How many of you actively read peer-reviewed scientific journals? Research nowadays takes years, if not decades, and then getting it in a peer-reviewed paper takes time, before the general masses hear about it.
3. The above only mentions inventions/research made from our public researchers. The military has thousands of researchers with new military weapons kept secret.

4. OP mentions the human genome project, but neglects to note the number of other genomic sequences that have also been decoded. The Daphnia (water flea) genome was just decoded a few months ago, and those tiny fuckers (like 3mm long) have more genes than humans.

>> No.2909436

Cheap genome testing

>> No.2909466

>>2909308
Go to /x/.

>> No.2909510

>they think normal people will be able to use quantum computers

They will be used by scientists and governments/military and people who need such computers.

not normal people like you and me.

>> No.2909517
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2909517

WHY DON'T COMPUTERS LOOK AWESOME ANYMORE?

PIC HIGHLY RELATED

>> No.2909520

>>2905381
>> Implying this time age is the first when people can get information about stuff if they want to.
>> GTFO and read a book

>> No.2909524

Why do much primitive organisms have longer genome sequences than more complex ones (e.g. humans)?

>> No.2909533

>>2909510
So it'll be just like regular computers, then.

>> No.2909535

>>2909524
because biology is boring and stupid and not useful

>> No.2909537

>>2909535
>>2909524
Extraterrestrials, that's why.

>> No.2909540

Homebrew quantum computers?

>> No.2909541

>>2909535

I hope you never need any form of drugs or surgery then fucktard.

>> No.2909544

http://varolo.com/village/CharlesS24225

>> No.2909548

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

LHC

>> No.2909547

>>2909541
have you ever been into tried a when why computer of times faggot?

>> No.2910055

bump

>> No.2910144

>>2909524
MAYBE THEY ARE SMARTER THAN US BUT JUST SMALLER!

SOME DAY BACTERIA AND OTHER SHIT WILL FIGURE OUT HOW TO ENLARGE THEMSELVES AND WE ARE FUCKED

>> No.2910170
File: 96 KB, 800x600, Tesla Roadster.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2910170

AHEM

>> No.2910184

>>2905381

The only people that say this are the people that couldn't get in. Good luck getting into proper research without a degree.

>> No.2910200

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson_thermoelectric_energy_converter
tl;dr, it converts thermal energy into electrical energy.

There's also all sorts of advancements that have been made in robotics and cybernetics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig7qmddOq4s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww

>> No.2910242

I think what OP's asking is where are the inventions which changed the life of everyone, not just implants for the diseased or some specific invention for a specific niche.

>> No.2910329

>>2909524

They aren't more complex. It's an arrogant assumptions made by humans.

>> No.2910345

>>2910242

Like Facebook? Oh wait, that doesn't count apparently.

>> No.2910357

>>2910242

That's not how things have ever worked. Not EVERYONE in the entire world is going to get access to the benefits of medicine, science, and technology.

>> No.2910427
File: 137 KB, 1600x1060, 2011 Jaguar C-X75 4.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2910427

>>2910170

AHEM. Meet the jaguar C-X75, uses two smaller jet turbines to charge the batteries housed in the car allowing for a range of around 900km with less CO2 output then any other hybrid car out there (I do realise the tesla is entirely electric). The turbines can be run on anything from kerosene to chip-fat and can propel the car from 0-100 in 3.4 secs with a top speed of 330km/h as the turbines only weigh 35kg.

>> No.2910472

>Why have world changing inventions completely dropped off the face of the planet?

They don't. No technology is ever lost. There is always someone using it somewhere, even if you don't.

I was listening to this radio program, I can't recall exactly which right now, where they talked about this and every single invention or device they could think of the guy could find somewhere for sale by some company or name a place where the technology is still being used.

No technology dies

>> No.2910509

>>2905528
None of those things have changed my life what so ever.

>> No.2910810

I'll just say this..

Humans are (In my opinion) De-evolving.
Hear me out here..
>We feel no need to expand on inventing anything else do to the fact that we already have everything we "Think" is all that we will ever need.

Sure computers maybe getting faster, and cars maybe getting more economic. But if anyone has a decent amount of Common Sense in this world anymore they will notice that the world does not give two-shits about inventions/improving shit anymore.

>> No.2910858

>>2910810

they thought we had "everything we could ever need" 200 years ago too, that never stopped the true thinkers from inventing and improving

>> No.2910870

>>2910357
Maybe. Not everyone has access to internet, but if you have a mobile phone, a tv or anything that has been produced with the help of internet, then your life has been impacted even if you don't have internet in your home.

Same for cd's, mp3's and radio stations. Unless you're a bushman or pygme living in the jungle, CDs and the internet have impacted your life in the decade they have become availabel commercially on a mass scale. I think that's what OP was talking about. Supposing some shit has been invented in the 2000's, then it should have become available by now and left a defining mark on the 2000-10 decade.

>> No.2910878
File: 40 KB, 600x600, 1297382427685.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2910878

>>2910810

>de-evolving

>> No.2910895

>>2910810

Evolution is directionless. "De-evolution" doesn't exist.

>> No.2910902

>>2910810
lol, human brains have become smaller for thousands of years. the theory that it has become more efficient by becoming smaller is not necessarily true (no evidence for that). so there is one possible conclusions: we are already living in a form of Idiocracy, although a very specialised one (ie, we have many niche idiots).

>> No.2910963

>>2910902
Last time I checked, average human intelligence is increasing slightly.

>> No.2910998

>>2910810

De-evolution is impossible. Get the fuck off /sci/.

>> No.2911076

>>2910902
Yes, but it's increasing according to present-day education and tools to measure intelligence.

An average human from 20k years ago had he had the same level of education might have achieved comparably bigger scores than todays' average scorers.

Also, iq testing only measure someone's mental age compared to a kid's mental abilities. A rising IQ average can mean that more people are getting an education so they have more standardised knowledge to be able to take the standardised knowledge tests. This is especially true of girls/women who have increased their access to education since testing has begun. But this is a small trend, and IQ tests don't capture intelligence so well for all personalities.

>> No.2911331

>>2910902
>he thinks brain size correlates with intelligence
>laughingoogaboogacaveman.jpg

>> No.2911418

>>2905381
Thanks anon