10 Technologies that should be killed off?

[Firestormalpha]

Article

Thought this might be a little interesting.

[Beaumanoir]

I agree with gettin rid of Landmines and Nuclear weapons.. The rest of it can stay for me [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Bozos of Bones]

Hmm... I wouldn't include nuclear bombs because it's not a technology by itself, but a modification to a fission chamber, and since the latter is quite usefull(nuclear energy is the most cost-effective source of electricity today), especially with the inventions following and depending on it(medical radiation, future energy sources like anti-matter reactions) I wouldn't ditch it.
Secondly, coal energy is a VERY stupid thing to include in this list. If it weren't for coal, we'd still be writing under candle-light with feathers. Sure, we payed alot in ozone layer quality and general cleanness, but I value technology over that.
Internal combustions would be excluded for the same reason.
Incadesent lightbulbes aren't invented to light things but to heat them.
I totally go with the land-mine objection.
Once I read up to see manned spaceflights I concluded that the JERK who wrote the article is a TOTAL IDIOT!
About prisons: they should be shut down at this stage of technological advancement, for there are more effective ways to punish criminals and protect the population. They were quite needed before, though.
Cosmetic implants? It's your fu**ing body, do what you want with it.
Lie Detecors? Come on, at this point it's quite clear that the guy hadn't anything else to put down, with all other kinds of BAD things around.
And DVDs!? Look above.

My list:
Land mines
Cruiser missles
Chemical and biological weapons
Man-made viruses and diseases

[Timber Loftis]

I like the list except for DVDs and Cosmetic Implants.

DVDs are certainly not inferior to VHS. The author complains they degrade like CDs -- well, every one of my 500 or so CDs has perservered better than any cassette tape ever would, and vynil requires so much intensive care to keep it in good condition that it's not comparable either.

If you've got a problem with cosmetic implants, don't get them. My wife feels this way -- not that I would ever have mentioned it anyway -- as do many people. But, if you've got a moral problem with other people getting them, watch extreme makeover someday. We live in a society that appreciates beauty. The non-pretty often feel like second-class citizens. If beauty is only for those born with it, that's called aristocracy, friends. Just watch someone who has been made prettier (by THEIR definition) and see how much more self-confident they are. Amazingly, yes, a little nip & tuck and some saline inserts can change someone's whole outlook on themselves. I say bully for them! I can tell you that I for one am for them. When my now-daily exercise routine simply fails to give me the body I want, I will go looking to have a cosmetic surgeon craft me something I can live with. I hope that's several years off, but I'm already getting unhappy with my looks. Thank god there are alternatives.

[Firestormalpha]

Bozos, his list wasn't a list of tech. that shouldn't have existed ever. It's more a list of what we can easily do without now. As of right now, we CAN do without coal as a fuel source. It is excessively pollutant and now that we have better stuff we should douse the old and put up our newer more efficient energy sources.

I believe he mentioned only Nuclear weapons as things to get rid of, not all nuclear technology.

Internal combustion we can do without now as well. The only people who should really throw any kind of fit about it are the major oil companies. In fact we're lucky we even have the hybrid engines out there. The oil companies fought like hell to supress fuel cell and other more economical technologies.

Bozos, most light sources in the world are incandescent light bulbs. IIRC Thomas Edison didn't make lightbulbs to heat things up but to provide a decent low maintenance LIGHT source, not heat source. The heat factor just happened to go along with it at the time.

As far as prisons? See my arguments on Internal Combustion engines and Coal. Same idea.

Cosmetic implants. You said it's your body do what you want. He's just saying get rid of the foreign unatural substances you keep sticking inside yourself. We should have come up with technology to use the body's own growth capabilities by now rather than shooting strange substances into ourselves.

I'd have to agree with you on the issue of lie detectors though. But I also agree with him in the fact that they are essentially useless.

DVD's? What's wrong with DVD's? I think an Amnish person sent that one in.

[cloud ff7 38]

I agreed with two things on the list coal energy and lie detecters. They are both very shotey things which we could definitaly live without.

[Vaskez]

I agree with most of what he says although getting rid of DVDs is a bit drastic. Sure we could have nice ways of skipping ads and stuff on DVDs but that's what makes money. THey'd be an even more of a rip-off if there weren't ads etc.

[Tancred]

DVDs easy to damage? Well, yes, I suppose they are, when contrasted to the apparently indestructible VHS cassettes the writer uses. Why doesn't he do us all a favour and tell us where he gets these from, hmm?

[Gangrell]

1. NUCLEAR WEAPONS
I'll agree with this, there are just too many of these in the world that can cause widespread ruin.

2. COAL-BASED POWER
One less thing to polute the air, so yea.

3. THE INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE
I don't understand why someone would want to get rid of this. No design of engine is perfect, besides without it your car can't run.

4. INCANDESCENT LIGHT BULBS
"Plus there's the cost of light bulbs, their fragility, the replacement overhead, the vast waste of energy, glass, and tungsten, the goofy hassle of running air conditioners to do battle with the blazing heat of all these round little glass stoves...let's face it, these gizmos deserve to vanish."

It's a lightbulb, it's about 2 inches in diameter, the intensity of it's heat would probably extend about half an inch of the bulb itself. As for the energy, it only wastes it if you leave it on when you don't need to use it.

5. LAND MINES
Yep.

6. MANNED SPACEFLIGHT
Ok, I see the points of how it can strain someone actually in the shuttle, but they do have machines onboard to exercise with that makes sure your bones don't degrade. As for solar flares and the like, there are precautions and such that help you avoid those things. Besides, as we all know, if we ditch this, then going to Mars would be kind of hard [img]tongue.gif[/img]

7. PRISONS
Prisons aren't a technology, they're buildings that hold serial killers and the psychos of the world, so let's keep them eh?

8. COSMETIC IMPLANTS
I'm indifferent about this, if it's something you want to do, go for it.

9. LIE DETECTORS
Not really useless, unlessyou're nervous when you take it then you're in trouble.

10. DVDs
DvD's are "unbearably frail?" It's not exactly easy to break it unless you go out of your way to smash the things. As for a thumbprint or scratch, just clean it, it's not that big a hassle [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Vaskez]

Let's all thank Gangrell there for his incredibly thorough and intelligent analysis of the article in question [img]tongue.gif[/img] . Especially the bit about light bulbs pssst, the guy was saying that they waste a lot of energy when in use because a large percentage of the energy released is in heat form rather than light form.