What happened to the biggest fright of mankind?

Question

i mean we were supposed to live hundreds of years more...and the robots were supposed to come and kill us all.right?..but we are just killing the world...before we could ever survive

Answer 1

******

Answer 2

Well, that depends, as a species we're still haunted by the dark things in our past, let alone the dark things in our future.

It's quite common to look at history and think it was pretty bad, in the "old" days, but it was mostly just different.

Collectively, in the last 100 years we have had a couple of "big" fears.

1. Back in the day, Germans, English, French and Americans (to a lesser extent) feared that English/French/ Germans or Russians or some other group, would land troops on their shores and they would be invaded from abroad, Some nations (notably Britain and Japan) built large fleets of ships to guard against this possibility.

2. After the advent of rocketry we had a big collective fear of nuclear annihilation, either accidentally or on purpose. The cold war made things black and white simple in a way, and it was when the economy of the USSR basically collapsed due to military and other forms of over-expenditure. In a way, the US shouldn't cheer quite so soon, that it "won" the cold war, since we still haven't paid for the latter 1/2 of it. The debt racked up could still cause the collapse of the United States.

Today we have "big" fears about terrorist attacks (especially with WMD or some such), like some "Jericho" type event or something. That would definitely suck, to be sure, there would be alot of dead folks, but even a massive terrorist attack like that would impede rather than destroy the US's economic might, relative to countries like China or India or the former Soviet Union.

Furthermore , those countries would be severely economically impacted as well since many millions of newly dead Americans would not be nearly as willing to spend as much at Walmart as they used to.

For the future, there are alot of concerns but mostly they are managable, it's just a question of whether we choose to be responsible and manage the problems ahead of time, or be stupid and fail to recognize or address the problems until they are too late.

A good example is Global Warming, here's a good example of where doing the "right" thing, and preparing to use less fossil fuels , or heavily promoting efficiency or heavy taxation on polluters, to get us to change the economy does suck , but it only sucks a little bit vs. not doing those things and then getting screwed because we can't grow crops in the US anymore.

As far as robots coming to kill us - from something like the Battlestar Galactica or Terminator or the Matrix or the Forbin Project, that could still happen, but I for one think that machine intelligence , properly controlled could be the best thing to occur for mankind since the industrial revolution.

Having smart robots, must be a process which is done carefully otherwise it will have all the downsides we fear.

Done wrong, by letting the "market" drive the technology could be profoundly wrong. There would be massive unemployment among those people who do manual labor.

There would be the potential for someone to create "super" smart evil robots, and that could create problems if we are not prepared to deal with them effectively.

What we fear is really ourselves or what some of us are capable of doing.

So it wouldn't matter if it was Global Warming, or bioterrorism , or nuclear war, there have always been people who try to cause trouble by either acting or failing to act in response to issues.

Answer 3

I'll be back!

Answer 4

Those sci-fi stories were cautionary tales.  They were never meant to be predictions, just a warning of what might happen if we continued on the same path.  

Most of your old sci-fi movies reflect the fears of the time:  nuclear weapons and the Red Scare.  That's why it was always Martians (as opposed to some other planet) who attacked.  Mars is a red planet - symbolism.

Answer 5

things can only change - i can hardly wait :D

Answer 6

Sorry! but you have been watching to much  

I ROBOT...

Answer 7

One is "supposed" to live as long as ones Fate Karma allows one to live.  This is an absolute reality that each is subject to... period.

Within each person is a normally non-conscious fear of the "Unknown", but this unknown are the two Esoteric realms [MIND and Spiritual realms] hidden within each person.

The world is occurring precisely as it needs to occur.  It is the short sighted view of reality that many hold that causes them to "worry" about almost everything they cannot personally "control".

Man has been about "living" for many millions of years.  Most of the human beings alive today have been human beings before, and will be [if they live a relatively "good life"] a human being again.  The Creation is much larger that the ego of the most frightened Liberat-Type Personality whose fear of the Unknown within him/herself causes him/her to "project" this fear upon the world.

The Soul is an Absolute.  This means that it cannot be destroyed, harmed, or eliminated.  Death is simply a transition to another birth, and an additional opportunity to discover the many possibilities that Creation provides.  Spend your time exploring and experiencing life..... not worrying about that which you are not responsible for.

The most heathful way to live is as a conservative:  That is, allow others to live freely just as long as what they want to do does not harm you or interfere in your need to live life.  The Liberal-Type Personality Syndrome causes some people to worry about and to attempt to "control" the lives of others because the LTP fears the exercise of "personal responsibility" and wants to project this fear upon others in the form of legislation that interferes with the lives of others.

Each person is subject to a Fate Karma that does that automatically.  As ye sow, so shall ye reap is the law... and it is an Absolute Law of Karma.  But the LTP, in denial of God, is left with an ignorance into which fear pours.

It is arrogance born of this fear that causes Man to imagine that he has the power to "kill" this world.  When one's ego replaces God, fear is the natural condition of ones personality  as ones MIND begins to jerk one around with panic and terror.  Let go of your "thinking" and worry, and replace it with a healthy dose of awe and wonder.  Shun the LTP panic and terror nut, and begin to freely explore the Creation that is sustained just for you.  Be thankful and humble, and give thanks for your life.

Peace