Invention - When did we Stop?

Theres a very good example on the BBC news presently how the government of one country is put under pressure by another countries need for more production and profits.Japan was asked today by our British Prime minister,David Cameron,How it would respond if Britain pulled out of the European Common Market,Japan in response warns that it would pull out of production in the UK.This would have catastrophic consequences for Britain as a lot of employment in the north relies on Japanese manufacturers,Especially car manufacture by such companies like Toyota,Nissan,Etc which use the cheap labour of a relatively poor labour market compared to the rest of the EU as a centralized production point to distribute Japanese cars to the rest of Europe.Japan would be taxed quite heavily exporting to the EU if Britain was not a member of the EU.
I think this serves as a good example of how present development,manufacture and distribution of Cars.And how the various governments behave in a competitive negative way towards each other is very non productive and dangerous for all of our futures.Somehow world manufacture of important products needs to be cooperatively rather than competitively organised.
In a similar way World wide warfare needs to be discoraged and stopped.The UK is also a bad example of a weapon manufacturing country that distributes this evil equipment worldwide.We don't need to encourage warfare between countries. In fact a ban on all weapon production needs to be enforced in my opinion.
What can i say that's encouraging?Very little.Our governments are so far away from where we need to be for the survival of humanity that its very difficult to see a future of positive development of new inventions that would help our situation.

ptolomy said:

Theres a very good example on the BBC news presently how the government of one country is put under pressure by another countries need for more production and profits.

Japan was asked today by our British Prime minister,David Cameron,How it would respond if Britain pulled out of the European Common Market, Japan in response warns that it would pull out of production in the UK.

This would have catastrophic consequences for Britain as a lot of employment in the north relies on Japanese manufacturers,Especially car manufacture by such companies like Toyota, Nissan, Etc which use the cheap labour of a relatively poor labour market compared to the rest of the EU as a centralized production point to distribute Japanese cars to the rest of Europe. Japan would be taxed quite heavily exporting to the EU if Britain was not a member of the EU.

I think this serves as a good example of how present development, manufacture and distribution of Cars. And how the various governments behave in a competitive negative way towards each other is very non productive and dangerous for all of our futures.Somehow world manufacture of important products needs to be cooperatively rather than competitively organised.

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Hi ptolomy, in the interests of highlighting I paragraphed your comment to draw attention to the individual points you have made and it certainly does seem clear that what passes for 'International Trade' is simply a form of 'coercion and manipulation by government'

Yet voters consistently vote in governments that coerce and manipulate in this fashion

ptolomy said:

In a similar way World wide warfare needs to be discouraged and stopped. The UK is also a bad example of a weapon manufacturing country that distributes this evil equipment worldwide.We don't need to encourage warfare between countries. In fact a ban on all weapon production needs to be enforced in my opinion.

What can i say that's encouraging? Very little. Our governments are so far away from where we need to be for the survival of humanity that its very difficult to see a future of positive development of new inventions that would help our situation.

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France exports weaponry, as do other European nations as well as other nations worldwide.

The question occurs to one that no matter which government is voted in whether the results remain the same.

Useful inventions for example are suppressed/not noticed or possibly ignored by governments who could easily step in and fund the manufacture

I think some difficult questions are raised and I think they absolutely effect invention. I don't know if I considered China in my previous points. I don't completely reject the Chinese system on intellectual property, but it certainly does conflict with that of the West. Though, I see too many instances of patent abuse and 'monetisation' of ideas that makes me very unhappy with our (Western, that's where I currently live!) methods of managing the commercialisation of good ideas.

In college they told us that this is why Ikea didn't make a profit in the first ten years of it's operation in China - competitors walked in, picked up a catalogue, replicated items they liked and undercut them. This might infuriate commercial-minded Westerners, but one good side of this as a consumer is more competition. It's tricky indeed.

That's a fascinating condundrum regarding Japan and Britain in the EU. I can totally understand this as a non-personal decision by Japan and yet it's very person for Britain as it's currently considering it's future. The only other English speaking country in the EU is Ireland, but somehow I don't see Japan setting up shop there.

byjove said:

Has there been any great inventions since the Internet?

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Are you serious?

byjove said:

It has been on my mind for some time that we're living in a bit of an 'uneventful' time for invention.

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Uh, you're over-whelmed with inventions.

byjove said:

When we think of invention in the last ten years, 'social web 2.0' a.k.a. Facebook and Twitter seem to pale into absolute insignificance. These could be utilised for disease control and more as pillars of democracy against an inhuman government, but the former only offers good potential and the latter perhaps has more to do with society than the sparkling brilliance of invention.

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You might want to rethink that...it isn't "social net-working"....it's social tethering...by government.

byjove said:

Consider this list:

1804 - Steam Railway
1876 - Telephone
1878 - Light bulb
1903 - Aeroplane
1928 - Television, penicillin
1981 - Space shuttle
1940 - Colour television
1990 - World Wide Web

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It's wrong.

I was using the internet in the early 1980s....since the internet was invented in the early 1970s.

CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) Technology? I was using that in the 1980s too....even though none of you were using it until Sprint Telecom came along with its CDMA wire-less network in the 1990s.

byjove said:

This list is clearly not exhaustive.

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But it is highly subjective.

A pharmaceutical invention saved my sister's life, but according to you, the invention is valueless and of no worth, since only ~1 Million people out of the 6.6 Billion people on Earth would need to use that drug.

There is no obligation for an invention to benefit the masses in order to be of value or have impact.

byjove said:

Economist Robert Gordon seems to agree. He poses the dilemma of having to choose all of the inventions up until the year 2003 or everything since. He presents this idea, because he also believes human inventions in recent times has been nothing short of dull. Mr. Gordon suggests that we don't take invention has seriously as we used to, such as through adequate investment, albeit he argues from his country's perspective financially.

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He is dumber than a box of rocks.

Wanna guess what this is...17,006,794 ?

That is the number of patent applications in the US from 1901 to 2002.

This...6,749,126 ....is the number of patent applications in the US since 2003...through December 2012.

That does not include the number of foreign entities filing for patent protection in the US.

Gosh, it took me a whole 38 seconds to search the internet for the US Patent Office, rip the data and make Gordon look like the buffoon he really is.

byjove said:

Where is this in the skies?

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Nowhere.

byjove said:

From the modern perspective, we would looks to Uranus.

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Please....the logic is indefensible (not to mention totally absent).

byjove said:

If we look to Uranus cycles, I wonder when did invention seem to slow down? The non-exhaustive list that I briefly compiled ends at 1990.

Uranus in Capricorn - 1988-1996
Uranus in Aquarius - 1996-2003
Uranus in Pisces - 2003-2010
Uranus in Aries - 2010-2019

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I already debunked that by proving that the pace of inventions has not slowed:

1990: 274,791 US Patent Applications (excluding foreign applications)
2012: 852,729 US Patent Applications (excluding foreign applications)

Tell Professor Ding-Dong I charge $750/hour to teach research skills to pseudo-academicians.

Uranus has nothing to do with inventions. If you want, you can look at Mercury, Venus, Mars & Saturn (depending on the nature of the invention).

byjove said:

Is there any argument that there is another planet involved? Is there a Uranus - Pluto, Uranus - Neptune cycle?

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No.

However, I will tell you something that Professor Moron doesn't understand:

Necessity is the Mother of Invention.

Things are invented, because they are needed.

No one invents things that are not needed.

Aren't you one of the Queen's subjects?

What, you never seen The Secret Life of Machines or Connections?

Those two programs are the bomb, and James Burke is "Da Man."

byjove said:

Lanier discusses the hopes and aspirations and tantilising excitement in the early internet days, and how a few decades later, he and other 'old-timers' are gravely disappointed at the 'de-volvement of the internet' with 'social seb 2.0'.

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Gosh, who didn't see that coming?

That's what happens when idiots sit in their Ivory Towers for too long.

It's really hard to understand the world, when one is insulated from it, and has no connection to it.

It's not a "social web" rather it's a "social tether" ...it's classic Pavlovian Conditioning......and only a blithering idiot couldn't see that government would pervert it and take control of it. It's no different than Americans and their stupid bottled water.....they're too dumb and dense to realize they are being conditioned so that they won't blink an eye when private corporations take over their water supplies....since they will have been conditioned and used to buying water from private corporations...they won't resist.

By the way, how is control of the water supply by private corporations such as Coca-Cola and McDonald's working out for everyone in India?

This might not be true in other States, but in the United States and certain others, the internet is a means of giving people the illusion that they are connected and enfranchised and participating, when in fact they disconnected, disenfranchised and not participating.

Dear Bob Zemco

Have you not learnt how to control your ego yet?It appears to me that you are a bot because this part of you is running you unconsciously,But your oblivious of this fact and consequently you are unconsciously imposing your negativity on others,When in fact this is your problem,You should learn how to look critically at your self before you impose your unconscious negative nature on people you disagree with.And i also suggest that you take a second look at the trans personal planets ;Uranus,Neptune and Pluto,They will show you where your problem is.Refusing to move with new astrological developments is a very ignorant stance,Most likely from an egotistical position i think.

BobZemco said:

...

A pharmaceutical invention saved my sister's life, but according to you, the invention is valueless and of no worth, since only ~1 Million people out of the 6.6 Billion people on Earth would need to use that drug.

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Well, as was mentioned several times before, by great inventions I'm referring to world-changing inventions of mass effect. Therefore, every other useful invention doesn't lose value but isn't what's being discussed.

To be fair, the dismissal of qualified, experienced professionals (academics, economists, technologists etc.) is also highly subjective.

Billionaire and Pay Pal founder Elon Musk unveils plans for Hyperloop transport link between Los Angeles and SanFranCisco
:http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/aug/12/elon-musk-unveils-hyperloop-transport

^^ I've been thinking about that invention for a few days now. I think it's probably a bit of fantasy. I don't understand why he wouldn't use an existing advanced technology like maglev (magnetic levitation) trains or one of the many super high-speed trains available. That is a massive investment for a new technology. It hasn't been deployed anywhere else in the world has it? Though, once in a while, a technologist pulls these wild ideas off - Richard Branson is one of them.

byjove said:

^^ I've been thinking about that invention for a few days now. I think it's probably a bit of fantasy. I don't understand why he wouldn't use an existing advanced technology like maglev (magnetic levitation) trains or one of the many super high-speed trains available. That is a massive investment for a new technology. It hasn't been deployed anywhere else in the world has it? Though, once in a while, a technologist pulls these wild ideas off - Richard Branson is one of them.

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Hi byjove

I think you will find this article will explain a lot of the pros and cons of travelling at 4,000 mph in a vacuum.
http://www.gizmag.com/terraspan-vacuum-tube-train-supersonic-ultra-fast/23267/I recommend reading the "Comments"
If i was to design it i would have 2 tunnels beside each other,With up-line damage sensors,so if the track you were on had a loss of vacuum ahead,then you would be gently switched via a long diagonal tunnel to the other tunnel.That way you would not lose any speed.The biggest problem with this idea is construction cost.There has been an appreciable increase in tubular tunnel boring in recent years,Most of the tunnels cut through the mountains in recent years where i live were initially tubular,Also in the UK we have the Channel Tunnel which was cut this way.I suspect tubular tunnel boring speed has been increasing considerably in recent years.

The beginning of it all i think :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_railway
The Atmospheric Railway,Some of them ran for up to a year,But ultimately the materials were inadequate for example leather being used for air tight seals which was coated in tallow to keep it supple,Unfortunately this was a good food source for Rats which ate holes in the leather.

I think if i was to build a Maglev Vacuum train,I would make most of the track out of plastic conduit raised high off the ground so that it reduced interference on farmers fields and industrial zones etc by not taking up much ground footprint except for the pylons that hold the track up in the air,These pylons could also serve as access columns up to the track for maintenance etc.The only places i would use tunnel would be when mountains got in the way and in high density housing areas to avoid high casualties if the train should crash,It has to be considerably cheaper not to tunnel,And maintenance of high level track has got to be easier than tunnel track.As for track safety i would have up rail sensors to switch trains tracks to another tunnel if damage is sensed ahead.The train would switch track via long diagonal tunnels,There would be multiple back ups of all vacuum pumps in case of failure.Instead of holding a vacuum continuously along the whole track,Vacuums would only be sustained ahead of the approaching train through the track being divided into air tight sections.These sections would open and close relative to the approaching train.The secondary track can be used for rescue purposes if there is a breakdown or crash as one of the two tracks will be clear.At good vista points the track could be transparent plastic.The power for this system could be derived from environmentally friendly sustainable supplies like Hydro,Windmills and Solar power in the regions close to the track that the rail passes through.If necessary power could be sourced via less green methods for a continuous supply.Finally i think it is unnecessary to travel at the full 4,000 MPH,And it might be a better safer idea to try 2,000 MPH for a considerable time before going any faster.We presently have no continuous 2,000 MPH form of transport so why be greedy?

Ive written this Idea for a Maglev Vacuum train to show that it is possible,Given a few modifications,improvements and restrictions.
Personally i prefer the opposite,A future with as little technology as possible and trying to fit in with nature,But if high speed transport has to be...

I agree with each detail in a maglev rollout, I think we're of the same frame of mind. If I ever get into political office, you'll receive an offer to manage development lol

I'm stuck on the nature vs tech. future. When I have too much of one, I long for the other, I really do. Imagine running from Sense & Sensibility to Tron Legacy...

Bob raised something earlier; the traditional way of viewing invention. Does anyone know much about this?

POWDERED WATER HYDRATES DROUGHT STRICKEN FARMS IN MEXICO

- apparently it's been in use for at least the past twelve years http://www.greenprophet.com/2013/07/powdered-water-drought/

SOLID RAIN

"Has there been any great invention since the Internet?

...

Consider this list:

1804 - Steam Railway
1876 - Telephone
1878 - Light bulb
1903 - Aeroplane
1928 - Television, penicillin
1981 - Space shuttle
1940 - Colour television
1990 - World Wide Web

This list is clearly not exhaustive. These technologies revolutionised the home, society and the world.

...

Uranus in Capricorn - 1988-1996
Uranus in Aquarius - 1996-2003
Uranus in Pisces - 2003-2010
Uranus in Aries - 2010-2019

The brief list of list of inventions appears to stop at 1990. If we're following the Uranus cycle, that's during the Capricorn transit, the structures of society. Why were inventions during the Aquarius transit so dull? I'm warmed to see big thinkers bring up this point, 'social web 2.0' a.k.a. Facebook, Spotify, Twitter etc. are not inventions on the same scale of revolution or as evident contributions to humans as the list at the top.

..."

I meant to quote the OP, highlight particular parts and then write something new. I just realised that I edited the OP and lost much of the original content

I have to say that my mind has changed on part of this. (At least by changing our opinion we know that we are open-minded!) The usage of the internet as a break for freedom from an oppressive government seems here to stay. Also, in the past year we've seen the consequences of the revelation of the government-spying, particularly by the NSA in the US and GSHQ in the UK alongside their partners. One movement I've seen related to this utilises the internet to defend freedom. In the tech community they are called 'white hats'; hackers who retaliate with those that break international law and fundamental human rights. It usually involves disrupting normal service (that which uses the internet) of a business or government agency that has apparently violated human laws or rights. Whether their actions are in fact right or wrong, it's another use of the internet by groups of citizens to (in their words) safeguard liberty. It's evidence of more clusters of people using the internet in the name of freedom.

The mundane effects of outer planets traversing into a new sign take time to not only be seen, but be understood. As mentioned in the opening post, the quest was to pin down great inventions; those that immediately changed society and the world irrevocably. In the previous Uranus cycle, Uranus in Pisces - 2003-2010, the internet transformed from being a military and elite academic tool to being a tool of the mass - the general public, the middle class. Looking back at that major step in the life of the internet, it needed to become democratised itself, before becoming available by the people in the name of democracy.

A GIANT BASKET THAT USES CONDENSATION TO GATHER DRINKING WATER


'….768 million people cannot access safe water,
and
every day 1,400 children under the age of five die from water-based diseases.
Designer Arturo Vittori solution to this catastrophe in giant-sized stunning water towers standing nearly 30 feet tall which can collect over 25 gallons of potable water per day by harvesting atmospheric water vapor. Each pillar comprises two sections:
a semi-rigid exoskeleton built by tying stalks of juncus or bamboo together
and
an internal plastic mesh, reminiscent of the bags oranges come in.
The nylon and polypropylene fibers act as a scaffold for condensation,
and as the droplets of dew form,
they follow the mesh into a basin at the base of the structure.....' http://www.wired.com/2014/03/warka-water-africa/

QUOTE

'….Vittori devoted attention to this problem after visiting northeastern Ethiopia.
“There, people live in beautiful natural environment without running water, electricity, a toilet or a shower” .
To survive, women and children walk for miles to worm-filled ponds contaminated with human waste,
collect water in trashed plastic containers or dried gourds,
carry the heavy containers on treacherous roads back to their homes.
Process takes hours and endangers the children
exposing them to dangerous illnesses
taking them away from school,
ensuring that a cycle of poverty repeats.


Exposure to the horrific scene motivated Vittori to take action.....'

'…...“WarkaWater is designed to provide clean water as well as ensure long-term environmental, financial and social sustainability.
Once locals have the necessary know how,
they will be able to teach others villages and communities to build the WarkaWater towers.”
Each tower costs approximately $550
and can be built in under a week with a four-person team and locally available materials.


A more obvious solution to a water shortage would be digging a well,
but drilling 1,500 feet into Ethiopia’s rocky plateaus is expensive.
Even when a well is dug,
maintaining pumps and ensuring a reliable electrical connection
makes the proposition unsustainable....'

Great conversation ! I have wondered this exact thing regarding the effects of television on art - i.e. I don't see marble sculpture much anymore