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I want to thank you ! Posted by vtsnaab [Email]  (#26)  [Profile/Gallery]
(more from vtsnaab) on Tue, 28 Jul 2009 02:23:13
In Reply to: Hydrogen generator on 9k ?, saabetized, Sat, 25 Jul 2009 02:26:41 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
For making my point so strenuously and clearly for me.
So thank you, and I apologize for my posts being so much to read too.
Now to carry on this discussion:
What you imply so clearly is that NO IMPROVEMENTS ARE POSSIBLE, EVER.
Obviously this comes from the simple belief that things are as good as
they will ever get, and all things have already been discovered.
If this is what you hold as true then I respect your beliefs, but I do
not agree with them and will not live by them.
The following are some references which relate to this discussion in
concept...
There's an old story that's been often told, though untrue:
In 1899 the commissioner of the U.S. Patent Office sent his resignation
to President McKinley urging the closing of the office because
"everything that could be invented has been invented."
It was told and retold so often that even President Reagan used it in
a speech.
Unfortunately not only does it have no actual historical basis - but
the idea asserted in it is 'patently' absurd - obviously, as many new
things have been invented and even patented since that time.
Moving on:
Up until about 1900 it was held as an immutable truth that mankind
could NEVER ACHIEVE FLIGHT.
Oddly enough the Wright Brothers found a way to do just that in 1903.
Later still, when I was a kid, it was very common for family doctors to
advise their patients to take up smoking cigarettes for the purposes of
health gains which would result - it was an accepted belief that it was
indeed a healthy thing to inhale tobacco smoke into one's lungs.
Oddly enough it seems this set of beliefs has been reversed as so many
people have lost their health and their lives as a result of...smoking !
Closer to the present, when people were originally presented with the
idea of quick healing surgery done to eyes with lasers it was dismissed
as an absurdity. Now it is done for thousands of people every day.
All the references above relate to things which were held as immutable
'truths', 'facts' and even 'laws' - but which have changed drastically
despite how widely held they were.
As I said previously - people tend to fight quite strenuously to hold on
to beliefs, they will become quite angry, and even commit violence to
'defend' such things.
It is a shame how such stubborness most often results in the cementing
of poor conditions when improvements ARE possible.
In my imagination this means that people will fight to stay impoverished,
diseased and/or unhappy - which makes no sense to me at all.
My car gets 25 MPG on average, and I am very happy with that.
When I started driving cars got around 10 MPG on average and gasoline
was as low as 30 cents a gallon.
What does all the above imply ? Things can and DO change.
Of one thing I am quite certain:
Neither I, nor anyone knows everything there is to know or to be known.
This means there is more to learn and discover and dare I say it: invent.
If anyone wishes to live in a world where things must always stay just
as they are then that is their choice - but all that mindset does for
me is to increase my admiration for inventors who ignore even the danger
to their own lives to find better ways to do things so the lives of all
the ungrateful recipients can be improved.
A last idea:
About 20 years ago the idea of megabytes was associated with huge things;
hard drives that were immense and which required huge amounts of energy
as well as rigidly controlled environments.
Right now as I sit here I have a thing smaller than a pack of gum which
holds 8 GIGAbytes of data, and another the size of a cookie which holds
300 GIGAbytes.
The above was all quite IMPOSSIBLE 20+ years ago and there were those
who'd argue violently against such 'crazy ideas'.
They were mistaken - closed minded, but still mistaken.
I'd like to think what you propose as immutable is all true because it
makes me feel safe - but I also absolutely love the thrill of seeing
how wrong I have been to hold onto outdated ideas when they are later
replaced with BETTER ONES !!!
Best Wishes,
mark
, Sat, 1 Aug 2009 08:51:41, Tue, 28 Jul 2009 02:23:13 <-- Viewing This Message
, Mon, 27 Jul 2009 03:54:03, Mon, 27 Jul 2009 04:43:37, Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:25:28
, Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:01:23, Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:05:56, Sun, 26 Jul 2009 20:02:41
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