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Originally Posted by Adam McLeod
I've liked what I've read, but I think I need some clarification here:
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If you look at History, not ancient history, but recent ones, around the 19th century, people were still spending a lot of time looking for answers in many field of studies. Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution, Monet's Impressionism, Van Gogh's Expressionism, Beethoven's music, Mark Twain, John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism, Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto, the American Civil war (ending slavery in America).
Despite all the achievement we've gained in the past, people were still wondering what the best form of society is, they are still trying to understand how the world works, trying to come up with different discipline of science to explain different aspect of the world, and still trying to break through barriers set by previous generations by creating master piece of music, art, literature...
I am not saying we are not still doing that. We definitely are in many areas with research and developement. But what I mean is we've come to a point where modern technology is so comfortable to us, information so readily available to us that as a culture, we stop being curious about some of the things that used to be curious to us. At least, they are not the major focus anymore. Now a days, on the tv or the media, we usually just hear about sports, entertainment, politics, wars, and so on.
We stop looking at the sky and become curious of what's out there. We've gone to the moon, going to Mars is very hard and expensive, and all these satellites and telescopes are bringing beautiful pictures back...
We've stopped wondering what this universe is consist of. A lot of theories in Physics and Chemistry can already answer that, even though there are still areas that need break throughs. At least, that's what an average person will think.
How do we know how living things work in this world? Well, just look at Darwin's theory of evolution!
What are the great arts of humanity? Well, just look at all these famous pantings!
How about literature, music, philosophy? Well, just look at all these wonderful things people have done in the past!
I am not saying there aren't people still incredibly interested in all these subjects, but to the average person, the average student, there are so many "answers" available to them already it's all they can do to learn it until 12th grade, until the 4th year in undergraduate, and until they have a family and kids of their own. And their major concerns are going to be, how am I going to pay my bills? What are the news today? Is a new car, or a new computer coming out that will things easier? What are some of the new medicines that will stop things like the bird flu, cancer, HIV, etc...
We've come to a point so far up the ladder of technological/knowledge revolutions that there cease to be giant blocks of unanswered questions that make us wonder. Now a days most of the questions become, "what can science and technology do for me?" because personal computing just became popular in the last 10 years, the internet is still relatively young compare to the bigger scheme of things, and we still don't have our jet packs, flying cars, and transporters yet.
So, those are the areas we are now more interested in, at least as a society and a culture, and everything that has been discussed and debated by people over the last few centuries can simply step aside.
That's what I meant (I think).