All of those things you list as 2023 "breakthroughs" are basically press releases, and it was abundantly obvious during periods of technological and scientific progress, just as it is abundantly obvious we've stalled out since the 1970s.
I don't think "the prolongation of life" should be marked green. Average lifespans have gone up as many causes of death have been ameliorated, but maximum lifespan hasn't changed much. Attacking aging itself is still the dream of futurists/singularitarians.
Basically, an LED light connected to the electrical grid is a "perpetual light." My guess was that Boyle was basically thinking of a candle that could burn continuously for years. Boyle would probably consider an LED light connected to the electrical grid to be a "perpetual light."
P.S. His mind would probably be blown by seeing NYC at night.
I cannot share much enthusiasm for the scientific "advances" of this year, or of this century, so far... (With one exception: fusion ignition).
When I go back and read Francis Bacon's "Great Instauration", he waxes at the prospects for expanding mankind's power over nature, and for relieving the afflictions of nature upon the human condition. Where the Twentieth Century may be said to have realized the promise he envisioned (along with many of the perils he did not foresee), the Twenty-first represents a contraction... Where the automobile and airplane advanced freedom of movement, and telephone and radio expanded freedom of speech in the Twentieth, in the Twenty-first, the smart-phone, with all things "Smart" - self-driving vehicles, Internet-of-Things driven appliances - have the contrary prospect of constraining, and even en-shackling our inalienable liberty. We may have the right to speak, but not without algorithm-driven consequences upon who will be permitted to hear... Turn up the AC, but if "smart-meter" says the carbon footprint is too big, it turns back down for a "greater good"... Have a juicy steak if you like, but a mutation you may or may not have consented to will make you intolerant to that protein (ref. to Matthew Liao, et al. "Human Engineering and Climate Change").
It may be said the the successes of the Twentieth Century made the contraction of the Twenty-first necessary... Perhaps, but the technological solutions on offer must be rejected. Now, more than ever, it is time to go Luddite!
All of those things you list as 2023 "breakthroughs" are basically press releases, and it was abundantly obvious during periods of technological and scientific progress, just as it is abundantly obvious we've stalled out since the 1970s.
I don't think "the prolongation of life" should be marked green. Average lifespans have gone up as many causes of death have been ameliorated, but maximum lifespan hasn't changed much. Attacking aging itself is still the dream of futurists/singularitarians.
Basically, an LED light connected to the electrical grid is a "perpetual light." My guess was that Boyle was basically thinking of a candle that could burn continuously for years. Boyle would probably consider an LED light connected to the electrical grid to be a "perpetual light."
P.S. His mind would probably be blown by seeing NYC at night.
I would argue that plastic is "flexible glass."
Also, a way to ascertain longitude was discovered centuries before GPS.
Two of the weekly links point to the same thing (arrowheads). Can we have the Roman flexible glass one, please?
I cannot share much enthusiasm for the scientific "advances" of this year, or of this century, so far... (With one exception: fusion ignition).
When I go back and read Francis Bacon's "Great Instauration", he waxes at the prospects for expanding mankind's power over nature, and for relieving the afflictions of nature upon the human condition. Where the Twentieth Century may be said to have realized the promise he envisioned (along with many of the perils he did not foresee), the Twenty-first represents a contraction... Where the automobile and airplane advanced freedom of movement, and telephone and radio expanded freedom of speech in the Twentieth, in the Twenty-first, the smart-phone, with all things "Smart" - self-driving vehicles, Internet-of-Things driven appliances - have the contrary prospect of constraining, and even en-shackling our inalienable liberty. We may have the right to speak, but not without algorithm-driven consequences upon who will be permitted to hear... Turn up the AC, but if "smart-meter" says the carbon footprint is too big, it turns back down for a "greater good"... Have a juicy steak if you like, but a mutation you may or may not have consented to will make you intolerant to that protein (ref. to Matthew Liao, et al. "Human Engineering and Climate Change").
It may be said the the successes of the Twentieth Century made the contraction of the Twenty-first necessary... Perhaps, but the technological solutions on offer must be rejected. Now, more than ever, it is time to go Luddite!