Progress: from the Group to the Individual

As part of Science Week Ireland, Bloggers have been asked to write on a number of subjects. I chose to write on “What invention do you want to see most in the future?” as it is a question I have been asking myself over the last year.

Stephen Fry once said that the greatest time to live is now. This moment in time is the peak of human existence. He said that if we choose to we can live in whatever era we want be it Medieval times, the Victorian era or merely living in a 1970s bubble. However I disagree with Stephen to a degree. While technologically progress may appear to have moved on, in some respects we as a human race lack capabilities that we had back in the 1960s or 1970s.

The most poignant example of this is Concorde. Concorde had a top speed of 1350mph. When it was retired the fastest commercial airline was the Boeing 747, itself a fellow 1960s design. It is capable of 605mph, less than half of what Concorde could do. Where else in human achievement have we gone backwards over the course of four decades? Concorde was not merely an aircraft but a symbol of man-kinds abilities to shrink space and time with technological progress. As Jeremy Clarkson noted when exiting Concorde on its ultimate voyage, “This is one small step for a man, but one huge leap backwards for mankind”.

When people discuss public apathy towards science, they often forget that the sense of adventure and epic scale of the 1950s and 1960s has been lost. We may all have sophisticated mobile phones in our pockets but even now we are 10 years from putting a man on the moon. It wasn’t an easy task back in the 70s but NASA were capable of it at a months notice. The past 3 decades has seen a switch in technological progress from the group to the individual. Mankind’s loss has been man’s gain. Personal computing, mobile phones and personal music players have been the areas that have seen the most innovation. It is no wonder our sense of romance with science has been lost when the summit of mankind’s technological ability is in the grubby pocket of the guy next to you on the bus.

What I want to see is a return to grand scale projects born not out of economic rationality but as a demonstration of what the human mind can conceive. I want to see Supersonic travel for all, I want inter-continental trains and I want giant airships where at present we have giant ships. Most of what I have said is technologically possible in the here and now. For instance the proposed Skycat Airship is a fuel efficient alternative to the heavy unwieldy tankers that circle our oceans. My fathers generation had cigarette cards with the amazing machines of their era. As good as it is to have the new Airbus A380, one would not call it beautiful by any stretch.

In summary: The people of the 1960s had the SR-71 spy plane, we have cell phones, who do you think has the technological oneupmanship? Maybe we should go back to the Future.

Posted 14.11.07

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