Boeing 787 Aerodynamic Report

[gone-ot]

...wars, plagues, and famines will "cure" those numbers!

[kingsway]

If Amory Lovins is right, there is very real hope of us coping with the fossil fuel situation.

The growth in computing power may well have slowed - but they've been talking for years about optical computing, which would bring about huge growth in speed and bandwidth. If we get enough computing power - and if we can get a real grasp on artificial intelligence - who knows what we might achieve?

Instead of being at the end of a process, (the Industrial Age) maybe we are really only at the beginning! (or the Information Age)

I also like the idea of 'enlarging the problem' - ie not just looking at trying to improve 100 year old ICE technology, but looking wider afield for answers....

One thought - I live in Cambridge UK, where we see a huge number of asian students. I once read that if 10% of kids in China are 'Gifted', then there are more 'gifted' children in China, than there are kids in the USA!

Maybe the next generation will have the vision and foresight to see and do what we can't even imagine?

[kingsway]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

...wars, plagues, and famines will "cure" those numbers!

Another pessimist / grumpy old man!!

In most countries where these problems exist, there is no democracy. A parasitic minority of some sort (Political, religeous or criminal - or all of the above) stifles progress and causes major misery.

The Emperors of China held their country back for centuries, but see what has happened in a couple of decades once a level of freedom was achieved.

The USA blossomed because it offered opportunity to the downtrodden masses of Europe. It seems to have worked quite well!

I've just remembered a line from a song....

"Everything's up-to-date in Kansas City - they've gone about as fer as they can go...."

I hope we won't make the same mistake of thinking that we are the be-all and end-all and that it's all downhill from now on!

[RobertSmalls]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

...wars, plagues, and famines will "cure" those numbers!

Have a read of Steven Pinker's "The Better Angels of our Nature". He argues, with plenty of data to back it up, that what we are living in is by far the most peaceful time in human history.

Wars used to be waged against entire societies. Tribal societies, presented with the opportunity, would occasionally kill every adult and boy in the enemy village, and take the girls for wives. In the bible, there are accounts of all manner of repugnant war crimes, including genocide. Just 60 years ago, the US was carpet-bombing enemy cities. Nowadays, we're upset if a dozen civilians die as collateral damage.

Then there's religion. If you truly believe that a person's soul can be saved if he accepts Jesus before he dies, then you'll do *whatever it takes* to get him to do so. In the Dark Ages, they were torturing people to death in that pursuit, ending lives but saving souls. It's the morally right thing to do. The things that medieval christians did make modern mujihadeen look quite tame.

A quote from the dust jacket: "Thanks to the spread of government, literacy, trade, and cosmopolitanism, we increasingly control our impulses, empathize with others, bargain rather than plunder, debunk toxic ideologies, and deploy our powers of reason to reduce the temptations of violence".

As poverty recedes and universal literacy (and erudition) spreads, we'll see birth rates decline, and new technologies evolve to replace our dwindling supplies of liquid fossil fuels. This process may be an inevitable one, but that doesn't mean you can sit on your haunches and wait for it to happen. Even inevitable processes happen because of the actions of skilled and motivated innovators.

The transition from fossil fuels can be an orderly one if we start sooner, but in any case I have no doubt that civilization will survive.

Oh, and F=1/2*CdA*rho*V².

[gone-ot]

...I was just remembering such current-events as Desert Storm, Desert Shield, Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom, the genocide in Dufar, the Avian Bird-Flu, SARS, the plague making a comeback in southwest US states, etc.

[kingsway]

Nobody suggested things are perfect.... but compared to the past we mostly have reason to be very glad to be alive now.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

...I was just remembering such current-events as Desert Storm, Desert Shield, Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom, the genocide in Dufar, the Avian Bird-Flu, SARS, the plague making a comeback in southwest US states, etc.

They don't even make a dent in the growth curve.

[kingsway]

The great thing is, that things tend to get better despite the best efforts of dictators and religeous bigots etc.

They may hold up the process for a while, but even monsters (and killers of millions) like Stalin and Mao didn't live for ever...

[niky]

SARS and Bird-Flu were nothing. A few thousand infections... very low death rates... in the mere hundreds. Despite our hugely interconnected world, effective quarantine and checks at airports held them easily in check.

The days when influenza was able to kill millions in a stroke are largely gone. While there is still the danger of something like SARS or bird-flu doing the same... just the knowledge of the dangers that allows us to take precautions (masks, avoiding public places, quarantines), even without cures means that these won't have as far-reaching an effect.

Dengue kills more people every year. The "regular" flu and AIDS kill more people every day.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by kingsway

The Emperors of China held their country back for centuries, but see what has happened in a couple of decades once a level of freedom was achieved.

You honestly think life is better for the average person, say your typical Foxconn worker? Plus you're skipping over the Maoist era.

I'll always remember the conference I attended at Brookhaven a few years ago: the speaker was talking about international cooperation in science, and urged everyone to go visit China by proclaiming "Yes, they have everything you'd want there: McDonalds, Pizza Hut (plus a list of fairly upscale Western brands that I can't remember offhand). They've got everything you'd find in New York." So why would a rational person subject himself to the expense & discomfort of flying halfway around the world in order to visit a place that is exactly like the place he started from?

(It was almost as disconcerting as the time I stopped in a pub in Donegal, to find they were playing American country & western.)

The USA blossomed because it offered opportunity to the downtrodden masses of Europe. It seems to have worked quite well!

Well, if you refrain from visiting Manhattan, the LA Basin, Los Angeles, California's Central Valley, Las Vegas, the former mountains of West Virginia... Or think about the fraction of the population suffering from obesity & other lifestyle diseases.

I hope we won't make the same mistake of thinking that we are the be-all and end-all and that it's all downhill from now on!

Nope, downhill started quite a while back. I really think you should meet an acquaintance of mine, by the name of Pangloss.