Do you ever get disappointed that you live in this era?

[SCFinfan]

I often find myself getting very disappointed that I live at this time. The reason is that we're so limited in our understanding. By this I mean, we're really starting to make headway in physics and technology, but, by the time I'm old, we probably won't have colonized a place like Mars.

This is really disappointing to me. Sometimes, I go out at night with a telescope and my son and we take a look at the stars. It's fun and always interesting. But I get, well, upset that I'm not going to get a chance to go there someday.

I'd like to see what, if any, planets orbit around Proxima Centauri; I'd like to hear what probes indicate intergalactic space is like; I'd like to hear whether or not we find a way to break the galactic speed limit (either through the use of wormholes or somehow through the use of a controlled black hole); and I'd also like to see what the sunrise looks from the surface of Mars or Titan.

But, I never will, and neither will any of you. Does that disappoint anyone besides me?

[Spider-Dan]

I look at it in a way that's similar to my outlook on my economic standing.

Would I like to have been a Steve Forbes or Bill Ford or Woody Johnson and be born into so much money that I never have to worry about working in my lifetime?  Sure.  But ultimately, being born in America means that I was already better off than 90% of the people born in the world.  So I accept my good fortune and move on.

Similarly, while it would be great to live in the future, being alive today is so startlingly superior to being alive just 100 years ago that I am happy with what I have.  The thought of what my life would be like 500 or 1000 years ago is very troubling.

Plus, humans haven't destroyed the planet (yet), which is a big potential downside of the future.

[badger6]

I often find myself getting very disappointed that I live at this time. The reason is that we're so limited in our understanding. By this I mean, we're really starting to make headway in physics and technology, but, by the time I'm old, we probably won't have colonized a place like Mars.

This is really disappointing to me. Sometimes, I go out at night with a telescope and my son and we take a look at the stars. It's fun and always interesting. But I get, well, upset that I'm not going to get a chance to go there someday.

I'd like to see what, if any, planets orbit around Proxima Centauri; I'd like to hear what probes indicate intergalactic space is like; I'd like to hear whether or not we find a way to break the galactic speed limit (either through the use of wormholes or somehow through the use of a controlled black hole); and I'd also like to see what the sunrise looks from the surface of Mars or Titan.

But, I never will, and neither will any of you. Does that disappoint anyone besides me?

I sometimes find myself thinking that growing up 10 years earlier than I actually did would have been cool. I find the 60s and 70s a fascinating time period. As for the future, I don't think we will make it too much longer. Maybe a few more generations and we will be all but a minor footnote in the history of things........

[TonyB0D]

Sometimes I get disappointed I live in this era.  I say disappointed because humanity should be so much further along than we currently are.  We have the technology and tools to be SO MUCH more advanced and englightened.  It's a shame knowing how much we could accomplish if we were united and worked together as a planet.

I'd rather have lived in the past, where I wouldn't know any better and things were just so much simpler.

However, we are living in a great time in our history, with the electronic revolution, computers, internet, space flight.  Think about all we've done in just the last FIFTY years; it's pretty insane.

Sometimes I just wish aliens would land on earth, tell us we're doing it wrong, and stop believe in stupid things like ghosts and god, because they are killing our forward progress.

[Fins4ever]

I sometimes find myself thinking that growing up 10 years earlier than I actually did would have been cool. I find the 60s and 70s a fascinating time period. As for the future, I don't think we will make it too much longer. Maybe a few more generations and we will be all but a minor footnote in the history of things........

Agree. Interesting question. I would have preferred being born in the mid 1930's to 1940. That would mean I would witness the greatest achievements and best economic times in USA history and I would be mid 70's to 80 years old now.....too old to care about all this shit going on now. lol

My M-I-L is 90 and I asked her the other day if she planned to vote.  She said, "I am 90, I no longer give a crap!"

 

[Sunstroke]

I would have enjoyed living in different historical eras, for entirely different reasons... I would have enjoyed living in medieval times because I often just want to pull out a sword and lop off some fool's head.  I would have enjoyed living in Europe in the late 18th century, because of the amazing music that was being created by guys like Mozart, Beethoven and others.

I'm not disappointed in this era though, because for every negative like political corruption, fiscal idiocy, religious extremism and reality TV, I can counter with a positive like freedom of speech, freedom of religion, scientific/medical advancements and a good shrimp and bacon po'boy sandwich.

[Spider-Dan]

Keep in mind that it's a lot easier to be happy about living through the Cold War when you know the result.

Also keep in mind that some of these time periods would result in (for example) being drafted for Korea or Vietnam (unless you're talking about being born somewhere else).

[bsmooth]

If you find someone who is honest about both the positives and negatives of growing up in their era's, you will find out it is no different than what we experience.
Everyone looks back with rose-tinted glasses. Every era/time frame has its own issues that made people nervous, frustrated, happy, angry, etc.
It is fun to think about going back in time to experience some different eras...that is why books and movies are still made about it.

[Phishfan]

I would have preferred being born in the mid 1930's to 1940. That would mean I would witness the greatest achievements and best economic times in USA history 

That is definitely a glass half full outlook. You would also witness the worst economic times in US history.

I would definitely like to have the experiences of other eras but I think we tend to glamorize them and look at the positives while overlooking the negatives. Every period has its good and bad points and I am fine with where I am.

[Pappy13]

Sometimes I just wish aliens would land on earth, tell us we're doing it wrong, and stop believe in stupid things like ghosts and god, because they are killing our forward progress.

This is a fascinating statement especially since I think it's probably quite popular today. For some reason it's easier to believe that aliens are a foregone conclusion while ghosts and gods are just plain nonsense, but the principle facts behind them are pretty much the same, ie the fact that there's very little physical evidence to support the idea that any of them exist.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that aliens don't exist, actually I'm pretty sure they do exist although I don't think they've ever been to Earth. I just find it fascinating that many people find it easier to believe in the existance of extraterrestrials then in the existance of a supreme being. I wonder why that is? If you think about it the idea that humans were created by God is not that different from the idea that the human race was somehow "seeded" by aliens.

[Spider-Dan]

There's a huge difference between:

- believing that aliens exist in (at least) one of the thousands of trillions of planets around the hundreds of trillions of stars in the hundreds of billions of galaxies in the universe

and

- believing that aliens have visited this planet

[Pappy13]

There's a huge difference between:

- believing that aliens exist in (at least) one of the thousands of trillions of planets around the hundreds of trillions of stars in the hundreds of billions of galaxies in the universe

and

- believing that aliens have visited this planet

I agree. I hope I didn't give the impression that I thought those ideas were similar, only that I believe the first notion to be true or at least possible, but not the second. That's partly what makes this fascinating to me. We can easily accept the idea that aliens exist despite the fact that we haven't encountered them, nor probably ever will. Isn't this similar to what faith is for many?

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

There's a huge difference between:

- believing that aliens exist in (at least) one of the thousands of trillions of planets around the hundreds of trillions of stars in the hundreds of billions of galaxies in the universe

and

- believing that aliens have visited this planet

There is actually a third possiblity, that I am leaning towards believing.  Not that aliens have visited (as in came and then left) but that all life on earth evolved from space aliens.

Not intellegent life that came in a spaceship, but mircoscopic single cell organism attached to a meteriot that landed in the "premortal soup" and was the first life on earth (as opposed to the concept that life orginated on earth)

[Pappy13]

There is actually a third possiblity, that I am leaning towards believing.  Not that aliens have visited (as in came and then left) but that all life on earth evolved from space aliens.

Not intellegent life that came in a spaceship, but mircoscopic single cell organism attached to a meteriot that landed in the "premortal soup" and was the first life on earth (as opposed to the concept that life orginated on earth)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia

It's called Panspermia. Now take that one step further and assume for a second there is a "race" of people that have existed for millions of years in another galaxy, much longer than the human race. Suppose they had gotten so advanced that they're actually capable of putting those single cell organisms on a meteriot or something similar and blasting it out into space far beyond their own galaxy. They don't really know where it will end up or how it will turn out, but they are trying to "create" something. And lets suppose this happened millions of years ago. If Earth really was "created" this way, wouldn't the "creators" kind of be gods to us? Creating us from nothing so to speak? Not exactly how we usually envision a god, but still a supreme being in some ways? No? If we can believe that it could happen by accident, why not not an accident?

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

 And lets suppose this happened millions of years ago. If Earth really was "created" this way, wouldn't the "creators" kind of be gods to us? Creating us from nothing so to speak? Not exactly how we usually envision a god, but still a supreme being in some ways?

I find that believable. 

I don't find Adam and Eve any more believable than the Easter Bunny.