Poll of the Day > Being told to stop working on that amazing invention that could change the world

(+) Yeah! (+)

There's a difference between being cynical....and being skeptical.

There's also a difference between being pessimistic....and being realistic.

I wish more people could realize this. Because I think some of my friends and coworkers often lump me in with pessimistic cynicism....when it's actually just realistic skepticism....and it's usually justified from things I've learned and experienced over the course of my life. And that's kind of important.

So anyway......I went to the dentist the other day for a routine cleaning....and, for whatever reason....I just had this weird stream of thoughts assault my brain. And I just can't stop thinking about it. So I thought I'd share it with the board by posing this question:

If some incredibly gifted scientist/chemist invented a new substance tomorrow.....(a substance that had very peculiar properties that behaved like normal chewing gum (and actually tasted good) but had the side-effect of bonding to your enamel with an extremely strong (and transparent) coating that protected your teeth from literally everything for up to 24 hours, with NO negative side-effects, and was extremely cheap and easy to produce).......don't you think there would be a lot of dentists and doctors in the world who would actually be UPSET by this?

Because that's the strange conclusion I came to.

People would actually be upset by it.

People would oppose it. People would demand he not make it public. Medical/dental communities would demand he limit the distribution of it somehow.

He might even be murdered for it.

What do you think? And why do you think I would come to that conclusion?
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Of course that's a logical conclusion, thanks to money. It would really surprise me if the tobacco, oil and pharmaceutical industries haven't employed this tactic at times over the decades.
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That sounds very conspiracy theory-like.
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There are alot of industries that would crumble if certain inventions were around.

If we had anti gravity we wouldn't have to worry about fossil fuels but I dont think someone is keeping the technology back, I just dont think it's there yet.

Well that's the problem: we seem to think having a purpose and making money is more important than progress as a species.

While that magical enamel-protecting substance would practically remove cavities, tartar build-up, the need for fillings, crowns, root canals, and all that other expensive shit overnight..............it would also put a lot of dentists and doctors out of a job.

Even though, ironically, it is a dentist's and doctor's job to protect people's teeth!

But they would be furious by the creation of this substance, because it would make all their years in medical school worthless. So they wouldn't want it to be released to the masses.

Sorta like those oil tycoons who paid scientists working on solar technology millions of dollars to STOP THEIR RESEARCH.
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GreenKnight127 posted...

Well that's the problem: we seem to think having a purpose and making money is more important than progress as a species.

Probably because no other species on Earth worries about that, and humans have spent the last few tens of thousand years or so not giving a shit about it either.

The idea that we should even care about the species as an abstract concept is a very new idea. Even cultures that encourage the individual to give up some of their value in favor of society only really focus that obligation on smaller cultural, ethnic, or nationalistic groups, and the idea of "humanity" as a singular global entity with innate value is very much the product of the last hundred years or so, tops.

One could even argue it hasn't even really been that long, and it really only applies to the last 50 years or so. Possibly only the last 30 or so, if you want to make the argument that true global identity really only started emerging in the wake of the Internet/World Wide Web, though there were definitely stirrings before that.


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I need a therapist.
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What the fuck is this dumb shit

Reading this just reminds me of something I would write before I was diagnosed with bipolar and was manic

ReggieTheReckless posted...

What the fuck is this dumb shit

Something that apparently triggered you enough to warrant a venomous and pointless reply ;)
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