I would say that the non-nerds can’t save the human race either though. Without nerds our population never exceeds what can be supported by hunting, gathering, and maybe some primitive agriculture.
Which isn’t much. We’d be constantly hovering just short of being wiped out by some global cataclysm. And there’s some evidence that we’ve narrowly missed just that at least once in our history. If we want to survive long-term we need to get off this rock, and then we need to find at least one other solar system. After that we can take a breather while we think about finding another galaxy to colonize.
Yes, we might destroy ourselves with new technology. But we’re definitely dead without it. And if you look at how many new technologies have been denounced as being harbingers for the end of the world vs how many times the world has actually ended, I’d have to think that gut feelings about what technologies are the most dangerous and how badly we’ll handle them are probably wrong more often than they’re right.
I would say that the non-nerds can’t save the human race either though. Without nerds our population never exceeds what can be supported by hunting, gathering, and maybe some primitive agriculture.
Which isn’t much. We’d be constantly hovering just short of being wiped out by some global cataclysm. And there’s some evidence that we’ve narrowly missed just that at least once in our history. If we want to survive long-term we need to get off this rock, and then we need to find at least one other solar system. After that we can take a breather while we think about finding another galaxy to colonize.
Yes, we might destroy ourselves with new technology. But we’re definitely dead without it. And if you look at how many new technologies have been denounced as being harbingers for the end of the world vs how many times the world has actually ended, I’d have to think that gut feelings about what technologies are the most dangerous and how badly we’ll handle them are probably wrong more often than they’re right.