It feels like technology updates are not as fast as before! Has human technology now reached a bottleneck?

Is the discovery of new technologies really slowing down?

Have you ever had a similar experience in your life? After working hard for a period of time, you always feel that time passes much slower than before. This is not an illusion. Einstein once mentioned that when an object is constantly moving, time passes slower than when it is stationary.

Today, with the rapid development of science and technology, the theories summarized in the past can already support the exploration of human civilization on a larger scale. However, scientists say that it can be seen from experimental data that the speed of our technological development is indeed slowing down significantly.

This sounds incredible. After all, a dazzling array of high-tech products are emerging in endlessly, and the speed of upgrading is far beyond imagination. Many people will take out their smartphones, tablets, Xbox360, etc. to show off anytime and anywhere.

It is true that most of the video game interfaces 20 years ago were just rough 2D graphics, but today’s Internet games have 3D virtual graphics that are comparable to the real world... Have you noticed this? It seems that they are all based on the extension of IT Internet technology. This may be the only highlight of technological progress in our era.

Why do we feel that human technological progress has stagnated? Is there really any force blocking the research and development of scientific discoveries? Has technological development really slowed down?

In what aspects of daily life do you feel the bottleneck of scientific discovery?

First of all, the big explosion of modern science and technology is just an appearance. The research of scientific theories has already encountered bottlenecks, and they are all based on the expansion of the application level based on the results of original scientific theories.

It can be seen from the winning of scientific awards that most of the Nobel Prizes in recent years have been for proving theories decades ago; in the medical field, difficult and complicated diseases that could not be cured before are now It still cannot be completely conquered; in the field of scientific theory, there are indeed no theories of cross-century significance similar to universal gravitation, relativity and quantum mechanics in the world today.

Secondly, the number of scientific greats across the centuries is obviously decreasing. Humanity has been on the road to scientific development for more than 200 years. During this process, many outstanding scientists have emerged, including the familiar ones such as Einstein, Newton, Tesla, Edison, etc. Their emergence has made human science a big step forward, and their contributions are creative.

Many scientific studies continue to be explored and extended many years after their deaths, and even many modern scientific theories are based on the works left by these scientists. There was once an Internet celebrity photo, which was a group photo of all the scientists who made outstanding contributions in the 20th century. Some netizens joked that if the people in this photo had not appeared, would all our textbooks be half as thin?

Furthermore, the innovative achievements in the field of space exploration in the 21st century are not outstanding enough. I remember that in the 1960s and 1970s, some people in the scientific community predicted that ordinary people could freely travel between open spaces; flying has become the most common mode of transportation for mankind, and people no longer need to suffer from traffic jams; people no longer need to suffer from epidemics, and cancer has been conquered ; Highly developed genetic technology can be applied to the transformation of the human body and even enhance intelligence; humans can successfully immigrate to Mars and build a new home for mankind in the early 21st century?

However, 40 years later today , have these original predictions come true? Unfortunately, in fact these predictions did not achieve a qualitative leap.

Who is blocking the development of human science and technology?

First, obstacles from social morality and traditional ethics mean that new scientific discoveries cannot be accurately defined. In recent years, it has appeared in the medical field that the fertilized egg is implanted into the uterus of the pregnant mother, and the pregnant mother completes the process of "pregnancy and delivery in ten months", fulfilling the dream of those mothers who are unable to conceive a child. But this science and technology violates traditional moral and ethical aspects and complicates social relations.

For example, the sensational "M baby incident" in the United States: Mary White volunteered to be a "surrogate mother" for the Sterns in exchange for compensation.

But when Mary gave birth to the child, she would rather return the $10,000 reward than give up custody of the child. Even the judge didn't know how to impose the penalty.

Such a child is conflicted when he is born. On the one hand, he is the mother who gave birth to him, and on the other hand, he is the mother who raised and educated him. Who does this child want to recognize as his real mother? No matter who he chooses. , both will be a harm to the other mother.

Second, social contradictions such as traditional moral values ??and family values ??are the result of new scientific and technological discoveries that cannot be applied and promoted. To put it bluntly, human cloning is asexual reproduction, copying almost identical human individuals, which poses another problem. Cloning has caused chaos in human relations, blurred human rights, completely subverted the concept of inheritance from generation to generation, and impacted the traditional concept of family.

There is no direct relative or blood relationship between human cloning and human cell nuclei, which makes it difficult for people to accept its application in violation of traditional moral values ??and family values; legally, it is also impossible to determine its inheritance relationship; in In family life, clones and copied individuals are prone to psychological distortions and emotional loss. It seems that we can see scenes of family tragedies coming before our eyes.

So although the technology of human cloning can solve many problems that cannot be overcome by medicine, it is still banned by many countries. European countries signed the "Prohibition of Human Cloning Agreement" in Paris, France, believing that human cloning is harmful to human health. Human dignity violates social ethics and moral standards. Therefore, although human cloning technology has been successful, it still cannot be used and promoted until it is recognized by society.

Third, the increasing scarcity of energy has caused many projects to have to change their original technical requirements, prolonging the time for technology to take shape. Since mankind entered the industrial age, science and technology have developed rapidly. However, as we transitioned from the electrical age to the information age, the pace of scientific discovery has slowed down significantly.

Modern technologies such as automobile energy, aerospace, computers, the Internet, etc. are all present in the electrical age, but they are constantly being strengthened and improved. We have no revolutionary scientific discoveries. The fundamental reason lies in the energy problem. We currently do not have enough energy to achieve it.

When energy is not an issue, we can realize artificial technology to synthesize food and create interstellar engines. Research on biotechnology can reach the atomic level by operating super computers... And Achieving all this still requires a long process.

Finally, the imperfect social evaluation system restricts the full implementation of scientific discoveries and hinders the development of social and economic construction. Due to the lack of systematic supervision of public opinion and the one-sided pursuit of rapid economic growth, part of the capital investment tends to be projects that consume high energy and can easily be converted into productivity.

Many new scientific discoveries and research results are suppressed, stolen before they are even produced, or are stillborn due to lack of sufficient financial support. Establish and improve a scientific comprehensive evaluation system for social development, directly incorporate energy conservation, environmental protection, improvement of people's quality of life and other factors that can improve the quality of human life into the comprehensive assessment indicators of new scientific and technological achievements, and effectively guide and support the healthy development of scientific and technological innovation.

At the same time, we will improve specific supporting laws and regulations to promote the specific implementation and implementation of relevant principles and systems stipulated in the "Science and Technology Progress Law" to protect independent innovation and technology.

Support, understanding and promotion

In fact, the reason why we feel that science has been standing still is inseparable from the development of time. The research results of scientists in the last century were not achieved overnight, but were accumulated over a long history.

Humanity has not reached a speed of scientific and technological development in 5,000 years. Why do we insist on explosive progress in more than 200 years? Scientific and technological achievements are the result of scientists building models again and again, overturning them and starting over again, and constantly polishing them. Our science is also at this stage of development now.

Science is composed of basic theory and practical technology. The theory has encountered a bottleneck, but today's technology is in its golden age. After all, the development of science and technology does not happen overnight. It takes a process for a new technology to mature, practice, and be used, so that society can gradually recognize the value of this technology.

Just like the two "COVID-19 inactivated vaccines" developed by China exhibited at the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services, they made their debut and attracted much attention. From the beginning of the outbreak, people have been eagerly anticipating the successful development of a vaccine.

Generally speaking, it takes 8-20 years for a vaccine to go from development to market. This development can be said to be at rocket speed. It has now entered the phase III clinical trial stage, and victory is dawning. There is no doubt that it has been demonstrated, but until the final stage of safe application, people's support, understanding and patience are still needed. These are the strong backing for scientists and scholars to move forward.

So humans still need to be more patient with regard to the development results of scientific discoveries and technological innovation. Perhaps we ourselves have not discovered that the major progress and judgment that have always defined a certain science and technology are more about using a retrospective perspective to examine its entire process from birth, growth to blooming.

We should give this young man with only more than 200 years of development history more understanding, support and development space, and wait for his light to bloom.