Does humanity not have hunger for adventure anymore?

[BronyPony 575]

I feel it is lost. Everyone is obsessed with keeping with the system, or mistaken adventure with messing around. Barely anybody has the urge to colonize other planets, and those who attempt to are looked upon as fools. It sickens me how society has fallen so far and lacks the need for adventure. Now everyone just wants to "live their lives" the "normal" way. 

 

Does anyone feel the same about society? Have we lost our way?

[Virgil 685]

I wouldn't say it's completely gone... I'd say it's in a hibernation of sorts. The great explorers, scientists, artists, anyone that really does something Great only comes around so often it seems. Probably because Humanity couldn't handle having so many at once possibly. In time some individuals that have that desire may come along, they just aren't alive yet or have begun to show their potential yet.

[M'aiq the Liar 5,804]

We still have a decent sized population interested in adventure. There are private companies building space flight tech, exploring virtual reality, and people still dream of taking trips around the world. Humanity still has a base spirit for adventure, but a lot of the "easy" adventuring has ended. There are no more large hidden lands, no more calls to go west young man. Major adventure now takes far more skill and technological know how than before. And the average person is simply not equipped for such a endeavor.

And at the same time, we have put behind us the reason a lot of the first american "pilgrims and pioneers" came over. Groups of people are no longer prejudiced and discriminated against at a large societal level. So the lack of a need to escape to a better land, combined with how technologically difficult it has become has stagnated it.

But I'd wager that as soon as we begin to run out of space, or the earth finally shows the signs of un-inhabitable toxicity, we will again endeavor to go west. Far west.

[Captain Brony (MG11) 218]

Adventuring is generally expensive at least when adventuring to discover something we haven't already found or been. Most experts in the unknown still struggle finding the funds to do things that are already in our reach that is only achievable with one small step.

[Nulln 755]

The system has everyone sucked in.  I would get out if i could, but i can't.  

 

As for other planets, that's fairly impossible.  It is extremely expensive, tons of risks, and you'd have to bleed the earth of its resources just to support anyone on another planet.  Bad idea.

[NavelColt 22,883]

Technology isn't at the point of being able to 'colonize other planets' yet x) So, the urge or lack of urge to do so is rather irrelevant. Technology only grows so fast, with or without the motivation towards wanting to do something, and even as ahead of its' time as it is today, we're still not even decades away from being able to travel far and wide throughout the universe, let alone this solar system as we please, adding 'colonization of planets' on top of mere exploring

 

'Hey, we now have the technology, le boat, le weapons, le house building. There's uncharted land across those waters, men, let us go!'

 

>World's explored

 

'Let us travel into space, on the final frontier, exploring strange, new worlds. Boldly going where no man has gone before!'

 

>Not quite there yet

[SFyr 1,982]

I'm going to go so far as to say you're wrong. 

I think a ton of people still have a desire for adventure and exploration. I also believe the problem lies in that we are realizing and quantifying our limitations more and more, so that much of our still very impressive technological advancements have been in less grandiose areas that gain a lot less public attention.

I mean, emerging technology is growing more and more impressive, new materials and techniques are opening new possibilities, computers and devices are getting more and more versatile and specialized... We are still discovering all sorts of new things regarding biology, chemistry, and astrophysics to my knowledge, and finding new ways to apply it to new research/design projects.

As basically said, I think the easy adventures are gone. Compared to the massive leap it'd take to colonize other planets, setting foot on the moon, or sailing to a new world was comparatively easy, and readily rewarding in some way. With the moon, we had something very pressing to prove. With colonization on other planets... we get little benefit just yet other than to say that we can do it. And even then, it would likely take years if not generations to reach a potentially life-sustaining planet, which is dramatically out of the scope of our reward system to strive for.

We just don't have that space-faring leap lined up, which has been hyped up by science fiction since... sometime in the 1900's? We do have less pronounced leaps ones still going on though.

We're just not ready to colonize other planets yet, if you ask me.

 

I personally want to see it happen, maybe even help in some form, but I don't think we'll be ready for pursuit for some time yet.

 

Anyways... have you noticed just how many people dream of space travel and such though? All the fans of related creations, science fiction written and read, all that...? That would not exist if people didn't dream of reaching the stars. It's just too core to our heart as a species to explore and do amazing things such as that. 

But, given that path is held as impossible on the individual level to achieve, people often fall back on the path of least resistance quite often, which is the 'keeping with the system' bit.

 

 

 

 

Random tidbit:

One semi-recent bit I remember involves a new battery design. It's a liquid metal based battery, that is continually in use either to supply or accept electrons/electricity; the movement of such is enough to keep the metal inside heated, and the battery stable/usable. It dramatically outdoes what we currently use if I'm not mistaken, and is intended to be used in conjunction with solar/wind energy collection systems.

Our current system generates energy about as quickly as it's used--solar and wind energy fluctuate, and are therefore unstable/unreliable to be tied to a grid as a large contributing factor, which is a good reason not to use a lot of it. This new approach makes these power sources a more viable option, if it all pans out, as they're supposedly less expensive and/or more effecient than previous electrical energy storage designs. ...Which may still be used in the same niche, but I'm not fully clear on that matter.

Anyways. I think it was a professor and his students/helpers who came up with this, and are still building it up.

Who knows? Maybe this will make for better power usage setups in devices/machines that draw energy from the sun in the future.

Edited June 2, 2014 by SFyr

[BronyPony 575]

I'm going to go so far as to say you're wrong. 

I think a ton of people still have a desire for adventure and exploration. I also believe the problem lies in that we are realizing and quantifying our limitations more and more, so that much of our still very impressive technological advancements have been in less grandiose areas that gain a lot less public attention.

I mean, emerging technology is growing more and more impressive, new materials and techniques are opening new possibilities, computers and devices are getting more and more versatile and specialized... We are still discovering all sorts of new things regarding biology, chemistry, and astrophysics to my knowledge, and finding new ways to apply it to new research/design projects.

As basically said, I think the easy adventures are gone. Compared to the massive leap it'd take to colonize other planets, setting foot on the moon, or sailing to a new world was comparatively easy, and readily rewarding in some way. With the moon, we had something very pressing to prove. With colonization on other planets... we get little benefit just yet other than to say that we can do it. And even then, it would likely take years if not generations to reach a potentially life-sustaining planet, which is dramatically out of the scope of our reward system to strive for.

We just don't have that space-faring leap lined up, which has been hyped up by science fiction since... sometime in the 1900's? We do have less pronounced leaps ones still going on though.

We're just not ready to colonize other planets yet, if you ask me.

 

I personally want to see it happen, maybe even help in some form, but I don't think we'll be ready for pursuit for some time yet.

 

Anyways... have you noticed just how many people dream of space travel and such though? All the fans of related creations, science fiction written and read, all that...? That would not exist if people didn't dream of reaching the stars. It's just too core to our heart as a species to explore and do amazing things such as that. 

But, given that path is held as impossible on the individual level to achieve, people often fall back on the path of least resistance quite often, which is the 'keeping with the system' bit.

 

 

 

Random tidbit:

One semi-recent bit I remember involves a new battery design. It's a liquid metal based battery, that is continually in use either to supply or accept electrons/electricity; the movement of such is enough to keep the metal inside heated, and the battery stable/usable. It dramatically outdoes what we currently use if I'm not mistaken, and is intended to be used in conjunction with solar/wind energy collection systems.

Our current system generates energy about as quickly as it's used--solar and wind energy fluctuate, and are therefore unstable/unreliable to be tied to a grid as a large contributing factor, which is a good reason not to use a lot of it. This new approach makes these power sources a more viable option, if it all pans out, as they're supposedly less expensive and/or more effecient than previous electrical energy storage designs. ...Which may still be used in the same niche, but I'm not fully clear on that matter.

Anyways. I think it was a professor and his students/helpers who came up with this, and are still building it up.

Who knows? Maybe this will make for better power usage setups in devices/machines that draw energy from the sun in the future.

I think my discussion about space travel was exaggerated. I am talking about adventure in general. We are so sucked in by what is taboo and what is not that we don't try new things, which is why we appreciate so much new ideas that are outside the norm. If we had that sense of adventure many more innovations would be in existence, in my opinion.

[SFyr 1,982]

I think my discussion about space travel was exaggerated. I am talking about adventure in general. We are so sucked in by what is taboo and what is not that we don't try new things, which is why we appreciate so much new ideas that are outside the norm. If we had that sense of adventure many more innovations would be in existence, in my opinion.

Innovations such as what though?

You can only push so many boundaries before the ones left to push are fought for tooth and nail to push only slightly, and in a comparatively unnoticeable way--and through years of diligent, quiet work at that, rather than swinging a sword or venturing into the wilderness.

In science, the taboos have become basically morality itself, in a number of ways.

And, new things are being done to death that people are trying all kinds of dumb new approaches trying to "do something new", and see if it catches on or brings them fortune.

Sadly a lot of it is basically 'reinventing' something old, or combining a thing or two.

Edited June 2, 2014 by SFyr

[The Coffee Pony 1,390]

Hey guys, don't write off exploration just yet.

 

Technology isn't advanced enough to explore space however most of the ocean is still unexplored!

Edited June 2, 2014 by The Coffee Man

[SFyr 1,982]

Hey guys, don't write off exploration just yet.

 

Most of the ocean is still unexplored!

Some jungles haven't been delved into entirely either.  There are theoretically quite a few tribes (and large swaths of forests) we have yet to see the face of, and 'new' animals are still cropping up now and then.

...I think they even discovered a new mammal subspecies a few months ago. 

[Arctic Night 884]

Unfortunately, I think you are right. No one is willing to leave the bubble, and that needs to change.

 

[Scootalove 10,689]

I think we still have the interest and hunger for adventure, it's just that we try to break the norm of how we seek adventure but somehow we are still at square one. Our technology continues to grow, yet we're not at the point of colonizing planets yet.

[RainbowMau 292]

I don't know why, but recently humans have more fear to discover new things than before.

Edited June 21, 2014 by RainbowMau

[Discordian 6,017]

I wouldn't say we have lost any sort of hunger for adventure, we've just changed the methods in which we go about it.

 

People read books, play video games and watch movies. When we're doing new things we're still on an adventure we haven't experienced. Vicarious it may be but it's still a new experience. Whether we're exploring worlds of imaginative prowess or simply a person's view of a real world location.

 

Man's greatest adventure right now is delving into his own mind. It's the easiest to start but one that's quite difficult to navigate without going in circles.

 

Lust for adventure hasn't changed much at all.

Edited June 21, 2014 by Discordian

[Puddlejumper 1,648]

Money is the big issue. If money wasn't required to do every little thing, I'm sure we'd be more advanced than we are. The oceans would be explored, the moon would be colonized, and we'd probably be well on our way to exploring other planets with actual manned missions instead of robotic rovers.

 

Since money is required for everything you do though, there isn't really much room for "leaving the bubble" unless you're already swimming in gold and have the desire to self-fund the explorations. In the past, explorers would trek across the continent on whatever supplies they could muster from the start, and kill their food along the way. They could trade with others they ran into, or at encampments along the way.

 

Now though, good luck doing that without getting arrested or worse. Plus the fact you'd be hard pressed to find a shop willing to trade for that juicy deer carcass you just shot, or for the basket of berries you picked.

 

Because of this fact, people have grown lazy with time and technological advancements. I'm not placing the blame on technology, I still stand by if money wasn't the root of the problem that we'd be better off even with more advanced technology. The way things are right now though, we're heading towards Disney's Wall-E and not much seems to be getting done to prevent that.

Edited June 21, 2014 by The Mane-iac

[TheMarkz0ne 962]

Humans are become less and less human day by day. We're all about giving up creativity and our self to please the system. Humans don't need to merge with machines. Because people are being brainwashed into believing that all they are is a 3 pound grey blob with neurons. To me that dampens the human experience. I don't fall for the propaganda shed out daily by doctors and scientist when it comes to technology and research. Most of the time, they tweak stats for government grant money. Human beings were so fascinating hundreds of years ago. Today we have public indoctrination with schools and you get a little cube on your head and you are a xerox of what your teachers shat down your head and soul.

Edited June 21, 2014 by TheMarkz0ne

[yayayayayala 1,668]

Adventuring is generally expensive at least when adventuring to discover something we haven't already found or been. Most experts in the unknown still struggle finding the funds to do things that are already in our reach that is only achievable with one small step.

I mean, how expensive would fencing lessons be?! *looks it up* DARNIT!! Eheheheh...seriously though, things are getting more and more expensive these days. The worth of each individual dollar is steadily going down, and unless - like @The Mane-iac said - the adventurer is "swimming in money" or can get sufficient funding for venturing out into the world...actual physical adventuring is out of the question.

 

And physical adventuring is not the only way.

 

I wouldn't say we have lost any sort of hunger for adventure, we've just changed the methods in which we go about it.

 

People read books, play video games and watch movies. When we're doing new things we're still on an adventure we haven't experienced. Vicarious it may be but it's still a new experience. Whether we're exploring worlds of imaginative prowess or simply a person's view of a real world location.

 

Man's greatest adventure right now is delving into his own mind. It's the easiest to start but one that's quite difficult to navigate without going in circles.

 

Lust for adventure hasn't changed much at all.

My mind is quite an adventure.   I've always liked the idea of fantasy-style adventuring, which is one of the reasons I write. When you pour yourself into a character, then pour the power of your hand into writing with that character, it can sometimes feel almost like you've had their experience.

[Discordian 6,017]

I mean, how expensive would fencing lessons be?! *looks it up* DARNIT!! Eheheheh...seriously though, things are getting more and more expensive these days. The worth of each individual dollar is steadily going down, and unless - like @The Mane-iac said - the adventurer is "swimming in money" or can get sufficient funding for venturing out into the world...actual physical adventuring is out of the question.

 

And physical adventuring is not the only way.

 

My mind is quite an adventure.   I've always liked the idea of fantasy-style adventuring, which is one of the reasons I write. When you pour yourself into a character, then pour the power of your hand into writing with that character, it can sometimes feel almost like you've had their experience.

Legit.

 

I'm a casual writer myself and I know the feeling. I don't write very often but when I do I try my best to make the experience great for myself and the potential readers.

[LZRD WZRD 1,929]

I think there are plenty of people (myself included) who would love to explore and then colonize other planets. However there are some major problems with that. First it would be insanely expensive and at the moment we lack suitable technology to do so. Also, space is a dangerous place. Take solar flares for example: these things could kill astronauts in outer space or on the moon, mars etc.

[Pinkamena-Pills 6,840]

Sort of,imean space travel is too much right now atm(atleast that is what we are told publicly,hell if i know to believe them or not). Exploring the ocean would be great too but im not sure that's even happening because no one seems to care to find the leviathan make new discoveries down there!

 

Honestly the world is too obsessed with politics and money to care about advancing our foothold in the cosmos. Better wise up soon,because the Sun won't be nice to us forever. 

[Titan Rising 2,156]

agreed...  but i still think its dumb to try to colonize other planets when we still don't know all that much about our own

[SkyDream 315]

I can't speak for humanity, but in my household, the most adventuring we do is the purchasing of a new and undiscovered flavor of ice cream from the Stop & Shop freezer section.

 

Vanilla-pineapple?! What the hell is that?!!?!

 

Either way, we had to fight a Zergling to get it. It really wanted that ice cream. I guess it's a popular flavor after all.

Edited June 22, 2014 by SkyDream

[Callisto 1,877]

We don't have a thirst for adventure because, at the moment, we don't need to have one.

 

The explorers of the olden days had a reason to explore; they wanted to see what else was on the planet they lived on. They wanted to settle these places, to expand humanity's spread.

 

Now, though, we have everything we could want or need on Earth. Every nation in the world is populated by people. We have no need to go to space, nor do we really have the resources to go to space.

[silvadel 1,393]

Every day is an adventure -- you just have to find it.