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Why do we usually utilize science to fix the wrong problem? Shouldn't we be making more efforts on 1) Growing more trees 2) Reducing environmental pollution 3)

Why do we usually utilize science to fix the wrong problem? Shouldn't we be making more efforts on 1) Growing more trees 2) Reducing environmental pollution 3) Controlling human population ???

andrewflnr 13y ago
There is actually a pretty decent amount of work going into better building materials and alternatives to wood-pulp paper. The science involved in growing trees is pretty well established. Since there were trees, in fact. :) Getting more trees is a social problem.
backprojection 13y ago
Because the earth isn't designed to take care of us. If we had stayed a small pre-industrial society, we would still eventually die of something - there are myriad ways species go extinct. The only way to ensure long-term survival is to develop science and technology quickly enough to solve problems (both natural and artificial) as they come up. This includes solving problems created by past generations, who necessarily did not have access to the knowledge needed to avoid creating those problems in the first place. It's certainly not guaranteed that we will do so fast enough.
ajuc 13y ago
There's more than 8 000 000 000 of us, if everybody were just doing the thing with the greatest priority it would be very ineffective division of work. Like digging one hole with 1000 people. As a humanity we can (and should) multitask, especially when it comes to science and inventions, because you never know which seemingly pointless path can lead you to a great breakthrough. Imagine everybody since antiquity worked only on the greatest humanity problems as they've seen it at the time. No useless stuff like music, so no irrational numbers for example :)
- BillyMaize 13y ago
  The population of the world is slightly under 7 billion.
  - CapitalistCartr 13y ago
    The US Census bureau says 7.097 Billion. They estimate that the world population exceeded 7 billion on 12 March 2012. https://www.census.gov/popclock/ https://www.census.gov/popclock/ http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/ http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/
  - ajuc 13y ago
    Thanks.

Why do we usually utilize science to fix the wrong problem? Shouldn't we be making more efforts on 1) Growing more trees 2) Reducing environmental pollution 3) Controlling human population ???

andrewflnr 13y ago

There is actually a pretty decent amount of work going into better building materials and alternatives to wood-pulp paper. The science involved in growing trees is pretty well established. Since there were trees, in fact. :) Getting more trees is a social problem.

backprojection 13y ago

Because the earth isn't designed to take care of us. If we had stayed a small pre-industrial society, we would still eventually die of something - there are myriad ways species go extinct. The only way to ensure long-term survival is to develop science and technology quickly enough to solve problems (both natural and artificial) as they come up. This includes solving problems created by past generations, who necessarily did not have access to the knowledge needed to avoid creating those problems in the first place. It's certainly not guaranteed that we will do so fast enough.

ajuc 13y ago

There's more than 8 000 000 000 of us, if everybody were just doing the thing with the greatest priority it would be very ineffective division of work. Like digging one hole with 1000 people. As a humanity we can (and should) multitask, especially when it comes to science and inventions, because you never know which seemingly pointless path can lead you to a great breakthrough. Imagine everybody since antiquity worked only on the greatest humanity problems as they've seen it at the time. No useless stuff like music, so no irrational numbers for example :)

BillyMaize 13y ago
The population of the world is slightly under 7 billion.
- CapitalistCartr 13y ago
  The US Census bureau says 7.097 Billion. They estimate that the world population exceeded 7 billion on 12 March 2012. https://www.census.gov/popclock/ https://www.census.gov/popclock/ http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/ http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/
- ajuc 13y ago
  Thanks.