[sai_c]

Anti-intellectual? Oh come on.

I didn't talk about things we don't understand at first, but about never ever. Simply because we might not be capable of that. You seem to think we humans are so smart, that we can understand everything given enough time. I think we maybe aren't THAT smart.

Furthermore, I think the thought that new technology makes the life of mere mortals better, is just that. A thought. We have so much technology today, yet most people on earth are poor, sick and just miserable. Without any hope for the better. I think your viewpoint is from a privileged point. The life of mere mortals (see my initial post) might not change at all. So why bother?

[mojomark]

How would you know for certain that our (human) capacity to ever understand an idea or technology of some higher intellect is eternally insufficient?

Deriving the proof of that impossibility (1) would be a very worthwhile pursuit in and of itself. Even if found, we can always adapt ourselves to exceed the observed bounds of pur intellectual capacity. Computers are one good example of how we've already started to adapt.

1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_of_impossibility

[nscalf]

To reject the idea of discovery because we may not be able to understand it is absolutely anti-intellectual. Sure, maybe we can't fully understand it, but to just throw that out there with virtually no evidence other than "maybe it'd be complicated" is ridiculous.

Technology has undoubtably made the world a much better place, your statement does not reflect reality. Rates of extreme poverty are at the lowest ever and dropping, hunger is decreasing across most of the world, life expectancy is rising, child mortality is dropping, homicide rates are massively down, education time is increasing and literacy rates are quickly approaching 100%. I know it's really popular to fetishize every little thing that is bad about the world, but to say technology increasing the quality of life is anything other than fact is ridiculous. Go tell all the scientists who predicted massive starvation due to food shortages that the Haber Method doesn't make peoples lives better.