Top Ten Science Let-Downs of the New Millenium

Theres only ten??

You know, I used to have a record player. When I was a child, I thought about how neat it would be to be able to listen to any song I want, from any record album, anytime.
Well, now I have an MP3 music player.

I also used to wonder about the possibilities of the cure for cancer.....

At least I got the music player.

Do you ever feel disappointed by science?

Few flying cars and no fountains of youth: Since 2000, many old science goals have remained as far away as ET's signals

People cant drive as it is. We dont need cars that fly! Well, heres some that maybe we COULD use......


The Cure for Cancer

Recently dubbed the Forty Years' War by The New York Times, the long road to curing cancer is strewn with myriad provisional treatments—and countless combative metaphors. The past decade has seen attempts to thwart the disease by injecting vaccines, targeting stem cells and repurposing proteins. "Cancer research has really plateaued out,"

I know, I know. I can hear what youre thinking. I know we have advanced alot. We have discovered the genetic make-up of the disease. But no cure yet?

The Electric Car

Regardless of who killed the electric car, it has shown few zombie-like tendencies in this decade. Since GM and others pulled the plug on their programs in the 1990s, electric cars have remained pretty much as dead as a road-tested battery after 40 miles. "The electric car has been a letdown," says online technology editor Larry Greenemeier. Hybrids, such as the Toyota Prius and the Honda Civic hybrid have been picking up speed in the past several years, but they still wind up burning a gallon of gas for every 40-50 miles they cover.

I think that electric vehicles will be the first step to a cleaner world. One day...one day. keep those fingers crossed.
I find it hard to believe, there have been no real progress on this issue. Maybe since climate has become such a big deal, and being "eco-friendly" is as en vogue as designer jeans, people will pay more attention.


Space..the final frontier. Umm, if we could actually travel in it.

Although the deep oceans sometimes get in on the game, space remains the final frontier—still holding the cool, distant allure that it has for decades. Scientists continue to learn plenty about the great distant darkness, but most curious civilians have yet to get a chance to go into orbit—or even into the stratosphere.

In the grand scheme of things, we know JACK about space. We are iffy at best, with our knowledge of the closer galaxies. The ones filmed by the hubble deep field images are so far away, we may never know anything about them.
And thats a shame. To further exploration, we need to find an alternative fuel.
But it we had another fuel, then we have to travel faster than light...
How utterly confusing.

if you wish to see all ten, click here:Full article


What are some of your personal let-downs? What did you hope to see, yet havent.
I dont mean trivial things either, like " I wish there was a robot that could dust my house and make me the perfect over-easy eggs".

Personally, I think we should explore the ocean more. If you think about it, we are limited by air travel to space, but we are also limited to how far we can go in our own oceans. Who knows what could be down there?

Your thoughts, my fellow ATS'ers?

You know, all of those things are possible that you are talking about, but the reason there not out there is because they don't make a profit. Which makes a bigger profit, an ongoing expensive treatment, or a cure for cancer? What money do the gas companies get from electric cars? Capitalism isn't the problem, greed and Corporatism is.

The only one I'm curious about is why we haven't had space travel. The profit is amazing! Maybe we found something we shouldn't have on the moon.

reply to post by Phlynx


Ah yes. Youre right. I am a self-professed hopeless idealist.
Greed will continue, but that doesnt mean I cant feel let down about it.

i would really like to see....hm...im trying to think of something that isnt stupid ( trust me i have alot of stupid things and ideas) Actually something that would be interesting to have is an alternative to oil or better use of cloning.

Cancer isn't one single disease with one common cause.
Just like they can't cure the common cold because there are too many variations.

And the cancers are just as varied. Some lethal, some not. Some genetic, some environmental. The huge leap has been that they have figured this out, and have reduced the risks for a lot of people.

So it is not fair to just label it as a ONE cure that hasn't been found. Because it isn't one disease.

As the same, yeah most part on cures for cancer and electric or even alternative fuel cars are slow in progress because there is no big money to be made, yet still provide for a better world, or curing someone's disease.
I agree with Phylnx as yeah, expensive chemo and radition treatments bring in bigger bucks than something like an instant injection or pill (just being skeptical).

But then for that reason, you can also charge big bucks for the one time cure.


Can't wait to see some big shot like Ronald Trump, or even George Bush (not to curse them or anything) get cancer and then maybe strides toward a cure would follow to save them. (not that Bush is worth saving :lol

reply to post by nixie_nox


So, since there are more strains than one, then there should be at least a cure for one.....
No, thats stupid.

The fact is, we dont understand enough about Cancer to cure any of them. I figured by the new millenium, we would have some sort of cure.

Thats what this thread is about.

Now, instead of pointing out the obvious, what do YOU think is a scientific let-down?

I don't understand what you mean by let downs?

Most forays into new science begin with many failures. We often learn more from these failures than we would if we hit the jackpot first time.

Many, many discoveries have come from research into completely diverse areas. Just because you haven't seen the results that were expected, please don't think that our understanding of these issues haven't been furthered and won't benefit the human race for the future.

Peace and procreation

Originally posted by Molech
Peace and procreation

Haha! what a perfect thing to say, I might snatch that saying for my signature Back on to the thread, the thing I don't understand is why you are bashing science. These people work day and night to find cures/technological advancements, and you are making a list of let downs?? Even though they are let downs we really shouldn't get to mad about the situation, its out of our hands. I really dont know what i'm talking about anymore, i'm off to Starbucks

None of those you mentioned are letdowns for me because it is obvious that these technologies will take many decades to mature. A real letdown would be the Large Hadron Collider, because the infrastructure is there but it gets broken and nothing significant has been achieved with it yet. Hopefully this year will be different. Another letdown is penis enlargement surgery, haha.

Double post! sorry

[edit on 4-1-2010 by Molech]

Originally posted by Maddogkull

Originally posted by Molech
Peace and procreation

Haha! what a perfect thing to say, I might snatch that saying for my signature

:

Hands off! It's mine, but thanks for the compliment.

It gladdens me to see the faith in science on this thread, it's disappearing from this world and I think that is both self defeating and saddens me.

Peace and procreation

reply to post by Halicarnassus



the letdown of space exploration is that it's been what, 40 years since we made our first manned foray to another celestial body? and yet during all those years, we havent really succeeded in furthering any infrastructure for further space exploration. we should have been spending money on a base on the moon and combating space radiation and it's effects, and countless smaller but as important things necessary to survival in space for exploration.

sure the space stations experiments are valuable, and necessary to exploration, but we shouldn't have spent so much time and energy on it alone. it will be another 20 years at least before we really get on the ball with space. and that's just pathetic, to me at least.


edit to add: and really i think that just goes to show that bureaucracy is the least effective way to advance any area of science.

[edit on 4-1-2010 by optimus primal]

reply to post by Phlynx


There are countless charities working on cures for diseases. They don't make profits for their owners, and so don't care about sustaining themselves.

As for space travel - found something interesting on the moon?? It's far more likely that it's just very, very difficult to travel fantastically vast distances in a vacuum. That's what a rational mind would conclude, anyway.