I think it's just that we've learned that the big ideas fail. Life extension? Maximum human lifespan hasn't improved in centuries. Underwater cities? No reason for them, they will never be practical, and they'd be illegal on environmental grounds if they were. Settlements in space? Again, no reason for them. Everywhere in the reachable universe is more hostile than unsettled places on earth. Maybe we're just right that we've solved all the great questions, except those we will never solve.
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A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently,
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philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial
but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens
this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for
the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired
propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."
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Notes -
I think it's just that we've learned that the big ideas fail. Life extension? Maximum human lifespan hasn't improved in centuries. Underwater cities? No reason for them, they will never be practical, and they'd be illegal on environmental grounds if they were. Settlements in space? Again, no reason for them. Everywhere in the reachable universe is more hostile than unsettled places on earth. Maybe we're just right that we've solved all the great questions, except those we will never solve.
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