The Big Things

An interesting article from Neal Stephenson on our society's inability to do 'the big things' as well as we used to.

My lifespan encompasses the era when the United States of America was capable of launching human beings into space. Some of my earliest memories are of sitting on a braided rug before a hulking black-and-white television, watching the early Gemini missions. This summer, at the age of 51—not even old—I watched on a flatscreen as the last Space Shuttle lifted off the pad. I have followed the dwindling of the space program with sadness, even bitterness. Where’s my donut-shaped space station? Where’s my ticket to Mars? Until recently, though, I have kept my feelings to myself. Space exploration has always had its detractors. To complain about its demise is to expose oneself to attack from those who have no sympathy that an affluent, middle-aged white American has not lived to see his boyhood fantasies fulfilled.

He talks about the various ways that we've let risk aversion hold us back. One of the things he highlights is how our copyright system allows people to block the path of anyone who would follow in their way and yes, that's a serious problem. He doesn't mention this but we've also set up a large net of environmental law that makes construction difficult. This is a value choice, and may be the correct one but we should honestly acknowledge the trade off.
I think it goes a bit deeper than this though. It seems that we've lost the desire to think big thoughts. In about 70 years, we went from horseback to a visit to the moon. Our communications made a similar jump from pony express to instant intercontinental phone contact. We've made similar jumps in industry and medical innovation.
But what's next? When was the last time you heard about the wonders of 2050 or 2100? There is some speculation about the next generation of various computers and whatnot but it's all short range. This could be because things are moving so fast that everyone is afraid of how their predictions would play out. Or maybe we've somehow lost our nerve and the future scares us too much.
I don't like either of those ideas, but the second one scares me most.