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Modern science and technology are the realization of the dreams of generations. There were people who dreamt of flying, wondered about space, sought to find answers and understood that there is more than meets the eye. Humans have always sought to make life as easy as possible. Science, technology, and industrialisation leave free time for dreaming. They free humans from using all their time looking for food and fighting for survival and enable people to spend their time making their dreams come true, This is the triumph of the mind over the body. Instead of bodily strength modern people need intellect .
Science has brought us great cures to diseases that have plagued human beings for centuries. Thanks to science we lead longer lives free of many painful diseases. The child death rate is down and life expectancy has risen. On the other hand, death has become something strange that is feared and people find it harder to accept it as a normal part of life, because it's not omnipresent in our daily life. The dream of living forever hasn't been reached yet, but at least we live longer. Now also the weaker ones can survive .
Technology is just another means of fulfilling dreams. It is a tool, which allows us to create new worlds and express ourselves. One of the most creative aspects of technology are computers and the information highways. Inside the computer one can create new worlds that a human can also become part of (virtual reality). One can communicate with people from all over the world almost as if they were in the same room, yet without the constraints of how you look. The information highways are now available to almost everyone. A world wide web, called the Internet, is almost a growing organism in itself. It grows every day as people from all over the world contribute to it and communicate with each other. It is the embodiment of the collective dreams of a generation. Almost anything you want to know can be found with the push of a button .
Computers give us the possibility to create new synthetic worlds, but technology also gives us the chance to explore Earth and the surrounding space. Since the beginning humans have wondered what lies in space. One dream that has been fulfilled is space travel, culminating in the trip to the moon. All the expensive technology needed for making this trip might seem quite useless for the common man, yet all these high tech developments are eventually applied to everyday products. Eventually people will even be able to live in space .
Industrialisation has changed our lifestyle completely. Instead of looking for food, we look for money. Money, some people say, is the root of all evil. Nevertheless, working is factories isn't a 24 hour-a-day commitment, so people have more free time to spend as they wish .
All this technology demands great imagination from people; it demands the ability to see beyond the visible. The people who want to improve this technology need the same broadness of vision that its creators had. Although in the beginning industrialisation generated boring production line work, nowadays most of the monotonous work is done by the machines. People are needed for innovation and design. In the future we will move more and more to having small companies with people working in teams. Flexibility, imagination and a knowledge of computers give a person a competitive advantage in the work force .
These developments have also caused problems. The population of Earth has multiplied during the last century and industrialisation has brought pollution and irreversible changes to our nature. Although we might want to, we can't change the past (yet!). Some people want to live in the past. We all know how nice it is to talk about "the good old times". Other dreamers look into the future, making it happen. We can't go back, so hopefully we can repair the damage we have already done .
There are no boundaries to nature, it continues beyond the borders of our planet as our imagination does. Fear of the unknown has always been a human feature, but there are also those who dream of discovering new worlds and a life beyond the constraints of our bodies and our planet. No one can stop progress and prevent change. All our creations are like us humans, forever changing .
