[Scott from the Left Coast]

Given the lack of investment in technological advancement, particularly in the West, the rank stupdity in our polity and our public life (primarily through the propogandistic dumbing-down of our interactions and exchanges via the media) and our seeming inability to even engage in important infrastructure improvements and advancements (thank you to the zero-growth mania of the greens)...I would say that it is not at all out of place to think that we are now entering a new Dark Ages.

[enraged]

I would say medical advances are pretty breath taking if you think about it. What were the chances of survival for very premature babies in the 50s? Heck I remember people smoking in hospitals. You really want a 1950s artificial limb? or a new modern one that senses micro muscle movements giving lifelike movements to the limb?