Anyway, even if one wanted to, one couldn’t put the clock back to an earlier age. (1) Knowledge and techniques can’t just be forgotten.(2)Even if all government money for research were cut off (and the present government is doing its best), the force of competition would still bring about advances in technology. (3) Moreover, one cannot stop inquiring minds from thinking about basic science, whether or not they are paid for it.(4) The only way to prevent further developments would be a global state that suppressed anything new, and human initiative and inventiveness are such that even this wouldn’t succeed. (5) All it would do is slow down the rate of change.(6)