Myths on available technology

Technological progress is something misunderstood by conspiracy talkers.  Claimed conspirators are supposed to have technology which is decades ahead of the publically developed.  The trouble is limited capacity to keep inventions secret.  It does not matter at all if secrets are military.  Since the secrecy keepers are humans these come out sooner or later.  Thanks to this historians know about previously secret technology.  At best it is ten years ahead of the open technology.  More often it is a little behind.

It does not help when conspiracy talkers mistake own experience for universal.  Add that misunderstandings and rumours are believed to be reliable information.  Then claims of technology which is decades ahead appears as credible.  One claimed that LCD existed on submarines in the 50ies.  They are also claimed to be unknown to the public before the turn of the millennium.  He could not personally remember having seen them before then.  Then he believed that to apply to all non-conspirators.  In reality the LCD was not invented until 1962.  On the other hand it became commercially available already in the 80ies.  I have own experience of this.

In addition there are claims of technology which would not work.  It is claimed to function in a way which is contrary to known physics.  One example is infrared light being claimed to go through walls.  Such individuals have not understood what infrared light is.  It is the same as heat radiation.  Houses are built to block this to smaller or greater extent.  Infrared for this reason does not work for getting through walls.  In contrast it can be used to see where houses leak heat.

I don’t think it is possible to use things decades ahead of time.  At least not at the pace they are developed nowadays.  New technology is not invented by someone all at once.  It is developed out of technology which is already known.  Or people start from principles being already known.  Someone manages to make technology which is efficient enough to be practically useful.  Or someone combines the existing in a new way.  Such development can’t be forced into being as fast as one likes.  All technological development takes time even if some don’t understand this.

 

Uploaded on the 13th of May 2026.