SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
CoolHand writes:
"Sci-Tech Today talks about the role of technology in the Olympics from a unique perspective:
Every advance in the ever-accelerating juggernaut of sports technology threatens to widen the divide between Olympic haves and have-nots. Well-sponsored teams and rich governments pay top-end scientists and engineers to shape their skis, perfect their skates, tighten their suits, measure their gravitational pull.
I'm no luddite, but this seems to make these sports more about who can afford the best tech, and less about the true spirit of the games: bringing the best athletes from all countries together to compete. How can it be about the athletes, when some of the best athletes may never win due to lack of funding/tech?"
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Either I'm dead or my watch has stopped.
-- Groucho Marx's last words
(Score: 1) by acid andy on Wednesday February 19 2014, @03:24AM
I think you're right in so far as one person who is a genetic outlier can theoretically fluke a result that is almost impossible to beat for many decades and the scope for legitimately improving techniques becomes narrower and narrower as it's already so heavily optimized.
But technology can help with the more and more accurate timings and measurements. If someone only has to beat the existing record by a few nanoseconds or a few micrometres then the records can theoretically still get beaten - just by smaller and smaller amounts as they get closer to those theoretical limits.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?