4 ms·

How is [1] distinct from rational control of population (eg birth control by default), which will presumably be necessary to avoid food and resource waste (or w

by duaneb 10y ago

How is [1] distinct from rational control of population (eg birth control by default), which will presumably be necessary to avoid food and resource waste (or war/starvation)? Health care seems to be just another factor affecting population cap.

rtkwe 10y ago
[1] Differs from normal population control in it's extreme application of reducing costs by any means. Also population control has additional concerns beyond just reducing costs by not having people to deal with like sustainability of resource consumption and to me there's a large difference between a person never being born and dying early. Really my [1] wasn't meant to be seriously at all.
- alttab 10y ago
  Another way to think about this is if a person comes into existence, then BI demands their immediate universal right to the resources to sustain their life comfortably without any contribution from that body. So really, those who multiply the fastest win the resource war of the future? Or having kids is somehow constrained now through other hoops, like a "procreation license."
  - rtkwe 10y ago
    > Or having kids is somehow constrained now through other hoops, like a "procreation license." Possibly, though better educated and better off people tend to have fewer children so there are other ways to limit population beyond strict China or Ender's Game style limits. Or maybe asteroid mining will finally break and crash the whole materials economy making everything but space, food, and water extremely cheap.
    - alttab 10y ago
      My point is this: universal BI requires some level of population control (to prevent poverty and misery), and eventually some level of reproductive planning. Universal BI leads to universal resource control.
      - rtkwe 10y ago
        Really we'll need either population control or (more likely and) to drastically limit consumption (or the impact of it maybe more closed cycle recycling) with or without BI.

by duaneb 10y ago

rtkwe 10y ago

[1] Differs from normal population control in it's extreme application of reducing costs by any means. Also population control has additional concerns beyond just reducing costs by not having people to deal with like sustainability of resource consumption and to me there's a large difference between a person never being born and dying early. Really my [1] wasn't meant to be seriously at all.

alttab 10y ago
Another way to think about this is if a person comes into existence, then BI demands their immediate universal right to the resources to sustain their life comfortably without any contribution from that body. So really, those who multiply the fastest win the resource war of the future? Or having kids is somehow constrained now through other hoops, like a "procreation license."
- rtkwe 10y ago
  > Or having kids is somehow constrained now through other hoops, like a "procreation license." Possibly, though better educated and better off people tend to have fewer children so there are other ways to limit population beyond strict China or Ender's Game style limits. Or maybe asteroid mining will finally break and crash the whole materials economy making everything but space, food, and water extremely cheap.
  - alttab 10y ago
    My point is this: universal BI requires some level of population control (to prevent poverty and misery), and eventually some level of reproductive planning. Universal BI leads to universal resource control.
    - rtkwe 10y ago
      Really we'll need either population control or (more likely and) to drastically limit consumption (or the impact of it maybe more closed cycle recycling) with or without BI.