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If you look around, you can pretty readily see what people in power do: consolidate power, consolidate wealth. I mean, seriously, look at the U.S.: rich country

If you look around, you can pretty readily see what people in power do: consolidate power, consolidate wealth. I mean, seriously, look at the U.S.: rich country, but so many struggling in the middle or below. Even though we live an age of information, we are easily controlled by those who have the money and influence. Now, imagine them living forever. You could almost guarantee how crummy the world would become, with an elite few running everything. On top of that, if you believe that adding new people is important, eventually you run out of room/resources/etc. So, for these reasons, death as part of our life cycle is a good thing. Fortunately, we didn't have to invent it.

elevatortrim 4y ago
Then let's solve those problems as well? I do not think death is going away any time soon, we are not even able to extend lifetimes by a meaningful amount yet. For now, we can more meaningfully discuss a world where poeple are living for 150 years. Running out of resources is not necessarily an eventuality. Arguably, it would be possible to live sustainably but regardless of people dying or not, we are not doing that anyway. That's a separate discussion. Running out of room is a serious concern. I do not have a good answer to that.
- Firmwarrior 4y ago
  There's unlimited space and resources available in space. Even on the Earth, we could sustainably support many more people with some very modest adjustments to the way we live. (Eating more vegetables, not being assholes about nuclear power, etc)
  - briandear 4y ago
    Most people that say we are running out of room have never been to West Texas. Or Siberia. Or Alaska. They make these comments from traffic congested suburbia or in the middle of Venice, Italy in August.
    - Firmwarrior 4y ago
      Yeah.. If we're talking about imposing taxes and environmental restrictions on people in proportion to the damage they're doing to the biosphere, I'm on board I just hate it when people talk about not having kids or not curing cancer because of some Malthusian desire to see humanity wither and die
      - llamaLord 4y ago
        It does raise an interesting question re: should you be allowed to have kids if you want to live forever? To me it's always seemed like an interesting and somewhat fair trade. Also prevents the whole "perpetual population expansion" issue.
JamesBarney 4y ago
I'd prefer to live in a world where wealth was a little more concentrated and I lived to 150 than a world where it's a little less concentrated and I lived to 75. If you look at the demographics for most countries, we're not running into an overpopulation problem anywhere in the developed world. If banning medical care after 50 reduced inequality by reducing lifespans should we do it?
- fauxpause_ 4y ago
  Yeah imagine how great it would for all the wealth and power to be held by people over 100 years older than you. We could have presidents from before WWI telling us about how they bought a house for $100 dollars and disparaging the youth for not doing the same in a market that is, oh by the way, many times more expensive because these old folks just won’t die.

elevatortrim 4y ago

Then let's solve those problems as well? I do not think death is going away any time soon, we are not even able to extend lifetimes by a meaningful amount yet. For now, we can more meaningfully discuss a world where poeple are living for 150 years. Running out of resources is not necessarily an eventuality. Arguably, it would be possible to live sustainably but regardless of people dying or not, we are not doing that anyway. That's a separate discussion. Running out of room is a serious concern. I do not have a good answer to that.

Firmwarrior 4y ago
There's unlimited space and resources available in space. Even on the Earth, we could sustainably support many more people with some very modest adjustments to the way we live. (Eating more vegetables, not being assholes about nuclear power, etc)
- briandear 4y ago
  Most people that say we are running out of room have never been to West Texas. Or Siberia. Or Alaska. They make these comments from traffic congested suburbia or in the middle of Venice, Italy in August.
  - Firmwarrior 4y ago
    Yeah.. If we're talking about imposing taxes and environmental restrictions on people in proportion to the damage they're doing to the biosphere, I'm on board I just hate it when people talk about not having kids or not curing cancer because of some Malthusian desire to see humanity wither and die
    - llamaLord 4y ago
      It does raise an interesting question re: should you be allowed to have kids if you want to live forever? To me it's always seemed like an interesting and somewhat fair trade. Also prevents the whole "perpetual population expansion" issue.

JamesBarney 4y ago

I'd prefer to live in a world where wealth was a little more concentrated and I lived to 150 than a world where it's a little less concentrated and I lived to 75. If you look at the demographics for most countries, we're not running into an overpopulation problem anywhere in the developed world. If banning medical care after 50 reduced inequality by reducing lifespans should we do it?

fauxpause_ 4y ago
Yeah imagine how great it would for all the wealth and power to be held by people over 100 years older than you. We could have presidents from before WWI telling us about how they bought a house for $100 dollars and disparaging the youth for not doing the same in a market that is, oh by the way, many times more expensive because these old folks just won’t die.