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Maybe all this is true, but even if 8 billion people die in that period, the author's statement is still true since 7 billion people have to die in order for 8
by bostonpete 14y ago
Maybe all this is true, but even if 8 billion people die in that period, the author's statement is still true since 7 billion people have to die in order for 8 billion to die.
I don't see the point of this kind of nitpicking. It's doing nothing to further any sort of conversation on the topic -- it just seems needlessly critical.
- cstross 14y agoThe key insight is that data retention may, in the long term, exceed human life expectancy. So that most of the visible records of people will be about the dead rather than the living. US (and to some extent European) culture tends to have a big taboo surrounding death and the dead, and only a small part of it is to do with the USA being a very young nation that has grown rapidly in population (so that it has a much higher living:dead ratio than many other countries). In pre-computer times, our records of our dead were confined to dusty parish registers and the occasional photograph. What does it mean to live in a society where dead people all leave thousands of geotagged photographs, videos, lifelogs, blog entries, and canned rants? The long term cultural implications are fascinating ...