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That seems a bit like putting the cart before the horse, doesn't it? Solving a side effect of a cure before the cure itself is solved? I imagine it's a lot less
by bovermyer 11y ago
That seems a bit like putting the cart before the horse, doesn't it? Solving a side effect of a cure before the cure itself is solved? I imagine it's a lot less difficult to figure out what to do with overpopulation - especially if those people are healthy, vigorous adults, which is kind of the point of this fable - than it is to figure out how to negate aging.
- falcolas 11y agoIt's not a side effect of the cure; it's a problem we're facing today. The earth is in the middle of a cosmic shooting gallery which could end any population on earth at any point in the future. We're going to quickly run up against some hard limits on how much energy we can extract from the sun and earth based on our current growth rates. Ultimately, for humanity to survive this planet, we will need to expand. Even with all Malthusian predictions aside, humanity's existence is up against a ticking clock whose hands we can't even see.
- bovermyer 11y agoI agree with your last paragraph; we're putting all of our collective eggs in one basket, and we need to branch out. However, if we eliminate "old and infirm" as a Very Large social category by making our species effectively immortal and perpetually healthy, then our efficiency as a species goes way, way up. Older people feel better. Our species becomes stronger and more capable. We get to colonize other planets sooner. Everybody wins.