X-Message-Number: 16935
From: "robin helweg-larsen" <>
Subject: Re: longevity alone will improve us
Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2001 14:51:16 -0400

ThomasDonaldson wrote:

>1. We will know far more people more intimately than we do now. This
>   includes people of different races and nationalities. This will
>    act against random killing of those of the other side. Even
>   if we don't know someone, we may someday meet them and find them
>   helpful.

However, there is another side of it to consider: the increased value of
long-term relationships, and of the ability to trust one's own group
completely in the face of dealing with so many, many people, will give a
competitive advantage to those who can automatically rely on members of
their own group.  This already shows up in clannishness, in nepotism, family
connections, Old Boy networks, and ethnicity.  All these things may give
even greater advantages in the future, and lead to even greater
group-adherence in some areas, in turn leading to increased conflict
tendencies.

I agree with your point; but there are two sides to the coin.  (Don't we as
cryonicists have some element of automatic trust and support for each other,
even if our opinions may differ wildly?  [Not that we need to look outside
our group for conflict tendencies!])

Longevity alone will improve us in some ways; but mightn't it also worsen us
in others?

Robin HL

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