X-Message-Number: 18819
From: "Mark Plus" <>
Subject: Re: cure for aging
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2002 13:25:52 -0800

Charles Platt wrote,

>Message #18803
Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2002 14:11:51 -0500 (EST)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: cure for aging

[snip]

>I envisage a future in which antiaging advances occur piecemeal. Someone
figures out how to postpone cardiovascular disease. Someone else (I hope)
finds a way to encourage neuronal growth. All of this will take longer
than I would like, because of diversion of funds to idiot antiterrorist
initiatives, regulatory impediments, asinine legislation, and other
symptoms of an aging religious society. While we are waiting, we will need
a lot of spare parts and transplants. Those who can't afford them will
die.

Even in the regular part of the U.S. economy, it amazes me that our society 
can come up with the capital for producing mountains of useless or even 
harmful "goods" (tobacco, junk food, novels about the "rapture," etc.), 
while we face chronic shortages of the things we really NEED (which I don't 
have to name for this list).

I've felt for a long time now that our propagandized "abundance" and 
"affluence" are largely illusory.  The kind of lifestyle presented to us as 
desirable and normative by advertising and Hollywood cannot be sustained for 
most Americans on an annual per capita GDP of only $35,000 or so.  A 
lifestyle based on an aggressive quest for rejuvenation and superlongevity 
is even less supportable on such a low national income stream, without some 
radical changes in our society's priorities.

A fellow who calls himself "Elixxir" has published a book, available on 
Amazon, titled _The ImmorTalist Manifesto_, which contains some good 
analysis of our society's perverse values in light of what we could be doing 
to conquer death.  He thinks adopting a European-style social welfare model 
might help, but I find that more likely to stop medical progress than 
anything.  Link to,

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0759653399/


Mark Plus

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