X-Message-Number: 8585 From: Tom Matthews <> Newsgroups: sci.cryonics Subject: Re: Population red herring Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 17:55:24 -0700 Message-ID: <> References: <> <> Anders Sandberg wrote: > Tom Matthews <> writes: > > > Pressure to decrease the birth rate even further > > in order to accomodate it, might not be acceptable - many people do like > > having and raising children. I hope that it won't be necessary, but I > > can easily envisage a future where there may be a law which makes it > > mandatory that anyone electing cryopreservation will be required to > > emigrate off-earth when they are revived. > Why not? I think it is a good idea. If you decide you want to live > a radically extended lifespan, you could choose between sterilization > or moving out into space. This option, even though it is a choice, is not the kind for free society which I want to live to see happen. Perhaps many people will choose one of these two, but they are not the only choices and I don't believe one or the other should be mandatory. As a third reasonable choice why not be able to pay someone else to emigrate off-earth in your place? No, I believe that the free market should be able to solve the problem without their needing to be any such laws. The only question is how far will the trend towards a freer society have advanced by the end of the next century. > As I see it, having children responsibly means you can guarantee them > enough resources to live good lives. Only if they themselves will produce the necessary value. > This could be provided by them > inhereiting you if you do not live long, or by making sure you increase > the amount of available resources to give them the resources they > might need (note that the kind of resources needed is highly technology- > dependent). Essentially it is a question of preserving the cake or > making it larger. In the long run, of course, making the cake larger > is preferable. This is all very true, but it is not related to the question of the *freedom* to choose. --Tom Tom Matthews All personal comments do not represent the views of anyone from: The LIFE EXTENSION FOUNDATION - http://www.lef.org - 800-841-5433 A non-profit membership organization dedicated to the extension of the healthy human lifespan through ground breaking research, innovative ideas and practical methods. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=8585