Re: gender apartheid and transhumanists

Patrick Wilken (patrickw@cs.monash.edu.au)
Wed, 18 Nov 1998 17:32:43 +1100

The basic assumption appears to be that insurance agencies will act rationally to by using genetic testing to screen out those in the population that are most likely to become ill to therefore increase profit margins.

But a counterbalancing force might also prevail: those most likely to remain well might make a rational course of action and drop out of insurance schemes (or at least demand much lower policies) and therefore reduce the profit of insurance companies.

I don't see anything wrong with companies trying to maximize profit. Why would people expect anything else? If you believe that all people should be entitled to equal medical coverage you should look to governments not corporations. Then of course healthier people have to put up with supporting the less healthy. This is particularly irritating when my tax dollars support those who smoke, eat lots of fat, and take really stupid risks (such as driving without a seat belt or consuming drugs while driving).

ciao, patrick


Patrick Wilken                    http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~patrickw/
Editor:     PSYCHE: An International Journal of Research on Consciousness
Secretary:      The Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness
http://psyche.cs.monash.edu.au/              http://www.phil.vt.edu/ASSC/