accept no limits (was Re: sex, yet again ~%6 (was Re: ; - )Neanderthal Miracles))

Eugene Leitl (Eugene.Leitl@lrz.uni-muenchen.de)
Wed, 6 Nov 1996 16:25:58 +0100 (MET)


On Tue, 5 Nov 1996, Chris Hind wrote:
> > [ Max More ]
>
> I agree. A few of you aren't very extropian if you're thinking the future

I dunno... I never claimed to be an extropian. Embryonic transhuman, yes,
but not extropian. (I still don't know too exactly what extropian is
supposed to be).

> is going to be about overpopulation and scarce resources. History tells us

But that's what physics and extrapolation says. You can't lick Malthus,
nor exponential growth in a limited universe, not on the really long run.

> that with human innovation and ingenuity we can accomplish about anything
> we wish to do. We will have more resources in the future, not less. Some of

Within physical limits, yes.

> you doomsayers may dub me as naive but take a look at the hard facts
> without the doom 'n gloom slanted perception. This is all about boundless
> growth not growth restrained by physical limits. We can work around any
> physical limits, it's only a matter of time till we discover the knowledge
> & tech to do so as shown thoughout history.

Uh, I don't think we can ignore physics. We certainly haven't got the
whole picture, and we can certainly expect further knowledge breakthroughs.
But we must play to the rules of the game, even if we do not know all the
rules yet.

>From a scientific point of view (which happens to be my view), we have to
work with what we know. The emergency exit route of spacetime engineering
may well be forbidden, may be closed to us. What is left then is certainly
breathtaking, but it is also certainly limited.

'gene