Rob Harris wrote:
>containing "transhumanism" while channel hopping and had a
look. To those
>that missed it, you should have heard the poetic arse that
was shoved into
>the ears of the transhumanist guy (Nick?), and the look of
perplexion on his
>face when presented with the task of answering to
objections to life
>elongation based on some of the worst drivel I've ever
heard ! He came out
>OK though. Well done Nick! I'd have lost my rag !
I suppose you are referring to Angela Tilby, the theologian, whose main
concern with extending life was that people might become less religious if
they didn't have to face death. - Oh shit, hadn't thought of that...
And then there was George Monbiot, environmentalist campaigner and champion
of the anti-GM food movement. He is a charismatic figure and appears on
television very frequently. He was worried about life-extension resulting in
the creation of a new class of "time-lords". His view is that there is a
finite sum of stuff, and that if we live longer we will use up even more of
that stuff, thus exploiting the poor even more than we do now. He also said
that life expectancy is increasing fastest in the developed countries (which
is false, but I could not get in to refute that). The best answer to all
this would have been Garret Smyth's reaction when I talked to him on the
phone after the show: "If I go home and shoot myself tonight, how the hell
will that help the farmer in Peru?" I tried a more charitable approach and
suggested that underlying his objection might be a concern about
overpopulation and then I went on to explain that fertility rates are often
below the replacement rate in technologically advanced countries and that we
should try to spread the benefits of technology, education and women's
rights to countries that are currently poor. (I was tempted to throw in "And
let's grow some more GM-food!" but luckily managed to restrain myself.)
Nick Bostrom
Dept. Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method
London School of Economics
Email: n.bostrom@lse.ac.uk <mailto:n.bostrom@lse.ac.uk>
Homepage http://www.hedweb.com/nickb <http://www.hedweb.com/nickb>
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