Re: Can you live forever? Esquire article

Brian D Williams (talon57@well.com)
Thu, 13 May 1999 06:42:15 -0700 (PDT)

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

From: "Billy Brown" <bbrown@conemsco.com>

>Actually, it is just the opposite. It is a recognition of the
>fact that people in the rest of the world have their own cultures,
>philosophies and opinions about how things should be done. They
>aren't going to turn their lives upside down just because the
>American government (or the Europeans, or the UN) wants them to.

Actually I worded this poorly, it was the opinion you were responding to I was addressing. I agree with your point as stated above.

>If you believe, for example, that the destruction of the Brazilian
>rain forest is evil and stupid, it does no good to rail against it
>to an audience of Americans. There is precious little we can do
>about it without resorting to a massive application of force. The
>people you need to convince live in Brazil, and that is where you
>need to concentrate your efforts.

Here we are fighting over harvesting the last of the old growth timber in the U.S., but telling the Brazillian's they must not harvest all of their's. If I was them, I'd tell us to F*** off.

>You should also recognize that the situation calls for more than
>just proselytizing. Most of the environmental degradation in the
>Third World is not caused by evil western corporations trying to
>get rich on the backs of the poor. Instead, it is caused by huge
>numbers of impoverished people trying to survive as best they can.
>Telling them to stop will do no good - they aren't going to let
>their children go hungry to preserve a few more acres of forest.
>What you need to do is give them an alternative way of providing
>for themselves that doesn't destroy the land.

I don't agree, much of the degradation is related to more advanced economies utilizing the people and resources of the third world for their own gain, plus since we don't utilize environmental/ecological technologies, we're the last one's who should tell anyone about it. Fortunately South America has an excellent example of it's own.... Gaviotas.

>Of course, trying to actually do something effective about the
>situation leads to a whole nest of practical problems, but that is
>a different issue.

Agreed, I'm just one of those silly people who's headed for the stars, and who want's to leave a trail and the ability to follow to anyone interested. ;)

Brian
Member, Extropy Institute
www.extropy.org
Member, Life Extension Foundation
www.lef.org

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.6.2

iQCVAwUBNzrWGHsfmVh/uI7xAQEd3QP/bryQ/3K9bD89JTso8WMQnJ9t4gUgxJYu GUU2LOeY1Xj1A8spC5e51KztEWAv49OJDFYS974JUsOKTs7cW4au2fl70LQXQJHc VlmxgKF2PC1Tv+zU2TUOLqR7E9AFDeW2EFOCjjo11Pny5jS7y/y3C2IUU8ZIjNDS ojna/yeA9EY=
=+guU
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----