Overpopulation (was: Re: A good short honest FAQ but very bad PR)
Damien Broderick (damien@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au)
Mon, 06 Jul 1998 17:46:57 +0100
At 09:11 PM 7/5/98 -0700, JKC wrote:
> >4. Won't extended lifespans cause overpopulation problems?
>
>Probably not.
Why not? I'm struggling to deal with this topic in my book abt prolonged
longevity, and I don't know what
to think. If you assume that women run
out of eggs at menopause (having been shedding follicles at a humongous
rate since around conception), it mightn't make any difference if they
lived forever thereafter using what amounts to HRT + nanobots - well, aside
from the sheer increasing mass of un-dead remaining on the surface instead
of declining gracefully under it. But if you can fiddle with cells, you
can presumably kick-start your tired stem cells if you get the urge for
another kid (and they're *just so sweet*). And even this leaves out the
possibilities of uploading by preference to bio-living, cloning in vitro
for 9 months (no pain, just gain), all that. But if rejuvenated people
felt the urge for a new family every 50 or 100 years (as mid-life crisis
men seem prone to now), this would surely have a terrific demographic
impact. Alas, I'm no good at doing this kind of thing on my fingers and
toes. Any numerate speculators out there?
Damien Broderick