From: Michael M. Butler (mmb@spies.com)
Date: Mon Jan 20 2003 - 21:40:16 MST
> This problem isn't going to go away. I think if the non-U.S.
> people on the list will review the history -- the U.S. did
> by and large try to stay out of both WWI and WWII. That
> approach did not work. Furthermore, I think if one examines
> the death tolls in those wars (e.g. the trench warfare or
> the holocaust) one will observe that "doing nothing" is
> essentially writing a prescription for millions of deaths.
>
> So, to all "extropians", I ask this question --
> "how do we prevent millions of deaths?"
>
> Robert
>
> [Side-note -- if you think this problem will go away then you
> have really not studied population numbers (muslims vs.
> christians), growth rates, and resources and allocations, e.g. oil
> and water. Unless the singularity occurs very very soon, it
> will get much much worse before it gets better.]
It might just be that the Treaty of Westphalia goes the way of the
geocentric model of the solar system.
And yes, things are not going to get monotonically better (I predict).
I need the book equivalent of a hug. I just picked up a copy of
F. M. Esfandiary's _Optimism One_--in the _SF/Fantasy_ section of
Gray Wolf Books, Newton help us...
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