Re: Technical and Spiritual Development

From: William Mook (william.mook_at_mokindustries.com)
Date: 01/22/05 

Date: 22 Jan 2005 07:24:16 -0800

Yes I realize. Do you?

Consider,

Wealthy industrial nations as they increase living standards have found
that population growth rates have fallen below replacement levels.
This trend seems to be a general trend. As women become empowered and
raising children is an option rather than a requirement, growth rates
decline. Death will still occur by accident and disease.

And consider the nature of infinite series that add up to a finite sum!

Assume the worst caase, that there are 8 billion people who never die
living on Earth and all are paired into 4 billion reproductive couples.
All couples have one offspring - also who never dies. Now those 4
billion children grow up and form 2 billion reproductive couples. This
next generation has 2 billion children who never die. These children
grow up and form 1 billion reproductive couples. These couples have 1
billion children. and so forth. You end up with the following
sequence;

Reproductive
Group Year Total Population
8,000,000,000 2025 8,000,000,000
4,000,000,000 2050 12,000,000,000
2,000,000,000 2075 14,000,000,000
1,000,000,000 2100 15,000,000,000
500,000,000 2125 15,500,000,000
250,000,000 2150 15,750,000,000
125,000,000 2175 15,825,000,000
62,500,000 2200 15,937,500,000
31,250,000 2225 15,986,750,000

and so on...

In this scenario even though every person has an offspring, and every
offspring has an offspring, if everyone voluntarily limits the number
of offspring they have to 1 - the population never grows beyond twice
the starting population. As a practical matter we won't reach
perfection or have everyone doing exactly the same thing. What this
means is some people will have lots of kids, some people won't have
any, some will take longevity treatments, some won't, and so forth.

We can have practical longevity treatments and not cause a massive
population explosion. In fact, as we automate our economy with
robotics in the 21st century and free ourselves of the limitations of
fossil fuels we will see a dramatic increase in living standards and
with it a precipitous decline in population growth rates. This is
quite different than the situation we faced in the 20th century. In
this case the fruits of longevity research will be welcomed as a
panacea.

Now, what makes you think that the newer younger generation won't
challenge the older generation? If there are fewer children around in
each succeeding generation what makes you think they won't be valued
and respected in their own right?

There has never been a world of vital 200 year olds, what makes you
think they'll be slowed down versions of feeble ancients we are
familiar with today?

Disrespect for the young and elderly, feebleness and lack of vitality
associated with extreme age - these are features of the primitive
cultures predating the sea change I'm talking about. What you view as
problems are merely projections of your limited imagination.