From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Sun Jun 10 2001 - 04:29:13 MDT
On Sat, Jun 09, 2001 at 11:38:27PM -0500, Harvey Newstrom wrote:
> But actually a more important point for
> transhumanists is the possibility that life-extension might make us outlive
> some countries. We may need longer term planning for the far future.
Yes, I have thought about that too.
In the past nations generally outlived people. Why? It might be that the
cultural, social and economic ties that held them together were more
long-lasting than people. Having people live longer might not affect the
longevity of nations, or might actually extend them as more people
remain to reinforce them. But on the other hand, we see a trend towards
faster and more fluid social interactions. That might make nations last
a shorter time, or at least make them more changeable.
I guess the best way of handling short-lived nations is to avoid putting
all egges in one basket. Keep two nationalities at least, and make sure
you can move (both economically and psychologically) if the situation
gets bad or too unstable.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
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