From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@datamann.com)
Date: Sun Jun 10 2001 - 09:33:58 MDT
Anders Sandberg wrote:
> 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.
Technically, a democratic nation is born anew with each election, and with term
limits laws, this is even more pronounced. However, I would take the opposite
position: that longevity will result in the extended continuation of tyranny far
longer into the future than would occur with shorter life spans. Part of this is
the tendency of the old toward conservatism, luddism, geezerism, etc.
> 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.
A good option. Lets continue it further: in a transhuman future, if you don't
like the present administration, jump in your dewar and leave instructions to be
thawed when the winds change. All non-terminal corpsicles would count in each
election as no votes against the current administration. Then eventually you
might have the electorate taking turns in and out of stasis, which would solve
the population pressure problem nicely if half the country is frozen at any
given time... ;)
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