From: Charlie Stross (charlie@antipope.org)
Date: Thu Aug 30 2001 - 08:12:03 MDT
On Thu, Aug 30, 2001 at 07:28:57AM -0500, Tiberius Gracchus wrote:
> >Folks, we _need_ those anti-ageing treatments. Badly!
>
> Right! we need to be able to keep working and working even as we get
> older and older. I want to live forever so I can keep going to the
> office and working and working....
>
> This article, the assumption made by its author, and your response to
> it, exemplify very well common misconceptions about economics made by
> the media.
Question-mark?
What on earth are you going on about?
Yes, I know that the media assume we all live to work. I am aware
that, with any luck, this whole issue will become academic within a
decade or so as assumptions about productivity being coupled to human
beings slide into obsolescence.
Nevertheless, this is *the* problem that has held *Japan* in recession
throughout the 1990's. It may not have been the initial cause, but
the demographics suggest that the increasing old age problem there
has exacerbated their current economic headaches.
The critical thing to note is the ratio of productive workers to non-
productive pensioners. Within the current paradigm, fewer workers and
more pensioners means either the need for more wealth distribution and
higher taxation ... or starving pensioners.
This isn't about the future; this is about the here-and-now. And how
are we going to get to that wonderful technological singularity if
our planetary economy goes into decline and stays there for the rest
of our lives?
-- Charlie
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