From: Max More (max@maxmore.com)
Date: Thu Jun 20 2002 - 10:10:20 MDT
Anders -- thanks for showing me around Stockholm. I had great fun. And that
walking helped keep off the pounds. ;-)
>The problem here may be that there are forces working hard on creating a
>"war on obesity": it is a serious problem, but at the same time it ought
>to fall under morphological freedom, shouldn't it?
Yes, and talk of a *war* on obesity would be worrying. Obesity is not just
another choice though -- it really does create costs for others, as do such
habits as smoking. I'm not at all suggesting a legal ban, just more social
pressure to counter the growing health problem. Many medical experts (proof
surrogate, I know, but I'm not going to dig up references right now!) are
concerned that longevity gains in this country are being completely wiped
out by the remarkable increase in obesity. Freedom goes with
responsibility. People should be free to be obese, but that doesn't mean
saying nothing or subsidizing it.
> But there are
>other ideas floating around that are really worrying, like fat taxes
Of course I would oppose that. Obese people should pay more for health
insurance to the extent that their risks are higher, but not taxes.
> From a transhumanist position, I think we should wend our way carefully
>here. In we end we both need morphological freedom and self direction.
>The SA policy is reasonable since it is a local action that makes people
>pay for their lifestyle choices - and opens the door for competing
>airlines without this rule; let the market sort this thing out.
Yes, exactly. You do raise an important point, along with the Reason
article, about the dangers of this becoming another political approach. I'm
for social pressure (with respect, and directed at obesity not obese people
as a whole) rather than legal approaches.
Max
_______________________________________________________
Max More, Ph.D.
max@maxmore.com or more@extropy.org
http://www.maxmore.com
Strategic Philosopher
President, Extropy Institute. http://www.extropy.org <more@extropy.org>
_______________________________________________________
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 09:14:56 MST